Soweto String Quartet
The Soweto String Quartet is a string quartet from the township of Soweto near Johannesburg ( South Africa ). The group combines classical European music , African styles and intonations as well as Western pop music .
The three brothers Reuben Khemese ( violoncello ), Sandile Khemese (first violin ) and Thami Khemese (second violin) as well as Makhosini Mnguni ( viola ) founded the group in 1989. The father of the three brothers was a conductor, the mother was a chorister. Sandile studied at the British Dartington College of Arts and the Royal North College of Music in Manchester before returning to South Africa in 1986 and teaching for three years at a music school in Madima specializing in traditional African music . Sandile and Reuben Khemese were also members of the Soweto Symphony Orchestra.
They achieved their first major success during a nine-month engagement in Sun City , where Grahame Beggs discovered them and signed a contract for the Bertelsmann Music Group . In 1994 the debut album Zebra Crossing was released and received a gold record . In the same year the group played at the swearing-in ceremony of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa and was invited to other occasions by him. Soon after the release of their first CD, the quartet toured the USA, Asia and Europe with great success.
Discography
- Zebra Crossing (1994)
- Millenia
- Our World
- Renaissance
- Four
- Rhythms of Africa