HA!Man Best 2004


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I N T R O
2004 i do not wish to have repeated. It was a year of no time for a HOLY REST, when I travelled four times abroad, away from the BEAUTIFUL LAND. Even though this song was sung in the Royal Albert Hall in London, it has always been best Coming Home, as I suppose, it is for most people, including Greenlanders. In the Royal Albert, I mostly played to Afrikaners, who acted as if they were sitting Op Die Stoep somewhere in Africa, beer in hand, glued to a TV screen with the Springboks playing rugby. No Light Jazz for them, much less Bach More, even though I offer more than just Bach. In fact, it was a year that I tried to become popular, Indonesian Popular, Stamp Stamp popular and what have you. It did not work. But I met my Lila, even though that created more loneliness than i had before.

Coming Home, I was always Afrihappy, making music with anything, including a Stutterheim Engine, but still musing over the sad state of global affairs. I decided that there is nothing better than a Waltz For (this) Fractured World. Step in three! And realize that (Africa's) Time Has Come to be recognized as the Mother Continent, even though there are many over here who could say with Andrew "I Wish I Never Grew Up Without My Parents."

I made a lot of debt, got robbed, got my car crashed and was lambasted for being creative with my nation's holy cows and singers. But hey, you can always sit back and enjoy the music.
I N D E X
track nr Title description
01 afrihappy A lively, dancy piece. Celebrating the colours and sounds of our continent. jive rhythms at its best!
02 op die stoep The accordion gives a nostalgic edge to the music. This is easy life, no cares, stresses. Just listening to stories and drinking coffee on "the stoep".
03 indonesian popular The guitar give this piece a smell of earth. The "scat" singing is infectious - a total submersion in spontaneity! The cello ripples in sultry, colourfullines throughout the musical fabric.
04 bach more An upbeat Baroque dance. All the sound effects revamps all antiquated rust that might cling to the phrases.
05 lila Beautiful simplistic lyricism.
06 Afrikaners Arrangement of Afrikaans folk song, "Afrikaners is plesierig". Exuberant use of tone colours and sound effects.
07 Market Day It has the feel of a typical South-African dance - the "sakkie-sakkie"-a traditional 2-step. It works marvellously well with the enjins.The party/carnival mood is infectious! You will never listen to the sound of an enjin in the same way again!
08 waltz for a fractured world A piece pulling at the heart-strings. The cello traverses over the huge expanse of melancholy. the clarient and accordion also contributes to the overall sadness.
09 coming home You are comfortable and at peace with the world. but there is no place like home. All the people at home still looks the same, sound the same, laugh the same laugh... and then you realise what you have missed being so far away...
10 light jazz Laid-back jazz. Rhythms and improvisations are easy on the ear and infectious to the body!
11 i did not know that i would grow up without my parents Music that filters through the night-sky and reaches sleeping ears. The rhythmic energy will infect you. (Andrew Peters begged on the streets of Grahamstown (a smart beggar, big amounts of money) but also played the guitar. Well. And sang. I chose his guitar-playing side and collaborated with him. He was on medicines because of mental instability. Andrew was not an easy guy. He did not have an easy life. Losing both his parents as a child created an never-ending need for care indside of him. our friendship lasted a good number of years after which he died - poor and ill, and still, without any parent. His memory never leaves me).
12 stamp stamp African fused with a hint of of Orientalism. Some of the sound colours evokes childlike playfulness. A pure fun piece!
13 Beautiful Land An anthemic piece celebrating the natural beauty of South Africa. It begins with a dialogue between the piano and cello. Strings soon join in, adding to the mellifluousness of the phrases. The piece soon evolves into an emotional outpouring from all the instruments involved - big orchestra and cello.

(LL) A beautiful piece can only be created for a beautiful land like S.A. The passion sits at the core of the music's beauty. The piece begins with a dialogue between the piano and cello. Strings soon join in, adding to the mellifluousness of the phrases. The piece soon evolves into an emotional outpouring from all the instruments involved - big orchestra and cello.
14 holy rest drifting on a cloud, deep restfulness, drawn out chords along with intimate mouth sounds
15 HER TIME HAS COME A stirring (and the HA!Man's most popular) piece written for Africa - her time has indeed arrived. It emphasizes humanity's collective origins and the power pf Africa to bring us back to a concrete sense of unity. The chorus lines are easy sing-alongs and remain in the hearts of the many that have heard it perfomed the world over.

(LL) A stirring piece written for Africa - her time has indeed arrived. Human possibilities are no longer a matter of dreaming , but a matter of reality. No one will help singing along with this one. The song sweeps over the whole expanse of our great continent.