Backed by bassist Nux Schwartz and drummer Wesley Gibbens, Syd Kitchen returned to the studio for AmaKoologiK (1999) after a four-year leave of absence. The personal songwriting of City Child (1995) had given way to a more socio-political orientation that examined South Africa's post-apartheid experience with satirical detachment. Gone were the swinging jazz rhythms that underpinned his sophomore offering as Kitchen sharpened his signature Afro-Saxon sound. Running under 30 minutes and issued as a maxi CD, AmaKooligiK was Kitchen's gateway to Africa's Not for Sissies (2001) and it's period-defining title track. As the promises of the Rainbow Nation began to collapse amidst rising crime and economic ruin, Kitchen was there to capture South Africa's millennium mood with his unique blend of painful truth and stoic humour.
