'I love the music': Award-winning bassist Chadleigh Gowar on secret to his success and his new album

Award-winning Cape Town musician Chadleigh Gowar has a new album out, and 'The Love I Know' has been YEARS in the making.

Sara-Jayne Makwala King catches up with the bass supremo on Weekend Breakfast.

Gowar comes from a musical family and recalls how the instrument he now loves was virtually picked for him. 

"My mothers and my sisters could sing, and then my mother's sister married a guy who could play guitar... They had a son who played the drums, and I was kind of left out."

"But it worked out so perfectly. There was a spot on the bass for me - I fell in love with the instrument, and have been playing ever since."

Chadleigh Gowar, Musician

While his favourite style is Afro jazz, Gowar also plays a range of music, featuring in different bands from gospel to pop.

The stage king says he never pictured himself as a solo artist or frontman for a band, but when he started performing his own music the bug bit him.

"I heard melodies in my mind... and found I love playing music for people, whether it be at church or a function or whatever..."

"My style of music is obviously mostly instrumental, and for me it's always been about, what do you feel in your heart when you listen to the song."

Chadleigh Gowar, Musician

This heart connection is why Gowar says the secret to his success is simply that 'I love music'.

How does the creative process happen for him? Sara-Jayne is keen to find out.

There's not just one way says Gowar, but does tell the amazing story of how he actually dreamed one particular melody, in its entirety.

The song is called 'The Festival' and while it doesn't feature on the latest album, it will on the next he promises.

"I dreamed I was on stage with Hugh Masakela, with Jimmy Dludlu, with Richard Bona (bass player from Cameroon). The song is basically written around Bona's ways of composing, bra Hugh's Afro jazz vibe, and obviously Jimmy's energy."

"The song is the melody I played in that dream."

Chadleigh Gowar, Musician

'The Love I Know' was actually recorded back in 2018, and then re-recorded, remixed and remastered five years later in 2023. 

"Basically that which I'd done between 2016 and 2018 was money down the drain", he chuckles ruefully.

"For this album I probably had about 20 songs; I ended up with 11."

"I wrote, I composed, I played the music. It's important what I learn out of this process... when you go and play the music to the people you get the feeling of how it sounds; if they respond to it, if they love it..."

Chadleigh Gowar, Musician

Check out the video for one of the tracks below:

Fans will be happy to hear that Gowar is playing an intimate gig in Ottery, Cape Town, on 26 April.

Click here to book your tickets, and scroll up to listen to the conversation with the musician