Zephyr Quartet feat. Gareth Chin

Zephyr Quartet are a local group of wonderfully talented individuals, who are ‘inspired by the pure and simple delight of music’. They present to you a wonderful well constructed concert of music exploring rearrangements of folk tunes from Syria, Macedonia, Norway, Sweden and Mexico; with some beautiful original compositions thrown in for good measure.

First off I feel the need to say that I have a very very limited knowledge about string and classical music, so I’m fairly certain my writing wont do the girls justice; and should you get the chance to see these fabulous ladies perform, TAKE IT. The sound was beautiful, being my first time at Nexus Cabaret I was unaware that the audio from the gig at Fowlers Live would leak into our show, but Zephyr carried on regardless; informing us that we should think of it as “atmospheric thunder”, which despite being unplanned actually worked and helped me enjoy the music.

The skill of these young ladies is amazing to watch, such perfection at work is truly inspiring to watch. This might sound a little odd, but while watching them perform their pieces it was like watching robots; everyone working in-sync with each other, and their movements while playing were precise and right on the money. Like I said, not knowing much about this genre of music, I wouldn’t have known had something been wrong; but I’m fairly certain nothing bad occurred.

Zephyr were joined on stage last part of the show by Gareth Chin, a man with a talent for the Accordion. I’ve always thought of the Accordion as the ‘devils instrument’ but after watching him play this incredible instrument i’ve now found it to be beautifully emotive. Such a wide range of sounds and notes are able to come from the instrument, that it gives each and every piece its own emotion and vibe.

While I was certainly apprehensive about going to see a string quartet at first, I’m certainly keen to see them perform again; hopefully without the heavy metal backing track.

Zephyr Quartet have finished their shows for Adelaide Cabaret Fringe Festival, but you can keep track of their upcoming shows via their website.