Cello Retold

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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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Cellist, singer and composer Abel Selaocoe explores the infinite bounds of the cello.

South African cellist, singer and composer Abel Selaocoe explores the infinite bounds of the cello, looking at how the instrument can speak with itself on many different levels.

Cello Retold: Virtuosity and the Voice

Virtuosity and the Voice

BBC Radio 3 - Cello Retold, Virtuosity and the Voice

Abel Selaocoe demonstrates the cello's capacity for imitating other musical instruments.

Abel demonstrates how the cello's phenomenal virtuosity and human-like voice is common to similar instruments in other cultures, including the Eritrean wata and South African lesiba.

South African cellist, singer and composer Abel Selaocoe explores the infinite bounds of the cello, looking at how virtuosic power and vocal expression carries through similar instruments around the world.

In this episode, Abel explains how the cello's phenomenal virtuosity and human-like voice is common to similar instruments in other cultures, including the Eritrean wata and South African lesiba, and delves into how poetry and storytelling is communicated through the cello. With some incredible improvisations Abel demonstrates how he creates so many fascinating sounds on the instrument such as circular bowing inspired by Lesotho's sekhankula, and moves from the virtuosity of Bach to the yearning expressivity of Egyptian tonality, as well as improvising on the music of Tanzania's Wagogo people.

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