Leslie Kleinsmith is back – in case you hadn’t noticed – and he’s “all wound up” ready to break loose at a series of big gigs in Cape Town over the next couple of weeks.

It all starts at the Jazz On The Rocks festival at Tietiesbaai next week when he fronts his first big public gig in Cape Town since moving back home from overseas late last year.

It will be followed by two concert shows in April: one at The Baxter and the other at Nassau Centre auditorium at Groote Schuur High in Palmyra Rd Newlands.

Leslie, one of Cape Town (and South Africa’s) top performers for decades, has been living and working out of France for the last few years, doing the popular cruise liner gigs around the northern hemisphere countries.

“Living in France and performing in Europe is great but it is always, always, good to be back in Cape Town. I’m in my comfort zone here,” he said.

Although he got back around December last year, he hasn’t rushed into accepting bookings, even ones at the height of the festive season.

“Moving house, especially from overseas, is a helluva thing,” he said. “Don’t let anybody tell you differently. Your whole world is just an endless line of boxes.

“I thought I would sort that out before accepting any new work.”

There has been the odd gig here and there to titillate the fans. He did the popular Sunday brunch turn at Winchester Mansions in Sea Point and he has a regular Tuesday nightspot with legendary pianist Sammy Hartman at Pigalle’s Restaurant in Sea Point.

Leslie will perform with jazz guitarist Darryl Andrews’ Big Band at The Baxter on April 9 along with – wait for it – Madeegha Anders.

It will be something of a “reunion” for the two. It will be the first time they will be performing together since their starring roles in District 6: The Musical back in 1987. Madeegha (then Velma Anders) played Mary, and Leslie was Cassiem, her love interest.

“It is going to be something special,” Leslie said. “We haven’t worked it out yet, but I’m sure we’ll be doing something from the musical. We have to, don’t we? Just for old times sake.”

Darryl Andrews is the senior lecturer in jazz at UCT and has produced a number of these very successful Big Band concerts.

The jazz concert at Nassau Centre is on April 28 with Sammy Hartman. That should be something special because a Sammy Hartman concert is such a rare occasion. And Sammy Hartman is special!

“I’m in awe of Sammy’s prowess,” Leslie said. “He is the consummate professional.”

At all three gigs, starting with Tietiesbaai next Saturday afternoon, fans can expect the normal mixture of jazz and ballads, including songs from his last CD, All Wound Up.

“I can’t wait for Saturday to roll around and see all those people on the beach and in the water, listening to the music. It is such a cool gig.”

Songs from All Wound Up still gets a lot of airtime on local radio stations even though it was released in 1968.

Leslie still hopes to fulfil another recording dream . . . a compilation album of jazz standards backed by a full-on big band.

“I’d also like to do a concert like that. Maybe later this year when I can focus on things other than settling in to a new house.”

 

Related articles:

Leslie K . . . a man for all reasons

Madeegha Anders . . . ‘I am woman hear me roar’

 

 

 

 

 

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Little Wing, that popular band from the ’60s and ‘70s, is having reunion gigs next month and they want their fans from yesteryear to come and “party like it’s 1969” – the year that gave us the famed Woodstock Festival and Flower Power”.

It’s all happening over a two-week period in March when former members fly in from Australia to do two gigs at Kaleidoscope in Claremont, and the Royal Cape Golf Club in Wynberg.

All the original members of the group, bar one, will be onstage for the gigs and the repertoire has been worked out and practised in Cape Town and Sydney.

The New Beginnings band will share the spotlight with the group, providing depth to the whole initiative. New Beginnings has a strong following in Cape Town satisfying a need among older music lovers for songs of the ’60s and ’70s.

Back then, when Little Wing was packing out venues, the line-up was Mike Smith (guitar), Randall Bezuidenhout (guitar), Bernie Lawrence (bass) and Noel Kistima (drums), with Jimmy Engelbrecht on vocals. Mike, Randall and Noel are flying in from Australia.

“This is going to be one helluva party,” Bernie said.

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“The guys are all aged 70 or hitting 70 shortly. Mike and Noel turned 70 in December last year. So we thought while we are all still alive and kicking let’s get together and have a party to remember. It will be a collaboration with New Beginnings of course, and with friends who want to join – the project is called Little Wing, New Beginnings and Friends.”

