Gwaing
Bio
Gwaing is a trio ensemble focused on free improvisation and experimental music. The band consists of Charles Palm (analogue synth), Jacques van Zyl (proto electronics, iMac, and laptop), and Garth Erasmus (saxophone and self-made instruments based on Khoisan indigenous knowledge systems). Although the trio forms the core of Gwaing, the group collaborates extensively with invited artists and musicians and is an important component of SENSA (the Sound Exploration Network of South Africa). All three members are also actively involved in the visual art world in the creation of sound art and sound installations.
Gwaing became a possibility during a chance encounter between hashtag_blacknoise (Jacques van Zyl) and Charles Palm when a visiting Australian experimentalist set up a jam session in Stellenbosch, which brought on a conversation of setting up a sequence of regular musical events in an art gallery in this iconic university town. Charles had periodically been working with Garth Erasmus, who also happened to be playing in the noise band Ski Crime with Jacques. Teaming up with Belinda Blignaut performing on a wet clay object from her artist’s studio, a jam session at the gallery went so well that the group thought to extend the encounter to a more regular arrangement.
Until this point, the moniker Social Distance Band had been ironically thrown about. A number of similar events later, with various musicians periodically joining what turned out to be a core group of Charles, Garth and Jacques, the three decided on the name Gwaing for the collective. Gwaing is a river in the Eastern Cape, which seemed to be fitting on a number of levels. The etymology of the obviously onomatopoeic name proved to be quite elusive, but elders in the Pacaltsdorp surrounds professed to have knowledge about its origins and meaning. They would, however, only discuss this in person. By now Stellenbosch was beginning to be referred to as Khoisanland, and the general ethic of Garth’s indigenous knowledge systems and Charles’s displaced histories began to exert its influence on the direction in which the group was heading.
Gwaing is intentionally structured to include musicians and sound makers from every conceivable discipline, whether artistic or not, with a specific ethic of freedom, inclusion, and community involvement. The multi-instrumentalist Justin Jephtas and poet-vocalist Chrystal Williams soon joined the fray and regularly contributed to the mentioned gallery sessions.
A first album, Bygones, was released in April 2021. Individual members are encouraged to rework any material and to submit these compositions as Gwaing micro-expressions.
Projects and Involvement
Collectively and individually Gwaing have been involved with the following artists, collectives, and artistic practices:
Belinda Blignaut: Working from the Inside, Mud Rites, The Call From Things, Social Distance Band
Mia Thom: Bloom, Idée fixe, Attune, Night Swim
Edge of Wrong – Ectopias
Sonya Rademeyer – sound drawing / jam session at GUS
Hamshack Radio – monthly residency at community radio station
Khoi Khonnexion – ongoing
Vanessa Lorenzo – Always Calling Home
Ski Crime – Watermelon Snow, ongoing
Under the Dome – with Jason Stapleton
Light Art 2021 | Spier Wine Farm – The Boogeyman - A message from Stellenbosch
Members
Charles Palm, Garth Erasmus, Jacques van Zyl, Chrystal Williams, Justin Jephtas, Belinda Blignaut and others
Gear
Charles Palm: analogue synthesizer
Garth Erasmus: self-designed and built stringed instruments inspired by indigenous knowledge systems (notably bows and the zaan,) saxophones, vocals
Jacques van Zyl: home-built proto-electronic effects and nerve nets, samples, laptop (Gqrx, Audacity, & PureData), iMac (Spongefork, Argeïphontes Lyre, SPEAR), and cracked toy processors
Discography
Contact
gwaingband@gmail.com
