Powered by seamless, searing harmonies and vibrant rhythm, Durban acoustic band Kith & Kin is receiving a great deal of attention for their musical lore that tells the story of a family who just can’t contain their love for music.
They weren’t lying when family folk and country cover band Kith & Kin told me their family home in Kloof was like a train station. From the awesome foursome themselves – Courtney (Big Sista), Stephanie (last born Shrub), Jordan (black sheep brother) and Daniel (dad) – to the band’s biggest cheerleader, mom Elza, as well as granny who busts through the back door to check in on everyone, the furry family favourites chilling quietly on laps and carpets nearby and a host of friends who drop in. It’s wonderfully chaotic and a special space for The Koekemoers (and their nearest and dearest) to gather, as they often do, and reflect on their youth around dad’s grand piano, harmonising to old classics like The Animals’ House of the Rising Sun and Something by The Beatles.
Since they all live in different suburbs and lead their own lives outside of the band, it makes sense for this to be the common ground for band practice and revelling over how music has gone beyond borders to bring them together.
“We’ve all flown the nest, travelled, explored the world and career options, but somehow we’ve all been brought back to our roots in music and this place,” says Courtz, a married mum of two and a performing arts teacher who takes charge on vocals, acoustic or rhythmic guitar and the ukulele when they’re on stage as Kith & Kin.
She and Steph, an eligible farming adviser who’s on drums, percussion and band admin, originally started the band just shy of 10 years ago with only a Cajon (a box-shaped percussion instrument) and an acoustic guitar.
“Back then Courtz knew only four chords,” Steph reminds her with a chuckle. “But she won a trip to Mozambique in a karaoke competition, and things just got better from there.
Then there’s broker consultant Jordz – a recently engaged dark horse and the reason everyone picked up a guitar and started playing together. Determined to contribute to what the girls were doing, he bought a bass guitar and taught himself to play.
“Believe it or not, I suffer from severe stage fright,” admits Jordz, “but I’ve always managed to work my way around it once we’ve got going.”
Though neither of them are musically trained, they thrive on learning and upskilling themselves, and attribute their success to their self-employed medical agent dad who kills it on the bass and drum, with a little credit given to some musical influence via their bloodline – Elza’s dad could yodel and Dan’s father played the concertina in his local boereorkes.
“Dad was totally convinced he was going to be a heavy metal rock star,” the ‘kids’ chirp. “His first full salary was spent on an acoustic guitar – the same one he uses in the band today. Mom has quite the set of lungs on her and enjoys belting it out every now and then. Though for the most part she prefers to leave us to it, she plays an integral role in our lives and neither we, nor the band, would function without her.”
Their decision to more recently combine their talents into one band they called Kith and Kin – Old English for friends and family (which is exactly what the band is) and with an emphasis on the K for Koekemoer – has had them (and their audiences) jamming at local bars and restaurants like Waxy o’ Connors, Tipsy Flamingo, Kloof Country Club, Fabrica, Soul Sunday Sessions at Crusaders, Butlers Hillcrest and the Keg & Trout. They cover anything from the golden oldies to the latest contemporary tunes. Pick your genre … Mumford and Sons, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Nancy Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, The Lumineers…
“Durban North really likes us! And the pubs are our best gigs. We feed off the crowds and their energy as much as they feed off of ours,” says the band.
With their unintentional boho gypsy vibe, Kith & Kin bring fun and flavour to the people they encounter. They break barriers by handing out instruments, interacting with crowds, inviting people to sing with them and hosting music quiz evenings. And they do it for the warmth and the love they get out of it, say the family quartet. “It’s our happy place.”
When asked how they get around to gigs, every finger in the house pointed to the jalopy outside – an old VW Combi with almost half a million kilometres on it, plus a dodgy side window, and even though it has its health checks, the display dash still lights up with an airbag fault and a service reminder.
“It’s a two-seater, but becomes a four-seater when we’re on the road to a gig way out of town,” says Dan. “And there’s no radio. We are the radio. We shove a wooden box in the middle so we can all fit in, and we huddle up and sing. And I always shove a bottle of Jägermeister (our heavenly milk) in the side door in case we need it.”
This has been the case on more than one occasion, shares Dan, who takes us on a humorous and nostalgic trip down memory lane to a gig they were booked to do some time ago at Afriski Mountain Resort in Lesotho.
“We had a little engine trouble … okay a lot, and it caught alight. We were stranded among sheep and goats until help came, and we didn’t quite make it to our gig, but the people were really understanding,” says Dan.
Fortunately, say the band, the Kombi lives to drive another day and they are left with some of the best memories that they still cry with laugher over today.
“More than anything, we value the unbelievable bond that is shared among us. We might live apart, but we’re addicted to each other and if we don’t see each other for days, we have withdrawals. Music is the thing that unites us, that helps us get each other. It is the one place we can all go to, on our own but best done together, and leave our worries behind because, while we are so in the moment, we have no time for anything else.”
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IG: @kithandkin_music or contact 079 549 5184
or e-mail [email protected]
Kith & Kin’s feel-good Winter playlist
- Jackson – Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash
- Route 66 – The Rolling Stones
- Little Lion Man – Mumford & Sons
- These Boots are made for Walkin’ – Nancy Sinatra
- Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash
- Give it time – Sierra Ferrell
- Flowers in your hair – The Lumineers
- Mama’s Broken Heart – Miranda Lambert
- Billie Jean – The Civil Wars
- I’m on Fire – Bruce Springsteen
- Brand New Key – Melanie
- This is the Life – Amy Macdonald
- Follow Your Arrow – Kacey Musgraves
- Do Wrong Right – The Devil Makes Three
- Jolene – Dolly Parton
