The beginning ...

I sit in my workshop and listen to gentle gusts of wind outside, which in this last hour has blown the mist upwards towards the ethers. The cold days are almost over and spring has revealed its first traces of new life. The light still soft and ethereal is gladly embraced by the bougainvillea and strelitzias, which are in full bloom, not yet dimmed by the harsh African sun. Their colours are more vivid now than at any other time, reflecting what I hope to achieve as I begin making a unique String Quartet.

The Strelitzias remind me too of my late grandmother Sara-Fima who grew them at the entrance to her house that I often visited in my early days as a violin maker.

As with the mist, the veil of anticipation of making these four instruments has lifted. Well timed with Spring’s new beginnings. The arrival of the wood for the quartet should coincide with the first flowering of my Californian poppies, expected in the next two weeks.

These two violins, viola, and cello are to be made in honour of four great men. Men who have withstood the harshness and winter of South Africa’s apartheid past, bringing new light and vision to a land parched by discrimination and misunderstanding.

Each instrument will bear a name in their honour. Hope for Nelson Mandela, Peace for Bishop Desmond Tutu, Reconciliation for FW De Klerk and Freedom for Dr Albert Luthuli. The culmination of the wood passing through my hands will be three special concerts to be held in Geneva, Paris and London.

So I leave now with a quote from my favorite book on violin making by Ed. Heron-Allen. (1885)

“ Gentle Reader, au plaisir de vous revoir : give me rest now. Let me lay down the goose-quill to take up the gouge, and for a space let me resume again the solution of the problem : - “ Given : A Log of wood : - Make : A fiddle.”