No holding Hezron Chetty back

Helen Herimbi
Hezron Chetty has been in quite a few bands but now, the violinist has decided to step out on his own.

Credit: Francois Booyens

Hezron Chetty. Photo: Francois Booyens

Hezron Chetty has been in quite a few bands but now, the violinist has decided to step out on his own. He is doing this through his album, The Fallacy of Composition. Initially, Chetty began playing with Andile Mseleku in Mixed Culture.

He was then a part of Fruits and Veggies before he started The Accidentals, a supergroup that housed The Incidentals with Matt Wilson under its umbrella. He has also played in Arno Carstens’ Big Band. This means that Chetty has travelled almost the entire landscape of sound having tried his hand at classical, jazz, rock, house, folk and punk.

“I studied classical music and then played jazz,” he tells me. “I then worked with the Fruit and Veggies but I left because I couldn’t see my career going anywhere. I started The Accidentals, and The Incidentals came from that so that was more folk.”

I ask him why he felt like this was the time to hit the road as a solo musician. “It’s been a passion of mine. I have worked with a lot of musicians over time. I had my own artistic ambitions that I wanted to pursue and I felt that the others were holding me back.”

On half of The Fallacy of Composition, the violin shines exclusively, while on the other half, the same songs are given a different treatment with added instrumentation.

Chetty made the album in two halves because “I wanted to show the South African audience that the violin has so much to offer. You don’t only have to listen to something that radio pushes onto you… I wanted to showcase the violin.”

The violin is an interesting instrument but it’s not exactly the one that springs to mind when one thinks of youthful genres like rock or punk music. But Chetty began learning how to play the instrument at a young age.

He says: “I was eight years old when I started. Back then, it was just an instrument to me. Then I realised that people’s minds were boxed into this idea that the violin was only for classical music. The more I started to play the violin, the more I realised that I could change people’s minds.”

The Fallacy of Composition is a good place to start.

Hezron Chetty’s The Fallacy of Composition is available now. Catch Hezron Chetty in Never Been Scene alongside BCUC and others at Bassline on Saturday. Tickets are available at the door.

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