| Successful Muscian
South African Grammy Winner Takes on the World
Well known double Grammy winner, composer, producer and arranger Robin Hogarth (producer of two of the Soweto Gospel Choir albums), has just been involved in two international releases of his music. “I am having a spectacular year!” he said last night.
In August 2020, an EP Winter Sun was released by Fiachna Ó Braonáin of Hothouse Flowers, its 4th track being an Irish African collaborative song, with choral parts written and produced by Robin, featuring also Barry Van Zyl of Johnny Clegg's band. This has been warmly received internationally:
"... it was recorded with two mates from South Africa, drummer/percussionist Barry Van Zyl and producer/arranger Robin Hogarth. This has a feel of both old Ireland and the vast spaces of the big continent we all came from. The inclusion of the Gugulethu Community Choir is the masterstroke, proving again that music is the true language of the human race and you can stick your mathematics in your pocket. The collective call themselves AFRIC and they promise more material in the future, which is very good news indeed.”
- Pat Carty in Hot Press
Now a song, written and co-produced by Robin, 'Blood On Our Hands' has been released as part of the Noah’s Ark international conservation project. Interest in this from Sony/ATV is such that a cutting edge international remix of the track is being done now by famed remixer Byron Keno in Australia. “ ‘Blood On Our Hands’, released worldwide on Friday 25 September 2020, was composed by multi-Grammy winner Robin Hogarth and arranged by Hogarth and Neill Solomon at Passage One Studios Johannesburg. Published by Sony ATV and distributed by Next Music South Africa (a subsidiary of world music distributor The Orchard) the upbeat, infectious track is performed by Phathiswa Magangane and Christina Mkabela for ARK4AFRICA. It’s a brilliant track and we’re so proud to release it to the world!” (from Noahs Ark).
And this is not all. At a time where the music industry has been hit especially hard with artists not able to perform at all, recording studios closed, projects on hold and you name it, Robin not only managed to stay on top of his game during the lockdown, he also reached out to help others.
During the lockdown, he helped create the 'SPREAD A SMILE' song & music video, created to help people internationally through these difficult times, which, in addition to having already collected 10 million likes, has followers from 100 different nations.
During the lockdown, Robin did several presentations on the business tools he uses on radio and other media, delivered several community art workshops based on the Art Book by L. Ron Hubbard to school children, as well as precepts from The Way to Happiness, a non-religious moral code.
"... I would literally say WOW! This was amazing ... I would like to thank you for having this amazing event during this boring pandemic,” says one of the students attending.
Robin attributes his success, not to good luck, but using what he calls the “Hubbard Management System.” “It’s simply a toolbox for all business endeavours including the fields of art and music. Using this system’s practical tools got me through many hardships including the lockdown,” says an excited Robin.
“I’ve been focused on really putting my products out there in 2020 at another level, as well as providing as much help as I can. This is paying huge dividends, and is very satisfying! And I have so much faith in the future of our music industry, where African artists are gaining increasing international recognition. I am exhilarated by the fact that I can continue to successfully operate in an area I love. As big as you can think, you can do. Each day I can’t wait to explore and create more!”
says Robin.