DINGA SIKWEBU
Although born and brought up in Gqeberha’s township of New Brighton, trumpeter Feya Faku regards Cape Town as his other home.
In 1992 when he finished his music studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Faku relocated to Cape Town after saxophonist Winston “Mankunku” Ngozi asked the trumpeter to join his band.
For six years, the 62-year-old horn player lived in Gugulethu and made Cape Town his home.
Besides being a member of Ngozi’s band, Faku interacted and played with several musicians in the city.
“Cape Town has a lot of true and great musicians across cultures. The guy who taught me how to play less and fewer notes through playing ballads Buggs Gongco, although I met him in Port Elizabeth, he came from Cape Town. Even my trumpet mentor George Tyefumani lived in the city for a while,” says Faku.
It was not only Ngozi who saw talent and skill in Faku. In 1994, widely acclaimed pianist Abdullah Ibrahim drew the trumpeter into his bands. The two toured the world, playing at jazz festivals across the globe. Faku is featured in Ibrahim’s recordings Township One More Time (1996), Best of Abdullah Ibrahim (1999) and Cape Town Revisited (2000).
As a composer with a knack for writing songs about people around him, Capetonians feature prominently in Faku’s songbook. His debut album Hommage released in 1999 has songs such as For Winston and Mr Ibrahim.
His second recording Tacit has a composition Peddy’s Place dedicated to the owner of the house where he stayed in Gugulethu in the 1990s, Bertram “Pedis” Sodayise.
David’s Samba in a 2005 recording Colours They Bring is for David Nazombe, a Cape Town friend with whom Faku studied at UKZN.
Released in 2015, Le Ngoma has dedications to three people with Cape Town roots, Nyaniso (for Ezra Ngcukana), Miss Benjamin (for Sathima Benjamin) and Zion.
“I like to write tunes for people, old and young. When I am not sure what to get as a present for children, I just write them a song. For example, Zion is the late Andre Petersen and Chantal Willie-Petersen’s daughter. I saw her when she was a few days old. The way she looked at me as a baby inspired me to write a song for her,” says the musician who has published a book on his compositions.
Faku’s affinity to Cape Town and the sounds of the city, come a long way. The seed was planted when he learned to read music in New Brighton. He attributes his musicality to the early efforts of another Cape Town musician Chris Columbus “Mra” Ngcukana.
“Mra was one of my earliest teachers. When he lived in the Eastern Cape, the master taught me how to read music.”
This coming weekend Faku performs in two concerts presented by Cape Town Music Academy (CTMA).
On Friday August 23, at 8pm, he will be at Homecoming Centre in District Six. On Sunday August 25, at 3pm, he is at Guga S’thebe in Langa.
The media partner of the event Fine Music Radio will record the concert at the Homecoming Centre for a later broadcast on 101.3FM.
For both concerts, a stellar cast of Cape Town musicians will join Faku; saxophonist Buddy Wells, pianist Kyle Shepherd, bassist Wesley Rustin and drummer Langa Dubazana. The trumpeter’s appearance in Cape Town follows in the footsteps of a stint at the Tabuleiro Jazz Festival held last week in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
This is Faku’s second visit to the city this year. At the beginning of the year, he was part of a group of musicians who played music for a documentary on his music teacher, Ngcukana.
He also comes to Cape Town a few weeks after the release of a new double album Inkumbulo: /ˌrem.ɪˈnɪs. əns/ recorded live early this year at Musikwohnhaus in Basel, Switzerland. The recording celebrates 20 years of exchanges between South African and Swiss jazz musicians that Veit Arlt organised in cooperation with the Bird’s Eye Jazz Club and the Swiss Arts Council, Pro Helvetia.
The soft-spoken trumpeter’s association with the exchange programme goes back to the very first concert organised through the cooperation in 2004 when he was in Bheki Mseleku’s Quintet with guitarist Enoch Mthalane, bassist Bongani Sokhela and drummer Lulu Gontsana. Over the last two decades, several other South Africans have followed Faku’s pioneering efforts and have collaborated with Swiss jazz musicians.
Like in his previous recordings, Inkumbulo: /ˌrem.ɪˈnɪs. əns/ has tunes related to the city. Alan-Marie is a composition dedicated to Faku’s Cape Town friends, Alan and Marie Wilcox. Andre’s Spirit was written for the great Cape Town pianist Andre Petersen who sadly passed away three years ago due to Covid-19. The third Cape Town-related tune in the new album is Sylvia’s Groove written for the late vocalist Sylvia Ncediwe Mdunyelwa.
“I was in Sylvia’s bands which appeared at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland. I also toured Japan twice with her. Interestingly I played the tune dedicated to her in a gig in Johannesburg, only to be woken the next day by the news that she has passed on”.
In addition to digging deep into his well of compositions, in his two concerts in the city, Faku has promised to play music from his new recording Inkumbulo: /ˌrem.ɪˈnɪs. əns/.
Dates:
- Friday August 23, at 8pm, at the Homecoming Centre, District Six. Tickets cost R250 through Quicket.
- Sunday August 25, at 3pm, at Guga S’thebe Community Centre, Langa. Tickets cost R170 through Quicket and at the door.
