I had a lovely surprise when I went to listen to live music at Blend last week. Three young guys, dressed in black, stood in front of their microphones, took deep breaths and what flowed out sounded like opera.
It was the beautiful Neapolitan song O Sole Mia – made famous by Luciano Pavarotti. I was totally taken aback. They call themselves Los Trios and here’s what was astonishing: they had practiced together only three times before their live performance last Friday. The next song You Raise Me Up saw some people shedding a tear while their final number, Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, got the crowd belting out the chorus. All three are originally from the Eastern Cape. I chatted to Siya Melento this week to find out more about them. Turns out neither he nor his friend Lloyd Khontsiwe have had any formal singing training. Siya used to sing in the school choir at Percy Mdala. “But I met Lloyd Khontsiwe later at church, because we both sang in the church choir.” They met the third man, Ben Grobler, only about three weeks ago. How did this wonderful trio get together? Through Terry Nel, leader of Knysna’s Outeniqua Rust band. When Terry was at the Italian Festival back in March he heard the trio singing in the parking area. It was Siya and Lloyd but with a different third man who has since left the group. They called themselves the Three Tenors. “I was blown away by them,” Terry said. “Some time later I was in a coffee shop when lo and behold, one of the tenors came up to serve me coffee. We got chatting and I said ‘I would love you guys to open for our band.’ Siya said he would like to but they were one guy short because one of them had left.” Terry immediately thought of Ben Grobler, a young man who had sung with his band, and he organised that they all meet at the band’s studio. “They had never sung together before, but from the first note the guys fitted like a glove. They had only three practices together before they performed live.” Ben, 21, grew up on a farm in the Eastern Cape and is the only one of the three who has any classical training. How did he start singing? He laughs: “When I was fourteen I decided to record a song with my sister for my dad’s birthday. He really liked it and encouraged me to sing.” He spent eight months training in PE. At the final practice the trio asked Outeniqua Rust keyboard player Baden Hall if he could adjust their backing track to suit their voices. “This was the final rehearsal the night before the live performance. I said: ‘You know, I know all those songs on piano, and can play in almost any key, so why don’t I play your backing instead?’ and that’s what we did,” Baden said. Isn’t it great when you come across little gems like this in Knysna? Catch Los Trios – and Outeniqua Rust – at Blend on 31st July.
