Why did legendary Adam die poor?

The great Zayn Adam, whose star shone so brightly, quietly faded from the dignity he deserved, says the writer. Picture: David Ritchie

The great Zayn Adam, whose star shone so brightly, quietly faded from the dignity he deserved, says the writer. Picture: David Ritchie

Published Feb 25, 2015

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Zayn Adam deserved so much more after his contribution to the cultural life of Cape Town, says Kurt Egelhof.

Cape Town - Hang your collective head in absolute shame. Because the path to impoverishment that you have laid before one of your most popular sons, leading to an almost insignificant grave in the Salt River cemetery, is an absolute outrage and an insult to the history of our rich music and cultural heritage.

On Monday, I stood in the Tennyson Mosque in Salt River to pay respect to the legendary Mogamed Zayn Adam, a man who, during the height of apartheid, lit the torch and paved the way for Cape Town to become known as it is nowadays – the most prolific home of jazz on the continent of Africa.

On Monday, I witnessed the almost anonymous burial of a legend of international proportions who you, Cape Town, once evicted and photographed on the pavement, with every stick of his furniture, lock stock and barrel, and then had the cheek to call him one of your own.

Outside his home in Marina Da Gama, about a decade ago, the media was happy to photograph his shame, displayed for the world to see. Ejected for not being able to pay his rent.

On Monday, his family buried him from a tiny two-bedroom house in Brooklyn, where he spent more than a decade struggling to make a meagre living – till the very end.

Zayn Adam is, and remains, even after his death, one of the best this country will ever produce. And yet you, Cape Town, took no care whatsoever of his repute, his dignity or his social security. No pension fund. No medical aid scheme. No unemployment benefits. No appropriate taxation system. No dignity.

Did Frank Sinatra have to endure such indignity? Will Sting suffer the same fate when his time comes to die? The answer is a definitive no.

And yet you, Cape Town, heartlessly looked the other way while one of the icons of South African original music, your very own son of the soil Zayn Adam, quietly faded away from the dignity he deserved due to the lack of respect, radio airtime, work opportunity and general social security for most of his career – particularly between the years 2000 and 2015.

The mayor says we will be forever thankful to him for his contribution to the culture of Cape Town. How will we do this? He needed a tangible demonstration of our gratitude while he was alive.

Did we offer to donate 1 percent of the door takings of the annual Cape Town Jazz festival to Zayn and the nine or 10 other deceased Cape Town musicians and actors like him, who gave everything and received nothing but applause in return?

One percent of the door takings of the Cape Town Jazz festival would easily secure upwards of R100 000 a share.

Did we find a creative way to ensure the survival of our artists as people deserving of our protection since it is them, and only them, that bring us the public expression of joy in our very ordinary and mundane lives? Will we give Zayn’s family the value of this legacy back, in financial terms? I somehow think not.

And yet politicians and cardboard gangsters pop out from under every other rock every other day, and within weeks become bankable social celebrities living as large as Table Mountain itself, their lifestyles inconsistent with their integrity or dubious sources of income.

No one bats an eyelid for Zayn Adam. So our most famous son dies struggling, on the eve of his first performance at the Cape Town Jazz festival after a 50-year career. What would have been his first appearance in what will be the 16th installation of the Cape Town Jazz festival. The 16th! For Zayn it was 15 years too long to wait. Shame on you Cape Town.

Did Brimstone or Lion of Africa or Wesgro or any one of the half-dozen wealthy progressive black empowerment organisations in the Mother City collaborate to come up with some creative solutions to address the shortfall in this key economic sector, in respect of protecting the main assets that drive our cultural evolution?

When I first arrived here as a starry eyed teenager in 1977, Pacific Express, the inimitable local jazz band headed by Zayn at the time, was at its zenith, yet somehow overshadowed by the exclusivity of apartheid.

 

On returning here permanently in 2000, a much-diminished Zayn was struggling to make a living playing Hanover Street at GrandWest Casino, to empty houses of absentee gamblers.

 

Nobody gave a damn.

There were no glorious headlines proclaiming Zayn to be a legend, least of all of him being deserving of a more prestigious cultural appreciation from the city that claimed to have shaped his international appeal.

These were the silent years.

Zayn Adam deserved to live comfortably, happily and within his means as a respected working artist. Zayn Adam deserved a city funeral and memorial for his contribution to the cultural life of the City of Cape Town.

 

Tell me who, when and why will anybody go to a little-known, almost innocuous hole in the ground in Salt River cemetery, where one of the greatest legends of the South African music industry is now at rest?

Will you?

 

* Kurt Egelhof is National Co-ordinator of the Performing Arts Network of SA.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

Cape Times

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