The Cherry Pill Duo – Kristel Birkholtz (violin), Rory Gaddin (guitar)The Cherry Pill Duo perform swing/gypsy-styled favourites in the feel of Django Reinhardt and Stefan Grappelli. Expect sorrowful and virtuoso violin melodies accompanied by warm finger-picking guitar and the typical rhythmic accompaniment. Typical numbers in this style include Si Tu Savais, Swing Gitane and Czardas. The duo gave the same stylistic treatment to well-known favourites such as the evergreen Por Una Cabeza and Dream a Little Dream of Me. An unusual but beautiful version of the Puccini aria O Mio Babbino Caro blossomed in the studio. At the same time, the pair worked on the project and decided to include it in the repertoire. Kristel and Rory have been performing as a duo in several guises for years, ranging from classical to contemporary styles. Together, they have released four studio albums and toured internationally. They perform regularly at various corporate and private events and lunch-hour concerts. Kristel was nominated for a SAMA award in 2010 and 2020. They were recently selected as finalists for the Annual International Acoustic Music Awards (2020,2021) in the category of best group duo and have had two of their original songs voted as South African finalists for the Afrimusic Song Competition in 2019 and 2020.
