I spent a very enjoyable 90 minutes at the Orange Bull Bar in London on Sunday afternoon watching Rozanne Gewaar delivering her fragile and introspective tunes for a small but appreciative audience. She was in London just for the weekend on her way back to the States (where she currently lives) from Amsterdam where she played earlier in the week.
The intimate setting belied the fact that the Orange Bull is known more as a rowdy sports bar catering for South African expats and a growing number of London locals developing a taste for ‘braai’ cuisine (hopefully they’ll add a few vegetarian dishes to the menu soon as well) and rugby on the big screen.
However the venue has a fair-sized stage and ample stage-facing seating to make it a great venue for South African music, which the proprietor, Gunter, tells me is precisely what they’re aiming to do. Hopefully the knowledge of venues like the Orange Bull – which are geared up for live music – will attract more South African acts to London.
Gewaar performed a selection of tracks from her three albums, a mixture of English and Afrikaans songs, and was later joined by another guitarist, and then another, who added a more robust backdrop to her own gentle playing.
Rozanne kindly donated a copy of each of her three CDs to the Tune Me What? library so listen out for more of her music on future shows. The albums are all available via Bandcamp.
Visit Rozanne Gewaar’s website to find out more about her.
