One of the country’s foremost musical visionaries, guitar
player Madala Kunene, will be performing a one-off double bill concert when he
shares the stage with maskandi great Phuzekhemisi in the Playhouse Grand Foyer
on October 4.
Kunene will be performing with Bernard Mndaweni on bass
guitar; Mduduzi Magwaza on penny whistle and saxophone; Vincent Mthethwa on
piano, and Paki Gosisile on drums. Kunene – or “Bafo” as he is known to friends
- performs a repertoire of his own original music, playing a distinctive
variation of Zulu blues guitar.
Kunene is respected and admired internationally – probably
more so than in his hometown. Directly after the Playhouse concert, he leaves
for New York to play at the revered Carnegie Hall with fellow South African
musicians including fellow KZN maskandi guitarist, Phuzekhemisi, who joins
Kunene in the Playhouse double-bill.
Kunene and Phuzekhemisi’s original music talks with lyrical
honesty, to the challenges and hardships of contemporary life. Both musicians
have been playing guitar since they were young boys, and both have contributed
to creating a distinctive Durban indigenous sound. Last month, Phuzekhemisi was
honoured as an eThekwini Living Legend. Kunene was honoured as a Living Legend in 2009.
Kunene has lived and worked in Durban for more than 40
years. He began his musical career at the age of seven. He made his first
guitar out of a cooking oil tin and fish gut for strings. He soon became a
popular performer in the township venues, choosing to follow a professional career
in the ‘70s. He was seven and living in Cato Manor, a couple of years before
the apartheid removals from Umkhumbane to Kwa Mashu in 1959. His style helps
define the Umkhumbane’s legendary guitar tradition – a musical genre which was
informed by the politics and history of Cato Manor. His latest album – his
eighth – entitled 1959, references
the Cato Manor forced removals.
Very much a musician’s musician, Kunene has collaborated,
recorded and shared the stage with some of the best in the business, including
Sipho Gumede; Busi Mhlongo; Mabi Tobejane; Moses Molelekwa; Doc Mthalane; Tony
Cox; Steve Newman; Lu Dlamini; Guy Buttery; Swiss guitarist Max Lasser and Hugh
Masekela. For many years he worked closely in a creative partnership with
fellow son of Durban, Syd Kitchen.
Kunene composed the score for Darrell Roodt’s Oscar and
Emmy-nominated locally-made Zulu-medium drama, Yesterday.
The respect which fellow musicians have for Kunene’s work is
demonstrated in his most recent album, 1959, with a slew of musical greats
lending their musical talents to the project: Steve Newman; Hugh Masekela; Guy
Buttery; Sazi Dlamini; Eric Duma; Max Laser; Lu Dlamini; Bernard Ndaweni;
Sithembiso Ntuli; King Goodwill Zwelithini’s son, Hlangu and producer Neil
Snyman. Kunene says the 12 songs on 1959 tell the story of his life and of the
removals that destroyed the community synonymous with the distinct Durban
guitar sound.
Madala Kunene and friends, together with Phuzekhemisi, are
in concert in the Playhouse Grand Foyer for one night only on October 4 at 19h30.
Tickets R100 available through Computicket or at the door.