WELLINGTON – Seth Boy is a Filipino-born bassist and composer who performed at the Wellington Jazz Festival on 23rd October, at the Opera House in Wellington.
In an interview with RNZ before the concert, Seth Boy said that he often combines the musical influences of his home country and of jazz greats like Duke Ellington and John Coltrane in his work.
The Wellington-based musician presented ‘Farewell, Sweet Stranger’ at Sunday Mixtape. This brand new work explores themes of loss, history, colonialism, the sacrifice of culture and the culture of sacrifice.
“My composition Farewell, Sweet Stranger is set in two parts, the first highlighting and contrasting both the native and colonial aspects of Filipino history, and the second telling of the journey of becoming distanced from your culture, home, or people,” says Seth.
“The story of the piece is centred around longing and loss, so it starts off tender but quickly becomes brash and very upfront.”
Merging indigenous Filipino/Tagalog folk with the sounds of Spanish colonisation and drawing from the roots of African American jazz, ‘Farewell, Sweet Stranger’ expresses the loneliness that comes with separation from one’s family, home or heritage.
Harsh and tender, insistent and impassioned, this Wellington Jazz Festival commission was performed by Boy and nine of the city’s finest musicians.
“I started learning piano as a child in the Philippines and learned guitar and bass after moving to Pukekohe in South Auckland,” Seth told Filipino News.
“I moved to Wellington in 2017 to study at the New Zealand School of Music and have been working actively in the jazz scene as a double bass player since then.
“I’m now a part-time tutor at the NZSM jazz department and the principal bassist of the Royal New Zealand Air Force Band.”
BACK STORY:
In 2016, when he was a Year 13 student at Pukekohe High School in Auckland, Seth Boy won multiple awards at the New Zealand School of Music Annual Jazz Festival in Wellington.
He received the awards for Best Bassist, Best Composition and Best Arrangement categories.
He was also named the Most Outstanding Young Musician at the festival.
Seth Boy has been nominated for the Outstanding Filipino-Kiwi Musician of the Year 2023.
The official awards website is at: www.filipinoheroes.nz
The Filipino-Kiwi Hero Awards is organised exclusively by Filipino News NZ.
