/ 15 September 2011

Cape music picks: September 16 2011

Cape Town offers up intimate acoustic musings alongside smooth Afro-house.

? Considering his meteoric rise to fame, it would be easy to stereotype Black Coffee as just another black diamond, a BEE beat magnet out to mine the insatiable upwardly mobile urban house-party market. But as he proved on his South African Music Award-winning album Home Brewed, this DJ and producer defies convention. Sidestepping Afro-house clichés and stage-managed highs in favour of restrained sophistication, Black Coffee’s penchant is for true Afropolitan house: home-brewed but trendsetting, fashion-conscious and future-focused. Expect almost sculptural balance and beauty.

Grand Café, Granger Bay Road, off Beach Road, Granger Bay. September 16 at 9pm. Entrance for ladies is free before 10pm; R80 before 11pm; R100 thereafter. Tel: 021 425 0551.

? The String Collective gathers together a six-pack of unplugged ­artists who animate the art of ­acoustic craft. Each will perform three pieces of work that cover a diverse range of string pieces and vocal composition in alternative styles. Strum ‘n wailer Gary Thomas shares experimental anti-folk abstractions from his latest album, Contraption Distoria, and experimental guitarist Righard Kapp showcases micro-folk compositions from his album Strung Like a Compound Eye on support. The rest of the line-up includes self-styled ­Appalachian alt-freak folkies Miss Texas 1977, acoustic percussive funk-rock ­outsider Tombstone Pete and nu-folk singer-songwriter Miles Sievwright. “Tale-swapper” Donny Truter accompanies his poetry with sparse guitar tones.

Theatre in the District, Chapel Street, Woodstock. September 16 at 8pm. Entrance is R80.

? Heather Mac calls her album “the birthing of a 20-year-old baby”. After an absence from recording of almost two decades, the former Ella Mental chanteuse is back with a new album, Within. The deeply personal ­collection of songs charts Mac’s ­journey from seedy nightspots such as Hillbrow’s Chelsea Hotel to British rock clubs, and from the despair of personal tragedy to a ­spiritual rebirth in Brazil and the ability of love to overcome heartache and loss. “Each song represents a part of my life experience over the passing years,” she says. Long-time guitarist Mark Harris accompanies her at this intimate supper-club show.

Villa Pascal, 28 Van der Westhuizen Street, Valmary Park, Durbanville, on September 16. Entrance is R80. Tel: 021 975 2566.