Charles Sekano, iconic jazz maestro dies aged 81

Charles Sekano wasn’t the noisy political activist you could see in the streets. But every bit of art he touched sent a message about freedom.

His birthplace and where he grew up inspired most of that. He had witnessed the bulldozing of his home, and others, during the apartheid regime in Sophiatown, and a forceful removal to Meadowlands, Soweto, South Africa.

On Saturday, June 22, he passed away shortly after breakfast at his home in the South African capital Pretoria. He was aged 81, leaving behind an indelible mark as a pre-eminent member of the Pan-African Congress of Azania (PAC) that fought against the apartheid regime.

Born on November 18, 1943, Charles Ezekiel Molefi Sekano in Sophiatown, Sekano was only 21 when he journeyed through Botswana and Tanzania before finally reaching Kenya, where he applied for political asylum in 1967.

Exiled artists

Fondly known as Charlie in Exile, he became part of a medley of other exiled artists and freedom fighters, through art, like poet Mzee David Rubadiri, writer Okot p’Bitek of "Song of Lawino" fame, playwright-director John Ruganda, Taban Lo Liyong, and Austin Bukenya, who made the National Theatre Bar, their meeting place. Charles was mostly known for what he called the "3 P's" which were: Painting, Piano & Poetry. He was the quintessential flamboyant artist who would sit in the company of others yet be all alone, listening to different rhythms while all those around him tuned into one common station. As avant-garde as he was, He was equally content sitting all alone thinking about art.

From this nest, besides painting, Charles would frolic and make forays into the Goethe Institute and the French Cultural Center for performances on piano or saxophone. He was a fury to behold on the piano but his saxophone was both playful and, at times, melancholic. Charles’ last performance in Kenya was at the Kenya National Theatre on Saturday, July 11, 1998, before returning to South Africa.

It was in visual artistry that Charles was better known in the Kenyan art scene. He was one of a handful of artists at the late Ruth Schaffner's Gallery Watatu. His pastels on paper—mostly of women—retained an enchanting charm and were almost always bright and colourful.

Charles retained simplicity through drawing by daring to use the line at its simplest as a tool to express form and colour to convey a message against the oppression brought on by apartheid. He did not hesitate to use red and green for skin colours, nor pink or blue. Although Charly mostly depicted urban scenes, there was always a lingering rural longing for home depicted in bushes and trees therein.

In 1998, Charles Sekano returned to South Africa, four years after the first democratic election, which saw Nelson Mandela taking the presidency. He was awarded the government's special military pension for his service up until his passing in 2024.

The Goethe Institute once held a sculptural show of his coiled wire mobiles, reminiscent of his classic line drawings and calling to mind Alexander Calders mobile sculptures. The lighting didn’t quite work out. The last major exhibition in Kenya was at the Red Hill Art Gallery of Contemporary African Art in May-June 2015. It comprised works from his stay in Kenya between 1967 and 1997. Charlies' major outlet remains through his London agent, Ed Cross, who has kept his art alive on the international art market since his last exhibition in London in 2011.

Although Sekano was a major ripple in the Kenyan art scene, he turned to South Africa after 30 odd years in exile, to a South Africa that hardly knew him. Charles once told me that his name was Molefi, which is the equivalent of "Murihi," which in English translates to "The one who pays".

Sekano was once to play a minor role in David Mulwa's play "Redemption" and was a reluctant player. He was either a fine artist, a jazz musician-poet, or nothing at all, meaning he had to be the best at what his hands touched.

He crossed over peacefully, surrounded by his loving family in his home in Pretoria. Charles is survived by his wife Catherine Wangari, his two sons Vincent and Onakes, and his two daughters Christina and Zanele.

Burial arrangements are ongoing and will be announced through a family channel.