South Africa Spoon Guitar Player (2006) Hannes Coetzee

Hannes Coetzee (South Africa) Tea Spoon Slide Guitar Hannes Coetzee (born 1944) has a playing technique you rarely see. The South African guitarist holds a teaspoon in his mouth and uses it as a slide, accompanying his traditional fingerstyle playing with swooping melodies. Coetzee is from the Karoo region, and the technique he employs is known as optel and knyp, which is Afrikaans for picking up and pinching. Not surprisingly, his excellent execution of the technique has earned him a nickname: Spoonman. The 71yearold guitarist first came to prominence in 2003 with the release of David Kramers documentary Karoo Kitaar Blues, which presents the eccentric guitar styles of the Karoo, who live in remote villages and outposts of the of the semidesert areas of South Africa.