Hennie Bekker is an award winning, multi-platinum selling musician whose eclectic career spans decades, continents, generations and genres. Best known for his New Age sound on the Solitudes, Kaleidoscope and Hennie Bekker's Tranquility album series, he was also a creative force behind BKS, one of Canada’s most successful techno/dance bands.
Bekker was raised in Mufulira, a Zambian copper mining town 10 miles south of the Congo border. In those early years, he was captivated by the symphonic sounds of the African wilderness, the haunting harmonies of tribal chanting and the rhythmic dialogue of drummers communicating between camps at sundown. He is a self-taught pianist who had his professional debut at age 15, spending the next decade performing with various bands throughout Zambia, Zaire, Zimbabwe and Kenya. His success as a fusion-jazz musician and band leader elevated him to become the musical director for one of South Africa’s largest record companies. Here, he added scores of film, television, radio and commercial music to his list of career accomplishments.
Bekker brought his musical skills to London, England, where he, along with producer Emil Zogby, arranged, conducted and produced albums for such notable artists as Freddie Cole, Magna Carta and Stanley Black.
In 1987, Bekker emigrated to Canada where he concentrated on commercial work and recorded over twenty instrumental albums for stock-music companies. This experience led him to SolitudesTM, where he composed ambient melodies to compliment Dan Gibson’s nature sounds. The two collaborated on the first fourteen Exploring Nature With Music albums, a highly successful series that has sold gold, platinum, double platinum and triple platinum volumes.
Having established himself as a top Easy Listening composer, Bekker went on to compose, arrange and produce a solo series of soothing, meditative, nature inspired albums. In the Kaleidoscope and Tranquility series, he applied his signature style to original songs that captured the essence of a mood, memory or season as well as interpretations of familiar classics, carols and lullabies. His renowned African Tapestries series pays homage to his homeland, an expedition of World music interwoven with sounds from his roots.
Bekker’s versatility is demonstrated by his innovative techno work with the band BKS, which produced a string of progressive hits popular in the contemporary club scene. Collaborating with Greg Kavanagh and Chris Sheppard, Bekker and his electronic wizardry struck a chord with DJ’s and the youth market as they toured North America and climbed the Billboard dance charts. Among other accolades, BKS’s Astroplane won the 1997 Juno award for best dance recording.
Bekker is a master of musical technology, using the full resources of his state-of-the-art studio to blend, stretch, layer and enhance his core sounds. He is a prolific professional who is constantly creating, exploring and recording auditory portraits that captivate a wide audience. Be it a solo or collaborative effort, an original or interpretive piece, a conventional or inventive track, Bekker’s artistry will continue to inspire.
TEMBA (Hope)
As the white moon drops slowly
Burning night time rituals to commencement
Africa revels in the spirit of hope
Under enigmatic skies and a temperamental sun
She rests wisely on the globe,
The mystical mother
Drowning the desert with kisses
From the river
Most of us
Have never seen
Anger sets her jaw
Forthright and proud
Into the shadows of beauty
As the brow of a nation
Shades her eyes.
She is the mystery and glory
Of Africa
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