[2] Because of his uncompromising attitude towards the music industry he became an iconic figure in his native South Africa, and also around the world, albeit in relatively small circles.

He was involved in a host of musical ventures that included Harry was a Snake, an experimental acoustic outfit, Curry and Rice with guitarist Steve Newman, the seven-piece jazz outfit Equinoxe, Bafo Bafo with Zulu guitarist Madala Kunene,[7] The Aquarian Quartet with fellow aquarians Tony Cox, Steve Newman and Greg Georgiades[1] and of course his own solo career.

During this time he continued writing not only songs, but also his own uniquely personal poetry and prose that had already sold more than 3000 copies when published as an anthology titled "Scars That Shine" a few years earlier.

Their self-released 1987 album "Waiting For The Heave"[12] was Kitchen's first commercial recording aside from tracks on a few hopelessly rare ‘70s folk festival compilations.

[10] Due to lack of radio play and South Africa's strict international boycotts, "Waiting for the Heave" was a commercial failure.

[14] For a number of South African music fans, the enduring memory of Syd Kitchen will be his performances at Splashy Fen each year from 1990 to 2010.

The title itself is a parody on the many names beginning with "ama" that South African's give to their sporting teams to galvanise national support and create a feeling of racial integration.

[16] Kitchen himself said of the album title: "I have coined the name AMAKOOL (the cool) to signify the way we can go about life unconcerned with the guy in the gutter.

We can sit eating supper and watch seemingly unaffected as CNN or the BBC delivers graphic images of Rwandan "stick people" or the like into our de-sensitized lives.

[5] Richard Haslop has commented that "Africa's Not for Sissies is a trenchant, if inimitably humorous and often moving reflection on his own status as a white South African committed to living in a country that so many of his compatriots were leaving.

Syd has the red dust of Africa running through his veins and a finger firmly on the pulse of a nation going through the birth pains of being born again.

[13] In 2008 Brooklyn-based documentary filmmaker Joshua Sternlicht made a feature film on Kitchen, entitled Fool in a Bubble.

Fool in a Bubble is the story of South African folk singer and poet Syd Kitchen, "as seen through the eyes of Sternlicht.

The film detailed Kitchen's life and music, in Durban and as he travelled to perform in New York, where he also recorded with Paul Simon's Graceland band.

The album also features The Cure's Robert Smith, David Gray, Beck, Paolo Nutini and Phil Collins doing covers of Martyn's work.