Nov. 7: Kesivan and The Lights
Master Players Concert Series to present South African jazz band
9:05 a.m., Oct. 30, 2014--The University of Delaware Master Players Concert Series will continue its 2014-15 season with the South African jazz band Kesivan and The Lights at 8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 7, in Mitchell Hall.
The band’s first Delaware performance will come one week after its Carnegie Hall debut.
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The concert, which is co-sponsored by UD’s Institute for Global Studies (IGS), celebrates the newly established UD-South African collaboration in arts, research and education, and will be hosted by South African concert producer Colin David Miller.
In conjunction with its appearance, the band will present a free one-hour public workshop at 12:20 p.m., Friday, Nov. 7, in the Loudis Recital Hall of the Amy E. du Pont Music Building.
Kesivan and The Lights is a band that takes pride in recollection with songs often based on the history of South Africa and the memories of its people.
Its sound is defined by a lush, cathartic, melodicism that owes its roots to a mixture of composition and improvisation.
The group also is known for its widely noted high energy inventiveness when performing live, a mode in which the members erode the melancholic and often make way for a stronger, more aggressive sound-a brand of music that attempts to exorcise the demons of the past.
To order advance tickets or discounted subscription series tickets by mail, download the ticket order form or visit the Master Players website. To order by phone, call 302-831-2204.
Tickets cost $25 for adults; $20 for senior adults, alumni, faculty and staff; and $10 for students with ID. Also, special "student rush" tickets will be sold 30 minutes prior to the concert in the lobby of Mitchell Hall.
There are three discounted subscription series and online ticket purchases and pre-paid parking vouchers are available to all.
About the ensemble
The Cape Town-based multi-instrumental jazz collective Kesivan and The Lights is one of the best-kept secrets in South African music. Although still considered to be modern jazz, the quintet's sound boasts a litany of influences from funk and South African roots music to hip-hop.
The band consists of three previous winners of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Jazz, one of South Africa's leading musical accolades. The eclectic lineup includes drummer, founder and band leader Kesivan Naidoo, who is also the owner of the Cape Town jazz bar Straight No Chaser, which has gone a long way toward revitalizing the city's jazz scene.
Composer and double bassist Shane Cooper is one of the leading voices in South Africa's new wave of jazz artists. He champions a brand of music categorized by improvisation and lucidity; his award-winning album Oscillations has cemented his place as one of South African jazz's most beloved acts.
Saxophonist Justin Bellairs is one of the most active and sought after musicians in the South African jazz scene, having appeared on several albums both as a featured artist and as a session musician.
Pianist Kyle Shepherd has already released three critically acclaimed records, all of which have earned him South African Music Award nominations.
The lineup of Kesivan and The Lights is completed by guitarist Reza Khota, whose playing can best be described as experimental. His flirtations and interests in South Asian sounds, classical music, and the avant-garde has helped nourish the music made by the group with a uniquely global perspective that also remains locally relevant.
A true innovator, Naidoo is not content to simply revisit the music of his heroes. Instead, together with The Lights he combines history and innovation and sound, rhythm and expression to share a master class in acoustic jazz.
Kesivan and The Lights reignite the possibility of staging a new revolution from within the South African jazz canon. “The music evolves every time you play it,” says Naidoo. “My message is; this is the starting point, and I’m definitely taking it further. Jazz music is meant for everybody, if you’re open to it, you can receive it.”