It was a sultry February evening in Riebeeck-Kasteel, a little town, not far from Malmesbury. All the guests of the Royal Hotel were sitting on the stoep overlooking the town, sipping beer whilst listening to the last accordion sounds echoing down the street.
I had two weeks before my next project and my brother invited me over to look after his house while he was on holiday. Playing accordion for the neighbouring town seemed so natural and soon I made a lot of new friends.
A stocky, young guy came over and told me that they (Red Pepper Films) were busy making a film of the Riebeeck valley for the American market. His assistant, blond and pretty, soon joined us. ‘You know, my grandmother had one of these’, he said, pointing at the Scandalli standing on the counter. Soon I had to explain the basic working of the accordion, particularly the bass.
How do you explain the working of an accordion bass to someone with no knowledge of music, except that he has seen an accordion before? However, I was quite hot and the beer he offered made the lecture easy. After the second beer the order came: ‘Let’s take the accordion through the streets and film some more, you do not mind, do you?’
Funnily enough, this sounded like a challenge and soon I was walking in the twilight in the main street, like the pied piper, blasting some French tune. Peter was next to me with this enormous camera on his shoulder, followed by Sonja with a battery pack on her back and a huge portable light aimed at the street before us.
‘Let’s turn left here and see what is going on at Taverna’, I said. Soon we were on the stoep of the Taverna, that was owned by Lizzie and Hilton at that stage. Three German speaking guests, two men and a woman, were trying to eat supper when their table became illuminated, music surrounded them and a camera lens focused on what was on the plates. Those must have been difficult moments for them, still trying to enjoy their meal with all this media attention with the last notes of ‘Domino’ hanging in the air.
‘Oh Eric, what wonderful shots!’, Peter said. ‘Let’s have a meal here.’
Needless to say, the ice was broken. The accordion music lasted till deep into the night. I really enjoyed the company of the friendly town-folk, the ‘Red Peppers’ and the German guests.
Little did I know that the German tour guide, Anja was later to become my wife!