The rise of the Soweto String Quartet has been one of the great symbolic successes of the new South Africa. The three Khemese brothers and viola player Makhosini Mnguni were all born and raised in Soweto; they formed the quartet in 1978, but it wasn't until violinist Sandile Khemese had spent seven years studying music in England that the group hit upon its commercially successful brew of classical, crossover and township pop.

The quartet's fondness for amplified fusion music overshadows the more interesting parts of their repertoire. Much of their performance features the four string players sawing at their instruments at the front of the stage while their five-piece band booms away behind them. There is little scope for any meaningful interplay. The music is so determined to mix any number of international styles that it ends up with no fixed identity. It isn't rock, it isn't jazz and it isn't interesting. Bossa Baroque, by Dave Grusin, is supposed to be a blend of samba and JS Bach, but is merely trite. Shut Up and Listen, although supposedly mixing African music with an Irish jig, is a platitude in sound.

The best of the quartet's music occurs when they play alone. Here they mix formal, classical discipline with the rawer edges of folk and pop and generate a natural swing. This worked particularly well in My Lover and a version of Dvorak's Songs My Mother Taught Me.

But then it was back to the big band. By the time the set climaxed with a happy-clappy version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight, enough was much more than enough.