Instruments Accordion Years active 1939-present | Name Nico Carstens | |
Birth name Nicolaas Cornelius Carstens Born 10 February 1926
Cape Town, South Africa ( 1926-02-10 ) Occupation(s) Accordionist, songwriter Spouse Josephine Annie Vera Gibson (m. 1958) Albums Trekklavier Meesters, Boere Wisseldans Similar People Al Debbo, Theo Erasmus, Min Shaw, Groep Twee, Japie Laubscher | ||
Nico carstens zambezi
Nicolaas Cornelius Carstens (10 February 1926 – 1 November 2016) more commonly known as Nico Carstens, was a South African musician, accordionist, and songwriter.
Contents
- Nico carstens zambezi
- Nico carstens en sy orkes oom hans se gemmerdans columbia 1950 78 rpm
- Early life
- Career
- Death
- Compositions
- References
Nico carstens en sy orkes oom hans se gemmerdans columbia 1950 78 rpm
Early life
Born, 10 February 1926, in Cape Town of Dutch parents, Carstens got his first accordion at the age of 13 and won an adult music competition six months later. He composed his first music piece at the age of 17.
Career
Carstens' most famous song "Zambezi" became a world hit and has been recorded by artists such as Eddie Calvert, Acker Bilk, Bert Kaempfert, The Shadows, James Last, Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer and Johnny Dankworth. Other versions of Carstens' compositions have been recorded by Horst Wende, Henri René, Geoff Love and bands in Australia, Italy and Poland.
Carstens wrote and performed music which spanned the various cultures of South Africa. He drew inspiration from various sources, including Cape Malay, Black Township and indigenous South African sounds and combined them to form a unique sound and style.
Since forming his own band at age 24, Carstens had composed more than 2000 songs and recorded over 90 albums which have sold over 2 million copies in South Africa. He has performed all over South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Botswana as well as at the Nantes Festival in France and he appeared on Musikantenstadl for ORF in 1997.
Death
Nico Carstens, aged 90, died on the 1 November 2016 at the Netcare N1 Hospital in Cape Town.
Compositions
Nico Carstens has been a prolific composer. A significant number of his compositions were done with the help of his longtime business associate Anton de Waal (a.k.a. George Charles Gunn).