I grew up in South Africa in the late 60’s and early 70’s. A unique experience for various reasons, the most essential one being the political status quo..Apartheid. I really do not want to address the political aspects here, but rather give a sense of what life was like for me (and most others), growing up being one of THIRTEEN siblings living in the South of Johannesburg a very poor area commonly referred to as the “Suffering South”. I have an interesting story to tell. Let us start with early influences ..
MUSIC
I believe that that era was and still is the absolute golden age of music; not since the days of Beethoven, Liszt, Mozart and co. was there ever a time when musicians broke all the rules and at the time created a new type of ‘sound’ which was labelled ‘Rock and Roll’
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But I digress...
Now there was no TV in South Africa at that time.... radiograms were not common place, well certainly not in the South.
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Radiograms were generally referred to as the Wireless, and these had ‘bulbs’ which had to warm up before the thing would play .... these damn bulbs would have a habit of ‘blowing’, much like a fuse.
Image creditradio restorations
In the kitchen we had a small set similar to the one pictured below, and when I came home from junior school my mom would let me listen to Lourenco Marques music radio (LM Radio beamed out of Mozambique on AM radio) for half an hour, and in return I would have to string the green beans, peel potatoes and carrots while she listened to her favorite serial ‘Geheim Van Nantes’ (Secret of Nantes).
Image credit recantha
I was only eight years old at the time, but the excitement of that sound coming out of the radio was orgasmic...not that I was that aware at the time. All I know is that I looked forward to that half an hour as much as a drug addict looks forward to a fix. I did not know it...but I was a music addict.
Procol Harem...what an impact
To this day this is a song that takes me back to those days, the cold vinoleum floor against my bare feet as I stood on tip toe...trying to get my ear as close as possible to hear every chord of that magic sound .. memorizsing every chord, band and song title..for dissemination and discussion with my friends at school the next day.
That half an hour flew by so fast... it was criminal!! Yet I would peel and chop those vegetables with a light heart .. replaying each song in my head... energized and happy.
This is a small introduction, we have a long road to walk... I hope you will walk along the way with me....