The Steel Rosettes are taking their steel-string acoustic guitars and African-inspired music to the NZCT Chamber of Music Contest finals.
When the Waimea College guitar quartet play on stage at The Piano in Christchurch on 5 August, it will be the first time Nelson or Tasman musicians have made it to the finals in 22 years.
The quartet of Pyper Smith, Olly Bucsh, Adam Teece and Oscar Perrott have all been playing their guitars for years and while the three boys played in the same rock band at Waimea Intermediate, Pyper played in another rock band at the school.
This year they teamed up to win the district final in the Chamber of Music Contest and then the regional final to secure the opportunity to perform with some of the country’s best young musicians. The contest acts as a springboard for young musicians and composers.
Their music teacher Brett Smith says he is unaware of steel-string guitars ever reaching the finals before and the Waimea musicians will be up against piano trios and string quartets.
“To make the finals is a big deal,” he says.
Added to that is their contemporary style of music which is a “dynamic performance” of a piece written by Brett for the group.
Tracks through Africa is inspired by the traditional sounds, rhythm and culture of Africa and the group have individual parts to play to bring it to life. At competition, the quartet dress in traditional African designs and colour for their choreographed performance.
“The whole point is to play as a group instead of individuals,” says Adam.
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“We’re communicating between each other as a group and if you took one person away, the group wouldn’t function. You need all the individual parts to play, balancing them appropriately to make the piece come to life.”
Oscar says the group have good chemistry and were the only group at the regional finals that played without sheets of music in front of them, which enabled them to be concentrate on their performance.
The school’s percussion group Zivkovic Stix achieved third place at the regional contest and Brett says that is the first time two groups from the region have made it to the finals.
