Syd Kitchen

Syd Kitchen
Syd Kitchen in Durban, South Africa
Background information
Birth name	Sydney Stanley Kitchen
Born	(1951-02-14)14 February 1951(14 February 1951 – 22 March 2011) Durban, South Africa
Died	22 March 2011(2011-03-22) (aged 60) Durban, South Africa
Genres	Folk Music, Jazz, African, World music, Celtic, Rock Music
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter, poet
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, mandolin, sitar, hosepipe flute
Years active	1968–2011
Labels	No Budget Records, Kitchen Kulture
Associated acts	Steve Newman, Tony Cox, Madala Kunene, John Martyn
Website	[1]

Sydney Stanley Kitchen (14 February 1951 – 22 March 2011), was a South African guitarist, singer-songwriter and poet. Because of his uncompromising attitude towards the music industry he became an iconic figure in his native South Africa, and also around the world, albeit in relatively small circles. Up until his death he was the only artist to perform at every single Splashy Fen festival. He was known for the socio-political messages of his lyrics, while the title of his 2001 album, Africa's Not for Sissies, became one of the most popular one-liners in South Africa. A documentary film was recently released on his life entitled "Fool in a Bubble". Kitchen's career of over 45 years as a performing musician gave him a richly varied musical background. He was involved in a host of musical ventures that included Harry was a Snake, an experimental acoustic outfit, Curry and Rice with guitarist Steve Newman, the seven-piece jazz outfit Equinoxe, Bafo Bafo with Zulu guitarist Madala Kunene, The Aquarian Quartet with fellow aquarians Tony Cox, Steve Newman and Greg Georgiades and of course his own solo career.

Syd was born in Durban, South Africa. At a young age he started singing in the local church. His parents ran a weekly Saturday night session at the local football club and one Saturday Syd sang with the local band called The Kittens. The crowd so loved his performance that every Saturday he would join the band to sing a few songs. In 1967 his band Parkinson's Law came second in the Durban Battle of the Bands.

In his teens Syd began performing with his brother Pete as "The Kitchen Brothers". His musical involvement with Pete lasted seven years during which they performed their own brand of acoustic folk music. They appeared at folk festivals around the country and were recorded as festival guests by David Marks' SAFMA label and in their own right by the SABC's World Service for external broadcast to North America, Europe, Japan and North Africa.

By the late 1970s Pete Kitchen had moved on to a career outside of music, and in 1978 Syd formed jazz-rock band Equinoxe. Then in 1979 Kitchen formed the experimental acoustic outfit "Harry was a Snake".

In 1980 Kitchen embarked on a solo career and began working on a number of musical revues which included his own "S'No Good and the Reason Why" and two successful Bob Dylan revues. During this time he continued writing not only songs, but also his own uniquely personal poetry and prose that had already sold more than 3000 copies when published as an anthology titled "Scars That Shine" a few years earlier.