Billy Monama is ready to rock racecourse

There is sensational horseracing taking place at Turffontein Racecourse on Saturday and it will be supported by the Joburg Seafood & Jazz Racing Festival, with the Billy Monama Quartet, the Sisonke Xonti Quartet and the Romy Brauteseth Trio set to rock the crowd.

Monama is one the country’s foremost guitarists and he has sent a message to all jazz fans: “People must expect fire. This is the first time in a long while I will be performing with a quartet. It is the first time this year I’ll be performing with a full band and it’s going to be special.”

Monama has appeared at venues all over the country, but this will be his first gig at a racecourse.

“Right now my energy is focusing on the racecourse. We are preparing everything that is going to happen on the stage, our repertoire and how I’m going to take the audience through the journey until I play the last song.

“Live performances are different to listening to music off a CD. It’s a far more exhilarating experience.”

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Monama started playing the guitar in 1997. “I was always surrounded by music. In my neighbourhood people would play music all night long.

“At church, in particular, I was exposed to music. We had a whole group of musicians in the church and if you made a mistake, nobody would judge you.”

In the early 2000s, there were a number of young South African guitarists coming through the ranks. Monama would watch them on television and knew that is what he wanted to do.

“I went to Soweto, saw live music and started to experience the music scene. Soweto had so many musicians who were living close to one another. I met people like Themba Mokoena and other giants of the local music industry.”

Within a few years, Monama had been accepted into the group, not only as a musician but also as a composer. One of his early compositions was Soweto Highway.

Monama is a champion and promoter of African music. “I was taught by people who were themselves self-taught.

“It was only when I went to study music that I heard of Bach and Beethoven, but I kept asking where are the African players and why are they not on the curriculum?”

So passionate is he that he is about to publish his first book, Introduction To SA Guitar Styles Volume 1.

Everything he does is embroiled in jazz and all this will come to the fore at Turffontein on Saturday.