My Mother Named Me Zanymede: Part 1

This is a brief introduction to a brief story of my life that I wrote for MySpace at at the tender age of 18 year’s old, grammar and spelling mistakes included…Its a four-part series that I’ve written two parts to it already, let me know what you think and I’ll publish the rest if there’s interest!

“It just so happens that I got this little idea to write a couple of notes about my crazy life from my friends and god-parents so I thought Id give it a try on MySpace and see what you think. Contrary to what you may think, this is all true.

My mother named me Raiven Zanymede Hansmann…actually she named me Raiven Dracson Zanymede Maximillian Hansmann but thats unofficial i.e its not on my birthday cirtificate, and im thankful that she called me that as opposed to what she was originally going to call me, Ozone. Hrm. Ive lived an extraordinary life so far and to be frank, not Robert or John, I enjoy it a fucking lot.

I guess that you can kinda decipher what type of person my mother is just by looking at my name. Anthea (Ishtar) Stylianou is mother to myself and my sister Yeshe Inxibelle Ishtar. Her occupation is very interesting. After leading careers in fashion design, modelling and millinery she’s settled onto something that she enjoys thoroughly, walking around on stilts as a giant fairy. For those of you who were at Earth Dance a couple of weeks ago you may be familiar with her antics as the women who was walking around on all fours with stilts and as high as a kite on mushrooms or acid. Take your pick. I had no idea that my mother had become a “performing artist” until, one year, i went to the Long Street Festival. I was walking through all the fanfare when my friends and I noticed a lady on stage. She was wearing a metal g-string and tight stockings and boots etc. She was grinding an angle-grinder against her metal g-string. My friends laughed and pointed, i stared…it was my mother. I havent been the same since. Anyway, she lives in a run-down mental institut in Pinelands called Oude Moulen. Frequently she gets the lightbulbs stolen from her carlights by drug addicts so that they can smoke tic. Needless to say i can be seen driving around often in a run-down ,midnight blue Opel Kadett without lights. Its dangerous!

The first couple of years living with my mother were quite crazy. having had me at the tender age of 17 wasnt a good idea. Ive never really had the true story about my father and mothers relationship but from I can decipher my mother was a band groupie who slept with my Goth father who was the bass player in the huge 80’s goth band No Friends of Harry. From there my mother lost the rtust of her parents, had to drop out of school and finance herself. SOoo, we moved into warehouse somewhere in long street. From there on the house was frequented by punks and goths and many people you wouldnt normally associate with on a night out. My hair was cut into a mo-hawk and died pink. My mother also thought that independence was a good thing to instill into a child so she let me walk around town and the waterfront by myself at age four. A normal day consisted of stealing/asking my hungover mother for R5 so i could walk to the Pick n Pay in Gardens and get a packet of Bakers Lemony Creams biscuits. Then i would go back home, get fetched by my gran on her way to work at the waterfront. there I would ask strangers for money and buy ice-creams. I have a vague memory of exploring the docks with a friend imade there. For some reason i can also remember a conversation where we were talking about the monster clown “IT” and how freaky he was. haha. From there i would make it home to Long Street at about 6. My mom and i generally would then go to the Spur, order some drinks, take some food from the Salad Valley and then leave without paying. Luckily my mom had many interesting boyfriends who took an interest in me. I can clearly remember two.

First of all there was Jamie. I dont know what he did, all i know was that he gave me my first taste of alcohol and taught me to read and do maths. Living in a wearhouse with nothing but a bunk bed and some kitchen utensils often bored me and when I wasnt walking around town i would be reading or asking my mom to write out some simple maths equations for me to do. I sort of cultivated a love for reading magazines that my mother often left around and to this day still love to browse magazine and look at all the exciting pictures. Jamie also had a motorbike and he would take me for rides through and town and occasionally on the highway which was a real treat.haha. He was the first thing to a father figure i can ever recall having and I really liked him. Needless to say i was disappointed when my mother called 2 years ago and told me that he had hung himself. The next guy was a twit, Raphael. At this stage we were living in JoBurg and Raphael was a crook. It was pleasant having a TV, washing machine and cool TV games in the house, unfortunately all of it was stolen. He didnt like me at all and would often abuse me by hitting and other disgusting things. Luckily my mom had taught me to swear and I can remember shouting “FUCK OFF YOU CUNT!” to him as my mom kicked him out of the house. that was probably my first moment of triumph!haha.

All else that I can remember from my early childhood was some of my moms friends and the parties that they had. these would often be crazy trance-like parties on farms in the middle of nowhere. I grew up thinking that adults were just as weird as children, but I reliazed later that it was the drugs that made them like that. It entertained me to watch them dance and sing around bonfires until the early hours of the morning. I think it was then that I first cultivated my love for music and the euphoria that it brings about in people. I remember sitting and observing these people for a while before joining with singing or playing djembe drums. haha, i remember showing off my drumming talents to my first crush Tuani. I suppose she found it quite impressive because as far as i can recall she was my first kiss! haha. My mom also used to love to watch me join with all the activities and, bless her soul, she would boast to her friends about how clever and talented i was.

After a couple of years of a nomadic existence travelling between Cape Town and JoBurg my mom fell in love with a Greek guy called Sasha. they got married and had a daughter, my beautiful sister Yeshe. I was 8 years-old at the time and was in Grade 2 and Melpark Primary School in Melville. We were living in a commune right next to the SABC buildings and i had to walk through them to get to school every morning. I clearly remember walking past the 5fm studio one morning and watching Alex Jay, who at the time was the morning show DJ. He saw me and gestured for me to come and say hi. I did and he even asked me for a song request on live air. I asked for the kwaito version of “The Final Countdown” by TKZee. Needless to say, years later I met him at an art auction at SACS Junior School where his son attended and he even remembered me!haha. Anyways, the marriage to Sasha didnt last very long and my mother wasnt coping with moving around Joburg all the time and sending me to different schools. All in all i attended 7 different school from Grade 1-3! She decided then that i should go and stay with grandmother in Cape Town. That decision probably changed my life forever…”