Cara Stacey

In 2015, musician, composer and researcher Cara Stacey,  began a project titled “Things that grow” centred around the idea of exploring southern African musical bows in improvised and composed communal and solo environments.

As a pianist, bow player and composer, she hoped to understand through praxis the sonic potential of these instruments. During this Studio Residency, Cara endeavours to extend this idea further by collaborating with Swiss musicians and sound artists and creating a large-scale composition using southern African traditional bows.

Beyond her solo work, Cara collaborates with percussionist and drummer Sarathy Korwar in the project Pergola and is a member of the Cape Town-based Shh..Art Ensemble, and Inclement Quartet. Her debut album ‘Things that grow’ features Shabaka Hutchings, Seb Rochford, Ruth Goller, and Crewdson (released in September 2015, Kit Records).

Stacey holds a doctorate in African music, specifically looking at the makhweyane musical bow from Swaziland (University of Cape Town/SOAS). During her PhD, she was an NRF Freestanding Doctoral scholar, a Commonwealth Split-Site scholar, and the recipient of funding from the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust and the University of Cape Town. Cara holdsa Masters in musicology (Edinburgh), and a MMus in musical performance from SOAS (London).

She studied African instruments (mbira, uhadi, umrhubhe and budongo) with Dizu Plaatjies, Khokhiwe Mphila, Bhemani Magagula, Tinashe Chidanyika, Modou Diouf, and Andrew Cooke.

Stacey  is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cape Town. She is based between Cape Town, and Swaziland