I
MAGINE a child is born. There are no birth cries, just a bring-it-on wink at life. He hits the ground running, refuses to crawl but walks. He skips the nappy for a pair of jeans, bolting through the development milestones. The world watches in amazement.
Meet Oscar Rachabane, grandson of legendary saxophonist Barney Rachabane, who cut his teeth at Dorkay House alongside legends such as Kippie Moeketsie. One of the gold stars on Barney’s CV is touring the world in the 1980s with Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba and Ray Phiri as part of Paul Simon’s Graceland tour.
Back to the future. At the Music Academy of Gauteng, where Oscar arrived in 2004 as a young teen, he would occasionally perform a strange ritual. On any stupid day, when he felt like it, Rachabane purchased a jazz album disc, listened to it, then in full view of the students broke it into tiny pieces and shoved these into the saxophone bell. And proceeded to play the whole album himself.
Among the albums that fell victim to his kill-and-resurrect ceremony was the “bible” of jazz, A Love Supreme.
Rachabane started the art of blowing at a very early age. By the age of 14 he had turned professional and was busting his chops alongside bona fide musicians. When he was 15 he became the youngest jazz artist to play at Kippies, the iconic jazz venue in Newtown, Johannesburg.
“I started playing when I was 10 years old, I was still in primary school. But I actually picked up the saxophone years before that, just messing around with it,” says Rachabane.
The new year brings with it a new and exciting milestone in his career: his debut album.
Amid growing recognition of Rachabane’s artistry, the recently launched South African-Norwegian live music development project, Concerts SA, put him on his first national tour. He was managed by fellow musician, trumpeter Mandla Mlangeni, and visited nine venues in Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
His first stop was Cape Town. When he rose to play at Greatmore Studios in Woodstock on a sunny Saturday afternoon, he was clad in black, topped with a red hat. His black coat looked two sizes too big. The venue featured unstructured seating and bring-your-own dop. Kids on rollerblades occasionally moon-walked the floor: a space to match his musical personality.
Fine artist Ndikhumbule Ngqinambi’s oil
A shy prodigy with music in his blood is about to release his debut album, writes
maintaining the vital rhythmic structures of the tunes. His deft melding of musical influences, from Charlie Parker to Abdullah Ibrahim, were executed with panache and elegance.
“As a student, he was never a part of any of our starter-pack bands. Oscar played with the teachers, that’s how good he is,” said a former fellow student as they shared a smoke between sets.
The medals on Rachabane’s sleeve shine and glitter. He has jammed with big names such as Ravi Coltrane, Dave Koz and Wynton Marsalis. Locally, names like Bheki Khumalo and Hugh Masekela pop up.
At the tender age of 27, Rachabane already seems to be on the path to legend status.
When he replaced the sax with a flute in Woodstock, my companion said it looked cheap; what he did with it, though, was anything but. His rendition of Manenberg captured the spirit of the song. Throughout the performance his fingers worked it, barely visible in the sleeves of his oversized coat.