Francois le Roux – aka HA! Man – is coming back to Grahamstown to perform at the Graeme College Music Centre on 31 July.
Francois le Roux – aka HA! Man – is coming back to Grahamstown to perform at the Graeme College Music Centre on 31 July.
As he says, throughout his travels round the globe he is evolving all the time so that "each time we re-visit a town like Grahamstown, we have changed, evolved, bringing our audiences what is living inside of us in a flow of spontaneous expression".
He also says that "a hot item for this performance will be new musical interpretation of visuals of Nguni cattle that have been filmed just outside of town.
The Nguni stands out as a symbol of the virtues of locally evolved fauna and flora, which we need to strengthen and develop more and more, just as we develop locally found gifts and creativity".
Here's all the information you need:
Francois le Roux, aka the "HA!Man," well-known for his pioneering work in spontaneous expression returns to Grahamstown with his Belgian stage and life partner, Joke Debaere, for an intimate evening at Graeme College's new music centre.
Just returned from Europe with standing ovations and re-invitations in Paris, Zurich, Berlin and Sittard (Netherlands), Grahamstown is part of their South African tour before they leave for North America in October.
The HA!Man has been seen in various guises in Grahamstown over the last two decades, from street performances, experimental theatre on the Festival Fringe, improvisation collaborations, mass choir events in the Cathedral and Monument Theatre to house concerts, university and school workshops.
On 31 July it is back to basics with the HA!Show, a journey within a journey, a kaleidoscope of emotions and textures, a smorgasbord of real-life experience in sound and word.
His main instrument is the cello, but the keyboard, flutes and body movement are also employed with the art of spontaneous expression – the HA! For her part, Joke ("yo-kuh") takes to the microphone to create poetry on the spot, along with the flow of improvised music.
Her poetry can veer towards song or again towards acting, sensitively spanning a whole range of genres (she comes with a formal background in theatre, having run her own company "Het Zesde Bedrijf" in Belgium for some years).
An extensive pool of electronic accompaniments is drawn from which in itself reflects years of experience and a whole library of musical styles and textures.
Video projection of travel visuals adds another layer to this ever-evolving and organic whole that has been creeping into the hearts and minds of audiences the world over.
Writes Talk of the Town, Port Alfred, Feb 2013 "It is seldom that artists give so much of themselves in a performance as this pair did.
The HA!Man is a musical revolution, and le Roux and Debaere's performances are as memorable as they are emotive."
No performance is pre-planned, however, for Fri 31 July some items of relevance to Grahamstonians will be included.
The one is a new piece called "Being Nguni" – a sound and visual reflection on these indigenous beasts as they roam on a farm nearby.
The other is a musical impression of the town itself, with appropriate visuals.
More can hardly be said. In the spirit of HA!, it is the moment itself that reveals the gift for all those who come and open themselves to it.
