The Portfolio: Shooting the maestro - The Mail & Guardian

Seasoned photographer and journalist Jacob Mawela sadly wrote on Monday morning on his social media page that “renowned saxophonist, [Barney] Rachabane, had a few months ago lost his wife and his passing occurred a fortnight after he had undergone surgery to remove cataract.” Mawela lives in Pimville, Soweto, a few houses away from the late self-taught musician.

, which was born after the death of another great giant, the gentle Keorapetse “Bra Willie” Kgositsile, in 2018. ’s picture desk at the time of Bra Willie’s death and I struggled to find powerful images that would complement the tributes to the celebrated poet and political activist. We were eventually able to meet in the afternoon of Monday, 20 April 2018. My intention was to capitalise on the reddish autumn sunset light during the shoot. Because of work commitments and traffic jams in the afternoon from Rosebank to Soweto, I arrived at the neat brick house in Zone 3 as sunset was about to become dusk. I knew that I might not have as successful a photo shoot as I’d planned, but I had hope.

Jazz was softly coming through the speakers. Rachabane explained to me how he had shifted from playing the penny-whistle to playing the clarinet and then the saxophone. When I asked him about the effect of the restrictions he endured during apartheid, he paused for some time before saying: “I can’t remember how many times I was arrested. We got arrested for nothing; we were just playing music, nothing else.” He concluded the interview with these words: “Music is a gift from God. It’s been there and is going to be there forever. It has made me who I am today. This home was built by music, my children, my wife and everything. My life is music.

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