{"id":13661,"date":"2021-11-25T17:26:44","date_gmt":"2021-11-25T15:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=13661"},"modified":"2021-11-25T17:34:07","modified_gmt":"2021-11-25T15:34:07","slug":"south-african-recording-artist-wouter-kellerman-nominated-for-grammy-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2021\/11\/25\/south-african-recording-artist-wouter-kellerman-nominated-for-grammy-award\/","title":{"rendered":"South African Recording Artist, Wouter Kellerman, Nominated For Grammy Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Globe-trotting South African flautist and composer Wouter Kellerman  has been nominated for a GRAMMY\u00ae Award in the category \u201cBest New Age Album\u201d for \u201cPangaea\u201d, a collaboration with American composer and music producer David Arkenstone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kellerman has proved to be one of South Africa\u2019s foremost musicians since launching his debut album \u2018Colour\u2019 in 2008. In 2010 he performed at the FIFA World Cup Closing Ceremony to a global television audience of 700-million people. Kellerman has won a GRAMMY\u00ae Award for his 2014 album \u201cWinds Of Samsara\u201d (the album debuted at Number 1 on the US New Age Billboard charts spending 11 weeks in the Top 10), and has been nominated in the Best Contemporary Instrumental category in 2015 as well. At home he has been the recipient of eight SAMAS to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wouter Kellerman on his Grammy\u00ae Award nomination: \u201cWow, we’re so grateful for the nomination! We\u2019ve penned the new music to express the hope that our fractured and divided world can forge a new identity where we stand and work together – a world where other\u2019s interests are as important as your own, as if we were one like in the super continent Pangaea – it\u2019s the Spring of a New Age, new beginnings indeed. We look forward to taking your imagination on an adventure!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The album is available on all digital platforms.\u00a0 Download it here:\u00a0 https:\/\/orcd.co\/pangaea<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wouter Kellerman – Biography<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

More than a decade after the release of his debut album, Grammy\u00ae Award winner Wouter Kellerman is recognised as one of South Africa\u2019s foremost musicians<\/strong>, with an extensive, and growing, global following.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of nine albums, and through many high-profile live performances and collaborations, Kellerman has steadfastly built on the rigorous classical training of his youth, to create a signature sound that\u2019s earned him both critical praise and multiple awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among these was becoming the second only individual South African to win a Grammy\u00ae Award<\/strong> since Miriam Makeba was honoured by the Recording Academy in 1966. Kellerman\u2019s Winds of Samsara<\/strong> was named winner in the Best New Age Album category at the 57th Annual Grammy\u00ae Awards in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This wasn\u2019t the only accolade received by the critically acclaimed album: Winds Of Samsara reached #1<\/strong> on Billboard\u2019s<\/strong> New Age Chart and also peaked at #1 on the Zone Music Reporter (ZMR) Top 100 International Radio Airplay Chart in July 2014, going on to win both the ZMR<\/strong>Album of the Year<\/strong> and Best World Albumawards a year later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kellerman followed-up Winds of Samsara with Love Language<\/strong> which once again earned the flautist international attention, being nominated in the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album<\/strong> category at the 58th Grammy\u00ae Awards<\/strong>. The album was singled out by critics for Kellerman\u2019s stunning ability to traverse a diverse musical terrain, in a way that never loses focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom the music of Africa to western classical music to jazz to gospel and on, Kellerman captures the spirit of what it is to be a truly alive and loving person,\u201d noted a review on mainlypiano.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His songwriting was a particular highlight of Love Language with \u201cThe Long Road<\/strong>\u201d, a solo flute piece written by Kellerman for Nelson Mandela, winning the Global Peace Song Award<\/strong> in the public-voted Acoustic\/Contemporary Music category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing on musical influences from Senegal, Spain, Cuba, India, Greece and the USA, Love Language<\/strong>amply demonstrated Kellerman\u2019s ability to dominate global charts, debuting at #1 on Billboard World Music Charts<\/strong>and reaching the top position on the ZMR Top 100 International Radio Airplay Chart in August 2015.  Among the 14-track album\u2019s many accolades was a nomination for Best World Album by ZMR in 2016, as well as a South African Music Award (South Africa\u2019s equivalent to the American Grammy\u00ae) for Best Instrumental and\/or Classical Album in May of the same year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His following adventure was a collaboration with the Soweto Gospel Choir, Symphonic Soweto \u2013 A Tribute to Nelson Mandela. The album sees the two Grammy\u00ae winners reconceptualise traditional music, freedom songs (including Mandela favourite, \u201cLizalis\u2019idinga\u201d) and popular songs by South African legends (including Brenda Fassie, Lucky Dube and Miriam Makeba), from a symphonic and choral perspective \u2013 as part of honouring Nelson Mandela<\/strong> in the year he would have celebrated his 100th birthday<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Symphonic Soweto won the 2018 SAMA for Best Adult Contemporary Album, once again reinforcing his standing as one of South Africa\u2019s foremost musicians. His first SAMA<\/strong> nod came in 2008 when his debut, Colour earned a Best Instrumental Album nomination. Since then Kellerman has earned multiple SAMAs – Best Instrumental\/Jazz\/popular Classical DVD for Colour Live (2008), and Best Instrumental Album for Two Voices (2009). In 2015, Kellerman won a trio of SAMAS for Winds of Samsara – Best Instrumental Album, Producer of the