Syd Kitchen’s biography was a labour of love, says author MO

A BOOK which grasps the essence and personality of Durban legend Syd Kitchen, was launched in Durban last month.

Written by author, Donvé Lee, the book entitled Scars that Shine, is a biography of the musician, who she met at a New Year’s Eve party in 2000.

“He was in Cape Town for a gig. Durban born and bred, he used to travel to Cape Town once or twice a year for concerts. We became friends and I’d sometimes fetch him from the airport, occasionally he’d stay at my house. Soon after we met he gave me two of his CDs and I gave him a copy of my recently published book The Unfolding Man – the life and art of Dan Rakgoathe, about a South African graphic artist. Syd was impressed with my writing and I was totally blown away by his music. We were walking on Scarborough beach when he said something like – ‘Would you write my biography one day?'” said Donvé.

Soon after Syd died in March 2011, Donvé recalled that conversation on the beach, and knew she had to put something together.

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“My initial worry was how could I do this because I am not a music expert – most musicians’ biographies get written by music journalists or music historians and I am neither of those. It took years of research, a very interesting journey, a labour of love, interviewing over 120 people, many in person, others via skype. I was fortunate to have a number of other very helpful sources, interviews that Syd’s friends had done with him on audio or videotape, live recordings of his concerts and three documentaries,” said Donvé.

She said she also discovered a music student who had interviewed Syd extensively, and an old girlfriend from the 70s had kept all the letters he wrote her, and she also had his lyrics to work with. The whole process, writing and research, took about four years.

“Like Syd I don’t like labels. And like Syd, I enjoy pushing creative boundaries. If I have to label this, I would say it’s a creative biography. I tried to push the boundaries of biography. I first wrote it as a straight biography, as if I as author am telling his story, but then I decided it wasn’t edgy or lively enough, it wasn’t ‘Syd’ enough. Writer friends suggested I try write it in Syd’s voice, and when I did that it added this extra dimension which really brings Syd alive on the page,” she said.

Donvé also played with the material, put words into Syd’s mouth, although they were always words that Syd would have or could have said and embellished here and there – which she said was what Syd did all the time.

“He was notorious for telling very tall tales and I didn’t feel at all guilty about doing this because for me it’s part of being creative, I think Syd would have approved. I had also read a few ‘novelistic’ biographies in which the authors used a lot of creative license. There is difference between literal truth and artistic truth,” she said.

Donvé said at times there were challenges in writing so much in Syd’s voice. “I’m not sure if he climbed inside my head or I climbed into his, but there were times when I did feel as though I was channeling him, he was speaking through me. I’d write something in his voice and look at the words and think oh wow, how did that get there? But when you immerse yourself in a subject for years that’s kind of what happens anyway. You have those magic moments when words seem to write themselves. It feels magical, but it’s just that you come to know your subject so intimately that you hit that sweet spot when words seem to flow through you. I guess the major challenges were around how I would tell the readers stuff about Syd that Syd himself didn’t know. I think I found a way around that using voices of his friends, and making a few creative leaps with the story here and there.”

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Donvé said including lyrics in the text reflected Syd’s use of his lyrics as a kind of confession. “Including his lyrics was a very important part of this book, although of course people really need to hear the music to appreciate the songs. As I write in the introduction, ‘music was the true language of his soul’. The real truth about Syd came out through his songs, truths that he couldn’t always admit in everyday life,” she said.

Donvé said Syd’s family members were all happy to talk to her about him, and she was very grateful to all of them for being so willing to share not only their beautiful memories of Syd, but their sad and painful ones as well.

“I think the family realised that to make this portrait of Syd authentic, I had to dig into the dark side of Syd. And as Syd says in the book, or I say through Syd – it’s the darkness that gives beauty it’s mysterious depth.”

She said her key motivation to write this story was that she is fascinated by artists’ personalities as artists are often confused, troubled beautiful people of extremes.

“I believe strongly in the power of art to change us, but sadly art and creativity are totally marginalised in our society. As a writer I see myself as a story teller, and I saw the potential in Syd’s life for a compelling story. Syd never had the recognition he deserved while he was alive, and he asked me to write his story – all that was enough motivation for me.”

The book is available at Ikes, Florida Road, and Exclusive Books in Gateway and La Lucia. The recommended retail price is R260.

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