Setting the stage for Rocco

AMAZING GRACE 2: PROVIDING ENTERTAINING MUSIC FOR ON AND OFF THE STAGE

De Villiers is back with another sound spectacle.

In the era of Donald Trump where showmanship has become faux pas, it takes South African pianist Rocco de Villiers to resuscitate the art. De Villiers is back at Montecasino’s Pieter Toerien Theatre next month with his follow up show to last year’s Amazing Grace where he managed to give hymns a popular revival.

The stage production coincided with its accompanying album Beautiful Beautiful Hymns which, in the era of reggae-pop and electronic sounds, managed to reach gold status in South Africa. This time he’s following suit by releasing a follow-up album Beautiful Beautiful Hymns 2 featuring music from the show.

The new show, Amazing Grace 2, however, won’t be a carbon copy. While the first show included instruments like bagpipes with the organ, this time De Villiers is opting for electric guitars and the violin.

Joining De Villiers and a piano (or two) is Lizelle le Roux (violin), Robert Mitchley (guitars) and gospel singer Noxolo Hlatshwayo who, with her unique pipes, will raise your arms in musical praise.

“I wanted to examine other kinds of spirituals, like the American spirituals. I love old fashioned tunes like Down by the Riverside, Swing Low and Kumbaya. This year I wanted a more modern sound and the electric guitar is perfect. I always loved the sound of a solo violin, since it can become classical, folk, country and even pop,” De Villiers says.

He adds that Le Roux, Mitchley and Hlatshwayo ensure something more contemporary.

Maybe that has to do with what he learned from the success of

Beautiful Beautiful Hymns as an album. De Villiers and the team were bewildered by the news. But De Villiers puts his own twist on the success. “We live in a time where people want to have fun, with hip modern people and sounds. Some of these old-fashioned hymns are not even used in churches anymore. But South Africans, I have come to realise, are nostalgic and a little sentimental. Nothing wrong with that.” Perhaps some of the success can be attributed to a bravado in De Villiers’s approach to music. He’s a keen digital convert and says he has managed to increase his digital sales. “My music is now on iTunes, Deazer, Apple Music and Spotify with videos on YouTube, Vevo and Vimeo. I think in South Africa we still have at least five years of people buying CDs before we will be totally in the digital market.”

That doesn’t mean he’s not printing CDs. Theatre stars like Jonathan Roxmouth create a buzz post show thanks to physical representations of their music – and De Villiers relishes in it as well.

“With live shows like mine, people tend to want the CD, as I can sign it afterwards. A kind of a memory,” he muses.

But that’s just the musical side. His shows have become synonymous with pops of colour, Art Deco extravagance or just a certain zaniness that adds to, rather than distracts from, the music.

“The show Amazing Grace 2 is very styled, structured and with colour blocks like blue, red, white and black. I did not want the 19th-century church feel from last year. It is also much more shiny, tight dresses and bling. With a set that is minimal but very effective,” he says.

While there is definite excitement around his productions, with a hungry following waiting to get tickets, these scaled stage shows are not his livelihood.

“I do 120 performances yearly, was on a game show Beter Assie Bure on SABC 2 earlier this year, so to plan a big show takes careful time management.”

Amazing Grace 2 is a not-to-bemissed spectacle that promises to stay with you long after the curtain closes.