I was a youngster and just starting at university when I first heard Victor Ntoni. I grew up a fairly typical lower middle class white kid. I was sheltered from much of the reality of South Africa.
1974 and a very few "non-white" students obtained permission to study at "white" universities. I was fortunate to make friends who exposed me to a different music. I had yearned for some kind of music other than the standard pop fare of the times.
As a youngster I remember being entranced by the sound of pennywhistles, which could be heard occasionally in the city around where my grandfather worked. I was awed by the sight and sounds of gang labourers singing and working in unison. Towards the end of my high school I was introduced to Cream and began my lifelong love of blues. Then at university I was exposed to jazz and "African jazz".
Victor's bass was a recurring voice in this new music I came to love and I am sure the beauthy of his playing contributed to my love for the whole gamut of African music. I think one of the key things his playing did for me was to bridge the gap between my "white" ear and the wonderfully visceral spectrum of music from the whole of Africa.
Thank you Victor. From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the many, many other lives you touched for the good.
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