24th December 2011

Sour note has a sweet ending

A Pretoria musician who last week forgot a R50 000, 85-year-old violin on the Gautrain got an early Christmas present when the prized instrument was recovered - with a little help from a friend.

Herman Steyn, a former member of famed South African act DNA Strings, was boarding a flight to Cape Town last Monday when he realised he had left his Hawkes and Son violin on the Gautrain, which he had used to get to the airport from Pretoria.

“I felt ice cold. I am a musician, so my instrument is very important to me. I thought to myself, ‘That’s the end. All my savings are going to go into a new instrument’,” said Steyn, who was on his way to attend his cousin’s wedding in Cape Town.

“I was busy phoning the Gautrain call centre when I noticed someone was actually phoning me,” explained the 28-year-old. That someone was Liezl Clayton, a friend of Steyn who teaches music at Midstream College.

“I had left her business card inside my violin’s case, so when Gautrain security personnel found it, they phoned her and she in turn contacted me,” he said.