Michael Blake

South African composer

PersonhumanQ6828685

Born: 1951
1
Sources
1.Stated in Integrated Authority FileRetrieved 2026-05-04
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Birthplace: Cape Town
Citizenship: South Africa
Occupation: composer
1
Sources
1.Stated in Integrated Authority FileRetrieved 2026-04-20
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Languages spoken, written or signed: English

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

Michael Blake is a South African contemporary classical music composer and performer. He studied in Johannesburg in the 1970s and was associated with conceptual art and the emergence of an indigenous experimental music aesthetic. In 1976 he embarked on 'African Journal', a series of pieces for Western instruments that drew on his studies of traditional African music and aesthetics, which continued to expand during two decades in London until he returned to South Africa in 1998. From around 2000 African music becomes less explicit on the surface of his compositions, but elements of rhythm and repetition remain as part of a more postcolonial engagement with material and form. He works in a range of styles including minimalism and collage, and now also forages for source material from the entire musical canon.

Overview

All data

23 statements · 26% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Sex or gender: male
1
Sources
1.Stated in Integrated Authority FileRetrieved 2026-07-21
View statement on Wikidata ↗
Given name: Michael
Different from: Michael Blake
Family name: Blake

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13 identifiers linking Michael Blake across the web's reference databases

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Source last edited September 25, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). Michael Blake (Q6828685). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/michael-blake-Q6828685