Heritage means different things to different people. The following is what some South African celebrities shared with us about their precious heirlooms:
Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp enjoys a busy life in Cape Town and Gauteng, presenting Work Zone on Jacaranda FM daily, from 9am until noon in Gauteng, Centurion and Midrand. She is also the owner and host of parenting initiative Baby Brunch, which holds an annual event and produces the only national parenting podcast.
“I’m lucky that things I have been given are from people who are still alive,” she says. “I have a piano my dad bought many years ago for my sister, Helga (she went to live in London about 20 years ago). It is the instrument on which I learned to play as a child.”
Afrika-Bredenkamp has subsequently bought two more pianos - another upright and an electronic baby grand which is in her Cape Town home.
“My accordion was also dad’s. He can no longer play because of a sore back, but he taught me,” she says.
Afrika-Bredenkamp has a collection of instruments, including another accordion from husband Ian’s Oom Ben, a key-tar (“not a guitar, a key-tar”), a guitar and a beautiful Italian accordion.
“I also have a concertina my husband bought me as a birthday gift.”
With two young daughters, Afrika-Bredenkamp will pass on her love for music to her family.
“I love teaching my children. It makes the house jolly when you make music,” she says.
Cape Town City Ballet's leading ballerina, Laura Bösenberg, is preparing for Cinderella at Artscape Opera House (October 5-21) and Swingtime in December.
Cape Town City Ballet's lead ballerina Laura Bösenberg with a silver mustard pot that dates back to 1899. The pot was given to Bösenberg by an aunt. Picture: Allison Foat
She has a silver mustard pot with great history.
“It originally belonged to Albert Victor Lindbergh, founder of CNA, and dates to 1899. It is stamped with the crown seal of Elkington & Co,” says Bösenberg.
“I also have a beautiful antique tile from the panelling around my grandmother’s Edwardian fireplace.”
Picture: Allison Foat
The pot has been handed down through generations and was a gift to Bösenberg from an aunt who married into the Lindbergh family. The tile is a warm reminder of the family get-togethers Bösenberg enjoyed as a child.
“To me, heritage is meaningful memory, having a treasured possession that reflects huge personal significance, nostalgia and sentimentality,” she says.
*Next week Proverb and Nipho Mkhize tell us about their treasured heirlooms.