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Amanda Strydom

She also began performing as a solo cabaret artist, at Garbo's in Cape Town and at Club 58 in Hillbrow.

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Strydom has since written most of the songs in her repertoire and discography, but she also sings songs by artists such as Koos du Plessis, Stef Bos, José Feliciano, Kris Kristofferson, Holly Cole, and George Gershwin.

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In a prolific year (1997) Strydom toured Belgium with Vrou by die Spieël and State of the Heart, staged the same works at arts festivals in South Africa, and also created the cabaret n Vuur gevang in Glas using texts by Hennie Aucamp.

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Johannesburg's famous Market Theatre was the venue for her first performance in one of Hennie Aucamp's cabarets, Met Permissie Gesê (Said With Permission).

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The writer Hennie Aucamp had an enormous influence on Strydom's development as a cabaret singer, and she still acknowledges him as her mentor.

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She had two further honours in that year: first, she was honoured by her alma mater, the University of Pretoria with their Tuks Alumni Laureate Award, and secondly, she was invited to attend the historic 85th birthday celebrations of Nelson Mandela in Sandton, Johannesburg.

see also