Terra Ether Architects

05/05/2023

New home on Emmarentia Ridge with spectacular views

25/10/2022

New semi-detached home taking shape in Houghton...

12/10/2022

New home in Rondebosch Cape Town taking shape 👌

24/02/2022

New home at The Neighbourhood

09/12/2021

New home in Ebotse

30/08/2021

Clifftop home in Houghton

13/06/2021

The Building Blocks of Music. Memory, Time and Place:

"You Think You Know Me by Ezra Ngcukana and Friends"
Amidst the political turmoil and chaos of the late 80's, there resonated out of the townships a vibrant jazz scene whose sounds, so soothing and melodious, defied the knife-edge atmosphere of the time.

The year was 1989 and the sounds of the struggle reverberated across the country.
It was the year that I bought the new Ezra Ngcukana album and heard Ezra and his brother Duke transform a Xhosa hymn into this magnificent piece. A piece, that as I hear it now, takes me back to my 1st year at university where the iron fist of apartheid; its casspirs, sjamboks, rubber bullets and tear gas was met defiantly and courageously with clenched fists, toy-toying and protest songs.
The title of this song "You Think You Know Me" struck a personal note to me as an ode to the apartheid government who systematically wished to reduce our identities to a mere classification of our race.
I remember the anger we felt. Our country would be liberated we believed; at any cost and by any means possible.

More than 3 decades later, when I listen to this hymn, I am reminded of the journey of all the souls of that time.
We sadly lost Ezra in 2010, at the age of just 55.
But he left not without legacy and not without inspiration.
Ezra always lamented that he was a part time musician, as unlike the jazz scene in America, jazz musicians could barely make a living here in South Africa.
Speaking of the situation that African musicians faced, he said
"That's how it was in Cape Town -- nobody was a professional musician. They had two careers -- the 8 to 5 one and the evening."
If you were black, there were few opportunities to earn a living in Cape Town solely as a musician.
So Ezra and Duke pursued their studies full time and made music in their spare time.
Ezra ended up graduating with a BSC and a B Comm. Duke became a teacher and taught Math and Science and became deputy principal at the school he taught at. Further testaments to their genius.

I will always be thankful that as a student, these 2 students, the Ngcukana brothers, transported us to another world, away from the chaos and turmoil to a happier, more serene place. ❤

The Late Ezra Ngcukana with his brother Duke and other Jazz musos from Cape Town perform Ezra's jazz standard.

01/10/2020

On site and taking shape - a new home in Houghton