Kanzi

Kanzi.
Credit: Ape Initiative

I was very upset to learn of the death of Kanzi, the Bonobo ape last week.

One of the most remarkable experiences of my life was making music with Kanzi and Panbanisha, two extraordinary Bonobo apes. They had grown up with Sue Savage-Rumbaugh in the Language Research Center in Georgia State in Atlanta and shown amazing ability in communicating with lexigrams that Sue and her partner Duane had created. It was also clear that they had a good understanding of English.

I had made a cold–call to Sue who, in her inimitable way, was very open to new ideas and invited me to come and experiment playing music with the bonobos. We asked them both, Kanzi and Panbanisha, one after the other, to sit down at a keyboard and improvise music with me and later my band. There were no rewards and it was as much an exploration for them as it was for me. 

It took time to build trust and to convince them that they could make any musical choices they wanted and that they would be properly listened to. I was totally blown away at the results, and all the musicality and intelligence shown. It was almost as if I had travelled through time and was having a casual dialogue with my hominid ancestors.

The relationship Sue, and the others there, had with Kanzi and his half–sister Panbanisha was also inspiring, as if they were part of the family – there was certainly no sense of ‘lesser beings’.

Kanzi led the way in showing humanity; how much non-human intelligence we have been blind to.

 He excelled in so many areas. He had a book written about him ‘Ape of Genius’ and there is now a documentary being made about Kanzi and these remarkable beings. He could be kind and gentle and, at other times, loud and mischievous, but always you felt his presence – you knew when Kanzi was around. So sad we have lost him.

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