I listen to rather a lot of music because, when I was young, I thought I would become a musician. I was born and bred in Alexandra and there was music all over the place. Music was my first love and, back then, I wasn’t sure if fine art was going to be the right choice. And, anyway, most of my friends are musicians.
At the moment I am listening to a CD featuring an Argentinian music arranger whose name I forget. He has transformed a mass [Catholic ritual] into a jazz sermon. I first heard the song in the 1960s on Gideon Nxumalo’s show. I went about looking for it and found it only 20 years later when I was on a visit to London.
The same piece of music has been revived by the same arranger but this time he’s backed by the WDR Big Band, a German orchestra from Cologne [the band was recently in South Africa and performed with Abdullah Ibrahim].
It is a very inspiring piece of music because it deals with a church ritual but does it differently, creatively. It’s the kind of music you listen to when you are alone or with close friends.
The problem I have with today’s music is that there’s so much fusion. You can’t quite get it because you don’t hear the artist’s voice. All you hear is all these things fused together.
I go to plays and concerts from time to time but not as much as I used to. The last show I watched was Zim Ngqawana at the Linder Auditorium [on the Wits University campus] last year. I meant to go to Abdullah Ibrahim’s recent show but I couldn’t attend because I was busy.
I like the Newtown area because I have been working there for three decades. It’s the area that started the mixing of the different cultures. I think it’s the hub of the city. It’s a pity we don’t have the same kind of ideas as the city planners.
In that area we have everything, a museum, theatre, etcetera. What is lacking is the will of the authorities to work on the positives in the area. There are fantastic buildings in the area that could be turned into bookshops or nightclubs, so that you could provide business to artistic people.
When I am with friends and have a meeting or a quick meal, I enjoy eating at Kaldi’s, a restaurant in Newtown, next to the Xarra bookshop. It is an intimate space, not pretentious. I find you can discuss things peacefully there. There is order and a sense of intimacy that you don’t find in the bigger, noisier places.
On occasions I will go to Gramadoelas at the Market Theatre. They have a varied menu, from seafood to mogodu. The mogodu they prepare takes you back to your childhood, making you feel like a small boy. It reminds me of my mother’s cooking.
I have been to Arts on Main [but] it’s not accessible for people coming from the townships, unlike Newtown, which is close to the Bree Street taxi rank.
I read a lot; reading is part of my life. Recently I was reading Alex: a History [by Philip Bonner and Noor Nieftagodien]. It’s a history of Alexandra township, because I was born there.