Tribute to Syd Kitchen Concert  (ENTRANCE R 50-00)

Berea Bowling Club 29th September 2017  (7 - 10 PM)
FULL CASH BAR and Steak and Boerie Rolls on Sale

32 Hewitt Rd, Bulwer, Berea, 4083, South Africa

Syd Kitchen 14th February 1951 – 22nd March 2011 Durban's favourite “Afro-Saxon” musician.

On Friday September 29th 2017 at Berea Bowling Club, please join local musicians who knew and loved both him and his music for a musical celebration of Syd's life, songs and poetry. They will be joined by Donve Lee, whose book “Scars that shine” has immortalized the legend we knew as Syd Kitchen.

They will sing as many of his songs as they can remember, and embellish the evening with some of their own, so it will be a joyful celebration of home grown music.

These wonderful artists have agreed to join us, so far :- Miriam Erasmus Fiona Tozer and Daniel Wilson Richard Haslop Nux Schwartz Richard and Graham Ellis David Marks Aden Hinds Will Wallace Rick and Gill Andrew

There are others to confirm, so don't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to see Durban's finest singer/songwriters and other stars as they reminisce, and share their memories of the life of this extraordinary legend.

 SYD KITCHEN - SCARS THAT SHINE

“On my better days friends find me flirting with the nurses, cigarette in one hand and scotch in the other, but if I listen carefully I can hear the tribute concerts starting up. There they are, celebrating my life like never before, and here I am, knock knock knockin’ on heaven’s door. That rhymes, doesn’t it? I think I might even feel a song coming on but I’m so tired and the words are slipping away and the music is fading into a soft chant round my bed and Madala was spot on, he said when God says He want you, we can’t run away. I know Bafo, I know. I’m not running anymore.”

 Skollie, saint, scholar, hippest of hippies, imperfect musician with a perfect imagination, Syd Kitchen was, like all great artists, born to enrich his art and not himself. Plagued by drugs, alcohol and depression, too much of an outlaw to be embraced by record companies, he frequently sold his furniture to cover production costs of his albums, seduced fans at concerts and music festivals worldwide with his dazzling ‘Afro-Saxon’ mix of folk, jazz, blues and rock interspersed with marvellously irreverent banter, and finally became the subject of several compelling documentaries, one of which -‘Fool in a Bubble’ - premiered in New York in 2010.

Says Donvé: “There are many creative geniuses in the world who never receive the recognition they deserve. Syd Kitchen was one of them. He was also a friend who asked me to write his biography. I have always been intrigued by the complexity and duality of his personality. But these facts alone were not enough to persuade me to write this book. The primary reasons were that Syd’s story was deeply compelling and needed to be told, and there are far too few worthy literary portraits of South African musicians available.”

“He was like a little leprechaun. Everyone danced around him because he brought the magic in.” - Zeta Pontin

“Syd was the one who said I will do it, I will make a living as an artist. He was one of those people who carried the dream.”  – Rick Andrew

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Donvé Lee is an artist, writer and traveller. Her publications include the autobiographical novel An Intimate War, described by Cape Times books editor Karin Schimke as ‘the most lucid rendition of the madness of love you can hope to read in modern fiction’. Donvé is also known for her numerous fiction and non-fiction books for young readers, among which are several series on South African artists, musicians, sports celebrities and freedom fighters. She lives in Noordhoek in the Cape Peninsula, where she manages a small craft upliftment project in Masiphumelele, works towards a PhD in Creative Writing, and dreams of painting again.

Copies of the book sell at R250 in Exclusive Books, but they will be on sale at a special Syd Tribute price of R150 at our concert.