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Ameen Levy,
better known as Rappin’ Donkey, is a
celebrated entertainer and popular son of
the Boland.
Ameen was born to a Christian mother and a
Moslem father on a farm in Paarl in 1953.
He was raised by his grandmother in the
Christian religion.
Ameen’s music career started in 1970 when he
played in the band Ohms and later he
became the founder member of the Paarl-based
band, Fireball. After a while he left
them and formed the band, Red Circle.
He soon realized that that was not for him
and he started a mobile disco called Rock
Solid. This was the start of his
career as a DJ. In 1979, while working as a
DJ at the Drakenstein Hotel in Paarl
he was invited to enter the first DJ
competition held at Club Galaxy in
Rylands, Athlone. From 30 DJ’s it went down
to the final four. He was crowned the
winner!
After winning the competition many doors
opened for him. He was invited to DJ at top
Johannesburg nightclub, Five to Seven.
He shared the stage with some of South
Africa’s tops DJ’s; the late Oscar Renzi,
Cockie Two Bull and Treasure
Tshabalala. Thereafter he was invited to
Port Elizabeth to play with Rashied Abass
in Club Aquarius. He also performed
with top Durban DJ, Robin Sewlal.
After a while he became homesick and went
back to the Cape. He became resident DJ at
the Lipstick Disco in Beaufort West
and stayed for almost 2 years. He performed
with many up–and-coming DJ’s of those
years. These included, Selwyn Bartlett,
Andre Pearce, James Jacobs,
Natano and Calvin Peters. He
continued his work as a DJ in popular clubs,
Fame, Thriller, Galaxy,
Tiffanys, Nine to Five
and Club Nouveau. He worked with,
and learnt a lot, from top DJ, Ely‘s
Coming in the Jolly Carb.
In 1990, in the best interests of his
family, he took a decision to leave the
nightclub world. In 1991 he started the Rappin’ Donkey
project. His first and second albums,
entitled Here Comes The Donkey
(1991) and Die Luise Byt My (1996)
were produced by Molly Barron.
He was assisted by The Rockets
singers.
In 2002 he decided to add South Africa in
front of his name and he became known as
South Africa’s Rappin’ Donkey. His 3rd
CD entitled, Space Muis was recorded
and produced by The Rockets leader, Jerry
Watt. This CD proved to be a big
success.
Rappin’ Donkey and Jerry Watt continued to
work together and in 2003 Turbo Donkey
was released, followed by Waar’s Die Wind
in 2005. Both CD’s proved to be hugely
popular.
In 2009 Rappin’ Donkey collaborated with
Worcester based artist, Ronnie Apollis
and the result is a CD called Brass
vannie Boland, Dis Party Time! This CD
was also recorded and produced by Jerry Watt.
An Afrikaans Writer, Leonard Koza has
just completed a book about Rappin Donkey’s
life and it is currently being adapted for a
musical play. It is hoped that this play
will hit the stage in 2010. Rappin’ Donkey has also appeared on the
popular Afrikaans TV Programme, Maak ‘n
Las, had his own programme on Paarl’s
community radio station, Radio KC and
is currently helping out on Franschhoek
FM. |
