Chris-Tokalon at Kalk Bay Theatre

Chris Tokalon is a musician, composer, performer, sound therapist and recording artist. He has played sax and flute since 1979 in a wide variety of jazz ensembles, musicals and cabarets, as well as being constantly involved in and performing local original music with bands and artists such as Peto, the Jazz Hounds, Steve Newman, Tony Cox, Drum Cafe and his own world music project, Soulbird. He is also known for his astonishing ability to mimic musical instruments, birds, animals and people in performance and has developed a natural ability for overtone singing and creating evocations of natural sounds as part of a Sound therapy process.
CHRIS ‘THE MARVELOUS MOUTH’ TOKALON IN “DON’T TUNE ME – I’LL TUNE YOU!” – A ONE MAN MUSIC AND COMEDY SHOW
You might have seen him in recent years alongside Steve Newman and Tony Cox as a saxophonist, flautist and funny front man, imitating instruments and impersonating a couple of well-loved public figures with hilarious results. This show toured countrywide and had succesful runs at the Grahamstown Festival for 3 years in a row.
Now he returns to the stage with a solo show, quite aptly titled “Don’t Tune Me – I’ll Tune You!”. This is where he gets to “show” off, combining all his talents as a comedian, musician, composer, sound therapist and wacky, walking windbag. In this highly entertaining show he is ‘the Marvelous Mouth’ imitating musical instruments, people, birds and animals. All these skills are put to good use in a dazzling array of musical events and ‘tunes’.
The show is snappy and witty comedy in various accents and characters, combined with music and made up ‘tunes’. An unbelievable range of vocal gymnastics is woven together with a nifty technical device called the DD20 Loop Sampler. It’s a foot pedal which enables him to record or loop his voice live in front of the audience, adding layer after layer of bass, drums, guitar, trumpet etc., etc. All the sounds are produced by that marvelous mouth. Basically he creates his own backing band and then adds on vocals and lyrics which contain silly and /or inspiring messages which are funny and potentially life changing to the listener.
Some tunes have no lyrics in them; instead they are melodic and haunting interwoven melodies from vocals and real sax and flute. Sax and flute are his real life instruments.
The show is suitable entertainment for all age groups. It is child friendly as well! Two popular sayings will endorse this show; “If music be the food of love, play on” and “Laughter is the best medicine”. So as he say, “Don’t tune me – I’ll tune you!”