INLSA

Abie Thomas, who has entertained V&A Waterfront visitors for the past 20 years with his trumpet-blowing magic, retires at the end of the week.

NATASHA PRINCE

Staff Reporter

ON FRIDAY the curtain will fall on one of the longest-standing acts at the V&A Waterfront: its beloved resident trumpeting busker is to hang up his blower after 20 years.

And for Abie Thomas, 82, it has been quite a ride.

The trumpeter, who has stolen the hearts of locals and international visitors with his “Memory Lane” songs, said it was time to “take a rest”.

Many V&A Waterfront visitors near the amphitheatre yesterday gathered around Thomas as he performed some of his favourite tunes. As he sat down to take a break, a group of fans said they would miss him dearly.

“I’ve been coming here for the past nine years to listen to this man play… I’m not sure where I’ll go on the weekends now,” said one man as he shook Thomas’s hand and wished him well.

“What’s the Waterfront without Mr Thomas?” asked Nashieda Majiet, who has been coming to the Waterfront with her husband, Yusuf, on Sundays for lunch to listen to the trumpeter.

Said Thomas: “Everyone is screaming at me: ‘Where are you going?’ To me, it feels like I’m not really retiring. I’m just having a little rest.”

Thomas started off busking alone and later joined with four other musicians – two guitarists, a banjo player and a bass guitarist – and his wife Rose, who plays the tambourine in the band.

Thomas, who lives in Mitchells Plain, said that when he first suggested going to the Waterfront, many people had discouraged him from doing so.

One of his friends, Ismail Dante, told him to defy the naysayers. This he did, and he has not looked back.

“Since I started, I felt like God gave me this… and I feel very sad to go because the Waterfront did for me what nobody in this world would do for me,” he said.

His number one fan is Rose.

“He is such a big star on the Cape Flats… everybody says Hugh Masekela is good, but I think he is the best,” she said.

Thomas said he played music that touched people’s lives and that most of the songs were love songs or what he described as “Memory Lane” songs.

“It’s about the way I play it, I play music from inside my heart and I give that to people.”

Thomas is set to play his final gig at the Waterfront on Friday afternoon.

natasha.prince@inl.co.za