Sydney Banda Blows New Life Into Pennywhistle With Groovin'

I don't indulge in cross-posting too often, so I'm hoping that you'll forgive me for shamelessly copying a post I wrote for my other (equally neglected) blog. Not because I think it's particularly well-written (please, I wish! I'm still me, no matter where I blog!), but because my subject is a dear friend who has just released a CD and I'm trying to do whatever I can to drum up some support for him. He absolutely deserves it!

Some of the other South African Au Pairs and I were in the Zoo Bar – a joint so named because of its proximity to the National Zoo, and not merely because the patrons had a tendency to behave like animals after knocking back a few. The tiny space was air-conditioned and we sidled in deeper, past the rest of the Friday night revellers, seeking liquid confidence and respite from the sticky and oppressive humidity outside.

Despite the blast of refreshingly chilled air enveloping us inside, the crowd was positively cookin’. A swinging jazz band was performing some cool, foot-tapping covers. A lifelong lover of jazz, I craned my neck from where we had managed to inch our way closer to the bar counter to try and get a better view of the musicians.

My eyes were immediately drawn to the sax player. He was playing a solo and getting increasingly lost in the music – venturing to that other-worldly plane where people travel to when they are engrossed in doing what they were absolutely BORN to do. With his head thrown back, eyes closed, fingers darting lightly across the keys; his passion for his instrument was evident, surging through his entire body. “Wow, he’s goooooood,” I thought to myself, thoroughly impressed.

A few lively tunes later, he leaned towards the mic and said: “Thank you! We’re just going to take a short break. We’ll be right back.” I perked up immediately. That accent… it was unmistakable. But I asked the bartender anyway, just to be sure. He confirmed with a cheerful shout: “Hey Syd! We have some more South Africans in the house over here! And they’re all prettier than you!”

When Sydney Banda warmly shook our hands that night – fellow countrymen from diverse backgrounds thrown together by happenstance on the other side of the world – I had no idea that this extremely kind and remarkably talented guy was to become one of my dearest friends and that our friendship would span across years and continents.

A few days ago, I opened a parcel postmarked Washington, D.C. and squealed with delight. It was from Sydney and it contained his long awaited CD, Groovin’. I couldn’t open it fast enough to play it, but had to pause when I saw that he had kept a promise he had made me a long time ago: in a sweet and touching gesture, he had inscribed and autographed the inside cover of the sleeve for me.

The road to this glorious moment, of having an actual 12-track CD filled almost entirely with his own music (only two of the twelve tracks on the disc were not composed by him), has been a long and often difficult one for Sydney.

His musical journey began in the dusty streets of his childhood hometown, a township in KwaZulu-Natal called Enkukwini. In that township, located near a small town called Stanger, six-year old Sydney found music when he began making and playing rough, homemade guitars hewn out of petrol cans with strings fashioned from fishing line. “At that time,” Syd writes in an e-mail to me, “every township kid had or played a homemade guitar.”

When he was nine years old, he switched from playing homemade guitars to a red plastic pennywhistle, an instrument he showed a natural talent for by mastering it within three months.

“At age eleven, my aunt bought me my first Bp Horner pennywhistle. I taught myself how to play it and at the age of thirteen I had my own pennywhistle band called MawMaw.”

MawMaw played kwela and jive – lively, traditional music with a jazzy twist. They performed on street corners until the police came and chased them away. Eventually the police stopped shooing them. Not because they had given up, but because by then, the music and the skill of the young musicians had won them over. “Finally they ended up enjoying it too!”

Around 1959/1960, young Sydney got his first big break when he was invited to play with the Can-Can Jazz Band at the Stanger Town Hall.  “That was my first time performing with amplified musical equipment.  I got my first publicity, with my picture appearing on the front page of the local newspaper.”

The band master for that performance was a local police officer called Mr. Sibiya. He invited Sydney to his house in Tshlenkosi township and there, Syd first encountered the instrument which was to become his meal ticket: the saxophone. Over the next two months, Syd walked 11 kilometres to Mr. Sibiya’s house and, once again, taught himself to play another instrument.

Sydney’s skill on the sax has served him well. It supported him through years in Malawi and later also in the United States – still his home today. In the States, career highlights have included playing at President Bill Clinton’s Inaugural balls (both in 1993 and 1997), performing for Prince Charles and Camilla when they paid a royal visit to Washington, D.C. and performing for other big name celebs such as Naomi Judd (yes, indeed, mother of actress Ashley and singer Winona) and Dame Helen Mirren.

With Groovin’, Sydney has decided to strike a sentimental path, revisit his youth and return to his original musical roots. Although he can be heard playing the sax, this album is entirely devoted to the pennywhistle. He still has the original Horner Bp pennywhistle given to him by his aunt, which can be heard on a number of tracks on the album. In addition to that pennywhistle, he also plays a Horner C and G on the CD.

The album is marketed as World Music, but it has an unmistakable Afro Pop flavour. The only two covers on the track are Red River Valley and a gorgeous arrangement of the Irish classic Danny Boy. Sydney chose Red River Valley because it was one of the first songs he played professionally. Danny Boy was added at the request of a friend, who (correctly) thought that it would sound great on pennywhistle. The rest of the tracks were all composed by Sydney.

To sample all the tracks and buy a copy of Sydney’s album, visit the CD Baby website.