Born in Spain in 1952, and moved to France in 1961.
1970
Matriculated in France
1971
Immigrated to South Africa as part of Els Soccarats,
a musical trio with a
repertoire of South American, Spanish and French songs.
1976
Joined Andrew Tracey's Steelband Ensemble.
This was the start of a long period of informal study with Andrew Tracey
and in the field during which Pedro learned to make
and play many
traditional African instruments.
1981
Made orchestral xylophones for university music departments and orchestras.
1983-1985
Employed at the the College of Music of the University of Cape Town, as
curator of the Percival Kirby Collection of African Instruments and
lecturer in African music to music therapy and education students.
Co-found the Talking Drum Music Workshop for children.
1986
Employed by NGO the Children's Resource Centre developping musical
ressources for their children's groups and running workshops with their
group leaders.
1987-1988
Worked freelance giving workshops, courses and shows about African music,
in Universities, Colleges of Education and schools and NGO's across
South Africa.
1989-1993
Head of the Music Department at the Giyani College of Education where he
developed and implemented a new music syllabus based on traditional
African music.
1994 onwards
Has worked freelance, doing mainly television, live shows in schools and
at festivals, and children's tapes.
Television:
Presenter of 52 (4 X 13) five-minute episodes of
"Pedro the Music Man" screened on SABC (1992-1997)
musical director and presenter of 13 fifteen-minute
episodes of "Adventures with Pedro the Music Man" to be
screened on SABC in March 1998
Stage shows:
Solo Story-telling shows that introduce
children to
African music performed in extensive schools and
festival tours since 1991:
The Magic Lekolilo Bird;
One Child One Note;
The Mermaid from Zanzibar;
The Crocodile with a Sweet
Tooth
Solo show of introduction to African Music
for high schools
One Person, One Note.
Audio-tapes:
Composer and musical director and sometimes
narrator of the
following tapes for children:
The Children's Carnival (1988)
Another Lion on the Path (1992)
Cowbells and TortoiseShells (1993)
Pedro's Song & Dance Tape (1995)
Songs and Stories from The Little Library Vol.1 (2 tapes) for READ
Songs and Stories from The Little Library Vol.2 (2 tapes) for COUNT
Alphabet Songs for Cambridge University Press (1997)
Traditional Children's Songs for Cambridge University Press (1997)
Songs for Language in My World (3 tapes) for Juta (1997)
Audio-visual (slide and tape) productions:
The Ngoma drum
The Timbila xylophone
The Xizambi bow
The potters of Mashamba
Festivals:
An invited performer at the following festivals:
Arts Alive, Johannesburg 1993 to 1997 annually
Splashy Fen 1993 to 1997 annually
Bath Festival, England 1995
WOMAD, England 1995, 96 & 97
Musik der Welt, Basel 1995
Frick, Switzerland 1996
Kaleidoscope Children's Arts Festival, Rustenburg 1997
WOMAD Canarias, Spain November 1997
Conferences:
Presented papers and workshops:
Symposium on Ethnomusicology 1985 to 1996
South African Music Educators' Society 1985 to 1997
International Society of Music Educators, Tampa USA 1994
Winchester UK 1996
Amsterdam 1996
Click here to hear a tune!
African musical story-telling shows for children
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