King of kwai-jazz Don Laka is celebrating 50 years in the music industry. It is an astonishing feat taking into consideration that the music artiste is just 64 years old. It does not come as a shock for someone who started playing with guitar at the age of eight.
Born Donald Laka in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, the music guru plans to celebrate his golden era with a tour around the country to thank his fans for their love and support.
Last week he released a single titled Playing my Piano digitally. Three weeks ago, he had a special concert at Leano in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, to celebrate this milestone.
As he cast back on his successful music career, Laka says he has no knowledge that it has been 50 years already until a conversation with his childhood friend brought it up.
“I only remembered then. We were reminiscing about the good old days.
“It was only then that it dawned on me that I have been long in this industry. But I don’t feel that. I was not counting but one thing I knew is that I was going to be a musician until I die.
“It is an incredible and unbelievable feeling.
A lot of people my age start slowing down in composing music. But I release an album every year and sometimes two in one year.”
The untold truth about his longevity and bringing out hits is his love for reading and research.
“I’m always reading and curious to know new things. I guess what works for me is that I started in the industry at a very young age and matured over time. I am the kind of person who is always looking to reinvent himself.
“As I grow older, I’m going deep in terms of my music. I have been composing classical music. The plan is to have the music recognized and played internationally.
“I am very lucky that the research that I do all ends up contributing to my creativity. The doors of creativity are open and not shutting down anytime soon. It was my curiosity about African history that led me to release the album “Pyramid”.
After years of searching and working with different groups, Don Laka wanted to rebrand himself.
He brought out his first straight jazz album titled “Destiny” in 1987.
Ten years later, the album was revealed after one of the songs got featured on a TV show.
“At the time, I was writing music for TV shows and had written a jingle for Simunye Groove. This guy approached me wanting music to be featured in a new TV show.
“I played him Destiny and he liked it. He used the song in the show and Sony demanded that we release the album. Before then I had struggled to get a licensing deal.
“When I released the album, there was no straight-ahead jazz album in the South African market. It was only Afro-jazz music. After that, Bra Hugh Masekela asked me to produce his album Back to the Future. I also produced Sibongile Khumalo’s album. After that more albums came.”
Foregoing, the legendary musician brought about kwai-jazz music to take his music to another magnitude.
Don Laka’s kwai-jazz style is combined with different kinds of music, like mbaqanga, marabi, kwela, and Western music.
Revival of kwai-jazz has set free albums such as I Wanna Be Myself, Passion, Re-Birth of Kwaai Jazz, Poison, Reflections, Boogie Breakdown: South African Synth Disco, Afro Chopin, Portraits, Paradise, and Invitation.
