Cellist Abel Selaocoe

»Being at one with the cello, that is about learning the rules so much that you can break them. I have learned how to play the cello, but I also started to see it not as a cello, but as a box that creates any sound that I need it to.« –Abel Selaocoe

As a fellow at Beethovenfest 2023, Abel Selaocoe crossed borders with his playing. The South African cellist, composer and singer won the hearts of the audience with a solo evening and an electrifying performance together with the Manchester Collective ensemble. Between classical works and traditional African music, he effortlessly found his own language.

»In the crypt, I play my solo show, called ›Where is home?‹ It is simply voice and the cello, putting our some original music that speaks about finding a place on this earth and feeling a sense of purpose.« 

In Abel Selaocoe’s words, it was about navigating between homelands. In his solo late night concert in the crypt of the Festival Centre Kreuzkirche , he effortlessly interwove Johann Sebastian Bach’s suites with African chants and seamlessly transitioned into advanced improvisation. The cellist created magical moments using a loop station: he recorded himself live, layering cello sounds, noises from percussive playing techniques and his versatile voice on top of each other. In doing so, he remained in close contact with the audience, who sat opposite him on the benches in the crypt. Hardly anyone could escape the hypnotic power of his authentic music-making.

»The Late Night was a beautiful gathering, extremely intimate. It was late at night, when everybody was meant to be sleeping, but we were partying, creating a very special vibe in the room. I really enjoyed it. That particular audience was great for me.«

»With Manchester Collective, we play a really incredible assortment of musics from Haydn all the way to some traditional South African music and some of my compositions. The show is called Sirocco. It’s wind that travels between Europe and Africa.«

With the string players, the electric guitarist and the percussionist from Manchester Collective, Selaocoe ignited a firework display of joie de vivre in music. The seven musicians combined music from different times and regions with a strong gift for improvisation to create their very own sound. It became clear that an understanding of music beyond cultural categorisation can open up completely new worlds – an idea that is important for the Fellowship project as a whole. For Selaocoe and his unique story as a township boy who learnt classical cello and made it to the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, this path is completely natural.

»The music that I write is a contemporary of all the places that I come from, the influences. I started cello when I was very young, at the age of eight. Already I was practicing my African culture: singing, throat singing and sort of things. These things grew up at the same time together. It became really natural for me to write music like that. There is a strand, something that connects the cultures. Even if it looks very small, it can grow. That’s what I work on.«

»There is a strand, something that connects the cultures. Even if it looks very small, it can grow. That’s what I work on.«