The Victoria Harbour Sundowner Sessions #14

This week we pay tribute to yet another jazz great who suddenly passed away this week.

Renowned Cape-born jazz pianist Hotep Idris Galeta has died after suffering an asthma attack.

Galeta was known for a distinguished career, playing with other legends such as Herb Alpert, Abdullah Ibrahim and Hugh Masekela, amongst others.

A biography by his record label Sheer states: “Hotep left South Africa for London and then New York in 1961 and stayed in exile for thirty years.

“In the early 60′s he obtained a scholarship to study privately with noted jazz piano educator John Mehegan.

“(He also held) a Master’s degree with Distinction in Jazz and Contemporary African-American Music and Performance.

“His discography is quite extensive with over 18 albums and CDs recorded with a number of American and South African artists.

“They include his own acclaimed solo piano CD Live At The Tempest and numerous CDs with Hugh Masekela, Herb Alpert, John Handy, Jackie McLean, Joshua Redman, Archie Shepp, Elvin Jones, Bobby Hutcherson, Woody Shaw and David Crosby and the Byrds.

“As a result of his reputation as an internationally recognised Jazz and Contemporary Music educator and pianist, he was appointed lecturer in Jazz studies to the University of Hartford’s Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, USA in 1985. This position continued until his return to South Africa in 1991.”

Galeta was 69 at the time of his death.

Hamba Kahle Hotep…

(source: channel24.co.za)

                 Hotep Idris Galeta, screen-grap from the YouTube clip below (Mike Jansen)

Hotep Galeta: Standard Bank Jazz Festival 2007 Heritage Jazz Show

(Apologies for the sound quality.)

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Howzit-HongKong.com will feature a YouTube clip of one South African music legend every Friday as part of what we like to call The Victoria Harbour Sundowner Sessions. I am fortunate to be living right next to one of the most stunning working harbours in the world… Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour. I often find myself staring across the Harbour at night, with the lights dimmed and one of my favourite musicians from home over the speakers. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do…

The Victoria Harbour Sundowner Session #13

It’s rugby weekend with the All Blacks and Wallabies in Hong Kong as well as the Currie Cup Final back home in Durban, so we’re upping the beat in celebration. 

(Go Province!)

McCoy Mrubata

“I don’t compose,” reedman McCoy Mrubata asserts. “I get my songs through dreams. I’ll wake up, write it or tape it – and then go back to sleep again.”

It was in sleep that McCoy first learned the vocabulary of African jazz. Born in 1959 in Cape Town’s historic Langa township, he grew up with the sounds of African music: the soulful hymns of the Zion Church, the chants and rhythms of traditional healers and the brassy jive of the Merry Macs band, who rehearsed opposite his home.

“When I was seven or eight, all there was on the streets was music and boxing. I used to go across to that rehearsal room and just lose myself in the music. I’d wake up, and find myself back at home, with my mom and gran telling me how they found me there and carried me back.”

The reed-man playeth (McCoy captured by Steve Gordon)

When schooling became impossible in the fiery aftermath of the 76 uprising, the young McCoy then playing flute studied informally under Langa greats like the Ngozi brothers, Winston and Thulisile, the Ngcukanas, Ezra and Duke, Blackie Tempi and Robert Sithole.

(Source: Music.org.za)

McCoy Mrubata (Wanna talk about it)

Read more on Music.org.za

Additional information on WikiPedia

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Howzit-HongKong.com will feature a YouTube clip of one South African music legend every Friday as part of what we like to call The Victoria Harbour Sundowner Sessions. I am fortunate to be living right next to one of the most stunning working harbours in the world… Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour. I often find myself staring across the Harbour at night, with the lights dimmed and one of my favourite musicians from home over the speakers. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do…

Hong Kongers celebrated the National Day holiday yesterday as only Hong Kongers can… spending $3,5million on a 23 minutes fireworks extravaganza.

The National Day fireworks display lit  up the city’s Victoria Harbour on Oct. 1 to celebrate the 61st anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The local police force started closing off key streets on the Tsim Sha Tsui side of the Harbour from early evening as well as re-directing bus-routes.  All this happened as thousands of locals made their way to vantage points all along the Harbour.  Die-hard amateur photographers started staking out their spots along TST’s Avenue of the Stars from as early as mid-day.

Dozens of pleasure-craft of all shapes and sizes started positioning themselves in the waters just outside my window from about 30 minutes before the start.  This time around they were so close that I could clearly hear the off-shore merriment taking place.

The annual fireworks show started at 9 p.m. with over 23,800 fire shells being discharged from 3 barges anchored in the Harbour for the 23-minute display.  The entire show consisted of nine scenes of different themes.

The first scene entitled “A Unified Heart” features colorful and spectacular fireworks of “Red Sun”, “Red Stars” and “Bauhinia” to celebrate the National Day.

In Scene Five, the harmonious display of silver, green, red, golden and orange fireworks represents the theme of “A United World“.

The fireworks display reaches its climax at the last scene “Our Prosperous Motherland” with fast and rhythmic firing of shells in the last 60 seconds, wishing all the best to the home country.

