Work
A Kalahari Eclogue
for orchestra and youth string orchestra
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About
The Kalahari Desert is mostly a semi-arid sandy savanna that stretches across most of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. Kalahari is derived from the Buntu words Kgala and gadi, meaning "a waterless place".
This work, commissioned by SOUNZ for Orchestra Wellington and Arohanui Strings – Sistema, looks at that great expanse and captures the red landscape in music. The musical material is simple, and I treat that material with elements of music making from South Africa and echo a traditional Xhosa bowed instrument called an Uhadi.
The focus of the piece is to paint that landscape for the listener, at times in the deep quiet night or the heat of the day, that is why I have called it an Eclogue. This piece may be bucolic, but it also uses the orchestra at force, conjuring those mighty lightning storms that bring so little relief for the life that clings to the desert for survival.