The Rule of three. Discovery of new talent and music

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March 16 was eventful, tiring, laughter and most of all worth it.

Let me start off and say our hiking squad, yes, we do have one but we are far from professionals. We travelled all the way to Magaliesburg in the North West Province, 1 hour and a half to do a 10 km hike, only to find out it was 12km!

Hiking is one of the best things to do in order to detox, meet people and test your body to the limit.

But I am not here to blog about my hiking experience but rather what we did afterwards, attending my first play at the famous Market Theatre in Newtown, Johannesburg
Myself and Pearl Mahachi. Photo: Market Theatre

 I had one of my closet friends tag along to what was a completely unexpected experience. The Rule of Three kicked off the Flemish dance season in SA. The play was marketed as a dance and music infusion that is inspired by both the musician who we came to know as NAH, real name Michul Kuun and choreographed by Jan Martens.

The play is a collection of short stories, I would be lying if I say I knew what they were before. I was lost and didn’t understand the direction of the stories nor dance but what I was really enthralled by was the man behind the music. I was fixed by Michul's music, the beats, the drops, his drums and how composed he was throughout.

He was the star of the show.
Artist and drummer NAH. Photo: Market Theatre

Back to the dance performance side of the play, dancers Courtney May Robertson, Dan Mussett and Steven Michel had their moments. However, Robertson even with a small stature was captivating. She has powerful movement and at one point with the live music created by NAH, which was a set of hip and hop and electronics.

As the play ended and as dumbfounded as we were after an hour of the show we did not get or follow. I had an amazing opportunity to interview the man behind the music, who came all the way from Philadelphia in the USA, the only thing that made real sense for me.

Photo: The Rule of Three dancers. Supplied 

 He was discovered by Martens who found his music through a music blog.

"The choreographer asked me to do this creation in June 2017, we premiered in Belgium in September 2017 and I think I have done the show now 85 times,' NAH said.

He said the creation was a blend of his ideas and the dancer's idea, "We got together during the days to trade ideas, sometimes I had to be ready to make anything, it's just a creation of music and dance."

NAH said his genre of music is it specific, " My main influence is growing up with US hip hop, playing in punk bands, then gradually growing up listening to jazz, world sounds, stuff from Japan to Africa soaking it all up and be the drummer I am and make weird sounds with drums."

It was his first time in South Africa found it really cool walking around Newtown and is excited to collaborate with new music talent in the country.

Watch the space. 


To hear the great sounds of Michul Kuun, aka NAH visit www.nahstuff.bandcamp.com

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