At this stage, for personal reasons, Jimmy had indicated that he would not be able to be part of the reunion.

“We have some good vocal talent in New Beginnings and, since Jimmy won’t be there, the New Beginnings singers will handle it. Jimmy is more than welcome to join us if he wants to do a song or two,” Bernie said.

“It’s 50 years since the three-day Woodstock festival in 1969. Those were good times. Our repertoire will be the same songs we played back then – Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Mountain, Eric Clapton and we’ll segue into the Earth Wind and Fire stuff when everybody is on stage.

The opening nights are March 16 and 17 (Sat and Sun) at Kaleidoscope in Claremont and the following weekend, March 22, at the Royal Cape Golf Club in Wynberg.

On March 23, the reunion tour moves to St Aidan’s hall in Lansdowne. It is a venue that holds a special place in the hearts of the Little Wing band and its followers. That was the group’s home base and they packed them in there.

“Playing at St Aidan’s is part of a very nostalgic journey. It mean’s so much to us and I’m sure it will to many others,” Bernie said.

The group would like to do one more gig on March 21. “We’d like it to be a ‘themed’ gig, sort of like a Flower Power Party with people coming dressed in their hippie gear, bell bottoms and flowers in their hair. And maybe bring their kid and grandkids along.”

They haven’t settled on a venue for the gig yet but it is quite possible that it will be at Royal Cape as well.

Bernie was at pains to point out that the reunion was not a money-making venture.

“It is not intended to be a money generating exercise. Mike Smith is only going to be here for one week. He can’t get off from work for very long. He comes in on the 15^th and has a private get-together with one of his earlier groups, The Renegades. He is gone the following week.”

Bernie has some advice for their old fans: “I’d suggest you book early. Kaleidoscope only takes about 150-200 people and some people from Australia have already booked three tables.

My brother, Ossie, on the left. Owen Adriaanse next to him. Errol Alexander on drums and on the right, me. This would have been late 60’s.

The Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin . . . and Cape Town’s song queen Sophia Foster

For Cape Town songbird Sophia Foster, soul queen Aretha Franklin was a major part of the soundtrack of her life. She grew up with Aretha’s songs, she identified with the sentiments and she included many in her repertoire.

Sophia is no different from most who grew up in the Sixties listening to all the legendary soul singers – Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett, Sam Cooke, Percy Sledge, Oscar Toney Jnr.

Aretha’s passing last week hit home with Sophia, so much so that she says she feels compelled to honour the singer. She is planning to put together an “Aretha tribute” show to honour and celebrate her life.

“I am already planning it in my head and have spoken to a female pianist who accompanies me on my shows,” Sophia said at the weekend.

The focus, she says, will be on female entertainers, who no doubt will channel Aretha’s clarion call in songs like RESPECT, Young Gifted And Black, Try A Little Tenderness and Change is Gonna Come.

“I am busy scouting the females, as my angle here will be putting together the vintage and the current female singers,” Sophia said.

Sophia’s career started around 1967 when she joined the Golden City Dixies Variety Show as a dancer but quickly showed a talent for singing as well.

“Off course, I always had Aretha’s songs in my repertoire back then as most of her lyrics resonated with me at the time and remained evergreen . . . songs like Natural Woman. Respect. Young Gifted and Black, which is the song my Foundation kids open our show with.”

The foundation she refers too is her Fostering Foundation she founded last year to nurture young, raw talent in Cape Town.

Sophia first became aware of Aretha when she heard her singing A Change Is Gonna Come 50 years ago.

“It was at the height of apartheid. I cried and cried listening to her lyrics and thinking; ‘will there ever be a change in our country’?

“The same year, RESPECT came out and I learnt the lyrics of these two songs and performed it at a club in Soweto. I kept lifting the arm of the long-player needle to catch up writing the lyrics in long hand.

“Then in 1968, there was People Get Ready and I waited in anticipation thinking the revolution was coming.

“Aretha’s style was unique in the sense that you heard the truth from the get go. That’s what became, like, my mantra – to sing with honesty first..”