Year and Best International Achievement. Kellerman’s 2013 album Mzansi has also added to his awards collection \u2013 winning America\u2019s IMA (Independent Music Award) Vox Pop award for Best World Beat Album in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Symphonic Soweto, Kellerman\u2019s collaborative composition Soweto Travels won the USA Songwriting Competition<\/strong> for Best Instrumental Composition. His ability to work in World and Roots music by exploring the versatility of the flute, and fusing classical and contemporary sounds, is remarkable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a corporate event in late 2018 Kellerman worked with the Ndlovu Youth Choir (a rural choir based in Moutse in the Limpopo province of South Africa) –  and was overwhelmed and enchanted with their spirit, enthusiasm and sound. Wouter has a long history of supporting children, so he decided to collaborate with the choir and help showcase their talent \u2013 together they created a South African version of Ed Sheeran\u2019s Shape Of You. The song became an internet sensation, going viral with tens of millions of views on social media, and winning awards like the HMMA (Hollywood Music in Media Award) for \u2018Best Independent Music Video\u2019 – pushing the Ndlovu Youth Choir firmly into the international limelight. Soon after, America\u2019s Got Talent saw the clip and were so impressed that they ended up scouting the choir to enter the 2019 competition. Ndlovu went ahead and delivered a sensational first few rounds, going all the way through to the finals of the competition, showcasing South African music and spirit in the process. Their collaboration is part of Kellerman\u2019s latest album In A Different Light, in which he re-imagines and re-shapes some of his favourite melodies by approaching them from a different angle. In A Different Light received five nominations at the 2020 Independent Music Awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his 2020 album \u2018We\u2019ve Known All Times\u2019, Wouter returned to his classical roots while staying true to his World and Jazz influences. The album includes collaborations with GRAMMY\u00ae winning and nominated artists Nadia Shpachenko, Emilio Solla and Soweto Gospel Choir. The album won the 2021 SAMA for Best Classical\/Instrumental Album, making this Kellerman\u2019s Eighth SAMA award<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a review written for the Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange by Mark S. Tucker, Kellerman is described as \u201ca masterful player<\/strong>, sensitive to every least nuance in the songs, the sort of winds musician you have to sit down and listen hard to because there are layers within layers within deceptive layers in what first oft appears to be a light hand but is instead calmly crusted over with a wealth of well-thought-out choices and inflections, tradition and expansive individuality linking arms\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s admiration that Kellerman consistently lives up to, through his songwriting, recorded work, and performances. Indeed, Kellerman is one of South Africa\u2019s most in-demand and hard-working artists. Over the past few years he has travelled extensively, performing in places like Berlin, Shanghai, Delhi, New York and Sydney, Grammy Museum (LA), including sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall<\/strong> in New York City (in 2014, 2015 and 2018) and the opening of MIDEM<\/strong> in Cannes (as part of a South African Department of Art and Culture delegation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His 2012 U.S. tour included appearances at the prestigious Kennedy Centre<\/strong> in Washington DC, at Summerstage<\/strong> and Joe\u2019s Pub in New York City, and at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Among Kellerman\u2019s many high-profile appearances in South Africa have been the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup Closing Ceremony<\/strong> (to a global television audience of 700-million people<\/strong>), while the flautist significantly expanded his domestic fanbase in 2013 with a performance of ‘The Long Road’ on Nelson Mandela Day in front of a stadium of 80,000 people. A 2016 highlight was a performance in Johannesburg for the visiting Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and a television audience of more than 200 million people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passionate about teaching and empowering young people, Kellerman has sponsored the living expenses of ten children in the SOS Children\u2019s Village in Ennerdale, South Africa for the past 16 years. He has also financed the building of a house in the SOS Children\u2019s Village in Rustenburg, South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 For his continued efforts in helping give these children a better life, Kellerman was nominated by the SOS Children\u2019s Villages for the Inyathelo Special Recognition Award for Philanthropy<\/strong>. He continues to facilitate the teaching of young dance and music students in his country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of this is a long way from Kellerman\u2019s first appearance as a soloist with the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra in 1981, those early days starting a journey that has seen this trained electronic engineer take crossover world music to a global audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>  Whether it\u2019s his strikingly original flute-playing that moviegoers hear on the soundtrack of the Emmy Award-winning<\/strong> film, Eye of the Leopard, or his own compositions that move listeners all over the world, Kellerman\u2019s work is truly unforgettable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Globe-trotting South African flautist and composer Wouter Kellerman  has been nominated for a GRAMMY\u00ae Award in the category \u201cBest New Age Album\u201d for \u201cPangaea\u201d, a collaboration with American composer and music producer David Arkenstone. Kellerman has proved to be one of South Africa\u2019s foremost musicians since launching his debut album \u2018Colour\u2019 in 2008. In 2010… Continue reading South African Recording Artist, Wouter Kellerman, Nominated For Grammy Award<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13661\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}