Happy Birthday China.

生日快樂!

This is how I experienced the show from my apartment in Hung Hom:

Much like the noon-gun in Cape Town, there are some daily occurrences right here in Victoria Harbour that alert me as to the time of day.  One of these is the daily coming and going of the Star Cruises cruise-ships past my lounge window.

However, on Sunday the huge ship’s return to its berth in Tsim Sha Tsui was noticeably delayed.  I was watching the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s Autumn Regatta in the harbour when I noticed the Star Cruises vessel SuperStar Aquarius trying to make it’s way through a throng of sailboats.

It was only upon reading The Standard on Monday morning that I learned about the reason for the cruise-ship’s late return.

The Standard reported:

A 51-year-old mainlander jumped off a 13-deck “floating casino” off Sai Kung after losing HK$5 million playing baccarat.

The gambler, identified by police only as Xu, made his fatal leap off the Star Cruises vessel SuperStar Aquarius as it sailed back to Hong Kong from international waters shortly before 9am yesterday.

Rescuers searched for Xu for almost an hour before fishing him out of the water. He was certified dead by the ship’s doctor.

Xu apparently boarded the ship on Saturday for a two-day gambling trip. He was seen betting at the baccarat table right after dinner.

According to several passengers, he gambled until closing at 8am yesterday and lost almost HK$5 million.

He was seen wandering on the deck for about an hour before jumping. Crew were alerted immediately that a man was overboard. The captain sent a rescue team and notified the Hong Kong authorities.

Superstar Acquarius makes its way through a busy Victoria Harbour. (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Despite news that tropical storm Fanapi may affect the Hong Kong weather, the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s first race of the Autumn sailing season kicked off in Victoria Harbour yesterday.

The Club’s Autumn opener  is traditionally held in September, a month when it is impossible to predict if the event will enjoy the north east monsoon of autumn, or the tail end of the summer south westerlies. It is not unknown for the entire Regatta to be scuppered by a passing typhoon.

However, Race Officer Inge Strompf-Jepsen on Day 1 took a glass-half-full view of the available breeze for Race 1, getting the 110 starters in 11 classes underway in 35 degree heat, 5 knots of Westerly breeze and blazing sunshine, with all the fleets selecting Course 71, which kept the fleets in sight of the Club for the afternoon.

After light winds on Day 1, Day 2 delivered on the promised lift in breeze, with an 8-10 knot westerly blowing for the start of Race 2.

Race Officer Inge Strompf-Jepsen once again gave the bar crowd a treat, sending the fleets away from a Club start on a course using the western end of the race area. While the short course suited most of the fleets, Jelik 3 was left hanging around waiting for Race 3 for longer than she was racing, however this did not seem to dampen her spirits.

The Sunday turnout of 90 boats enjoyed up to 16 knots for their final race, taking in the eastern end of the race area. After a weekend of varied conditions (and varied sailing) just one protest was taken to the room before a lively Prizegiving was hosted on RHKYC Main Lawn.

Star Ferries steams past Hung Hom as Victoria Harbour fills with sails (Pic: Mike Jansen)

I thought we’d pick up the pace a wee bit with this week’s entry onto the:

The Victoria Harbour Sundowners Sessions #7:

Tlang Sekolong (Don Laka)

DON Laka was born in 1958 near Pretoria in Mamelodi, the first child in a family of five.In 1969 he formed his first band and made his first recording in 1972 which featured Ray Phiri on guitar.

After passing his matric in 1978 he started formal music lessons, obtaining his licentiate in high school music teaching in 1979. From 1980 to 1981 he joined the afro-fusion group Sakhile, that was formed by Sipho Gumede and Khaya Mahlangu. The group revolutionized South African music, and set a trend for groups like Bayete.

Read more on Music.org.za

Don Laka (Pic: Music.org.za)

Tlang Sekolong means “Come to School” in Setswana. The track is an interpretation of a song sung by kindergarten students.

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Howzit-HongKong.com will feature a YouTube clip of one South African music legend every Friday as part of what we like to call The Victoria Harbour Sundowner Sessions. I am fortunate to be living right next to one of the most stunning working harbours in the world… Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour. I often find myself staring across the Harbour at night, with the lights dimmed and one of my favourite musicians from home over the speakers. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do…

The Victoria Harbour Sundowner Sessions #2:

Ndiredi (Simphiwe Dana)

I first saw Simphiwe Dana perform here in Hong Kong as part of a SA Department of Arts & Culture/SA Consulate initiative called “South Africa Week.”  Before that I had never heard of, let alone seen Simphiwe Dana perform live.

I remember her doing a rather long song here at the Kowloon Shangrila Hotel, I stand to be corrected, but it could have been her hit song Zandisile.  I also remember the audience in the Shangrila ballroom getting quite fidgety halfway through the song.  I loved every moment of her set as I always try to soak in as much SA culture whenever we have such visits from home.  When she performed Bantu Biko Street I knew I was hooked and when I got home later that evening, I did a quick Google search and discovered the African Diva that is Simphiwe Dana.

