Selim Kagee ready to romance, charm and inspire admirers in Prince Albert

Music lovers at The Showroom Theatre will be the first to see Selim Kagee’s new show!

Daniel Dercksen shares a few thoughts with Selim Kagee, South Africa’s premier classical crossover singer, who has wowed audiences across the country with his fine classical voice, and makes a welcome return to Prince Albert for a new show at The Showroom Theatre on July 30 at 8pm.

Selim

“I love mixing things up and adding elements of surprise within a show and presenting classically inclined music with a popular sensibility in a way that all people can relate to,” says Kagee. Kagee will be joined onstage by Riaan van Wyk on piano, Rashaad Kagee on guitar and Donne De Kock on violin and will perform a selection of romantic standards in both English and Italian, such as “O Sole Mio”, “Can’t Help Falling Inlove and evergreens such as “Night and Day” as well as his original single “Cry For Love” Performing light, tuneful classics, other songs included on the line-up are “Surrender”, “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” and “Wonderful Tonight” The songs are all linked with humorous anecdotes of his life. One of the highlights of the show is a tasteful introduction of Indian instrumentation to a few of the songs offering a unique fusion of East meets West.

If you want to secure your seat for Kagee’s once-off performance at The Showroom Theatre on July 30 at 8pm, you can book online by visiting the website www.showroomtheatre.co.za, or calling 023 5411 563

This is your second visit the The Showroom Theatre in Prince Albert. You must have some fond memories of you previous sell-out show?

We were wonderfully received at the Showroom Theatre in 2014, we performed 2 shows and audiences really seemed to enjoy the music. I think my repertoire appeals to a slightly sophisticated audiences that appreciate an ‘old-worldly’ culture and the finer things in life, so it was a great fit for the people of Prince Albert.

SELIM LIVE SMALLER

Selim Kagee, who was born in Cape Town and classically trained by the late South African soprano Jean Stuart, manages to touch the hearts of his audience every time he performs. This show promises to be one of the most spectacular highlights on this year’s events calendar. After teaming up with respected songwriter and producer Clive Ridgway, the two embarked on a journey that culminated in EMI Music signing Kagee to their international label. His stellar 12-track EMI Music debut into the world of contemporary classical music has been a work and dream that has been evolving over the past 20 years. “I’ve always had a great desire to perform, act and express my creative energy,” explains Kagee. Since the release of his EMI debut album Cry For Love in 2012, Kagee is fast putting his inimitable signature on a sound which music lovers all over the world continue to love and support and now, thanks to his remarkable ability, it is coming straight out of Africa.

You are described as a classical crossover singer. Tell me about this?

Or some people say opera pop, or pop opera. I guess it’s crossing over from the classical genre to the pop. Mario Lanza was probably the first Tenor to achieve this, by appealing to audiences who are not necessarily opera go-ers. So did Pavarotti with his highly successful Pavarotti and Friends concert tours – singing with pop stars around the world.

 What makes this show different?

I have new repertoire that I will be performing with a 3 piece band and tracks, so the sound will still be quite full. I think it’s important to have a full sound for the type of music arrangements that I perform, which are lush and orchestral.

 What songs can your fans expect?

Without giving away too much, audiences can expect to hear new renditions of You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, Wonderful Tonight and some light Italian romantic standards.

Tell me about the musicians that will join you on stage?

Riaan van Wyk is on piano, we’ve been performing together for about 10 years, he normally conducts the orchestra to my shows so it’s always great to have him on tour.

He keeps things together for the band and prepares the music and makes the food! 😉

I met Rashaad Kagee (no relation), our guitarist few months ago at an event, and he’s got a really soulful style of playing. He plays well known romantic standards with a slight latin feel to it and will be doing a solo feature in the show as well.

Donne our violinist is an immensely talented player. She plays with the most feeling that I’ve seen anyone play. She’s been travelling a lot around the world and we’re very fortunate to have he with on this tour.

 

KAGEE

You mentioned that there is ‘a tasteful introduction of Indian instrumentation to a few of the songs’. Tell me about this?

Over the past year I’ve been experimenting with different sounds and have found some great musical inspiration from my own Indian culture. So we’re performing 1 or 2 songs with an Indian flavour to it, which is something quite different and still very beautiful and rich to listen to.

What do you hope audiences will get out of watching the show?

Well I hope that they will be romanced, charmed and inspired by beautiful music.

You said that you love mixing things up and adding elements of surprise within a show and presenting classically inclined music with a popular sensibility in a way that all people can relate to …Tell me about this?

I’ve been trained as a classical singer (like opera singers) but instead of a stiff approach to singing classical music, I like to make it more accessible to audiences that may otherwise not attend theatre or classical recitals. So I may perform an Italian folk song next to a modern pop song with some storytelling in-between to draw the audience closer, and people enjoy that.

 Any comments you would like to share regarding the show?

It’s a new show that I’ve been working on for the past year and Prince Albert will be the first to hear and see it!

Watch a music video of Cry For love