Bafo evokes divine kindred spirit
Arts Roots, Identity, VoicePosted by sangweni on 2026-03-19 17:02:20 | Last Updated by sangweni on 2026-06-13 10:24:18
Very few people, if not none, are told in their face that they are a divine kindred spirit on Mother Earth, as opposed to at the cemetery, when one is spoken of in glowing terms, when they cannot hear the moving speech.
In this rare radio interview that was a one-man show, at the SABC's Cape Town Auditorium, where Kekotso Sachane, was the only member of the audience.
Kokee to Madala - How are you? (Kokee is how Madala affectionately calls Sachane)
Madala - I am alive like a shilling - Ngiphila njengo-sheleni (sic).
Kokee to Sibusile - How far do you come with Bafo, this father of mine?
“Ei, I come a long way, so grateful for dad (sic) to accept me and breastfeed(sic) me, and teach me a lot, not only in music but in life as a whole.
For me, it’s a long way but a humble beginning. I want to work with the grandmaster.”
Kokee to Sibusile - As a student of Bafo, what have you learned from Bafo, besides the guitar?
Yoh, where does one start in trying to articulate the role of a Baobab tree?
It’s so big. It’s so important. Its extraordinary. it’s iconic. it gives so much.”
I see Mtimande in that light - as a person who also loves planting and do a lot of research in plants. So, the Baobab really grows for a long time) in its life.
What is amazing about the tree is that each and every part of the tree can be used. So Mtimande is that.
He is not just a great guitarist, but he is also a great father. He is not just a great father, but he is a great friend. He is not just super-disciplined; he is also super funny.
He is just truly, not just for me, but many others are learning from him like me, really a special being.
I personally feel God took time when he created him, and focused on his heart, and obviously gave him these fingers that play amazing guitar.
So, to us, Bafo is really beyond a diamond in the rough, beyond university, encyclopedia. He is just a divine kindred spirit."
Xaba is one of the many students of late Dr Madala Kunene, affectionately known as Bafo (Big brother) in the universal music circles. Mtimande is his clan’s name.
Kokee to Madala - “He is talking very well about you Bafo. He respects you a lot.
Kunene: to Kokee - Is that’s Is that so, thanks, the problem is, he is talking in English, I don’t understand, I would be laughing too.”
He then plays the typical Bafo tune Baboon on the Tree (Imfene Emthini), a song rooted in Zulu folklore.
He strums his amazing guitar, emitting haunting, howling, animal-like sounds interspersed with seemingly ghastly echoes permeating the stillness of an expansive forest.
It is, this writer imagines, a forest replete with indigenous knowledge in these two of a kind guitar magicians dispensing ancestral gifts that can only enlighten the world to a better place for the sake of humanity.
It remains a human right violation and economic deprivation that Kunene, whose Zulu folklore, maskanda music, tinged with jazz and Blues sounds were glaringly omitted from defunct Radio Bantu, Radio Zulu, and sadly present-day Ukhozi FM.
Is it out of ignorance or negligence that latter-day Ukhozi FM is denying Bafo airplay in Sigiya Ngengoma every Saturday morning?
It is a moot point now that the University of KwaZulu-Natal bestowed him an honorary degree to recognize his out-of-this-world contribution to heritage, culture, and Zulu ethos after more than 50 years doing it locally and abroad.
His caveat out of a lifetime lot was his inclusion in the inaugural Montreal Jazz Festival in Northern Cape, South Africa, 2026.
Is it true, maybe, that good things come to those who wait? Patience is a virtue.
Kunene, a product of Mkhumbane (Cato Manor) kwela and marabi days in and around Durban, whose contemporaries include Alan Kwela, Sandile Shange of Chesterville, has, as wine matured with time.
