Dave Matthews was born on this date in 1967 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The 56-year-old co-founder of the Dave Matthews Band would spend his formative years in South Africa, after having moved to the United States and England at a young age, he returned to Johannesburg as an adolescent and remained through high school graduation in 1985.
“I was [born in South Africa], I went back and forth between the States,” Matthews told NPR in an interview from 2004. “My family’s from South Africa, so I have an attachment to Southern Africa.”
Following high school, Matthews landed in the U.S., eventually living with his mother in Charlottesville, Virginia where in 1991 he established the Dave Matthews Band. His namesake group went on to become a global success behind hit singles, chart-topping albums and non-stop touring, straddling the worlds of the early jam band scene and the popular mainstream.
As part of the early jam scene, DMB frequently crossed paths with their contemporaries from Vermont, Phish. Throughout the 1990s, Phish and Dave Matthews Band regularly performed together, forging a lasting friendship among the musicians in the two groups.
In May 2004 (weeks before Phish announced what became a five-year hiatus), VH1 premiered an episode of its Inside Out series that documented a trip Dave Matthews took with Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio to Senegal, Africa earlier that year. Prompting the journey was an invitation from Orchestra Baobab to attend what was at that time, the legendary Senegalese group’s first show in 15 years.
“Obviously there’s more of a connection to Africa than I if I hadn’t been there,” Matthews explained to NPR. “But it was a very unique experience for me to go to West Africa cause I hadn’t ever spent any time there.”
Matthews and Anastasio flew to Dakar shortly after performing a Dave Matthews & Friends concert in Oakland, California on January 16, 2004. According to the (Inside)Out: Trey And Dave Go To Africa synopsis, here are the highlights of Matthews and Anastasio’s adventure in West Africa:
- Dave and Trey backstage during that last night of the Dave Matthews and Friends concert in Oakland
- Dave and Trey on the plane in route to Dakar, Senegal
- Dave and Trey’s much awaited arrival and the Dakar International Airport, greeted by Orchestra Baobab
- Trey and Dave attend a Senegalese soccer game, Senegal vs. South Africa
- Welcome dinner with Dave Trey and Orchestra Baobab, followed by an impromptu jam session
- A visit to Goree Island, a former slave island off the coast of Dakar
- Dave, Trey and Orchestra Baobab perform an acoustic version of “So Damn Lucky,” for the Goree Island locals and visitors
- Dave and Trey tour Dakar on a colorful city bus with local hip hop group Positive Black Soul
- Dave and Trey visit a family of drummers and watch an impromptu performance in their backyard
- Concert rehearsal with Dave, Trey and Orchestra Baobab — Dave and Trey learn three of the band’s songs … Later, Trey teaches Orchestra Baobab Phish’s “Bouncing Around the Room,” originally a West-African inspired song
- Pre-show excitement backstage, followed by the concert at the Yengoulene Club in Dakar, Senegal
“In many ways, Africa seems the source of much of the music that we listen to today, either directly through the last 400 years of 500 years, that have connected Africa – brutally most often,” Matthews told NPR. “There’s a very direct effect that Africa’s had on the music of the world.”
In recognition of Dave Matthews’ birthday today, revisit his and Trey Anastasio’s visit with Orchestra Baobab and more from their trip to Senegal, Africa below:
