Kalahari Surfers

Emotional Rescue presents a compilation of the output of the ground-breaking South African composer, producer, multi-media artist and sound designer, Warrick Sony and his project Kalahari Surfers.

Born Warrick Swinney, in Port Elizabeth, 1958, he grew up in Durban and showed an early interest in music, playing in school-based bands, covering songs by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and The Who. As his influences progressed to Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart, Warrick developed an interest in Indian culture, from which he studied tabla at the Hindu Surat School.

Conscripted into the South African Defense Force, he declared himself a Hindu pacifist and was assigned to medical duties and band work. Before leaving the army, his father returned from a trip to Europe with the early punk albums of the Sex Pistols and The Clash.

Influenced by the shifting music landscape and his own political views, he first changed his name to Warrick Sony to avoid issues with the authorities, before starting the Kalahari Surfers as a fictional group to serve as an outlet for his music ideas. Being the only permanent member, bringing in other musicians as and when needed, he adopted the band name to create a layer of protection from the state.

The Surfers music acted as the first radical white anti-apartheid pop in South Africa. Inspired by punk’s do-it-yourself ethos, the 1982 debut was a cassette packaged in a silver spray painted box, recorded on a 4 track portastudio. A daring mix of found sounds, from jive rhythms to jazz, tabla, political speeches, and other samples.