Sannie Fox: desert blues dream machine
Out of a mirage comes the desert dream machine with live videos and links to an oasis of cool..
I first came across Sannie Fox at Box Rocks in August 2019, which inspired a feature entitled “The Fox at Box”! It was a difficult day for recording with the sun behind the stage shining into the lens, heat and background hubbub, but I managed to capture some clips of a performance that grabbed my attention.
Sannie's cool presence in white, original bluesy songs, soaring vocals and the touch of Hendrix on her electric guitar grabbed my attention so I did some research and discovered a lot more about this South African dream machine: "Black Winds" and "Wuthering Heights" are both very different tracks but each has a unique style; in fact Wuthering Heights has an almost mystical Middle Eastern feel, which is exotically different and why she describes herself as “desert blues”. She's also wearing an eye pendant - in resonance with Music Eye!
Sannie’s style is essentially desert blues with a psychedelic twist woven elegantly with her jazzy vocals and rock guitar – very well crafted with skilful TLC which makes you savour what comes next…
Her vocal style is likely influenced by her Portuguese heritage and having listened to Fado all her life, a unique Portuguese musical form with likely roots from Moorish settlers from North Africa centuries ago.
Savour this 49 minute live performance from Schtumm, Queen's Head, Box in 2019...
I make no apology for playing "Black Winds" to start a recent Music Eye Radio show, and although it is as dynamic as the live version on Youtube, the recorded version has a really magical moment where a few seconds of guitar chords with Sannie's vocals lift me up to a sublime event horizon over the vast open deserts of Africa and into the stratosphere – listen out for it!
Sannie is currently based in London and we got to see her at The Ned Hotel recently, where they host New Music Mondays, curated by the Whispering Bob (Harris) team – she’d lost her drummer but gained a violinist, which seemed to work well with her new material. Although it is not the best of showcase spaces due to the throng of chatter from the four restaurants spread out in the grand room which used to be a bank; to my dismay, she told me she could not play Black Winds without a drummer and that the search for the right one is still on.
Hoping to maybe get her down to the Chapel Arts Centre in Bath, a venue with a dream sound...
see more: sanniefox.com