news-and-events

NewTunes Young Talent Show

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:25:32 +0100

NewTunes Young Talent Show
December 9
Somerset West Westend Theatre
18:30

Come join NewTunes Competition contestants Carla Conradie, Hans Raubenheimer, Andrei Damane, Ethan Florus and myself for a night of entertainment you will never forget.

Butterflies and sleepless nights.

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 18:18:05 +0100

I wake up every morning wanting to quit my job, mostly because of sleepless and restless nights. I'm no insomniac; it's just there is so much music in my head. I lie awake composing, arranging, writing. When I finally get myself out of bed my first thought is of music and then the butterflies wake up. I am so deeply moved by and excited about what lies ahead. For the first time in my life, I am right where I need to be. For the last 20 years, people have been telling me how much they like my music and I love them for it, but I'm finally in a place where I don't need to hear it anymore - at last he believes!
My two demo tracks are finally complete and I couldn't have asked for more (which says a lot because I'm an anal retentive perfectionist, hehe). I have had an amazing time with Kallie Kotze from Upstage Recordings working on the two songs. Kallie and I barely need words at times when we're in the studio - he gets me as a musician and artist, like few people do. Much love Kallie :)
November and December are two busy months for me - LOTS of MUSIC! See the upcoming events for details of all my gigs.
Speak to you soon - paint the journey as you walk my friends.
Jo

Upcoming Shows/Gigs

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 09:36:19 +0100

Obviouzly Armchair - Observatory - Cover Charge after 8pm - 25 November 2011

Upstage Recording - Labiance, Bellville - Invite only - 8pm - 26 November 2011

Obviouzly Armchair - Observatory - 3/4 December 2011

Looking Back - Show with Charl Folscher in Tianjin (China)

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 12:32:27 +0100

It was an honor to do an exclusive show with my brother Charl Folscher (Surrender Band) when he visited us in Tianjin, China. What an insane week. He only came to visit me for 10 days and we decided to do the show at the last possible minute. We sang a selection of my songs and his songs. What really stood out for me is how music reaches across cultures and borders - it truly is the universal language, well apart from math which is such a big part of music anyway... Well lets not go off on a tangent. Would love to perform in China again in the future.

URL to my Reverbnation Page

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:04:57 +0100

You are welcome to also follow my journey on Reverbnation. My Tunepak URL is http://www.reverbnation.com/tunepak/3455045

This page is important because it puts me in contact with the world's music industry. I dream big!

First live radio play on MFM 92.6!

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:11:31 +0100

So I was sitting in class this morning on my Teacher Training Course, secretly checking my Facebook when I got a message from Mart-Marie Schoeman at New Tunes asking me to call her. I don't know if you guys are familiar with Mart-Marie but she is Miss Thang when it comes to the music scene. I immediately asked if I could go to the bathroom so I could call my manager (also my wife aka DJ Technolicious). Trying to keep my voice down, cause it really echoed in there I asked her to call Mart-Marie on my behalf. For those of you who don't know, I've entered 3 songs in the New Tunes songwriting contest and she informed us that my song 'Shadows" would be featured on the MFM 92.6 Detour Show tonight at 7pm. OVER THE MOON!

7PM found me waiting for the phone to ring with not a few butterflies in my stomach. I know some might think its only a local radio station, but I felt like a rock star. Feeling like a rock star is important for my motivation at the moment. I'm still working and studying full time; don't have as much time as I would like to set aside for my music. I really needed this experience and exposure to keep me on track.

They asked about my song writing roots and what gets my creative juices flowing, I could have talked about that for hours, but it boils down to Linda Nel's Afrikaans class in Grade 10 and my quest for transformation. After the short interview they played my song and it's difficult to put the experience into words - for a songwriter that's a major problem, LOL!

The interview will be uploaded to www.newtunes.co.za next week so check it out!

Looking back - Chinese Christmas 2009

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:06:16 +0100

I did a Christmas Show at a local Pub in Tianjin, China. It was quite an experience to perform English (I did not really think anyone would understand) songs in a pub full of semi-drunk (as this is what most of them think Christmas is about) Chinese. It was amazing in the sense that music transcends all cultures and languages - that they still enjoyed it even though they could not understand the words.

Entered into Sanlam and LitNet's Lyric Competition

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:18:05 +0100

Hi. I am so excited. About a week ago I entered into the LitNet lyrics Competition. I was stressed because they said it would appear online in 48 hours, well 48 hours turned into more than a week. But alas all 4 songs I entered can be seen on their website http://www.litnet.co.za/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?cmd=cause_dir_custom&cause_id=1270&page=singit I'm going to need all of your help to win it. This is how it works - roughly :) 9 Bands (local South African Bands) choose the lyrics out of the thousands they will probably get and record it (making it their own off course) Once that song is released, it will be available to download for free. The song that gets the most downloads - wins! The prizes are only for exposure and as I have been out of the country for more than 10 years, I need exposure. My wife will get the IPAD :)

Recording New Demo

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:58:25 +0100

I am excited to share that I will record a new demo soon. It is a long time overdue (8years to be exact) and I can hardly contain myself. So watch this space for the new songs.

Special Guest at Karla van Reenen's CD launch - Road Ahead

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:18:52 +0100

In the beginning of September 2011 I was invited as Special Guest to attend the CD Launch for Karla van Reenen. The reason being that I helped Karla with the Lyrics and Melody to the Title Song of her CD - Road Ahead. It was such a pleasure to work with this up and coming artist. Her sincerity and honesty is something you don't see a lot of in this industry anymore. Thank you Karla for this opportunity to share in your journey. I hope this song brings you lots of joy and success. You can listen to a clip of this song here: http://youtu.be/1_AM9XgZ6H8 Good Luck Karla.