Browsing by Author "Webber, Marion"

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    Keith Blundell, on and off stage : the life of Keith Blundell, 1927-2002
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-12) Webber, Marion; Lambrechts, Lizabe; Ehlers, Anton; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This biographical study explores the life and career of Keith Blundell, with references to the South African Folk Music Association (SAFMA), and the careers of some of South Africa’s prominent English Folk Musicians, including Jeremy Taylor, Jill Kirkland, Andy Dillon, David Marks and Des Lindberg. Little academic work has been done on the English Folk Music movement in South Africa and on Keith Blundell’s contribution to this movement and his work as a musician. Keith Blundell, born in 1927, went from being a sports lover to being a performer and entertainer in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. He was one of the early proponents of original English Folk Music in South Africa, despite only learning to play the guitar when he was 30 years old. Blundell’s career highlights include opening one of the first folk clubs in South Africa, the Troubadour, with Des Lindberg in 1964. This club played an influential role in establishing and developing the folk music movement in South Africa. Relating to his role at the Troubadour, Keith Blundell played a leading role in the South African Folk Music Association (SAFMA). SAFMA, formed in 1966, was responsible for arranging events and fundraising shows for musicians and encouraging the composition of original South African folk songs through song-writing competitions. Apart from his involvement with SAFMA, Blundell organised a year-long tour with his family in 1970 and travelled all over South Africa and Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), performing folk music concerts in small churches and city halls along their route. His wife and children, Caroline, Julie, Jonny and Teper, all performed with him during this tour. In 1976, shortly after the introduction of television, the Blundell family featured in one of the first family-friendly television shows to showcase local folk music. In the 1980s, Keith Blundell shifted his focus from folk music to country music and continued performing with his wife, Pamela, until 1989, when he became paralysed in a motorcycle accident. They eventually moved to Cape Town, where they stayed until his death in 2002. This biographical study recounts the life and career of Keith Blundell and also touches on the lives of the folk musicians who performed with him and the events that formed part of the South African English Folk Music movement.