Westville’s TK blows minds with his sax

THIS nation-wide lockdown has forced artists in all disciplines to be as creative as possible and musicians like Takudzwa Muchineripi has found alternative ways to entertain and keep busy.

Takudzwa has been playing the saxophone for his neighbours to enjoy during the lockdown.

Everyday at 7pm, the talented saxophonist has done covers of songs by Barbara Streisand, John Meyer and Bruno Mars among others.

When his gigs got cancelled, Takudzwa had to find alternatives, “A few weeks before lockdown, I started receiving calls from my clients, one after the other, mostly cancelling their bookings and others postponed their dates. This was for private functions, corporate events and weddings.

ALSO READ: Durban actor receives second nomination for Naledi Awards

“Then restaurants started cancelling and the last call was from the Shongweni Farmers Market where I played every Saturday morning. That was the last straw for me and I had a momentary breakdown. I think for me spreading love and not fear became, and still is, the motivation. It was then, I had the idea of recording one song a night from my home studio to share on my social media,” said Takudzwa.

“I realised how that added so much value to what I was doing and to other people’s lives. One night I decided, for a change of scenery, to record outside. It was then a few neighbours heard and responded positively in the neighbourhood WhatsApp group. That inspired me to carry on, and I just haven’t stopped,” he said

ALSO READ: Hillcrest muso beats back lockdown blues

Takudzwa has been messing around with instruments from the age of seven and grew up playing the piano in church. He also learnt how to play the guitar, the harmonica, marimba and explored the violin before finally settling on the sax, which he has been playing for two years now.

Westville’s favourite saxophonist is grateful for the support he receives from his neighbours. “My neighbours have been amazing with positive responses.

A few times I’ve had neighbours drive up to the gate at 7pm and flash their lights after each song. I’ve had a neighbour make a donation and there’s a mysterious neighbour who blows his vuvuzela after each and every song without fail. I hope to meet him or her after lockdown. I can hear screams and cheering from a distance and always, a string of compliments come through on the group chat after each session,” he said.

https://www.facebook.com/takudzwa.muchineripi.9/posts/230779198033917

Takudzwa has also received some requests from his neighbours. “I’ve done the birthday song a few times and a couple recently requested a song special to celebrate their 25 years of marriage. They sent me a video of them dancing to that performance. That was magical.

“All these requests are special, but I have to say more about the first request. It was on day one, if I’m not mistaken, from a seven-year-old girl. She asked me to play I can’t help falling in love with you by Elvis Presley again. Her dad sent me a video afterwards and she was thanking me for ‘playing her favourite song.’ A priceless moment. So worth it,” said Takudzwa.

The muso recognised day 16 as the best performance he’s had so far,“For me it was just phenomenal. I had never heard the song the couple requested me to play and it is such a beautiful song (I finally found it by Barbara Streisand and Bryan Adams). I spent the day working on it and when their dancing video came through, I could see in them the love I felt while playing. It’s moments like that I can’t trade for anything. To think that they were dancing the exact moment I was playing, feeling what I felt and all this during lockdown… just blew me away,” he said.

Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting

Dear reader,
As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.
Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).

Do you want to receive alerts regarding this and other Highway community news via Telegram? Send us a Telegram message (not an SMS) with your name and surname (ONLY) to 060 532 5409.

You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Telegram number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts.

Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple