Baroque in an African bush

A smell of wild air and a sense of threat, always present when you move between the big five in the Kruger National Park, was absent when every living creature kept quit to hear the distinctive sound of strings floating out of the bush.
 

I went to the Kruger Park to look after two toddlers for a weekend and found the most inspiring sound I ever heard in the African bush – that of a Baroque ensemble playing at the Zhingwedzi camp. They have done this for years, I learn, under the enthusiastic baton of Richard Cock, renowned conductor of Johannesburg.
 

While guests have a chance to see elephant, giraffe, rhino, lions and a lot of buck at some stage in the daytime they retreat to the camp to round their experience off with a bit of Handel or Telemann – all very calming to the soul.  Can you imagine something more soothing than listening to the sound of a cello, flute or penetrating oboe while looking at the deadpan face of a buffalo? Can you hear Camillia Onea playing quick solos on her violin that takes you away to a flamboyant world complex in its simplicity? The intertwined sadness and grace of this combined beauty right in front of you flows into an ageless feeling of optimism and excitement while the human made sound on instruments transforms every perception of nature.
 

I have heard a violin in the bush before, Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Part, was played at the Djuma Game Lodge a couple of years ago by Libbie du Toit and Louis Maritz and I had the privileged  realization then of the extraordinary effect of the bush as background for classical music.
 

Baroque is beautiful.  And the professional playing of musicians makes this an experience at the top of the range of feel good things to do. Look out for the animals, but take a closer look at South African musicians. They walk the long road of bringing quality to all corners of the country and they deserve support and respect for doing that.