Media / Written
Langtonian is a chart topper... in Uganda, by Alex Claridge
Kentish Gazette (KM Group of Newspapers) UK, Thursday 27 July 2006
An old Langtonian has become an unlikely chart-topping music star - not in this country, but in Uganda. Alex Claridge caught up with Gareth Sandell on a trip back to the UK to find out more.
In the late 1980s he was wearing a maroon blazer and making deep sounds with the tuba in the Kent Messenger band.
Fast forward 15 years and transport yourself thousands of miles to Uganda where you will now find Gareth Sandell topping the East African nation's charts.
The former Simon Langton schoolboy, who grew up in Sturry, is now a leading producer in the country's capital Kampala.
There he has adopted the African sounding name Gdava Woods - ironoically given to him as a joke while at university by a former Canterbury schoolmate - and teamed up with a leading Ugandan musician, Akiiki Romeo.
And, like anyone making a name in music, Gareth, 30, has to put up with being written about in the gossip pages of Ugandan newspapers.
"The Pepper, their red top tabloid, carried a story about me in their 3am section which was all lies," he says with a grin.
But this unlikely star of the African music scene is prepared to take the odd fib in the press while the music's going well. Papers refer to him as a "Muzungu" - the name given to any white man or European.
He and Akiiki have set up the record label Chillum Woods and have produced three albums of African music which have made waves across Uganda.
Now the pair have turned their attention to reggae music, which is extremely popular.
"Reggae is big in Africa, there are lots of reggae clubs and Rastafarians there," Gareth said.
All of which is a far cry from Gareth's roots.
Gareth adds: "I suppose when my mum gave birth all those years ago this was probably one of the last places they thought i'd end up."
Forced to Quit
Gareth Sandell grew up in Sturry and went to Simon Langton Boys' School where he excelled in music and art.
He won a place at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester where he studied the tuba.
But illness deprived him of a career as a classical musician and he was forced to quit the college after just a year.
Undeterred, he began to look for other outlets through which to channel his creatiove energies.
He performed with various groups in Manchester and then Birmingham before moving to Africa, initially to teach English.