The South African Bob Dylan

One of my all-time musical highlights was attending the Winnipeg Folk Festival in Canada.  I went there about four times in the 1980s and 1990s.  Musicians came there from all over the world including Africa, Europe, and South America.  The festival extended over a weekend in July.  While attending the music workshops and concerts during the day, I stayed overnight in one of the two campsites.

The festival included three afternoon workshop stages as well as a main stage where the evening concerts took place. I remember that attendees staked out their spots on the hill overlooking the main stage with tarps and blankets so they could get a good spot to view the evening performers.  I was able to hear quite a few musical superstars of the folk music world whom I had admired over the years.  These included Pete Seeger, Elizabeth Cotten, John Prine, The Black Boys Mambazo, and Holly Near. 

One performer whose blues workshop I attended during one afternoon was Elizabeth Cotten, better known as Libba Cotten.  She was an African-American woman in her nineties.  Her musical talent was discovered by the Seeger family for whom she worked as a maid.  She played the guitar left-handed.  She had written that iconic folk song Freight Train when she was only twelve years old.

A performing group that stood out for me was the South African group The Black Boys Mombozo who played the main stage one evening.  They consisted of about eight men

who sang acapella.  They had recently  recorded an album with Paul Simon.  Another musical high point for me was John Prine who wrapped up one evening concert with a solo performance – just him and his guitar -- around two in the morning. 

The performances I remember most vividly all took place during the afternoon workshops.  One, titled “Didgeridoos and Didgeridon’ts”, featured four men from Australia who all played the didgeridoo.  I was amazed at all the jungle-like sounds they were able to reproduce on their instruments.  Another man named Ethan Allen played the hurdy gurdy.  This is an instrument that originated in France during the Middle Ages.  It resembles a fiddle and is played by turning a crank to produce an eerie, drone-like sound.  Ethan was an L.A.  songwriter whose songs were highly critical of the socio-political situation in the U.S.

However, the performer who had the biggest impact on me was a young white man from Malawi, Africa named Tony Bird.  I think of him as the Bob Dylan of Southern Africa.  He played a wide variety of songs both political and personal, including some haunting love songs.  Many of his songs, which are highly evocative, give a vivid picture of the African landscape and customs.  One describes the Rift Valley where he grew up, and which he calls a paradise.  It was probably the home of the first homo sapiens back some million years ago.  Another song called Mango Time made my mouth water with its description of the mango and its importance in African diet and culture.

After listening to Tony perform, I immediately bought his new CD.  Its title song, called Sorry Africa , decries the hateful Apartheid policy that was still the rule in South Africa at the time of his performance.  Of course, this was some years before Nelson Mandela came to power.

But I think that my favorite song on his album is called Tsk Tsk Tsk .  This song describes an African mother who wants her son to be the greatest hunter of all time.  The tsk of the chorus is a uniquely African sound that resembles a clicking noise we don’t have in English.

The chorus of this song is especially memorable:

“Listen to the stars,  tsk, tsk, tsk,tsah,

Whispering from afar, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsah,

Hunters of the dark, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsah,

Fill our hunting hearts, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsah.”