Her favourite Aretha song is A House Is Not a Home. “I cry when I sing it.”

Much has been written locally and internationally about the impact of the song RESPECT. It became something of a battle cry for black oppressed and for women. It was first a hit for Otis Redding but Aretha took it to another level.

Its significance wasn’t lost on Sophia back then already: “Back then there was nobody to tell you what you were worth and a regime that made you feel you did not fit in, degrading you at every turn, no hotels, sleeping on a bus, on stage, washing in a hand basin, no hot water, and even in a cowshed .

“And all we wanted was respect and dignity.

“I’d like Aretha’s story of hardship and suffering to serve as a classic example of how we can overcome adversity. She can be a role model for the youngsters in my Fostering Foundation by teaching them the meaning of Respect and the price we artists had to pay back in the day.”

Sophia says she already has the RESPECT show mapped out in her head. “I’ve got in mind to open with something potent, and then weaving her life story through dialogue in between.”

Any show highlighting Aretha’s contribution to our lives would be like revisiting some of those heady times of 1967-68 when the soul fever hit Cape Town.

Who can forget hanging around Jay Jay’s record bar at Athlone Station listening to this exciting new sound blaring from inside. It was a “cool” time, things were “uptight and outtasight”.

If you were old enough, you could catch, “live”, some of the hit songs at Jay Jay’s nightclub, The Soul Workshop, around the corner. Bands like The Chayn Gang, Wild Thing, The Cheyennes and Respect belted out those song with as much fervour as the US stars. I have an idea Respect chose that name as a tribute to that great song.

Aretha will be buried later this week but there will no doubt be a major event in the US at a later stage.

I look forward to Sophia Foster and her Fostering Foundation presenting their effort on stage.

Related Articles:

Sophia Foster — The Lady is a Vamp

Diva Foster does exactly what that last name means

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In the Sixties and early Seventies, three of the top bands in Cape Town were the Lunar 5, Respect and Little Wing/Big Daddy. Each, in its own way, had huge support.

There were others, of course, too many to mention. For the moment, let’s focus on those three because something very interesting is bubbling under with some of the members of these old bands.

All three are talking of having one final reunion.

Those who were in the Lunar Five – Charlie Ismail, Mel da Silva, Bernie Brown, Raymond “Vonkies” Charles, would all be aged in their 70s (Raymond Meade, the drummer, has died).

In Respect, Issy Ariefdien, Noel Kistima, Ivor Wagner and Bernie Lawrence are all still with us, And, of course, Mel da Silva played with Respect. (Original vocalist Issy Mohammed hasn’t been seen for years and their other vocalist Tyrone McCranus has died.)

In Little Wing the personnel was Randall Bezuidenhout, Mikey Smith, Jimmy Engelbrecht, with Noel Kistima and Bernie Lawrence being part of them as well.

As wonderful as the idea sounds – and wouldn’t it be a blast if it were to happen – it would take one helluva logistical exercise to pull one of them together let alone all three. They would have been living separate lives.

Interestingly, the Lunar Five guys were talking independently of a reunion, as were the guys in Respect and Little Wing.

Given that there was an overlap of membership – Da Silva played with the Lunar 5 and Respect; Ariefdien, Kistima and Lawrence played with Respect and Little Wing/Big Daddy. Also, Bernie Brown sang with the Lunar 5 and had guest spots with Respect.

The biggest hurdle would be for the overseas players to get themselves to Cape Town. Bernie Brown lives in Brisbane, Noel and Randall live in Sidney and Mel lives in Canberra.

Here’s me just thinking aloud: What if there was a suitable venue, like say the Wittebome Civic Centre where people could sit down as well as dance?

And what if all three bands were on the same bill? Two or three bands at one gig was all the rage those days. Bands would do a two-hour set, pack up and head off to another club to do another two-hour set.

The nice thing about having all three at one venue on one night would be the opportunity for fans of music and bands of that era to enjoy a nice walk down memory lane.

A set from the Lunar 5 would include their hits like She’s A Yum Yum, Field of Yellow Daisies and Hi Hi Hazel and Bernie’s Sing Out Glory.

