Cyndi’s summer tour

LOCAL singer, Cyndi Kritzinger, took to the road in her 1970s Volkswagen Combi to complete a summer tour after finishing her matric exams in December.

The Umbilo resident, who started performing at the age of 10, travelled with her father, Mark, to various gigs around the country, performing to unknown audiences.

“It was a great experience! I really enjoyed the trip, and was excited to sell 60 CDs along the way,” she said.

Cyndi’s singing and guitar playing was something that came naturally and from the time she performed her first paid gig at Queensmead Mall when she was just 10 year old, she has loved being on stage behind the mic. Cindi has performed for local audiences for many years at various venues and events such as the Durban International Blues Festival, the National Women’s Day Festival, the Blues Train, the Open Mic at White Mountain and the Durban Showcase.

“We decided to go on our first tour a few years ago after Cyndi bought her Combi with money she raised through her gigs. We were supposed to travel all over South Africa, but we blew the engine when we got to Jeffrey’s Bay so we had to cancel. After Cyndi finished her matric finals last year, we decided it was time to complete the tour. I spoke to some muso friends and did some research on the internet and set up some gigs which were relatively close together, as we were going in the old bus, and we didn’t want to kill the bus!” said Mark.

Mark said it took a couple of months to organise, and they booked gigs in Kokstad, East London, Cape St Francis, Port Elizabeth, Jeffrey’s Bay, Plettenberg Bay, Wilderness, Oudtshoorn, Mossel Bay, Stilbaai, Hermanus, Cape Town, Montegu, Beaufort West, Kimberley, Bloemfontein and Harrismith. “It was a lot of fun, we did 23 gigs over 25 days, in 17 cities and towns, a total of 6000km in the old 1970s combi! We had a blast, it was absolutely incredible,” said Mark.

Cyndi not only performed, but enjoyed doing ‘holiday things’ like visiting the Cango Caves, riding an ostrich,shark cage diving and playing putt-putt.

She was also given VIP tickets to a Goodluck concert in Plettenberg Bay, where she got to have dinner with the band. Another highlight of the trip was having Jack Parrow attend one of her gigs. He gave her a cap and a T-shirt and posed for photos with her next to her Combi afterwards.

“I really can’t pick a favourite gig from the tour, but I really enjoyed performing in Cape St Francis and my best gig was in Wilderness. It was small and intimate and I got a good reception. It was so nice as the place was packed with people who were there to listen to the music,” she said.

She said she was excited that three hours after getting back from her tour she got a call from Balcony TV, an internet show, who invited her to perform at the next live performance in Johannesburg at the beginning of February.

Although Cyndi is leaving on Friday to go study Zoology at Tuks University, she said she will still continue to perform and pay her way by giving guitar lessons.

“I have to look after myself now, with my parents both living in Umbilo, but I will definitely keep on playing music!” she said.

Do you want to receive news alerts via WhatsApp? Send us a WhatsApp message (not an sms) with your name and surname to 060 532 5535.

You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.