Biography
New age multi-instrumentalist Hennie Bekker maintains a steady output of recordings that draw from jazz, rock, dance, and ambient influences across multiple genres. His film scores stand alongside an extensive catalog of solo projects, while membership in the Canadian techno and dance ensemble B.K.S. rounds out his activities. Bekker’s most recognized work fuses recorded nature elements with instrumental passages on the SolitudesTM, Kaleidoscope, and Tranquility series.
Born in the Zambian copper-mining community of Mufulira, ten miles south of the Congolese border, he absorbed local tribal chanting and drumming at an early age, an exposure that ignited his musical curiosity. Self-taught on piano, he joined jazz fusion ensembles at fifteen and performed across Zambia, Zaire, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. Scoring assignments for film, television, radio, and advertising followed, leading him to London, where he partnered with producer Emil Zoghby to arrange, conduct, and produce projects for Freddie Cole, Magna Carta, and Stanley Black. In 1987 he settled in Canada and concentrated on commercial placements for stock-music libraries.
His focus later shifted to new age meditation music; he supplied melodic overlays to field recordings assembled by Dan Gibson, resulting in fourteen joint Exploring Nature with Music titles and additional contributions to the Kaleidoscope and Tranquility collections. Throughout the 1990s he issued solo albums such as Great Lakes Suite, Summer Breeze, Mirage, Tember, Jabula, and Spa. Demonstrating further range, he joined B.K.S. for techno and dance material that found strong Canadian reception, including the 1996 album Astroplane, which earned a Juno Award for Best Dance Recording. In 2005 Bekker introduced the African Tapestries series to celebrate the music of his native region, while continuing solo releases that included the 2000 jazz standards collection Swing Gently, the 2005 relaxation set Exotic Spa, the 2010 holiday recording Christmas Spirit, and the 2011 anthology Spectrum: An Anthology of Relaxing Instrumental Music.
Born in the Zambian copper-mining community of Mufulira, ten miles south of the Congolese border, he absorbed local tribal chanting and drumming at an early age, an exposure that ignited his musical curiosity. Self-taught on piano, he joined jazz fusion ensembles at fifteen and performed across Zambia, Zaire, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. Scoring assignments for film, television, radio, and advertising followed, leading him to London, where he partnered with producer Emil Zoghby to arrange, conduct, and produce projects for Freddie Cole, Magna Carta, and Stanley Black. In 1987 he settled in Canada and concentrated on commercial placements for stock-music libraries.
His focus later shifted to new age meditation music; he supplied melodic overlays to field recordings assembled by Dan Gibson, resulting in fourteen joint Exploring Nature with Music titles and additional contributions to the Kaleidoscope and Tranquility collections. Throughout the 1990s he issued solo albums such as Great Lakes Suite, Summer Breeze, Mirage, Tember, Jabula, and Spa. Demonstrating further range, he joined B.K.S. for techno and dance material that found strong Canadian reception, including the 1996 album Astroplane, which earned a Juno Award for Best Dance Recording. In 2005 Bekker introduced the African Tapestries series to celebrate the music of his native region, while continuing solo releases that included the 2000 jazz standards collection Swing Gently, the 2005 relaxation set Exotic Spa, the 2010 holiday recording Christmas Spirit, and the 2011 anthology Spectrum: An Anthology of Relaxing Instrumental Music.
Albums
