History / The 1970’s
 
From July 1969 through July 1970 Syd Kitchen served his conscripted time in the South African Defense Force. At the time this was a non-negotiable reality for all white SA males from the age of 18. Syd served time as a cook in the Air Force, first at the Air Force Gymnasium in Valhalla Pretoria, before being seconded and sent to Rundu on the Namibian/Angolan border for the final 6 months. The Rundu trip was to prove an important and decisive journey in his life. It was there through the encouragement of fellow conscriptee Pier Van Staden that Syd Kitchen started playing the guitar.

Remarkably, Syd’s brother Peter was simultaneously discovering the instrument back in Durban. By the time both brothers were free of their military commitments in late 1970 and reunited back home, the KITCHEN BROTHERS became a musical entity.

Playing their own compositions from the outset, the boys initially started performing live with friend Marc Maingard as STRAWBERRY FIELDS, playing their first gig at the legendary but long defunct Totum Club on Durban’s beachfront. After Maingard left to travel in early 1971, they reverted to being a duo and renamed themselves the KITCHEN BROTHERS. They joined the Natal Folk Music Association (NAFMA); a cultural music club that had sprung up during the previous decades’ Folk Revival and that held a meet every Sunday evening in a local coffee bar called The Cock-a-too. Here they cut their teeth as performers, week in and week out, learning to play in front of and “read” the first truly discerning audience they’d ever encountered. This resulted in them being asked to appear at the Association’s annual Folk Festival in July ’71. Further success came when they entered a song writing competition set up by the club in the same year. They took first prize and in the process gained the attention of Folk guru David Marks.

While Syd had evolved into a rhythm player more interested in approaching the guitar as an instrument to underpin his singing, Pete had embraced the exercise in a highly musical way, developing rapidly into a classy finger style player. This difference was also apparent in their musical tastes and whom they were both listening to. Syd was into Dylan, The Incredible String Band, and Donovan amongst others; all lyricists and essentially songwriters. Pete was listening more to people like Pentangle, Steven Stills, Mississippi John Hurt, Doc Watson and others; all natural instrumentalists. Their diversity in influence and inherent chemistry ensured that when they combined and played together, the two of them created something special. Syd’s role as vocalist, lyricist, and rhythm player balanced perfectly with the instrumental guitar genius and backup vocals provided by Pete. The KITCHEN BROTHERS were a classy act.

From this time onwards the KITCHEN BROTHERS joined a very esteemed bunch of SA singer/songwriters who traversed the country from festival to festival, club to club, playing some of the best music you never heard. People like Colin Shamley, Edi Nederlander, John Oakley-Smith, Jannie Hofmeyr, Alan Jeffries, Kate Jones, Paul Clingman, Tony Bird, Johnny Clegg, Mike Dickman, and Finch & Henson to name a few. Add to this the main players of the previous decade who were still playing like Keith Blundell, The Lindbergs, Clem Tholet and others, and the many traditional and bluegrass groups that were operating then such as Shinnery, Blacksmith, Silver Creek Mountain Band and others, and its not surprising that the KITCHEN BROTHERS’ level of performance reached new heights from rubbing shoulders with these musicians. Syd started using African drums, tabla, percussion and recorders in addition to the guitar, while Pete took up the harmonium and got into using many different open tunings for the guitar, some he devised himself. Sadly, the “times”, the cultural boycott and the SA music industry’s sheer lack of balls conspired to largely ignore those just mentioned. 
 
Notable dates and events in the history of the KITCHEN BROTHERS include:
 
1972:
• Recorded by David Marks
• They appear at the NAFMA Festival (which was recorded and released as a compilation double album)
• They appear at the SA Folk Music Assoc. (SAFMA) Festival at Rivonia Johannesburg
• They submit two songs to the Japanese International Song Festival in Tokyo.

