TAL 31 / GARTH ERASMUS / THRENODY FOR THE KHOISAN

TAL 31
GARTH ERASMUS – THRENODY FOR THE KHOISAN

LP (black vinyl) plus free DL

Release: 26. April 2024

Worldwide distribution:
MORR
Forced Exposure
Bommkat

Garth Erasmus: Mouth Bows, Ghôrrah, Blik`Nsnaar,
Mcinci Flute, Kriolophone, Voice, Alto Sax, Clarinet,
Kalimba , Percussion, Field Recordings, Samples,
Electronics, Virtual Keyboards
Andrea Dicò: Percussion (Lockdown Duet)
Lucelle Campbell: Voice (Sister Of The Soil)
Chief Okkie Lewies: Voice (Morenga)

Gwaing Reverie 2:05
Lucelle: Sista of the Soil 4:54
Mantis Praise 2:08
Amaseh Amen 1:16
For Peter&Ruth 1:42
Terug Blik 1:18
Threnody for the Khoisan 1:29
Ambient Khoi 4:25

Mcinci Song I 2:08
Morenga 2:25
Evidence of Things Unseen 4:18
Lockdown Duet: Milano-Cape Town 1:15
Roesdorp Requiem 4:26
The Ascension of Milford Graves 2:17

All music written, performed and produced by Garth Erasmus
Recorded in Cape Town, South Africa between 2012 and 2023
Mastering by Detlef Funder at Paraschall, Düsseldorf, November 2023
Vinyl Cut by Anne Taegert, at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, December 2023
Design: Christa Marek

Garth Erasmus is an artist and musician based in Cape Town, South Africa. THRENODY FOR THE
KHOISAN is his first album under his own name. Since 1985 his artistic interests have broadened
to include music-making, designing and making his own instruments based on indigenous
Khoisan knowledge. From 1999 to 2012 he was a member of the South African First Nation activist group Khoi Khonnexion. In the past couple of years Garth Erasmus has also been a pivotal part of various international performance pieces and exhibition projects which brought him regularly to Europe. Most of these activities were developed and performed in collaboration with the Hamburg based band Kante and his band Khoi Khonnexion. In April 2024 Garth Erasmus will be part of the group exhibtion
‚Oscillations“ at Akademie der Künste, Berlin. His works in music are predominantly characterized by a restless quest for alternative forms of expression and materials including self build instruments, field recordings or various electronic music devices.

In this context the music on THRENODY FOR THE KHOISAN takes on a primal and metaphorical
meaning. Rather than a formal, physical initiation, this process is more spiritually inclined, yet it is
a spirituality which is consistently put into action.. “Ever since I was an art student I have
experimented with alternative materials to release me from the Western education values I
received. When I started to make my own instruments in the 1980s, my intention was to create
art objects but when I discovered the sound they made, it unlocked a door that transported me
deeper in my quest in the realization that I was on the right path.“

In fact all instruments which appear on THRENODY FOR THE KHOISAN are products of a
process of discovery starting from square one. All this is based and founded on the beauty of
simplicity and minimalism as symbolized by the single string Khoisan musical bow and arrow as
trance musical instrument. In this sense it soon became manifest for Garth Erasmus to combine
the bow instruments with various electronic instruments. Besides developing his own unique
language in music he also shared an expressed interested in experimental sound aesthetics,
Avantgarde composition and Free Jazz. However, his non – academic approach towards sound
and music was always fueled by the desire for a reconnection to the land and to the indigenous
knowledge of the Khoisan, whose struggle for First Nation status continues.