Based: Cape Town

Playing With Fire Ensemble has been active on the Cape Town music scene for over a decade.  Lead by Matthew Reid, the group (in its various guises) has provided entertainment for countless weddings, private functions and corporate events since its inception.

The ensembles normally stroll and play without sheet music, making them very mobile and interactive. They are well suited to playing outdoors on lawns, around guests having drinks, or around guests seated at tables. They can also play with amplification if required.

INSTRUMENTATION

The band sizzles with the infectious rhythms of the Balkan Peninsula, Turkey, Lithuania and middle Eastern Europe. A founder band of Cape Town’s Balkanology parties (with thirteen musicians on stage) the band now operates as a trio, quintet or sextet with vocals. The band accompanied Cape Town’s Jewish singers in the Yiddish Song Festival in the Baxter Theatre every year for eleven consecutive years. The band comprises saxophone, accordion, tuba, guitar, percussion and vocals.