Gerard Sekoto: SA's artistic icon
3 June 2004
Gerard Sekoto, who was born in 1913 in Middelburg in Mpumalanga, is acknowledged as one of the most important artistic figures in the development of South African contemporary art.
His achievements as an artist are widely known both in South Africa and internationally, and has been honoured for his works with awards from the French government and an honorary doctorate from the University of the Witwatersrand.
But what was not known until 2002 was that Sekoto had also written music and lyrics in the 1950s and 1960s.
Sekoto, who left South Africa for Paris, France in 1947 and never returned, started drawing at an early age but did not have access to colour pencils until he was a teenager. The introduction to colour revolutionised his work.
His earlier works depict the vibrancy and tensions of the townships during his formative years when he lived in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, District Six in Cape Town, and Eastwood, Pretoria before they
were bulldozed by the apartheid government in the 1950s and 1960s.
One of Sekoto's earlier works depicting relations among South Africans.
While in France, where he died in 1993, Sekoto re-worked many of his subjects and explored different themes, all characterised by a deep sense of humanity.
His paintings, which were returned to South Africa through efforts of the Gerard Sekoto Foundation, are now housed at the University of the Witwatersrand Art Galleries and at the South African National Gallery, Cape Town, are a historical record of a now extinct way of life.
Towards the end of his life, Sekoto's art increasingly
gained recognition mainly through the pioneering work of Barbara Lindop, whose research brought to life many paintings thought to have been lost. Through her correspondence with Sekoto, she was able to confirm details of his life before his death.
Lindop wrote a book about Sekoto's life and work, The Art of Gerard Sekoto, in which she introduces the extraordinary life story of Sekoto accompanied by full colour plates of his most powerful, stirring works of art. The book was published in 1995, two years after Sekoto's death.
Sekoto the musician
However, it was his musical creations which lay hidden until 2002 when Barbara Lindop discovered 30 songs amongst Sekoto's manuscripts that had been repatriated from France in 1993.
"These songs found amongst Sekoto's manuscripts were a unique and special find," said Lindop, "they were a great legacy and unlike art, are accessible to all and especially those in the rural areas. The lyrics
convey a gentle humour, expressing a longing for his home as well as his determination to win favour with new friends in a foreign environment."
Three of the songs were published in 1956 in Les Editions Musicales, but the rest of the compositions have been brought to the South African public through a fund-raising project. The major sponsors of this project are the SABC Public Broadcasting Services, The National Lottery, De Beers, BMW and the French Embassy.
The songs were originally written just for voice and piano but their emotive power was such that it was decided that they should be rearranged and expanded. And so a nine-member band was formed under veteran singer/pianist Dimpie Tshabalala. They called themselves the Blue Heads after the figurative style of painting which was probably Sekoto's best known trademark.
In 2003, the first performances of Sekoto's resurrected songs were staged by the Blue Heads, under the auspices of SAfm. The band aims to bring to life Sekoto's smooth jazz sounds.
The Blue Heads will perform at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown on 7 and 8 July.
For more information about the performances and the festival's programme, visit the National Arts Festival website or call (046) 603-1103.
Tickets are available from Computicket.
Source: National Arts Festival
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