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Respect never recorded but their fans would certainly like to hear, one more time, their take on Hendrix’s Hey Joe, Joe Cocker’s Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, Spooky Tooth’s Society’s Child, Vanilla Fudge’s You Keep Me Hanging On, and The Kink’s Tired of Waiting.

Likewise, fans of Little Wing grooved on Jeff’s Beck Jody, Santana’s No One To Depend On, and Cream’s Crossroads at the home venue, St Aiden’s in Lansdowne.

The Little Wing/Big Daddy sound is still being heard through the group New Beginnings. With Clive Fester and Bernie Lawrence steering the ship, New Beginnings has regular gigs around the Peninsula, offering a ’60s-’70s sound to a solid following who like to reminisce.

This may all be pie-in-the-sky stuff, but let’s all to do a bit of positive channelling and maybe it’ll happen.

Below is Respect’s Mel da Silva (bass) and Noel Kistima (drums), and Issy Ariefdien (lead) and Ivor Wagner (organ) as they are today. Click on the image to see the full picture/

Related articles on this blog

Bernie Brown . . . the Sixties Sensation who had so much to give

The life and times of Ivor Wagner

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13 December 2017

Songbird Sophia Foster launched officially last week her young artists mentoring project, The Fostering Foundation. If you’re into nominative determinism, it’s a job Ms Foster was born to do.

For the past year or so, Sophia has been tutoring a group of young performers on how to handle themselves on stage. With more than 50 years’ experience to call on, who better to learn from than an icon of South African stage entertainment?

In true Sophia style, she launched it at a glitzy show that drew rave reviews from those lucky enough to attend, and lit up social media with people praising her for her initiative.

The Fostering Foundation has been set up to “transfer skills and develop the talented youth of the Western Cape”.

For Sophia, it is the culmination of a long-held dream. Mindful of her own experiences when she started in the entertainment business in the mid-Sixties, she nurtured this vision of running a skills program for up-and-coming youngsters.

“The mentoring idea was always there. I spent most of my life mentoring people in the industry. I got this idea that one day I could have my own group of kids who wanted to be in the industry and I’d teach them all kinds of skills,” she said after the launch.

“For me, it was always going to be an holistic approach to give them a grounding in all facets of a stage performance . . . microphone control, voice projection, stage presence, choreography.”

It all started to fall in place when her husband, Craig, converted their garage into a mini-studio. It was fitted it out with mirrors, a sound system, microphones.

“All I needed to get going was the space,” Sophia says. “It was a proper, professional set up.”

Through word of mouth, she attracted her first intake last year. They were a diverse group from different backgrounds and came from all over the Peninsula – “Maitland, Belhar, Khayelitsha, even one from Paarl”.

“When they came to me they were quite introverted, they had no confidence. My God, when I looked at them at my launch, it was like day and night.”

“Shortly after I started the project, I managed to get them showcased at Artscape, during Youth Month. I asked Artscape if my kids could open show. Now my kids have been booked to do two shows at that venue.”

Although Sophia is polishing these young entertainers as part of her group, she says if they managed to get opportunities on their own, she would not hold them back.

“They are like family and I have to factor in that they are still at school. It does mean that sometimes I have to put things on hold while they are busy with exams but I was quite firm when I told them I don’t want anyone to put music first at the expense of education. It’s a balancing act for us.

“I also made them understand what opportunities would be available to them if they were properly equipped with the right skills.

“My generation did not have that luxury. They must be aware of the people who came before them. It was a struggle for us and, in choosing songs for them to perform, I opt for music from the likes of Nina Simone and Billie Holiday that epitomises that struggle.

Sophia has had a good response from her friends in the entertainment industry to offer their expertise.

“I got one of the best sound engineers in the country offering to help and a former dancer who made a name for herself at the big hotels up north and in Paris is going to be involved with choreography.

“The response after the launch was phenomenal. I even had offers of sponsorship on the night.”

Obviously running a mentoring academy requires funds and Sophia is hoping that government and business will come to the party with financial assistance in the form of grants and sponsorships.

It is a commendable effort from someone who has paid her dues in the industry over and over again. And it is a long way from the teenage girl who ran away from home in 1967 to strut her stuff on stage.

