Michael Blake
Country of origin:
South Africa
Birthday:
1951
About Michael Blake
Michael Blake was born in Cape Town in 1951 and studied music in Johannesburg and London. He is largely self-taught as a composer. During the 1970s, working in relative isolation in South Africa, Blake was drawn towards conceptual art and the American experimental music tradition.In 1976 he also began exploring African aesthetics and composition techniques, an approach described in the Cambridge History of 20th-century Music as "understated translations of African music into Western idioms [that] deftly negotiate the borderline between quotation and abstraction". This project continues to preoccupy him, but he has also engaged with the past, through reworking the materials of Western music, jazz and popular music. His ensemble, London New Music was part of the alternative music scene in London during the 1980s-90s. After returning to South Africa in 1998 he established structures that helped to promote South African new music internationally: an ISCM section, the New Music Indaba festival, and Sterkfontein Composers Meeting.
In the 2000s he curated The Bow Project, for which 20 string quartet responses to the uhadi bow songs of Nofinishi Dywili were composed. Blake has worked with the Fitzwilliam String Quartet, Axelsson-Nilsson Duo, X[iksa], Ensemble Bash, Fidelio Trio, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, Daan Vandewalle, John Tilbury, Michael Finnissy and Friedrich Gauwerky. Performances in recent years include Festival d’Automne a Paris, Ars Musica Belgium, World Music Days Slovenia, and concerts in New York, Mexico City, Tokyo, Vienna, Milan, Cologne, Stockholm, and Ghent. His music has been recorded on a dozen CDs and he is involved in an ongoing collaboration with film-maker Aryan Kaganof.
www.michaelblake.co.za
Products
-
Composer: Michael BlakeInterpreter: Daan VandewalleMedia Type: MP3 downloadProduct number: WER 73612 Q51527In stock€2.99Incl. Tax
-
Composer: Michael BlakeInterpreter: Friedrich Gauwerky | Daan VandewalleMedia Type: MP3 downloadProduct number: WER 73612 Q50939In stock€0.99Incl. Tax
-
(music for the 1929 silent film by Gustav Macharty)Composer: Michael BlakeMedia Type: Hire/performance materialEdition: Performance materialInstrumentation: flute, bass clarinet, piano and viola
-
for string orchestraComposer: Michael BlakeMedia Type: Hire/performance materialEdition: Performance materialInstrumentation: string orchestra
-
for chamber orchestraComposer: Michael BlakeMedia Type: Hire/performance materialEdition: Performance materialInstrumentation: chamber orchestra
-
Composer: Lounge Lizards | John LurieInterpreter: Steven Bernstein | Michael Blake | Oren Bloedow | Bryan Carrott | John Lurie | Billy Martin | Michele Navazio | Jane Scarpantoni | G. Calvin WestonMedia Type: CDProduct number: INT 20552In stock€12.99Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping
-
Composer: Michael BlakeInterpreter: Michael BlakeMedia Type: CDProduct number: INT 32132Short Description: The brilliant second album after Blake's smash debut ''Kingdom Of Champa''.In stock€12.99Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping
-
In stock€8.00Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping
-
Composer: Michael BlakeInterpreter: Friedrich GauwerkyMedia Type: MP3 downloadProduct number: WER 73612 Q51591In stock€3.99Incl. Tax
-
for ensembleComposer: Michael BlakeMedia Type: Hire/performance materialEdition: Performance materialInstrumentation: ensemble
-
Composer: Michael BlakeInterpreter: Daan VandewalleMedia Type: MP3 downloadProduct number: WER 73612 Q51321In stock€1.99Incl. Tax
-
Composer: Michael Blake | Dave Brubeck | Johnny Cash | Kurt Cobain | Blind Willie Johnson | Slow Poke | David TronzoInterpreter: Michael Blake | Tony Scherr | David Tronzo | Kenny WollesenMedia Type: CDProduct number: INT 32602In stock€12.99Incl. Tax, Excl. Shipping
-
Composer: Michael BlakeInterpreter: Friedrich Gauwerky | Daan VandewalleMedia Type: MP3 downloadProduct number: WER 73612 Q51327In stock€1.99Incl. Tax
-
Composer: Michael BlakeInterpreter: Friedrich Gauwerky | Daan VandewalleMedia Type: MP3 downloadProduct number: WER 73612 Q51325In stock€1.99Incl. Tax
-
Composer: Michael BlakeInterpreter: Friedrich Gauwerky | Daan VandewalleMedia Type: MP3 downloadProduct number: WER 73612 Q51326In stock€1.99Incl. Tax
-
Composer: Michael BlakeInterpreter: Friedrich Gauwerky | Daan VandewalleMedia Type: MP3 downloadProduct number: WER 73612 Q50940In stock€0.99Incl. Tax
-
Composer: Michael BlakeInterpreter: Friedrich Gauwerky | Daan VandewalleMedia Type: MP3 downloadProduct number: WER 73612 Q51302In stock€1.99Incl. Tax
-
Composer: Michael BlakeMedia Type: Hire/performance materialEdition: Performance materialInstrumentation: electric guitar, viola, viola da gamba, cello, double bass
-
Works for Violoncello and PianoComposer: Michael BlakeInterpreter: Friedrich Gauwerky | Daan VandewalleProduct number: WER 73612Product TypeIn stockAs low as €11.99Incl. Tax
-
Composer: Michael BlakeInterpreter: Friedrich Gauwerky | Daan VandewalleMedia Type: MP3 downloadProduct number: WER 73612 Q51489In stock€2.99Incl. Tax
-
Works for Violoncello and PianoComposer: Michael BlakeInterpreter: Friedrich Gauwerky | Daan VandewalleProduct number: WER 73612 Q51707In stockStarting at €0.99
-
Composer: Michael BlakeInterpreter: Friedrich GauwerkyMedia Type: MP3 downloadProduct number: WER 73612 Q50941In stock€0.99Incl. Tax
-
for ensembleComposer: Michael BlakeMedia Type: Hire/performance materialEdition: Performance materialInstrumentation: ensemble