Klaasen ‘a role model to many’

Thandi Klaasen Photo: John Hogg

Thandi Klaasen Photo: John Hogg

Published Jan 15, 2017

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She was brave. She died with the same dignity she had lived her life.

This was how the daughter of legendary jazz musician Thandi Klaasen, who died yesterday from pancreatic cancer at the age of 86, described her mother.

Lorraine Klaasen, also a musician, told The Star that her multi-award-winning mother died at Thelle Mogoerane Hospital in Vosloorus after being admitted on December 9.

“It was a very brief illness, we only found out about it about a month ago,” she said.

Lorraine said the family had since yesterday been inundated with calls and messages of condolences.

She recently told the Daily Sun that her mom was on the mend after suffering a stroke in 2015.

“We haven’t had a chance to deal with the loss as a family. The phones just haven’t stopped ringing,” she said, adding that details of the funeral arrangements would be communicated at a later stage.

Thandi was born in Sop-
hiatown and started performing in the 1950s alongside other jazz legends Dolly Rathebe, Miriam Makeba and Dorothy Masuka. She also played a part in the 1960s musical King Kong in London.

When she was a teenager, a mixture of thinners and petrol was thrown at her that left her scarred for life.

In 2006, she was awarded the presidential national Order of the Baobab.

President Jacob Zuma, in a statement of condolence, described Klaasen’s death as 
a tragic loss for the entire nation.

“Klaasen contributed to the country not only as a musician, but also a social and political activist who was always outspoken about social-economic issues in the country. We have lost one of the leading pioneers of South African jazz music and promoters of the country’s cosmopolitan culture.

“She was a role model to many of our young and upcoming musicians, and her legacy will live on for generations to come,” Zuma said.

Klaasen earned several accolades, including lifetime achievement awards from the Standard Bank Jazz Festival and the South African Music Awards.

Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa said “she touched our spirits and made us complete beings in a world in which things were falling apart”.

The ANC Women’s League called on all women in the arts industry to emulate her example

“Imbokodo, who broke the glass ceiling of a music industry which is characterised by domination of males and became an icon in African Jazz. Her career as a singer and dancer began in the mid-1950s when the apartheid and patriarchal system were entrenched, but that did not deter her from pursuing her dreams,” it said in a statement.

“The ANCWL sends its deepest condolences to the family, relatives, friends and supporters of Mam Klaasen during these trying times. May her soul rest in peace,” the league said.

@Sihle_MG

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