Tony Cedras honours special bond with Cape through latest album
INTERNATIONALLY acclaimed musician Tony Cedras has described his return to Cape Town as a “calling” and wants to share his vast musical experience with the youth on the Cape Flats.
Cedras spent almost three decades abroad, but after returning to South Africa he has released a new album, Love Letter to Cape Town, which he believes was long overdue.
Cedras said his comeback was to have a “South African sound” in his album.
Love Letter to Cape Town also pays tribute to his heritage and brings him back to his roots and native South African music and language.
He started recording the album three years ago in New York City, but one of the album’s tracks was recorded in Athens, Greece.
The rest of his album was completed in Cape Town, he said.
“For me, Cape Town is very important, and like the first track Hui !Gaeb (where the clouds gather), it is very selfexplanatory.
“That was the original name for Cape Town.”
“It gave me a huge lift just to put that on and explain how this music again shaped me,” said Cedras.
“I never lost my identity when I was in the States. This is the only thing that kept me sane, to dig further in your originality,” he said recently at the launch of Love Letter to Cape Town.
Cedras was also a well-known keyboard player on the local jazz circuit, where he had worked with artists such as the city’s own Jonathan Butler, Winston Mankunku Ngoz, Basil Moses, saxophonist Robbie Jansen and Russell Herman, among others.
“I am very honoured to release my album here. This album, a long time coming, is of all the experience with different musician and cultures (from) the West and the East.
“The music was always there, the identity of the music was very important for me to produce that sound,” he said.
With the songs Genesis and Horizons, he makes a direct connection with Elsies River, when the river was clear, he said.
“We used to swim in the river,” he recalled.
“I was born in Elsies River. Now there are big companies that have polluted the river with their run-offs. The river is no more.”
I never lost my identity when I was in the States. This is what kept me sane.