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Basil Coetzee

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Basil Coetzee, nicknamed Manenberg, was a South African musician, above all a saxophonist, born in 1944 in the mixed District Six of Cape Town. He taught himself penny whistle, drums, flute and then tenor saxophone, the instrument with which his name became associated. When the population of District Six was forcibly removed under the Group Areas Act, his family too had to move to another part of the city.

Music and breakthrough

In the 1960s and 1970s jazz musicians such as Hugh Masekela, Abdullah Ibrahim, Chris McGregor and Dudu Pukwana went into exile because of apartheid. Coetzee stayed in South Africa and worked in a factory to make ends meet. In 1974 he played on the album Mannenberg, Is Where It's Happening with Abdullah Ibrahim. The title track became an enormous popular success and an unofficial anthem of the struggle against apartheid. It is said to have been recorded in one take. In the 1980s he played at meetings of the United Democratic Front. In 1986 he founded the band Sabenza, which in 1987 performed at the Culture in Another South Africa festival in Amsterdam. From 1988 he toured Europe. His solo albums are Tshona! from 1975, Plum and Cherry from 1979, Sabenza from 1987 and B from 1998, just before his death that same year.

Influence

Coetzee played Cape Jazz, the jazz of Cape Town. His warm tenor sound and the melodies he played with Ibrahim became a symbol of resistance. His work shows how music under an oppressive regime can give a voice to hope.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Mannenberg by Abdullah Ibrahim from 1974. Notice Coetzee's tenor saxophone and the rolling, danceable groove beneath it.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

Categories: Artists