I proudly present my entry into the Strandberg Guitars x Uppsala IGF Contest. This entry has a bit of a backstory so bear with me!

For this entry, I knew I had no chance against the incredible super technical shredders and prog guys out there, so I wanted to focus on bringing out what makes me unique as a musician, and that is my South African heritage! I tried to have my entry not only reflect myself as guitarist, but also what South Africa has to offer musically to the rest of the world as well. So I drew influences from across the country, from South Africa's jazz greats such as Bra Hugh Masekela and Winston Mankunku Ngozi, to modern heroes like fingerstyle guitarist (and all round amazing person) Guy Buttery! So listen carefully and you'll be able to hear all of these little influences dotted throughout the entry.

However, with South Africa being such a diverse and culturally unique country, I couldn't possibly represent the country by myself, or play this style of music without proper African representation. So I asked my good friend and excellent tenor saxophonist, Morena Maile, to take an awesome solo which you'll hear toward the end!

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this, and good luck to all of the entrants!