11 April 2019

Steve Fataar, leader of iconic Sixties band The Flames, starts a week-long gig tomorrow as part of The Daily Music Show at 110 Loop Street in the city.

It will give fans of the legendary group an opportunity to listen to Steve’s take on their monster hits, For Your Precious Love, Tell It Like It Is, Place In The Sun and Don’t Make Your Children Pay among others.

The veteran musician said yesterday he was delighted to be playing in Cape Town, which he regards as his second home.

“It’s always a buzz to be back here,” Steve said. “The Flames and its music has a special place in the hearts of the locals and I’m just glad I can bring back that warm nostalgia glow.

“The Daily Music Show is put on at this very nice, relaxed venue where you can interact with the audience at a nice, intimate level. It is a novel entertainment concept and I’d like to see more of the local music lovers get behind it.

“Hopefully the fans of The Flames will be coming out to see it, not because I am playing but to support local ventures. This week the kids from the Jazz Yard Academy played there and they were great. It just shows how much talent there is in our midst.”

Steve will be accompanied by the father-son duo, Alistair (bass) and Ethan (guitar) Adams of Vanguard Estate. “I met them at the Jazz Academy Yard and we just gelled.

“They’ll be the core of the band for this gig but I’m hoping guys like Tony Cedras and Mervyn Africa will pitch up and we can jam a bit. The Daily Music Show is suited for that type of thing.”

Steve says he talks to former Flames singer Blondie Chaplin (who gave us that memorable version of For Your Precious Love) regularly and they haven’t ruled out playing together again. Blondie now plays with former Beach Boy Brian Wilson and is planning to a visit to Cape Town later this year.

The driving force behind The Daily Music Show is Joey Fourie who says he is a classically trained pianist who loves and plays jazz. He has been involved in tourism for 14 years but the arts have always been close to his heart.

“I combined my passion for tourism and the arts. The Daily Music Shop uses music as the universal language to showcase our cultural heritage,” he said.

Fourie has structured the daily offerings with a distinctly local flavour pitched at the tourist market traipsing around the city centre.

“It starts around 6.30pm as a cocktail half hour where guests are offered samoosas, daltjies, snoek pate and other local cuisine with a glass of wine and beer to unwind after a day of sightseeing,” he says.

In between the music, Fourie slots in poetry readings, buskers and dancers to show off the broader spectrum of local arts talent. The audience can interact with the artists and round off the night with a full meal of “egte kos” (Cape cuisine).

The “egte kos” initiative is something that Fourie has been doing for a number of years as part of his tourism job where he took international tourists onto the Cape Flats for a local experience and feeding them traditional local dishes like breyani, bobotie, and curry. “It is exactly what we have been eating in our homes for yonks.”

He also has a permanent artist in residence, Kenny Alexander, who exhibits his work at the venue and also does portraits of patrons while they are there.

One of the standout features in The Daily Music Show’s short existence has been the poetry readings.   Fourie says poets Gadija, Tracey Carmilta Heeger and Bongweni have been exceptional in the readings of their work.

“They’ve gone down very well with international audiences. At first I told them to drop Afrikaans but when they did use Afrikaans, it helps because it becomes a talking point in relation to our Khoi and San ancestry.”

“I’m giving those artists the opportunity to perform to an international audience in the heart of Cape Town. I also have to find a balance between showcasing the young talent and the old legends.”

Fourie’s target market is primarily the passing tourist but he wants more involvement from local music lovers because, he says, they provide “context”.

“The locals will help the visitors understand the experience otherwise it will not be as authentic as I’d like. The locals are key to what I do.”

Fourie has experienced some hiccups through slow bookings but that is to be expected with a relatively new venture. One should give him credit. He is trying something new, and, just as importantly, he is providing work for local performers. That in itself makes the venture worthy of support.

Check it out. Get a blast of nostalgia from Steve Fataar and support the home-grown efforts. Local is lekker.

Related articles:

So Much Good Music Locked In A Burning Soul

The Flames Burn Brightly 50 Years On Thanks To ‘For Your Precious Love’