Where is home / Hae ke Kae

When Abel Selaocoe takes to the stage, he shines. With a lot of heart, joy and his relaxed way of mixing styles, he delights his audience. The cellist is a crossover artist between cultures. He combines baroque music such as Johann Sebastian Bach's cello suites with his own compositions inspired by his South African homeland, not only using the cello bow but also body percussion or taking on the vocal part.

The "one-man-band Selaocoe" moves effortlessly and boundlessly between centuries and continents, always in search of new sounds. And so his cello sometimes sounds like an Eritrean violin or an African lute. Then the next moment he is playing - quite classically - "Papa Bach", as he affectionately calls him.

Improvisation is probably Selaocoe's true home. Because discovering new things and building bridges is his passion. He tells stories, composes works and curates programs that emphasize the commonalities of diverse musical traditions in order to broaden the horizons of classical music and thus reach a new and wider audience.