Lee Oskar to make his fans feel good at the Joy of Jazz
17 September 2015
Harmonica maestro Lee Oskar is to reconnect with his multitudes of loyal South African fans when he takes the stage at the star-studded Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Festival at the Sandton Convention Centre on the Weekend of 25 September.
Well-known for his My Road, Our Road (Now That It Feels So Good Tell Everybody) and other golden hits, the Danish-born musician will reignite the sweet memories of the 1980s when he digs deep into his musical archives and fishes out the gems that made him a household name in South Africa, particularly in townships such as Soweto.
Sunday afternoons were a pleasure and absolutely special. Brothers, lounging on lawns in front of their matchbox houses, would play hit after hit from Oskar’s albums full blast on a Blaupunkt music system.His dance tune, Antes De La Lluvia, was very popular at Uncle Tom’s Hall, near the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Orlando West.
Dancers would close their eyes and move to the exquisite sounds of Antes and transported to some mystical Eastern European country.
Oskar has had a huge fan base in South Africa. When jazz lost its flavour, fusion gained ground, made popular by some of Oskar’s hits, which included San Francisco Bay. His 1981 hit, Up All Night, was used as a theme song on most radio stations.
Among the more than 20 000 fans expected to descend on the Sandton Convention Centre from September 24-26 for this year’s Standard Bank Joy of Jazz Festival, which is supported by the City of Johannesburg, will be the brothers and sisters who used to tap their feet and snap their fingers to the beat of Oskar’s My Road, Our Road or those who met, danced and walked down the aisle after listening and dancing to Antes.
Oskar, who will join other local and international artists such as Hugh Masekela, Vusi Mahlasela and Larry Carlton at the Joy of Jazz, was born on 24 March 1948 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was six years old when a family friend gave him his first harmonica.
“I came from an area where every kid had a harmonica,” he recalls.
He cites the late great Ray Charles as his biggest musical influence. He moved to New York at the age of 18 with little more than a harmonica in his pocket. With no money, Oskar played harmonica in the streets.
Oskar has been described as “a virtuoso” and “the harmonica whiz”, and considered “among the best rock-blues-soul harmonica players” in the world. Other local and international musicians who will feature in the concert include Marcus Miller (United States), Oliver Mtukudzi (Zimbabwe), Matthew Halsall (United Kingdom), Wanda Baloyi (Mozambique), Peabo Bryson (United States) and Jimmy Dludlu and Friends, Steve Dyer, Stimela, and Simphiwe Dana (South Africa).