Gino Fabbri takes his new sound on the road for Heritage Month

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS - After two decades of performing comedy and building a loyal following around his characters and rock-inspired drumming, 56-year-old Gino Fabbri is changing direction.

The Eastern Cape entertainer is taking his new sound on the road this Heritage Month, with a series of pop-up concerts at SPAR supermarkets across the Sunshine Coast, Karoo and Garden Route.

For Fabbri, the tour is about more than entertainment. It is an opportunity to connect with a broader audience while using music and humour to promote unity and happiness in communities.

“I’ve done comedy for 20 years and, at my age, you want to find all the right elements,” he says.

“For me that is about making others happy, my love of drumming and bringing people together.”

From rock classics to Afro-house

Fabbri’s drum performances have traditionally drawn heavily on rock music, with tributes to artists such as Toto and Phil Collins proving popular with his largely white audience.

His approach began changing about a year ago, after he finally embraced TikTok despite initially dismissing the platform as “a bit silly”.

One of the resulting videos featured Fabbri’s familiar Afrikaans “speed cop” character, complete with short shorts and long socks, performing a drum solo built around kwaito, Gqom, amapiano, deep house and Afro-house.

The unlikely combination struck a chord online.

The video attracted strong engagement from black audiences who had grown up with the genres, while several of his other videos also gained significant traction. Together, the videos have accumulated more than eight million views.

“I’m getting thousands of beautiful comments like, ‘Give this guy two hectares [of farmland].’ It’s classic,” he says.

“It’s been such a good thing for me. All of a sudden, I feel like I’m doing something relevant.

“It’s pointless me writing the same characters for the same audience. I need to change tack and refresh myself.”

A family collaboration

Fabbri’s son, Celso, a successful house-music producer and DJ, helped his father put together a list of 20 standout tracks across the different genres for his new drum solo.

The success of the performances prompted Fabbri to approach SPAR about taking the concept into communities through a Heritage Month tour.

The retailer has worked with Fabbri on numerous projects over the years and says the initiative aligns with its community focus.

“Our stores are at the heart of their communities and Heritage Month gives us the opportunity to celebrate the people, traditions and local stories that make the province and Garden Route so special,” says Dean de Koning, SPAR’s divisional advertising and promotions manager.

“He has a genuine ability to bring people together through music, humour and shared experiences,” De Koning says.

Taking the show into the community

Fabbri’s tour will travel from Port Alfred through the Eastern Cape hinterland and on to the Garden Route, with performances taking place at selected SPAR stores.

The format combines comedy, emceeing, giveaways and lucky draws, building towards Fabbri’s Evolution of Afro-house drum solo.

For Fabbri, the choice of supermarket venues is deliberate.

“A store is a strange place to have a concert, but it’s in the community. I want to be there right in the middle of it.”

He believes there is a need for more unity and happiness in his home province and hopes the tour can contribute in a small way.

“Heritage should be about bringing people together,” he says. “As a white guy I have never heard a black guy talk to me about the ‘Rainbow nation’, but now I’m getting that all the time.”

He points to the 2010 FIFA World Cup as an example of how shared experiences can bring South Africans together.

“It’s about putting your soul out there. That’s what you’ve got to do,” he says.