Brendan Jury graduated from the University of Natal with a Bachelor of Music Degree in 1994. Besides forming the groundbreaking SA rock group Urban Creep, he was also their vocalist and viola player. Urban Creep released two highly acclaimed albums: “Sea Level” in 1995 and “TightRoper” in 1997. The band toured extensively internationally.

In 1997 he formed Trans.Sky with celebrated Kalahari Surfer, Warwick Sony. In addition to playing live and recording albums, Trans.Sky composed music for the BBC, Discovery Channel, Tube on SABC, Channel 4 and several short films. A highlight was the composition of the music and songs for William Kentridge’s “Ubu and the Truth Commission” which toured for over a year in the USA, the UK and Europe. In 1997, Brendan also joined the Gathering Forces afro-jazz project, led by Darius Brubeck and featuring Lulu Gontsana, Barney Rachabane, Deepak Ram and Concorde Nkabinde. They recorded and performed in the “Fin de Siecle” festival in Nantes, France. In 1998 Trans.Sky released the album “Killing Time” to extraordinary critical acclaim, fusing electronica, kwaito, hip hop and ambient music.

In 1999 Brendan formed the rock act OHM, releasing the album titled OHM on the Melt 2000 label and also toured internationally, performing in France, the Netherlands and the UK.

In 2001 Brendan collaborated with Ellis Pearson to write and perform original theatre and won the FNB Vita Award for Male Performance Musical Theatre. A highlight of 2001 was performing with Gathering Forces at the World Conference Against Racism.

Brendan concentrated on composition for broadcast and teamed up with Arno Carstens of the Springbok Nude Girls, launching Arno’s solo career in 2002. Brendan also played the viola on the One Giant Leap album in the 2003 project which included Brian Eno, Baaba Maal, Maxi Jazz of Faithless, Neneh Cherry, Robby Williams, The Mahotella Queens, Pops Mohammed and The Soweto String Quartet.

Arno Carsten’s first album, on which Brendan played viola and keyboard, won the SAMA award for Best Rock Album in 2004. Brendan collaborated with Phil Manzanera of Roxy Music, Brian Eno, Dave Gilmour and Chrissie Hynde on Phil’s debut solo album 6PM. In 2005 Brendan formed Bass Culture Music, working with great SA artists such as Jabu Kanyile, Proverb, Hip Hop Pantsula and TK among others. He played viola on the film score for Totsi. He also recorded and toured strings and keyboards for Arno Carsten’s second album, “The Hello Goodbye Boys” and toured South Africa and the UK with The Springbok Nude Girls. He also recorded strings on Phil Manzanera’s second solo album, “50 Minutes Later On” and the single, Bible Black produced by Brian Eno.

Brendan has been writing music scores for local and international documentaries, short films, television and commercials. In 2007 he won 2 Promax Awards for Broadcast Music in South Africa. In August 2007, he performed with Arno Carstens as the opening act for the Rolling Stones and performed at the Isle Of White Festival. He is currently working on the new Arno Carstens album due for release in 2008.

BACK