Schadeberg was born in Berlin and emigrated to South Africa in 1950. He was an apprentice at the German Press Agency in Hamburg and assistant to a photojournalist. He lives and works in France, Germany and South Africa.

He photographed The Midnight Kids, during one of his many visits to Sophiatown in 1954. “Sophiatown in the fifties was alive with jazz and blues. The young generation of musicians and singers used music as a form of defiance against the apartheid system and often adopted an American style which transformed into township jazz.”

Piano Fingers was taken independently at a rehearsal studio in Johannesburg. “I often went out to take pictures for myself since I had a great interest in the black music of the fifties which tended to be ignored – partly because it was illegal for black musicians to play to white audiences. I wanted to capture the spirit, vigor and energy of these musicians whose great talents were sadly not able to be appreciated by the wider public.”

       

| Click to view the artwork |