Marimba player, 18-year-old Kyrah Adams from Paarl returned to this year’s National Youth Music Competition (NYMC) to deliver a spectacular performance.
The talented musician mesmerised the 2021 NYMC audience at that year’s gala concert. She walked away the winner of the other orchestral instruments category, playing the xylophone/marimba in 2021.
At age 7 Adams started playing music, tutored by Annemie Nel of the Frank Pietersen Music Centre, who is still guiding the young star who practises between one and three hours a day.
Before her participation she didn’t specifically desire to win the NYMC, she pointed out. She simply loves music and planned on making the best of every opportunity she got to perform.
Her grandfather is the person who encouraged her to pursue music. She said he is quite proficient at the guitar and bought her first drum kit for her.
Apart from the marimba, the young talent also plays the violin, but the marimba is her first love.
She experiences her music as grey. “I’d like to think that the gentleness and beauty of the colour grey complements the sound I create with my instrument. It is warm, round and resonant. Both the colour and the sound of a marimba fall easily on the senses.”
Adams’ favourite composer is Russian composer Alexander Scriabin. “His compositions are fiery and complex. They are decadent and bizarre. He was a genius.”
In her free time she enjoys going to the gym. She also likes philosophy, to read, learn and write about.
Adams is the only member of her family who plays a musical instrument. She goes through life armed with the motto “Be a vessel for productivity”.
On completion of her studies she wants to go overseas and perform as much as possible.
