SA’s Wouter Kellerman hits No 1 on Billboard chart
Grammy Award-winning South African flautist and composer, Wouter Kellerman, debuted at No 1 on the Billboard World Music Chart on Friday with his newly released album Love Language.
The album follows up Kellerman’s recent 2015 Grammy win with Indian composer and producer Ricky Kej for their debut collaborative album Winds of Samsara.
The album snatched the Best New Age Album of The Year award. Love Language is Kellerman’s second No 1 debut on the Billboard
charts. Winds of Samsara also debuted in the top spot in the Billboard New Age Chart.
Kellerman furthermore won three 2015 South African Music Awards, reinforcing the artist’s standing as one of the country’s most innovative musicians. Love Language is the fourth release from Kellerman, and draws influence from Senegal, Spain, Cuba, India, Greece and America. The album encapsulates the myriad ways that people connect on the topics of life and love.
“The theme of being loving joins us all together, and music bridges all cultural gaps, becoming a universal language that communicates across
seemingly insurmountable barriers,” says Kellerman.
Kellerman appeared at famed venue The John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center as special guest performer on August 12 in Washington, and
headlines Carnegie Hall in New York on October 9. He first picked up the flute at the age of 10, and in 1981 appeared as a soloist with the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra. He has featured in a number of South African orchestras, garnering musical accolades along the way.
Among these was winning the Perrenoud Foundation Prize at the 1997 Vienna International Music Competition. Kellerman’s original flute-playing can also be heard on the soundtrack of the Emmy Award-winning film Eye of the Leopard.
Check out the music video from Love Language’s first single, Aishwarya:
