SA: Sun EL Musician and Anchored Sound orchestra to headline Bassline Live

The musician will perform alongside the first black South African woman conductor, Ofentse Pitse, and her Anchored Sound 10-piece orchestra and female vocal quartet. The musicians will be joined by fellow local singers Msaki, Simmy, and more.

The event forms part of the Music In Africa Live (MIAL) project, which is supported by the German Federal Foreign Office, Siemens Stiftung and Goethe-Institut. It will be hosted in collaboration with UK artists’ services company Platoon, and seeks to celebrate women during the Women’s Month which is marked in South Africa in August.

Sun El Musician will perform his top compositions, which include ‘Sonini’, ‘Bomi Abumanga’ and ‘Into Ingawe’, with support from the ensemble.

Commenting on the event, Sun El Musician said: “It’s always been a dream of mine to showcase my music in an orchestra show, and I feel honoured to be part of such an amazing platform.”

Bassline’s founder Brad Holmes said: “Bassline thanks the Music In Africa Foundation for supporting the live music industry ecosystem by awarding proceeds to support this project. We are so excited to be presenting this collaboration at a time where we are back to full houses for the first time in two and a half years. What a way to celebrate.”

MIAF project manager Violet Maila said: “The team at Bassline has taken a bold step by curating an unexpected line-up of performing artists merging the worlds of mainstream dance music with classic. The unusual collaboration has kept us excited in anticipation of the event.”

Born Sanele Sithole, Sun El Musician released his latest album African Electronic Dance Music last year. The producer shot to fame with his debut album Africa to the World released in 2018, followed by To the World & Beyond in 2020. His first album amassed a number of SAMAs including Collaboration, Record of the Year and Highest Airplay Composer.

Meanwhile, Pitse says collaborating with the likes of Sun El Musician, Msaki and Simmy is important because using popular culture to promote ensembled musical expressions can create value and demand for similar art experiences, and ultimately “improve the economic health of ensembled music.”

Purchase tickets to the event here.