Memoirs: The Music of Simon and Garfunkel – Friday November 11, 2011
Energetic! Dramatic! Poetic! Visually, and especially audibly entertaining stuff!
Aaron Nel and Al Andrew
Simon & Garfunkel emerged in the early 1960’s as a young, typically harmony-enthralled folk duo. They’d cut their teeth on The Everly Brothers, and knew the Great Traditional Songbook as well as the next folk group of their era. Driven by the same strivings of their American contemporaries – to get into a good college, to please their parents, to be admired by their peers – they were determined to have some fun along the way! As it turned out though, they were far from your average folkies. The two natives from Forest Hills, Queens, were musical sponges, and broke onto the Billboard Top50, at the age of 15 as “Tom and Jerry” – as they called themselves then – with The Everly Brothers knock off ”Hey Schoolgirl” – their first song ever written together.
Their debut studio album was “Wednesday Morning, 3am”in 1964, their last “Bridge over Troubled Water”, which remained the number one album on the Billboard charts for 6 weeks after its release date.
Vintage Productions SA present – Aaron Nel – who grew up with the music of Simon & Garfunkel constantly playing in his childhood home, in the small town of Marble Hall in Mpumalanga, South Africa along with fellow vocal artist Al Andrew, who has performed at the Pumpkin Theatre as well as numerous venues around the country. Working as a Vocal Producer for various national artists from his studio in Umhlanga where he also offers master classes in vocal training. Aaron playing guitar and both singing, blending into unique harmony, achieved only by two musicians who have the same level of appreciation for the sheer brilliance, yet simplicity that is Simon & Garfunkel.
“Memoirs: the music of Simon & Garfunkel” feature hit song such as “Bridge over Troubled Water”, “The Boxer”, “Sound Of Silence”, “America”, and many other foot-stomping, hand clapping, sing-along hits, as well as some of the more dramatic and poetic offerings from this duo, and is sure to entertain all who attend.
A bit of history: Jan – October 2011
- Here enters the conception of “Memoirs: the Music of Simon & Garfunkel”, and one has to give a little bit of context, for the show as you see it now, has a story attached that would without it, just not be proper show business…. -
The idea was originally envisioned to be a brotherly affair.
Aaron Nel
Aaron Nel and older brother Johan Nel, both grew up with the music of Simon & Garfunkel constantly “on air” in their childhood home in a small town called Marble Hall, Mpumalanga in the 1970’s. Both the Nel siblings grew up to follow careers in music, there had not been an opportunity to collaborate. Both agreed that it would be a great idea to perform “Memoirs” together, but soon after rehearsals started, the collective water under both the bridges in the years between them, would prove too much distraction for a project of this magnitude. With shows booked and 3 weeks from curtains up, it was a question of emergency, to say the least!
Here enters Shanthan Pillay, a fantastic performer and colleague of Aaron’s. He agreed to do the show which was booked at the Sterling Theater, Durban – May 2011. Being the quality performer that Shanthan is, he learned the whole show in 3 weeks, and the maiden voyage of “Memoirs” was a fantastically gratifying experience all round, thanks to a little help from their friends in the local media and entertainment industries; receiving good support from the Durban press.
Youtube: Aaron Nel – Hazy Shade of Winter
Immediately the attention was placed on touring different centers in South Africa, or abroad if possible. However, “Memoirs” at the time, was going through the process of replacing the heroic Shanthan – who had contractual agreements in Turkey.
Enter another very talented man: Al Andrew
Al Andrew
- who has performed at the Pumpkin Theatre as well as numerous venues around the country. Al is a Vocal Producer for various national artists from his studio in Umhlanga where he also offers master classes in vocal training. In a nutshell: this man can sing!
His website: www.al-andrew.com
After rehearsing intensely for 5 weeks, the show had its first “tour” to The Barnyard Vereeniging in August 2011, with the new 2-man format consisting of Al and Aaron. Their hard work paid off well, having made a host of new friends through strong performances. The 350 seats-venue has a fantastic sound engineer, and general technical staff, with the highlight being performing to 250 people for one of the shows, in a total four performances.
Soon the desire started to become an achievable goal. Now sitting in front of the itinerary, is a moment where all the lessons learnt in the whirlwind that has been the last three years, have to lock into place.