You can get an idea of what she has achieved  with  the youngsters when they perform at Kaleidoscope in Claremont on Sunday, 17 December.

Click on the link below to read more about Sophia’s career that spans about 50 years.

Sophia Foster — the lady is a vamp

Comments from social media

Student Celeste Florence: No words can express my gratitude. You have planted a seed in me that’s unstoppable. Thank you for taking the time out to groom myself and fellow songbirds to becoming the best at what we do; to give it everything we got inside and leave it all there. We have learnt to be more confident. Thank you so much for doing it so unselfishly. Many thanks to Tills, Salvana and hubby for this journey of love. You are an amazing example to all of us. Many thanks Sophia love you forever.

Businesswoman Roslyn Dantu: Awesome Awesome Awesome.  Thank you Sophia for what you have done.  The kids were confident, excited, happy and really, really talented.  And I loved the wardrobe and the wardrobe changes.  I support all of what you are doing in “fostering” these young adults.  My admiration for you and Craig and Tiffany knows no bounds. Thank you to all three of you for opening your hearts, your wallets and giving this amazing young talent a voice and also an opportunity to shine.  Keep shining Ms Foster.  You are a bright light.  Love you lots.

Singer Melanie Scholtz: Yes, Aunty Sophia Foster. Yesssss !!  I salute you, Queen.

All material on this blog is copyrighted. Permission has to be obtained to reproduce any part of it.

 

Steve Fataar, once leader of The Flames, South Africa’s top pop/soul group in the Sixties, has shown that he can still “hit the road” and undertake a gruelling tour at the age of 75.  He opens a lightning four-night-four-city tour of Australia, starting this Friday in Sydney.

Soft-spoken Steve, the guitarist who drove The Flames to the pinnacle in South Africa with such memorable hits as Tell It Like It Is, Place In The Sun and For Your Precious Love and then took them overseas, will follow up the Sydney date at the RSL In Paddington, with gigs in Melbourne (Nov 18), Brisbane (Nov 19) and Perth (Nov 20).

“It’s going to be a helluva challenge,” Steve said between rehearsals in Sydney today. “But I love a challenge; I’m looking forward to it.”

Steve has combined the tour with a visit to his mother who lives in Sydney and is in her ’90s.  Steve himself is 75 years old and is quite frank in admitting that these are precious moments in his life.

”I’m still enjoying my music.  If I don’t play my guitar for a few days, I kinda feel a bit off. It’s what drives me.”

He says his shows will feature some of the material he has been performing in recent years as a solo performer but he will include songs from The Flames era.

“I have to include some of the stuff from The Flames,” Steve said. “People want it; every show I do I get asked to do one or two big hits from The Flames. Well, since Blondie [Chaplain] ain’t around, I guess I’ll give them a ‘better understanding’ of what it was all about. It’s a nostalgia thing and people are totally into nostalgia these days.

Steve will be performing as a support act to comedian South African Masood Boomgaard. He is also excited at the prospect of working with pianist Lance Saunders, the veteran South African pianist who now lives in Perth. Steve generally works as a solo performer these days but has done several gigs in recent years, most notably with the late Errol Dyers. Anyone who has been on Facebook will know when and where he is playing; he uses social media very well.

“It was a pleasant surprise when the promoter told me Lance would be joining me on stage. When I was last in Australia a few years ago, Lance played with me in Perth. It should work well, we’re both from Durban and it shouldn’t take much for Lance to get his head around what I’m doing, he is a seasoned performer who has backed hundreds of musicians over the years.”

Flames fans may have a little more to get excited about if plans to do a documentary on the group come to fruition. It has been spoken about for more than a year now and a promotional trailer is already in the can. It could be that it comes out next year to coincide with the 50^th anniversary of the release of For Your Precious.  And maybe a rumoured For Your Precious Love 50^th anniversary SA tour. Wouldn’t that be a blast?

In the meantime expat South Africans in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth  have an opportunity to honour a legend of South African music.

 

The festive period will soon be upon us and it’ll be the season for giving. So why not show your heart is in the right place and give someone something deep and meaningful.