1973:
• They feature in revue “Country Folk” at the YMCA Theatre Durban
• Perform at the NAFMA Festival with a full choir and additional musicians to much acclaim
• Appear at Rhodes University’s “Folk All” Festival in Grahamstown
• Perform at the SAFMA Festival in Johannesburg
• Open for British Folk singer Derek Brimstone in Johannesburg
• Do transcription recordings for the SABC that are broadcast via their External Service to Japan, North Africa and North America
•Tour the country with Paul Clingman, Jannie Hofmeyr and Colin & Muff Shapiro in “Song on the road”.

1974:
• They make their first appearance at the legendary “Free Peoples Concert” at Wits University in Johannesburg
• Play several concerts with jazz guitarists Elias Ngidi and Sandile Shange, sitar exponent Goolum Jamaal and tabla player Adam Laki
• Appear at the Durban NAFMA Festival and the Four Winds Festival in Port Elizabeth for the first time
• Augment the group with cellist Rob Larsen
• Syd releases his volume of poetry “Scars That Shine” through Creative Publications Durban.

1975:
• They make festival appearances at NAFMA ’75 in Durban, Four Winds in Port Elizabeth and the “Free Peoples Concert” at Wits in Johannesburg
• In Durban they open for British Folk act Magna Carta who are touring SA
• They tour the eastern Cape visiting East London, Port Elizabeth and Plettenburg Bay.

1976:
• Rob Larsen departs and they return to playing as a duo
• They play the Port Elizabeth Four Winds Festival in May, and the NAFMA Festival in July.
 
1977:
• Syd and Pete play the Port Elizabeth Four Winds Festival in May and the Durban NAFM Festival in July before deciding to part ways and move on – Pete takes a job in Johannesburg while Syd remains in Durban and forms PROJECT with Jannie Hofmeyr – the end of an era.
 
During their 7 years together the KITCHEN BROTHERS, Syd and Pete, created some of the most exquisite music you could have heard anywhere. Their natural empathy and undoubted talent combined to produce a sound that was at once original, yet always accessible. The critics lauded their efforts; they had fans everywhere; yet the music industry in SA ignored them. Were it not for David Marks and others who recorded many of the events mentioned here, there would have been no documentation whatsoever (save memory) of not just the KITCHEN BROTHERS, but all who were involved and ignored. You can hear Syd and Pete on “Folk 72” (NAFMA compilation double album), “Folk 74” (Four Winds compilation double album), “Folk 75” (same) and “Folk 76” (Four Winds single album). That’s if you can find any of them.

At this time (late ’77) Syd started seriously playing the guitar. Now working in a music store as a sales/guitar repairperson, he came into contact with most guitarists passing through. Amongst those he befriended was rock guitarist Ralph Martin (later of Ballyhoo) and Jose Alves, the freakiest “outside” player Syd had ever heard. They were very forthcoming in showing him stuff and Syd responded by spending the next 3 years playing scales, arpeggios and everything in between. Syd Kitchen the singer/songwriter added “guitarist” to his mantle. After he improved as a player and others started taking notice of him he began teaching. This was a growth time.

Syd joined “fusion” group EQUINOX in 1978 as guitarist and singer, staying with them into ‘79. Playing in a 6-piece group comprising electric guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, vibraphone and percussion was a far cry from Syd’s immediate acoustic past, but an experience that he relished. He traveled to the Four Winds Festival as a solo act, as well as the Rhodes University 78 Festival in Grahamstown.

In late ’79 Syd went back to acoustic guitar and formed HARRY WAS A SNAKE with guitarist Issy Fataar (who sadly passed away in 2000 in Switzerland) and cellist Mary-Anne Brouckardt. After hearing Stephane Grappelli perform live in Durban in 1975, Syd’s interest in jazz, and acoustic swing in particular, had been awakened. He was now listening to people like Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, the David Grisman Quintet and others.  These conduits were the musical point of departure for HARRY WAS A SNAKE, and although the group never performed in public, it convened almost nightly for the next several months creating and experimenting, essentially (in hindsight) preparing Syd Kitchen for the future.
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