The golden age of Lenz music

THE biblical expression: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” was a scepticism meant to cast doubt on whether a place of such unimportance - “Nazareth” — could ever produce the likes of a Messiah.

- ROBERT ABRAHAMS

It’s a pejorative for the unlikely, the improbable and the impossible.

The same question might be asked of Lenasia — an otherwise insignificant backwater imagined by the contorted minds that gave South Africa its most bizarre social engineering project, the Machiavellian and hated Group Areas Act of 1950.

As a key piece of legislation enforcing racial segregation, the act hollowed out many racially-mixed suburbs in Johannesburg: Doornfontein, Jeppe and Fordsburg — and shunted swathes of people to segregated areas.

An interesting phenomenon materialised in Lenasia in the late 1960s and 1970s.

A large and diverse number of musicians emerged — the majority self-taught: vocalists, drummers, guitarists, wind instrumentalists and Indian classical players, each rendering their own brand of pop, rock, funk, folk, Indian film songs and serious Eastern classics. The plethora of bands was matched by the creativity of their names.

The “Echoes” was led by a well-known teacher, Edcent Williams. The band featured Jodie, Charlie, Dennis, and the honeyed vocals of Ivan Ross. Those of us, who grew up in the era of Cliff Richard, could hear the unmistakable sounds of “The Shadows” in their repertoire.

The “Doorknobs” - made up of the Jackson brothers Neville, Brian and their prodigious schoolboy drummer, Gordon - took Lenasia by storm. They were joined on vocals by Johnnie Mustapha and his soon-to-be wife, Joyce. They later took on Nolan Narsoo (vocals). Their impresario was the proud dad, Uncle Gabriel, as we called him.

Closer to the late 1970s, “Sikky” Jooma arranged for his good friend, John Silver (brother to Dawn Lindberg of “Des and Dawn” fame), to play the classical guitar at the Ramakrishna Hall. Sikky also played alongside Perry Runganarben and Ash Lutchman at the Lenz Civic Centre in a Battle of the Bands competition.