#TIME, Music
Venue: Beethoven Room
Next Performance: Sunday 29 June 14:00
Review
By Konke Welaphi
Experimenting with new emotional tones, PentaFusion formed a community before performing by conversing with the audience and even taking it a step further by having a short quiz. Their new sponsor, Revels, gave away vouchers to those who had answered correctly in the quiz. This gave the audience a chance to connect with the band before immersing themselves in the music.
Having opened the show with this act of community bonding, it changed the nature of the music itself. Stacey van Schalkwyk, director, composer and flute player told Cue: “The act of performing it changes the music, it changes the nature because before, the process of creation is between us, it’s a private process of learning, we learn from one another but as soon as we put it into public space, it’s no longer a private conversation, it becomes a public conversation.”
This was evident. The music not only spoke to the audience it echoed back into the performers themselves as Yashin Naidoo, Virgil Matrass, Van Schalkwyk, Pete Glover and Nhlanhla Xipu created vibrant sounds that took over the entire energy of the room and allowed the audience to feel one with the music.
PentaFusion’s experimenting to reimagine jazz did wonders, as in the moments of silence after the show had ended, the audience stayed seated waiting for more. We simply could not get enough. Whether you are a jazz lover or not, after listening to PentaFusion, you will reimagine your relationship with jazz.
