Bela-Bela jazz lovers honour Phillip Tabane
Jazz collectors from across the Waterberg were expected to converge on Bela-Bela’s Club Paradise for a special jazz session in tribute to the late Malombo jazz pioneer Dr Phillip Tabane.
Jazz collectors from across the Waterberg were expected to converge on Bela-Bela’s Club Paradise for a special jazz session in tribute to the late Malombo jazz pioneer Dr Phillip Tabane.
The nimble-fingered guitar wizard of the 1970s passed away last Friday 18 May.
Speaking in an interview ahead of the jazz session scheduled for Sunday 27 from 16:00, Bushveld Jazz Giants spokesperson, Themba Sekgala, said deejays would be encouraged to spice up the evening with Tabane’s creations.
Tabane is better known for providing the soundtrack on the SABC 2 soap opera, Muvhango, recognisable with his stunning guitar work.
The younger generation remembers Tabane’s music after Limpopo’s popular house duo of Revolution, comprising of twin brothers, George and Joseph Mothiba, improvised on the old man’s “VhaVenda” composition.
But then the highlight for Tabane and his Malombo jazz duet with drummer, Gabriel Thobejane, was in the 1970s when they were invited a couple of years in succession to play at the groundbreaking Newport Jazz Festival in the USA.
At the event in Bela-Bela it was anticipated jazz lovers were expected to arrive from as far afield as Hammanskraal and Pretoria, to honour Tabane.
The Tabane family spokesperson, Sello Galane, said in a phone interview the funeral would tentatively take place in Tabane’s home township of Mamelodi, Pretoria, on Sunday, to avoid a clash of events with the burial of iconic photographer, Sam Nzima on Saturday 26 May.
Galane, also a musician of the highest order and creator of the “kiba” music idiom, said a memorial service was lined up for the Mamelodi Community Hall midweek.
– The Beat
