South African Grammy winner Wouter Kellerman and four-time Grammy nominee David Arkenstone have collaborated on a new album.
Titled "Pangaea", the name of the supercontinent that existed before it broke apart to form the existing continents, the connected symbolism is that the music calls for unity in these divided times and for a culture of valuing the earth and nature.
The album comes hot off his SAMA win for Best Classical/ Instrumental Album for his 2020 release, “We’ve Known All Times”.
The duo started working on the album last year, thanks to lockdown.
“David and I had been talking about doing something together for a long time, and having live concerts cancelled presented us with the opportunity to start creating together.
“The world has become such a fractured place, and we wanted to put something unifying and healing out that could contribute to a change of direction,” Kellerman explained.
Kellerman, who is a flautist, producer and composer, has won seven South African Music Awards.
Using his classical training as a foundation, he has focused his attention on world and roots music, exploring the versatility of the instrument and fusing classical and contemporary sounds.
While there are no lyrics on the album, the message of rejuvenation, unity and togetherness is still clear.
“When we started working on this album, we did not have a clear idea of what we wanted the end product to be.
“We started very much with a blank slate and discovered the road as we went along. It was all very exciting,” he said.
One of the biggest challenges with putting "Pangaea" together was being in different parts of the world.
“We worked together while being on different continents and time zones, recording separately and sending files across, which was challenging but worked surprisingly well. The limitations brought a kind of discipline and a different kind of creativity,” he added.
On how this album differs from his previous offerings, Kellerman said that working with Arkenstone saw him take a different approach and “the palette of colours are different, taking on a more cinematic feel”.
Kellerman said that he hopes people take away a wholesome sense of wonder, imagination, and the expectation of realisation of potential when listening to "Pangaea".