1980–88 – Adrian Bekker
I was introduced to Adrian Bekker by Patrick Canovi, who had played with him in the Cape Town band Metallic Sun. That introduction began one of the most creative
musical collaborations of my Cape Town years.
Adrian was quite simply one of the most prolific songwriters I had ever met. He kept a handwritten list of more than 500 original songs, written in tiny script on a small piece of paper. You could call out almost any title from the list and, like a human jukebox, Adrian could immediately pick up his guitar and play and sing the song from beginning to end.
But Adrian's creativity extended far beyond songwriting. He was also deeply interested in photography, film and the visual arts. This was long before digital recording and video editing became accessible, yet Adrian was constantly experimenting with the technology available to us. Using analogue video recorders and a Fostex four-track recorder, we found ways to create surprisingly good audio recordings and homemade music videos.
We spent countless hours together jamming, writing and recording new material. Adrian would also bring out songs he had already written and I would develop and record bass parts for them. There was always another song to work on and another idea waiting to be explored.
The Shufflers and The Workers
In 1981, I joined Adrian's band The Shufflers( which later became The Workers) beginning another chapter in our musical partnership. Our collaboration, however, went well beyond any particular band. Much of the music we created came simply from the two of us experimenting with songs, recording equipment and whatever ideas occurred to us at the time.
Our Homemade Music Videos
Adrian and I also had great fun producing what can only be described as crazy homemade music videos to accompany some of our original songs.
Looking at them today, they're obviously products of their time, but that's part of their charm. We were experimenting with home video and multitrack recording years before computers made this kind of thing easy. The results may have been unconventional, but the whole process was enormously creative and a lot of fun.
The videos and recordings on this page preserve some of those sessions and the music we created together during the 1980s.
Adrian passed away in 2021. I'm very grateful that so much of the music, video and other material we created together has survived. More than anything, these recordings remind me of a wonderfully creative friend with an extraordinary ability to turn seemingly endless ideas into songs.
In 1984, Niall Bell and I performing with Adrian's band 'The Tize' at Blouberg Strand Shopping Mall, Cape Town
While Barry Graham visited South Africa, he joined Adrian and myself for a bit of a jam session playing some flute.
