After more than a year of Covid chaos and a constant barrage of explosive thuds from the now popular gqom and amapiano blasting from passing vehicles, discovering the melodious music of
The Sound Collective can only be described as a balm for the tired soul.
I recently had the pleasure of attending one of this ensemble’s vocal rehearsals in Kempton Park.
Alto Tracey-Lee Booyens was doing warm-ups when I arrived. It was like stepping into Carnegie Hall, and that was only the beginning.
The Sound Collective was formed by Gerry van Zyl (43), Jen Broadway (40) and Ruan Odendaal (27), a BMus graduate from the University of Pretoria (UP), vocal director of The Sound Collective and conductor of the Helpmekaar Kollege, Glenstantia Primary School and Laerskool Tygerpoort (Tshwane) choirs.
It all began when van Zyl got Aduro off the ground to provide a creative outlet for like-minded and skilled musicians.
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They started with performing successful soirées (house concerts). Van Zyl, Broadway and Odendaal rebranded Aduro in 2019 and The Sound Collective was born.
Trained pianist and flautist maestro van Zyl is the group’s creative director. He adapts the music and style to the concert series they are working on.
After completing his BMus degree, van Zyl travelled to Prague with a wind ensemble that won second prize in 2004 and 2006 in their category during the annual International Classical Music Competition.
Van Zyl obtained his Masters in Music at the prestigious Brunswick University in Washington DC.
He is also a well-loved language educator at Didaskos in Boksburg.
The Sound Collective’s talented musicians include three former Drakensberg Boys Choir learners: Odendaal, van Zyl and Sandisile Gqweta. Soft-spoken Gqweta (26), one of the group’s tenors, matriculated from St Alban’s College and completed his BMus degree at UP in 2020.
The Sound Collective’s two sopranos are Broadway and Elisa Lessing. Broadway, marketing director for The Sound Collective, humbly described herself as a Jack of all trades. Everyone else sees her as a pro in anything she starts.
A former Benoni High School learner, Broadway freelances as a visual artist and teaches voice, piano and cello. She recorded her first album in 2009.
Lessing (34), a teacher in Midrand, took music as a subject at Hoërskool Zwartkop. She has 13 years of experience in teaching music and is conducting six school choirs.
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Altos Booyens (22) and Faye Prinsloo (26) also have impressive musical credentials. Prinsloo is a former School of Arts learner, completed Unisa’s musical exams, teaches music and specialises in piano and flute performances.
Booyens, The Sound Collective’s youngest member, is a second-year BMus student whose ultimate dream is to perform on stage at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.
Francois Marx (41, nicknamed Egoli) and Hugo de Villiers are the two bass voices. Marx studied law, completed the Unisa music exams and sang in the Oosrand Jeugkoor under Johan van der Sandt, as well as in the Rand Afrikaans University’s (RAU) university choir. He is also a member of Akustika.
De Villiers (25) is a medical doctor at Steve Biko Academic Hospital. Though music is his hobby, he has an impressive musical background that includes singing in the Oosrand Jeugkoor, the
Ekurhuleni Youth Choir and the UP serenade groups.
Odendaal’s vision for The Sound Collective is to make it a musical empire in the next three years; a vision that is shared by van Zyl and Broadway.
Last year, due to the pandemic, they only had their first performances in November when they kicked off with two successful picnic concerts at the Madeley House Concert Hall, a gem in Boksburg owned and managed by the music-loving Twigge family.
The Sound Collective is working on an exciting Gin and Jazz programme.
Van Zyl said: “It is just an indication of how we would always like to present our audiences with something new in the true Sound Collective way. We have teamed up with some distilleries to assist us with some gin while we perform some of the great and well-known classics in our own, Sound Collective way.
“All the music is specially arranged for the group, so it’s sure not to have been done in this way before. We have some great mash-up songs, which include Summertime, Fly Me to the Moon and Girl from Ipanema.
“We also have some great items lined up such as Moondance, Jamie Cullum’s version of Not
While I’m Around and even Bjork’s It’s Oh So Quiet.”
They will be accompanied by the band members, van Zyl (piano), Nico Kruger (double bass), Peter Ball (clarinet), Camelia Onea (resident violinist) and Thys Spies (resident cellist).
Concert dates are June 26 and 27 at Madeley House Concert Hall, Boksburg, and July 3 at the AfriForum Theatre in Tshwane.
Booking is essential.
Contact: jen@soundcollective.co.za or visit https://afriforumteater.co.za/gebeure/gin-jazz/
(Article: Marion Joan Smith).
