Rock and roll with nostalgia

The music of rock legends­ will come alive at the Omaruru­ Arts Festival.
Otis Finck
Nathan Smith and Josh Ansley will pay tribute to guitar legends such as Eric Clapton, Jimmy Hendrix, John Mayer, Dire Straits and Gary Moore at the Under the Stars Rock & Roll Concert in the Omaruru River on 31 August.

Smith and his incredible five-piece band play only the best of these amazing­ artists, and concertgoers are in for a treat. Close your eyes and you'll believe it's Eric Clapton doing his thing on stage.

Nathan has been composing music from the age of 13, and has released two albums, Songs From A Diary and The Sum Of All Things.

He started playing the guitar at the age of 11, performed on live television at the age of 13, and by age 15 won the German School Battle of the Bands, which resulted in his first festival performance at the Octoberfest.

Nathan grew up in a musical home and started a rock band, Dead Sea Surfers, in high school. The band went on to play numerous shows alongside the likes of Springbok Nude Girls, Saron Gas (Seether), Amersham and Just Jinger, to name a few.

Joseph Clark spotted Nathan performing with Dead Sea Surfers and asked him to join his production, ­Joseph Clark - The Music of Queen. The show skyrocketed into country­wide and European tours which included a sold out stadium show for 35 000 in Holland in 2012.

This resulted in Nathan doing session and collaboration work with a wide variety of well-established artists such as Jannie Moolman, Laurika Rauch, Lira, Vicky Sampson, PJ Powers, Vusi Mahlasela, Gloria Bosman and Richard Clayderman.

He has also worked on South African flagship shows and festivals including Skouspel (2013 and 2014), Gospel Skouspel (2012, 2013 and 2014) Oppikoppi, KKNK, Innibos and Noot Vir Noot.



One of the best

In 2012, Nathan became part of the production Riders From The Storm, which featured six of South Africa's best guitar playing artists, touring South Africa and Namibia.

Wild Frontier, a Gary Moore tribute show featuring Nathan, was launched in February 2014 to much acclaim.

Josh Ansley was born in South Africa, and grew up in Zimbabwe from the age of two. He hooked South Africans with his husky voice during the second season of The Voice in 2017 and had the crowds on their feet.

Josh's blistering rendition of the AC/DC head-banging classic “Shook Me All Night Long” got him four chair turns and incredibly high praise from the panel of coaches. Support from all quarters saw him finishing as runner-up of the second season of the show.

Now a freelancing singer musician, Ansley has since released two singles and took one of the lead roles in the successful local production of Rock of Ages.

Josh says when he left high school he couldn't sing a note. Fast forward ten years and he was fronting a Journey tribute show, singing some of the most demanding songs in the genre.

Nowadays, he rubs shoulders with musicians like Ghapi and Nathan Smith with whom he performs as front man for the Journey Tribute Show - Don't Stop Believing.

The Under the Stars Rock & Roll Concert, under the prodigious musical direction of Nathan, starts at 20:30 and features all the original keys and tones so accurately you will believe it's the original Journey band performing.

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