Here follows the colourful history of the founder of this unique troupe of entertainers, Mr Zbigniew (Speedy) Kobak.
Born in Poland, Speedy graduated in musical performance at the University of Wroclaw in Poland. Being an accomplished musician, he has been performing for the last 25 years, starting on a cruise-ship in the Caribbean, along with fellow American musicians.
Before landing on African shores, Speedy performed in various countries in Europe, including Germany, Spain and Austria, where he accumulated invaluable knowledge of the musical cultures of those countries.
Since coming to South Africa, he has entertained a huge variety of cultures and has become sought-after by the German and Polish, as well as the Afrikaans, English and cosmopolitan society of this country. He has performed throughout the South Africa, as well as neighbouring states such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and Swaziland.
Being multi-instrumentalist, Speedy played as many as 10 different instruments as well as singing, and has performed with the SABC Orchestra, the PACT Orchestra and the Mmabatho Symphonic Orchestra.
Speedy appeared with renowned international artists such as Shirley Bassey and Natalie Cole, and with national artists such as Judy Page, Neville Nash, Bez Martin and Lucky Dube. Speedy was closely associated for 13 years with the late Gerry Bosman.
Speedy has appeared in various stage productions like Barnum, Me and My Girl, Grease, West Side Story, Annie, and so on.
Joining
the Speedy band recently are musicians Ricky Pelling and Flippie van Vuuren.
The musical variety of their repertoire covers background, classical, jazz,
dance, German Oompah, and other popular music.