34 Facts About Warrick Sony

Warrick Sony is the founder and sole permanent member of the Kalahari Surfers.

Warrick Sony moved into more specialised work in sound art, music and DJ events in the city and was accepted to do an MFA at Michaelis School of Art University of Cape Town where he graduated with distinction in 2020.

Warrick Sony completed this in 2024 at the University of the Western Cape.

Warrick Sony was born in Port Elizabeth on 12 September 1958.

Warrick Sony grew up in the Cowies Hill area of Durban, attending Westville High School where he played in school-based groups doing covers of songs by Jimi Hendrix and The Who.

Warrick Sony was influenced by Indian music and cuisine and by the work of Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart.

Warrick Sony learned to play tabla at the Hindu Surat school in Durban.

Warrick Sony changed his surname from Swinney to Sony to make it harder for the army to get in touch with him for camps; he chose Sony because he liked their products.

Warrick Sony is the only permanent member of the band, and brings in other musicians as and when needed.

Warrick Sony adopted the name partly to protect himself from the authorities.

Warrick Sony worked as a freelance sound engineer in the South African film industry, and used this to acquire many of the sound samples he later used in his music.

In 1986, with a live band comprising Mick Hobbs on bass, Alig on keyboards, Tim Hodgkinson, and Chris Cutler on drums, Warrick Sony performed in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, the Festival des Politischen Liedes in East Berlin, and London.

Warrick Sony worked as a sound recordist covering the defiance campaign and consequently the release from prison of Nelson Mandela in February 1990.

Warrick Sony has used some of the recordings he made as a journalist in his musical work.

Warrick Sony worked with Donald Woods on a documentary at this time.

Warrick Sony worked with Lloyd Ross at Shifty Records from 1992, mostly concentrating on developing and promoting foreign African music in South Africa.

Warrick Sony bought the studios first 16-track recording machine and became a partner in the company when Ivan Kadey emigrated.

In 1997 Warrick Sony left Johannesburg, where he had lived since 1983, after being shot in a hijacking.

Since the turn of the millennium Warrick Sony has released more Kalahari Surfers albums.

Under the name Trans-Sky, Warrick Sony produced Killing Time and Heaven To Touch with Brendan Jury, and toured South Africa opening for Massive Attack in 1998.

Warrick Sony made the album End Beginnings with Lesego Rampolokeng in 1993, which led to a series of concerts in Brazil.

Warrick Sony was invited to present a performance for Unyazi: International Electronic Music Symposium at Wits University, Johannesburg in 2005, and co-produced and arranged the album The Triptic for Polish metal band Sweet Noise.

Warrick Sony designed Kalahari Surfers drum modules for PureMagnetik for Ableton Live music software.

Warrick Sony uses a Roland GR09 guitar to trigger his synthesiser, keyboards and samples, and uses Ableton Live and Launchpad with Korg controllers to make his music.

Warrick Sony co-composed the score for Canadian Broadcasting documentary Madiba: The Life and Times of Nelson Mandela, for which he was awarded the Gemini Award for best music.

Warrick Sony worked with Rodney Place on the Couch Dancing exhibition.

Warrick Sony did music for Ochre and Water: Himba chronicles from the land of Kaoko for Doxa Productions.

Warrick Sony worked with Murray Anderson to make music for the Museum of Rock Art and in March 2007, with Pops Mohamed and Dizu Plaatjie's band Ubuyambo performed at Turbulence, the South African art exhibition in Red Bull's Hangar 7 event in Salzburg.

Warrick Sony has been involved in multimedia theatre productions such as William Kentridge's Ubu and the Truth Commission and Faustus in Africa, and Handspring Puppet's Tall Horse.

Warrick Sony worked on commercials, film scores and music for theatre.

Warrick Sony was based at Milestone Studios, Cape Town, and his advertising work included commissions from Nissan, Daewoo, Land Rover, and BMW.

Warrick Sony exhibited two video works at the 56th Venice Biennale at the South African Pavilion.

Warrick Sony left Milestone to concentrate on his master's degree which he completed with distinction, at Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town in 2019.

Warrick Sony completed a 55-minute radio art piece titled "Vuvuzela's and Sun Damage" for Deutschlandfunk Kultur, another of the Radio Art Residency sponsors.