Karien de Waal

Karien de Waal is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and educator from Cape Town. After having completed her studies in contemporary writing and production and Professional Music at Berklee College of Music in the USA, Karien returned to Cape Town and founded Join Bands Not Gangs - a non-profit aimed at helping young people from marginalized and previously disadvantaged communities get into music programs instead of gangsterism or drugs. (www.joinbandsnotgangs.com)

To date, Join Bands Not Gangs has helped start or strengthen over 26 music programs across the Western Province with donated musical instruments and produced over 14 songs and music videos and has been featured on Al Jazeera, SABC3 News Koortjies with Jonathan Rubain and Expresso Breakfast Show. They are currently busy with a massive Choir Project called "Wake Up Africa" which is being sponsored SONY Music, Samro and DCAS and will entail an original song and documentary called “Wake Up Africa!”, telling the story of how music impacts South African youth at a grassroots level. Karien is the Director and producer of this project.

In her personal capacity, Karien has been Artist in Residence for the “Inspired by Berklee” series, which saw her teach all over South Africa. Most recently, she wrote an co-produced the theme song for “Celebrate Christmas in Singapore 2022”. (https://youtu.be/UjurYun83GE)

STEPPING OUT AS AN ARTIST/COMPOSER IN OWN RIGHT:

After a season of working behind the scenes and in a supporting/writing/producing role, Karien is stepping out to perform as an artist in her own right. Her sound can be described as folk-inspired, with a bit of contemporary classical, with South African flavour worked.

She is a brilliant orchestrator and composer, who promises to bring a fresh new contemporary classical sound to the South African and world market. After many years of honing her musical skill and supporting others, the time for releasing a beautiful new sound in South Africa has come!! Prepare to be stirred deep into your soul by some breathtaking melodies.