SONG SAFARIS

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Our Song Safaris was developed by Anders Nyberg, world renown Swedish coral conductor, who facilitates most of these tours in collaboration with a host of gifted musicians, culture groups and coral conductors from around the globe. Among these collaborations is his wife, Jennifer Ferguson, multi-award winning performing artist, composer and poet, and as a team, Anders and Jennifer co-creates a tapestry of musical brilliance on our Song Safaris.

The concept SONG SAFARI originated from his work in Sweden with music in nature. In South Africa the concept has been elaborated together with South African musicians to explore the coming together of music and nature as well as the mixing of diverse cultures. The typical Song Safari starts out in a Nature Reserve together with a South African cultural group as the teachers of song, dance and drumming; an ecstatic cultural experience in pristine nature. From here the tour winds up exploring some of South Africa's best tourist sites.

After successfully working with the Song Safaris for almost a decade we can truly say it is a fantastic concept, offering some of the best South Africa can offer of both its cultural, natural and human riches.

ABOUT ANDERS NYBERG:

Anders is born in Sweden but is a citizen of both Sweden and South Africa. Being a cultural bridge between the North and the South has become a life vocation.

He studied choral conducting at the Royal Music Academy of Stockholm but confesses that his greatest teachers and inspiration comes from local folk musicians from his two musical poles; his native Dalarna in Sweden and his adopted home country South Africa.

As leader of the vocal group Fjedur Anders toured South Africa already in 1978. The encounter with the beloved but deeply troubled country and the prominent role of singing in its liberation gave an indelible impression that shaped a lot of his consecutive work. In 1980 he returned to work a year as a volunteer within the Lutheran Church with choral music and youth in the township of Gugulethu, Cape Town. Back home in Sweden the work with Fjedur continued. Alongside exploring the fusion between Swedish traditional music, choral music and jazz, in concert and on vinyl together with some of the jazz greats of Sweden like Arne Domnérus, Georg Riedel and Bengt Hallberg, he arranged and produced booklets and albums with South African songs of Protest and Praise. Through the international tours of Fjedur and his own extensive workshopping the songbooks, especially "Freedom is coming", spread rapidly. Today the music has not only become an integral part of Swedish choral life but has spread globally and been translated into a number of languages as well.

As a conductor and educator Anders has held inspired seminars and workshops in over 20 countries on five continents. In Sweden he has been a recurring guest-lecturer at the Music Conservatories of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Piteå and the University of Växjö, as well as in innumerable other educational institutions, choral festivals and local choirs. Anders also served as the first director of a unique world music education at the Stiernhööks gymnasium, Rättvik, Sweden. He was nominated the "Swedish Choir Leader of the Year" in 1986.

In South Africa Anders has, together with his wife singer-songwriter and cultural activist Jennifer Ferguson, developed the "Peace of Music Centre", a cultural hotspot and meeting place in their home in central Johannesburg. It is hosting concerts and workshops and acts as a vantage point for local cultural activism. The work with children has been a priority, resulting in among other things the production of "Seeds of Peace", a CD featuring some of South Africa's most prominent artists, like Vusi Mahlasela, Gloria Bosman and Johnny Clegg together with street children.

Anders Nyberg has also worked successfully with film. In 2005 he was nominated for an Oscar in the category best foreign movie. "As it is in heaven", is a film about a choir and its conductor. Co-scripted by Anders, the movie has become the most viewed Swedish movie ever as well as receiving great international acclaim. In Australia it is still running, (July 07) surpassing movies like Ben Hur and Titanic as the longest running show in the country. In South Africa it has also become a cult-movie still attracting viewers more than half a year after its premier.

To facilitate his composing and arranging, alongside the conducting, Anders developed his own publishing company "Utryck", which has now published more than 100 of his compositions and arrangements and has distribution in the US through Walton and Hal Leonard and in the UK through Wild Goose Publications. It is now about to open web-distribution through the homepage www.utryck.se

ABOUT JENNIFER FERGUSON:

Jennifer Ferguson, has evolved as one of SA’s most powerful female songwriters and performers. Absorbing and reflecting the specific hues and textures of the South African landscape, she is a master story -teller of song, who spins the evocative melodies, images and phrases from an Afro-Nordic influence, into the gut-wrenching honesty of her narrative. These create a weave of delicate beauty and depth, as well as an uncompromising emotional expression.