The next morning I took a taxi to The Shangrila, hoping to have a chat to her with a view of doing a story on Howzit-HongKong.com.  However, when I finally traced her to the upstairs restaurant, seeing her basking in the early morning sunlight reading a book, I couldn’t get myself to disturb her as she looked so peaceful.

WikiPedia has the following to say:

Simphiwe Dana (born 1980) is a Xhosa pop singer in South Africa. With her unique combination of jazz, pop, and traditional music, she has been hailed as the “new Miriam Makeba”.

In 2005, Simphiwe Dana won the “Best Newcomer” award at the 11th South African Music Awards with her first album “Zandisile”. Two years later, she was named the “Best Female Artist”, with the song “The One Love Movement on Bantu Biko Street”, at the 13th South African Music Awards.

Simphiwe Dana is also active in the world music scene in Europe.

Ndiredi (Simphiwe Dana)

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Howzit-HongKong.com will feature a YouTube clip of one South African music legend every Friday as part of what we like to call The Victoria Harbour Sundowner Sessions. I am fortunate to be living right next to one of the most stunning working harbours in the world… Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour. I often find myself staring across the Harbour at night, with the lights dimmed and one of my favourite musicians from home over the speakers. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do…

Victoria Harbour seen from Tsim Sha Tsui.

The Victoria Harbour Sundowner Sessions #1:

Give Peace a Chance (Winston Mankunku Ngozi)

Born in Retreat, Cape Town in 1943, Winston was the first-born in a musical family.

He started “fooling around” on the piano at age seven, and later tried his hand at both clarinet and trumpet. In his mid-teens, however, he decided that the sound of the saxophone was the sound he wanted, and started to learn the alto, then the tenor saxophone.

Winston Monwabisi Mankunku Ngozi passed away on Monday, 12 October 2009.

The acclaimed tenor and soprano saxophonist was 66 years old.

Read more here

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Howzit-HongKong.com will feature a YouTube clip of one South African music legend every Friday as part of what we like to call The Victoria Harbour Sundowner Sessions. I am fortunate to be living right next to one of the most stunning working harbours in the world… Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour.  I often find myself staring across the Harbour at night, with the lights dimmed and one of my favourite musicians from home over the speakers.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do…

Victoria Harbour seen from Tsim Sha Tsui.

Howzit-HongKong.com often gets invited to attend functions all over Hong Kong.

Sometimes the events take place at venues that afford one such spectacular vistas of this vibrant and beautiful city, that it would be amiss not to snap away and post the pics on our Flickr album here.

I attended one such event on the 26th floor of the Park Lane Hotel in Causeway Bay.  South African Tourism hosted a successful workshop to introduce some of the product offerings available to local visitors to our beautiful country.

In his opening address to the workshop today, South Africa’s Minister of Tourism, Marthinus Van Schalkwyk mentioned of his slight concern at arriving in Hong Kong in the midst of Tropical Cyclone Chanthu.  However, upon arriving in the territory, he was greeted with beautiful blue skies and hot weather.

Well Mr Van Schalkwyk, while we were fortunate to have missed the chaos of the storm, as you can see from the pictures below, the beautiful blue skies are (as they say back home) part and parcel of typhoon season, both before and after the storm.

More about the tourism workshop later.

The Park Lane Hotel is located in the busy shopping district of Causeway Bay, adjacent to the lush Victoria Park.

The view from the 26th floor affords one some glorious vistas across Victoria Park towards Tin Hau MTR station in the direction of North Point.  Kellet Island, home of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club can be seen in the foreground with Kowloon Bay and the Eastern Harbour Entrance in the distance.

Hong Kong’s Victoria Park (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Turning the camera slightly to the left, more of Victoria Harbour and the yacht basin come into view.  On the other side of the Harbour you can see (from left to right) Tsim Sha Tsui East, Hung Hom and Whampoa Garden.  The “Howzit” indicates my apartment where Howzit-HongKong.com is produced.

Victoria Harbour & the yacht basin (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Tropical Cyclone Conson had barely grazed the shores of Hong Kong, when yet another one is on it’s way.

The Hong Kong Observatory earlier today issued Standby Signal 1 which, at the time of writing, is still in force.  The Standby Signal means that a tropical cyclone (this time named Chanthu) is centred within about 800 kilometres of Hong Kong may affect the territory.

I wrote last week that Tropical Cyclone Conson may just be another “storm in a teacup” as far as Hong Kong is concerned, and so it came to pass.

I love tropical cyclones… if it only comes with strong wind and rain.

Victoria Harbour is transformed during a cyclone (Pic: BBC)

For me, the wind and rain have an almost cleansing effect and mostly blows the pollution back across the border from whence it came: the so-called factory of the world which is Southern China. Fortunately for us here in Hong Kong, for as long as I have been here, that is mostly how we experience cyclones.  Having experienced the scale of devastation that typhoons wreak on the island of Taiwan, what Hong Kong experiences pales in comparison.

Some visitors “enjoy” the rain on the Avenue of the Stars (Pic: EnglishPeople.com.cn)

So, get your brollies ready, some heavy rain is coming our way again for the next few days…

Go to the Hong Kong Observatory website for more details.