Cape Town - A museum dedicated to indigenous Western Cape music opened its doors in Franschhoek last week with performances by musician and theatre personality David Kramer and “spoon” guitarist Hannes Coetzee.
The Solms-Delta Music van de Caab museum, established on the Solms-Delta Wine Estate, features a large collection of indigenous instruments and allows visitors to listen to recordings of a range of genres.
Kramer told the audience about his experiences learning to play indigenous instruments while growing up Worcester.
Coetzee wowed the audience with his playing of a blik guitar, using a spoon to pluck the strings.
An interactive touch screen exhibition allows visitors to explore the multilayered origins of Cape music, which has its roots in the cultures of the Khoi, San and colonialists.
The museum’s principal researcher and concept developer, Tracey Randle, who is also the estate’s resident historian, worked with a team of professionals to make replicas of instruments from UCT’s Kirby Collection of more than 600 pieces, most of them used in southern Africa before 1934.
“We made exact replicas of those instruments and then trained people from around Franschhoek to play them,” Randle said.
“We have a group who play Cape fish horns, which are made from seaweed, in a trumpet band.
“We started researching in 2007 and have created 10 interactive panels which move from the greater musical sphere down to the Cape’s own unique musical footprint.
“On every panel are exciting opportunities to learn and be immersed in music. For instance, tap on our interactive world map on any country where slaves and colonists originated and you can read about their musical origins, listen to the music they created and have a total sensory experience of music from around the world.
“On another screen, tap on an icon of an indigenous instrument, and you can watch a video of it being played.”
Cape Times