PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - The sun has set on one of Plett's iconic music hotspots, Mel's Place, at the turn-off to Keurboomstrand.
Mel Botes, accomplished musician and entertainer, has decided to relocate to Cape Town to follow other musical callings after more than seven years in Plett, initially starting at the Barnyard.
"I suppose you can ascribe it to the 'seven-year-itch'," says Mel, who has hosted and played at Mel's Place along with many top South African musicians and bands since it opened in October 2019.
"One can only be a rock 'n' roll beach bum for so long.
"I want to now reinvent, regenerate and rejuvenate myself by getting back into performing and theatre productions."
He speaks fondly about Mel's Place, a venue he created for travelling musicians and artists to perform at. "What is about to come… it's almost like being reborn from living in a rock 'n' roll bar environment. I want to pay attention to my compositions and my music."
Mel recalls some of the big names in music he has rubbed shoulders with while in Plett, among those US folk rock cult figure Shaun Phillips, who worked with Eric Clapton, and Donovan, his friend and songwriter Robin Auld and singer Wendy Oldfield, who lives in Wilderness.
"And the younger generation of musicians like Francois van Coke and Spoegwolf, as well as Jesse Clegg, son of Johnny Clegg," he says.
His next big project in his quest to "get back to the mainstream of creativity" is to pursue his dream to see his symphony, The River Symphony (The River of Life), being performed.
He started on the project in 2016 and is now working with Cape Town conductor John Walton, who is refining the symphonic score, to see this dream come true.
The symphony was inspired by the dry river bed of the ephemeral Omaruru River in Namibia (which is part of the first movement), as well as other African rivers, from the southern parts of South Africa to the north of Africa and the Sahara, to Egypt. He also cruised up and down the Keurbooms River many times on his own boat.
"They say the happiest days of your life are the day you buy a boat - and the day you sell it!"
Another project is, perhaps, completing his book A Flight of Birds, which has been a work in progress since he recorded a CD with the same title about 15 years ago. "I thought I would complete it during lockdown," says Mel, "but that didn't happen and it has now become a priority.
"I'm not sad to leave. I'm excited," says Mel, who describes himself as "27 year-old forever and ever… actually, thirty-seven".
He will remember Plett and the Garden Route for the many people he has met. "This is just a little goodbye to Plett and the Garden Route. I want to say thank you to all the communities I've worked with here.
"I learnt so much from them and I made so many good friends."
Mel Botes, owner of Mel’s Place which has closed, in his studio surrounded by his collection of guitars.
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