10 February 2024

Acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Tony Cedras may have travelled the world entertaining music lovers of other countries, but the boy born in 10^th Avenue, Louw se Bos, was “proudly Elsies River”.

Tony, who died last week, aged 71, embarked on a musical life journey that saw him play and work with some of the most feted international performers – yet he never ever forgot where he came from.

In a video he recorded in November last year, Tony made no bones about his connection to his roots: “Greetings, my name is Tony Cedras and I want to greet you in my mother tongue which is in Nama.  !Gâi tsēs  What shaped me as an artist I would say was already shaped for me, I just had to work on my skill. It was shaped for me by my family, which was very musical, my community, the musicians in the community. They shaped my destiny.  I just had to learn – very fast and hard – a lot of different cultures in my neighbourhood. I was born in Elsies River: a very rough, poor part of the Cape Flats.  A lot of brilliant musicians came out of that region – Winston Mankunku, Robbie Jansen, Basil Coetzee, Ezra and Duke Ngkucana.  That was my school.  The originality of my music.”

His career on stage is probably best marked, for most people, by the fact that he played for one of South Africa’s best known jazz/funk/fusion groups, Pacific Express, and then joining US superstar Paul Simon as his backing band’s pianist on his world tours.

It was a far cry from the Matroosfontein area in Elsies River he hailed from but, spiritually, he was always close to it.

Tony, born on July 18 1952, the youngest of eight children in a deeply religious family, schooled in Elsies River and studied two years of sheet metal engineering.  It was music however which had the stronger pull.

Kaija Cedras, his daughter from his second marriage to American Jan Cedras Ayers (Tony married three times), said: “The short answer is he grew up surrounded by music. There was always music in his home. Everyone sang and/or played an instrument.”

Tony knew he had to broaden his knowledge and, given the times he lived in the Seventies, and the opportunities available to people of colour to study music, he chose a path that wasn’t one that most in the community would have looked on favourably – he joined the Cape Corp, the apartheid government’s army unit for “coloureds”.

“He joined the Cape Corp ostensibly to get formal music training. He studied trumpet and he learned to read and write music during that time. I’m not sure how long he spent there. His musician friends paid to have him released from the service,” Kaija said.

As it happened, Pacific Express had run into a spot of bother with their line-up just as they were about to take up residency at the Goldfinger Lounge in Athlone around 1978.  Pianist Chris Schilder (Ibrahim Khalil Shihab) and guitarist Issy Ariefdien left the group, leaving founder members drummer Jack Momple and bassist Paul Abrahams desperately trying to plug the hole.

“We put out feelers for replacement in the musicians’ circle that we needed a keyboardist and word got back about this guy who had been in the Cape Corp band,” Jack said.  “We were told he could read and write music and that he could play keyboards, guitar, trumpet and accordion.

“Tony joined and it turned out to be quite a good fit.   He was an accomplished musician and quite disciplined.”

Around that time, Pacific Express was getting ready for their third album on Paddy Lee-Thorp’s Mountain Records label. On his blog piece on Tony’s death, Lee-Thorp acknowledges Tony’s contribution to the making of the album: “We recorded the Expressions album together and as far as I know, I gave Tony his first commercial arrangement job, to write the brass and string parts for his composition, What is the answer? aka God it the answer, that the band recorded. It was also probably Tony’s first composition to be recorded.  It may have been his first recording session. He conducted the string section with his own hand-written charts.”

Lee-Thorp also reflects on the influence Tony had on a young Jonathan Butler: “There were drugs and late late nights and Tony and the even younger Jonathan Butler, who was also recruited around the same time, were in the company of the big boys. What I remember is that Tony and his first wife, Noeline, took Jonathan into their Matroosfontein home because Jonathan was essentially homeless. At the same time [Tony was] informally schooling Jonathan on some of the technical side of music theory.”

When Express took up a gig in Johannesburg, Tony was still part of it.  He broadened his skill set by involving himself in studio work as a session musician.  The band backed Jonathan in laying down tracks for Jonathan’s debut album, 7^th Avenue. It had a distinct Cape Flats beat to it, much like the rhythms of Abdullah Ibrahim on Mannenberg.  Lee-Thorp likened it to the evolving of a sound that has now become known as Cape Jazz. Tony was comfortable with it. It was part of his roots.

Tony took to freelancing and doing gigs up north. It enhanced his reputation as a very accomplished multi-instrumentalist, much in demand with the top bands who played the lucrative hotel circuit. It led to the next significant stage in his career, his long association playing with Paul Simon who had made a fleeting visit to South in mid-1986 and whose Graceland album had a distinctly South African influence.

Jan Cedras Ayers, who had been working with Paul Simon, recalls how it came about. “Paul began rehearsing for the first Graceland tour in January, 1987. The accordionist who played on the Graceland album was an older gentleman who did not like being so far from home and in the cold winter north and ultimately bailed.

“Paul asked Hugh Masekela if he knew of anyone and Hugh said that he had never played with him, but that he would recommend this guy from Cape Town, Tony Cedras. Paul’s tour manager tracked Tony down. He was in Gaborone on tour with [trombonist] Jonas Gwangwa.

“Tony got the call in the middle of the night. Paul said ‘Do you know my music?’ and Tony said ‘of, course’. And then Paul asked if he was willing and interested in touring with him and, most importantly, did Tony have a problem with that politically since there was a boycott [of overseas artists]. Tony replied that he felt that it was more important to get South African music out there and could only benefit the musical community and strengthen the anti-apartheid cause.

“Tony hung up the phone and then went back to sleep. In the morning, he went to Jonas and said, ‘I’m not sure if this was a dream, but I think I spoke to Paul Simon last night and he wants me to join his touring band. And his manager said there would be a ticket waiting for me at the airport this evening’. Jonas laughed and said he should do the gig. And that the only way to find out whether or not he dreamt it would be for him and Jonas to go to the airport that evening to see. That was the start of a 25-year long run in Paul’s touring band.

“Working with Paul led to Tony making New York City his home base for many years. During that time, Tony performed and recorded his own music, sometimes solo or with his own band. He also toured and/or recorded with many other musical artists including Henry Threadgill, Cassandra Wilson, Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Harry Belafonte, Aster Aweke, Samite, GIgi, Tony Bird, Pete Seeger, Pharoah Sanders, Ziggy Marley, Joan Baez, James Taylor, Muhal Richard Abrams, and many more.”

One of Tony’s major assets throughout his career was his fluency in all forms of music and his capacity to easily move between styles or blend them, Jan said.

In recent years switching between home in the States and Cape Town, Tony stepped up his activism in First Nations issues and was prominent when these matters made headlines.   His third wife, Tania (daughter of Four Sounds guitarist Cliffie Moses), has been a central figure in highlighting the fight for recognition of the Cape’s indigenous people.

His strong ties to his hometown is no more evident than in the album he recorded under his own name, Love Letter To Cape Town.

Samantha, Tony’s daughter from first wife Nolene, has no doubt that her dad was a legend. “My dad stood his ground as he wanted to be treated in a dignified manner and with the respect he deserved and taught his descendants those same values.” Sadly, the family suffered another blow when, two days after Tony’s death, his daughter Anthea also passed away.

True to his values for sure . . . the man known affectionately to his friends as “Patat”,  always referred to Table Mountain by its KhoiSan name, Hoerrie Kwaggo.”

Go well Tony, and spread the ghoema and Cape Jazz word on the other side.

Paddy Lee-Thorp’s reminisces about his work with Tony Cedras