Write Away Magazine - Issue No:13

Dave Stark
The Cape
Biography:
Dave Starke is a South African
singer-songwriter who strives to capture
human moments in musical form - to
sum up a whole host of thoughts and
emotions using just his voice and a
guitar. He describes a guitar as
“nothing more than a wooden box with
strings, tensioned to near breaking
point – it’s fundamental, honest and
often scary and it’s a good metaphor for
the human experience…”
Inspired by the creators and
capturers that came before him that
poured themselves into paper, canvas,
vinyl and clay, Dave uses enough words
to get you thinking, but no so many that
he tells you what to think. He sees song
writing as something of a survival
strategy – a pressure release valve that
keeps him together. He is a two-time
semi-finalist in the UK Songwriting
Contest for his songs “Calling out to
you” and “Burn after reading”.
His music is lyric-driven, performed
on guitar with occasional touches of
percussion and some very haunting
whistling. For Dave it’s all about telling
stories, so the voice is the most
important instrument and everything
else is there to be a support structure for
the narrative.
His most recent album “Duende” was
released in January 2019.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2acM-
RhqNXbkhGJQj7gy7Cy
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=7ZQ9AMkYEoY
https://www.facebook.com/davestarkemusic/
Cathedral.
turns itself to thoughts about
being missed. Back home
are, imagining them safe
and that bringing some
the “player without a play”.
heatrical theme that runs
t the song, hence the
to “Props”, waiting “in the
“sword”, “armour” and
as well as the the love interest
essed as “Prima Donna” – the
y…
nds with a return to the
was an experience that was
ed or frozen in time and that
that way, it had to come to an
the inevitable rising of the
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