Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
You have to play the hand you’re dealt, says bassist
Musician refuses to let illness get him down
HIS zest for life is infectious, even when life itself has dealt him a tough hand.
South African bassist Sammy Webber suffers from multiple sclerosis and, in spite of talking about the most excruciating symptoms, the smile did not leave his face.
“At first it was just all my motor skills going haywire. There were things I could not do that I could do before. But in November my eyes started going and my GP recognised it as multiple sclerosis. From then on it has just been an uphill battle. Now it’s seven years later, I have made peace with it. In the beginning you don’t understand, you are confused. As you learn more, you start to sort of accept it,” Webber said.
Webber was diagnosed in November, 2010. Before that, he had gained popularity as a talented jazz musician and was a black belt in martial arts, earning a diploma in physical training.
The symptoms started appearing at the end of 2009.
“I could not walk properly, I walked like someone who has shots every single day. I could not drive. When I wrote something, it… looked like something by a Grade 1 and when I played, it was like I was a beginner player. My speech was also slurring.
“One of the questions that was going through my head was, ‘Lord, why is this happening to me? I have been keeping fit and staying away from the wrong stuff.’ The entertainment industry has a lot of alcohol and drugs, but I kept clean.”
Born in Bo-Kaap, Webber has loved music for as long as he can remember.
His father died when he was a baby and, without a formal education, his mother worked as a domestic helper who could not afford to buy him musical instruments.
He held his first guitar at 18 and, propelled by the musical genius of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, entered the world of music and began to explore contemporary jazz.
With his vision almost 90% impaired, Webber has installed lights along the neck of his guitar to help him play. He is still able to make out lights and shapes. Despite all the hardships, Webber is glad that he can lead an almost normal life.
“My doctor told me as I grow older it will get worse. But I am one of God’s children. The strange thing is that my writing and playing is back to where it used to be before I was diagnosed and I am walking straight now. It’s just my eyes that have gone.”
The miracles of modern medicine and God’s grace aside, his wife, Lesley- Rae has been his greatest support. They have been together for nine years now. “She has been a rock.” During the intial years of Webber’s diagnosis, he was completely dependent on her – she read to him, drove him around – she was his eyes.
“I was overwhelmed, I was tired. I left my job to take care of him. Then he joined League of Friends of the Blind and they helped him become independent. They teach you how to cook and read Braille. A weight was lifted off my shoulders,” Lesley-Rae said.
Apart from the physical suffering, the financial burden has been heavy. The first three years were difficult. However, he is a part of the African Musicians Trust and through that, a private group volunteered to sponsor his medica- tion and have been doing so for the past four years.
Gabi le Roux, executive member of the Musicians Association of South Africa, said the music industry had no structure.
“Musicians like Sammy have no other source of revenue apart from the money they earn from the gigs. They have no basis to establish a social security network. If music is used as a commodity, a part of the earnings should go to the musicians, too. We need proper regulations,” Le Roux said.
To help Webber, a concert will be held in his honour on October 19 at Artscape. Executive producer of the concert Alistair Izobell said the proceeds would help pay Webber’s medical bills.
The 58-year-old is finding it difficult to find gigs but he refuses to give up. He is working on his third album.
He said: “There’s no guarantee in life, we have to accept what happens.”