Like the latest CD from a few of our local artists. Just off the top of my head there are three available right now: Alter Native by multi-instrumentalist Hilton Schilder, Evolution of an Undefined by young bassist Benjamin Jephta and Hits of Yesterday by one-time Hippies lead guitarist Gammie Lakay.

It’s tough being a local performer. It always has been. They don’t earn big bucks doing live gigs and, from a recording perspective, they don’t get as much exposure on local radio.

Throw in the Internet downloads, piracy and file-sharing and one can see what a mountain it is to climb to make a decent living as an entertainer.

This is why I am quite happy to publicise these three, two of whom – Schilder and Jeptha – I was fortunate enough to see perform live recently.

Hilton launched Alter Native a few weeks ago and the work is in keeping with his musical development to embrace his roots.

Alter Native is Hilton’s 40^th that he can pin down, (“there may be others where I was a session musician for other artists”).

Hilton, son of legendary jazz pianist Tony Schilder, says this project was, in a manner of speaking, dedicated to his family.

“The album is dedicated to my grandson, Aiden, but there are individual tracks which I have named after other members of my family (Tesna and Marko’s Polo),” he said.

His daughter, Duenda, sings on the track Use Your Mind, while Mishka Reddy sings on Are You Prepared.

“The tone of the album is definitely roots music,” Hilton says. “There isn’t that steroid style of piano playing. I’m into landscapes. It’s more from the heart.

“As I’m getting older I find I’m more and more into the spirituality of music.”

A good example of his direction these days is in the essence of the title track.

“It is such a beautiful work. I used five musical bows and then added the percussion and stuff. I enjoyed making that, in the way it grew.”

Hilton also plays keyboards, percussion, melodica, guitar and bass on the album. He is joined by Mark Veldsman, (sax, flute), Brydon Bolton (upright bass) and Carlo Fabe (drums).

His next project is a solo piano and solo guitar album. (“I was around some of the best guitar players around . . . Russell Herman, Mac Mackenzie and Philly Schilder.”)

Benjamin Jephta’s The Evolution of An Undefined follows on from his Homecoming album, which was all about discovering his inner self.

This latest effort, as the title indicates, focuses on what he says “who I will be . . . modifying, reconstructing, progressing”.

It goes without saying that it is deeply personal stuff and understanding it would require having an insight into the mindset of the person creating it.

I gave it a listen and found an amalgam of intricate rhythms and arrangements. Benjamin was recently named the 2017 Standard Bank Young Jazz Artist. But this album goes a bit beyond the jazz genre. There’s a bit of fusion, some electronic and hip hop.

The tracks are Jump Interlude, Still I Rise (Revisited), Dear Mr Hodge, The Path, Evolution (Part 1 and 2), Mombelli (Part 1 and 2), Identity (featuring Jitsvinger and Eden Myrrh), Identity Interlude , Choice (featuring Thapelo Lekoane of SA Idol fame) and Song for Ellen Pakkies (featuring Jitsvinger).

It is the song for Ellen Pakkies that really resonated with me. Despite having a pretty catholic taste in music, I am not big fan of hip hop, particularly when it is peppered with a liberal spicing of “motherfuckers”, “hos” and “bitches”. Must be an age thing.

Ellen Pakkies is the Lavender Hill woman who killed her tik-addicted son in an act of tough love. Hip hop artist Jitsvinger, in the patois of the townships, addresses the social issues that surround the tik epidemic on the Cape Flats. I just wish my ear was more attuned to his rapid delivery. It would help to understand it better.

Benjamin has Kyle Shepherd on piano, Keenan Ahrends on guitar, Sphelelo Mazibuko and Reuben Crowie on drums, Marcus Wyatt on trumpet, Sisonke Konti on tenor sax and Nhlanhla Mahlangu on alto sax.

Benjamin also plays organ, keyboards and synthesizer on the album which he also produced.

Like Hilton Schilder’s album, Benjamin’s is cerebral stuff. You’re probably not going to find it on the playlist at your local jazz-funk club. It’s classy material and indicative of the growing maturity of our musicians in developing their own styles.

Our radio stations should sit up and take note!

