IN THE FAMILY
ON A RARE and fitting occasion the legendary trumpeter Roy Sokuyeka will perform with his trombonist son Stephen Sokuyeka this Sunday at Kwa Sec, NY 138, no 52 in Gugulethu from 4pm.
Sponsored by Concert SA, the concert honours the 73-year-old jazz musician for his contribution in honing the musical skills of many young musicians in the Cape flats.
His involvement in teaching music has even put his son Stephen on a pedestal where he has found support from jazz luminaries like McCoy Mrubata and Feya Faku.
Famously known as Bra Roy in the townships of Nyanga and Gugulethu, Sokuyeka was born in Grahamstown, where he started listening to jazz blaring from the neighbours’ speakers.
“There were also live jazz bands back then that performed live in community halls. The acoustics were bad, but there was a lekker jol as we would swing to all sorts of sounds, from American to South African amarabi,” said Bra Roy.
He soon befriended the band members of Diamond Black, a mbaqanga band. He would carry their musical instruments whenever there was a performance.
Bra Roy said he picked up the trumpet by chance. “At a time of come to age, I had just come back from being circumcised. In African culture there were traditional celebrations for my return. Young and old men and children had gathered to drink and eat meat. It was at this ceremony that one of the older musicians stood up and presented me with a trumpet.”
At the time he could not even play a note. “I soon started to teach myself, blowing awkwardly, and sometimes I would get one of the older musicians to teach me.”
But there was little time as the band was always on the road.
Because jazz was Bra Roy’s first love, he travelled to Port Elizabeth, where he joined the Soul Jazz Man band. It was there that he started playing jazz standards and improvising on the trumpet.
In 1964, he moved to Cape Town to stay with his extended family.
A year later, Bra Roy joined the Quiz-Quiz Jazz Band and performed in community halls on the Cape flats.
Jazz did not limit his playing skills. He became part of the brass band at the annual Kaapse Klopse (Cape Coon Carnival) in the 1980s.
He later joined the Touch, a jazz band in Gugulethu, where he met the likes of McCoy Mrubata, Ezra Ngcukane and Willie Nettie, performing regularly in Cape Town’s nightclubs.
In 2004 his youngest son, Stephen took up a trombone at the Amy Bielh Foundation where Bra Roy was teaching music. Bra Roy soon gave him extra attention and honed his skills with more practice at home..
This Sunday Bra Roy and his son Stephen perform a wide of South African jazz standards and African samba with celebrated marimba player Bongani Sotshononda.
Joining in will be Bra Roy’s old friends, Roger Khoza on piano, Zalisile Mkhonto on drums and bass player Godfrey Dyantjie.
In local halls accoustics were bad, but there was a lekker jol as we would swing to all sorts of sounds like amarabi