Remembering Kippies

We used to visit Kippies in the 80s and 90s. The other night when we went to the theatre there he was still sitting outside, remember the past, although the music had died.

Kippies jazz club was established in 1987, named after "the sad man of jazz" Kippie Moeketsi. He was so called because he always had an expression of misery on his face. Moeketsi began his musical career playing the clarinet but soon switched to the saxophone. He became one of South Africa's most famous and best loved jazz musicians.

He played with many jazz greats such as Abdullah Ibrahim, Jonas Gwangwa and Hugh Masekela, among others, yet he died destitute in 1983, at the age of 58, after many years of alcohol abuse. Kippies was closed down in 2005 after the building was found to have major structural flaws.

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