Gammie Lakay’s new CD, Hits of Yesterday, includes songs like Last Date, When Somebody Loves You, You’ll Never Find, Affirmation and Storybook Children. You have to be of a particular vintage to be able to relate to those songs. It’s all late-Sixties early-Seventies stuff that is like a fix for the nostalgia junkies.

Storybook Children deserves special mention. It was covered in Cape Town back in the day by Harold and the Hippies. That is the first group Gammie played with and they had quite a following on the Cape Flats. The song was a big hit (when vinyl seven singles sold by the thousands).

Gammie has revived it and found Rashaad Adams to do the vocals. He was the original Harold from Harold and the Hippies.

“He just happened to wander into my home studio while I was busy with the project and we took it from there,” Gammie said. He has re-arranged most of the songs on the album.

Three artists. Three albums. Support them. Local is Lekker!!!

With the way distribution goes these days, I suggest you contact each via Facebook to find out more.

Blogger’s note: I became aware of the latest initiative, AzanziMusic.com (which offers consumers a secure platform to buy the recordings of local artists) shortly before this was to be published. It’s early days but let’s keep our fingers crossed that it can deliver on what it promises.  Check it out at azanzimusic.com

Four guitarists  who go back a long, long way – some more than 50 years in fact – caught up again this month for what one could only call a “gathering of the ages”.

Issy Ariefdien, Ivor Wagner, Basil October and Bernie Lawrence were brought together in a surprise “party” to reminisce about the good old days when pop was in its infancy and disco and rap unheard of.

Three of them – Issy, Ivor and Basil – are in their Seventies and Bernie is in his Sixties. Each had started their music career around the mid-Sixties  in different bands but their paths crossed numerous  times back in the day when bands shared gigs at venues.

Issy started his career in a group called The Magnets in Elsies and they were  known for their superb vocal harmonies. He later helped form Respect with Mel da Silva and then went to launch Pacific Express and was part of Love Supreme, Big Daddy before an extended period playing overseas.

Ivor Wagner started out with The Big Beats and for a few years it was one of the top groups in the country, playing a distinctly  Shadows style of guitar instrumentals which was so popular  back then.  He then joined Issy at Respect and finished his career in in Cape Town playing  with Tony Schilder.  He moved to London where he qualified as a solicitor.

Basil October was rhythm guitarist and lead  singer with a group called The Raiders. They had a huge following in the Maitland-Elsies River area and regularly packed out venues like popular Stardust spot in Woodstock and The Reo Hotel in Elsies River. Basil could sing raunchy, rock tunes all night without raising a sweat.

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The last guitarist in this “seniors” quartet, Bernie Lawrence, started in a group called The Excitement and they caused a fair few ripples where they played. Bernie moved on to have a spells with Respect, Little Wing, Big  Daddy, Mahogany (among others)  and now is part of a group called New Beginnings playing the best of the ’60s and ’70s for those who love the sounds of Hendrix, Chicago, the Beatles and Clapton.  I caught a gig of theirs three weeks ago and the dance floor was packed all night.

Issy and Ivor  are still working on taking their “private” jam sessions to a venue.  Watch this space.

Ivor was effusive in his praise for the get-together: “It was a brilliant idea to throw together a bunch of retired musicians of the 60s and to let them simply indulge themselves. The togetherness, the nostalgia, the reminiscing, with all the anecdotes, formed the ingredients of a most wonderful afternoon.”

Issy, Bernie and Basil pretty much echoed the same sentiments for an occasion where each one trotted  out hilarious moments those early days.   I should have recorded it. Bugger!

There was one other guest at the party – one Charles Jeremiah Dette. No, he wasn’t on stage, he was a backroom boy. He was the manager for  both The Raiders and Respect and, as such, had more than just a bit of a role in the careers of all  four.  Charles hadn’t seen Issy, Bernie and Ivor since the Sixties and only recently made contact with Basil.

His take on the party. “It was bloody marvelous, I could have gone on talking to them about the good old days into the early hours of the next day.”

Related articles:

https://warrenludskimusicscene.wordpress.com/interviews-3/the-life-and-times-of-ivor-wagner/

https://warrenludskimusicscene.wordpress.com/2017/04/01/issy-ariefdien-finds-his-mojo-again-thanks-to-ivor-wagner/

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