In 2020, Luke Townsend, the professional officer for Music Services in the Library and Information Services and a professional musician in his own right, was tasked with running an oral history project on local musicians.
‘The idea was to conduct and record interviews with renowned musicians from Cape Town and from those recordings create video podcasts which might add value to the library service and also fill in some of the gaps of knowledge about the history of music in Cape Town. The resulting videos not only build on to the wealth of available library services, but also assist in preserving important aspects of the cultural history of Cape Town,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Community Services and Health, Councillor Patricia van der Ross.
Over the past four years, Mr Townsend has now completed podcast videos on the lives and careers of four important Cape Town musicians including: Cape jazz pianist and educator, George Werner; Afro-jazz bass player, Wakhile Xhalisa; jazz pianist, composer and educator, Andrew Lilley and singer-songwriter, composer and guitarist, Tina Schouw.
Yesterday’s event focussed on the two most recent projects featuring Lilley and Schouw. All the podcasts are now available on YouTube and are linked to the Online Public Access Catalog for easy access for members of the public. It can be accessed here: Oral history (capetown.gov.za)
Schouw came to the fore during the struggle years as a protest singer, performing at many political rallies as well as at anti-apartheid events while on tour overseas. Strongly influenced by folk-rock, jazz and World Music, Tina continues to be an important performer and recording artist who has released three solo albums of original songs.
Lilley has taught jazz studies at the College of Music, UCT since the early 1990s and has performed extensively in South Africa and overseas. A superb piano player, Lilley is currently the director of the College and continues to perform and record music having released two albums of original compositions, the most recent of which is a selection of solo piano pieces and improvisations.
