Freedom Day Celebration with The Hilton Schilder Goema Club

A live concert presentation of local music at The Fugard Theatre on Wednesday, 26 April 2023. Featuring an internationally acclaimed, local legend Hilton Schilder and his 8 piece big band.
Exciting compositions and an array of musical talent..piano, double bass, drums, guitar, alto sax, tenor sax, trumpet, flugelhorn and the voice of Candice Thornton.

Globally recognized South African musicians add flavour to Freedom Day!
Where
Star Theatre, District 6 Museum, Homecoming Centre (formerly Athol Fugard Theatre)
Corner Caledon Street &, Buitenkant St, District Six, Cape Town

When

Wednesday, 26 April 2023 at 19h30 (next day is a public holiday)

What better way to celebrate our freedom than with The Hilton Schilder Goema Club?

Hilton Schilder is an international musical performer, writer, artist and raconteur from South Africa who has recorded over 45 albums globally. His musical versatility emerges in the form of Jazz, Afro-Jazz, Rock, Classical, 4th Wave, Afropunk and Goema. This up-tempo music style is unique to the Cape.

Like other South African artists, Schilder had his music banned from the airwaves under apartheid. Schilder and those artists were treated as persona non grata on TV, radio and print yet they were able to forge great support from fans, here and abroad.

The Hilton Schilder Goema Club was launched after lockdowns brought on by the Covid 19 pandemic, when we all needed a musical booster shot. Award-winning young musicians energise Schilder’s compositions.

With the infectious Goema rhythm of drummer Carlo Fabe’s sticks and the melodic groove of Sean Sanby’s double bass; the powerful horn section with Byron Abrahams (tenor sax), Muneeb Hermans (trumpet), Jed Petersen (tenor sax) and Brett Edwards (trombone) elevate our music to world class standards. Candice Thornton adds a strong, yet dulcet, vocal beauty.

When our diverse genetics meet to make music, you can hear the sonic layers of the Khoe Mouthbow, the echo of urbanised Marabi, the drums of Malaysia, poly rhythms of Afrika, undulating riffs of Cape Jazz, the strains of European ditties and the musical spice of Asia... coming together in up-tempo happiness. You cannot stop your foot tapping or your happy smile.

This is The Hilton Schilder Goema Club, where all are welcome.

Bongani Sotshononda, Afrofest SA Spokesperson, says “There can be no better place to introduce an inclusive African music concert than the Homecoming Centre. District 6 was once the most diverse multicultural community in South Africa, and perhaps the world. It’s fitting that a celebration of diverse African identity should begin here, in anticipation of the Afrofest Music Festival coming to SA in December 2023”.