Omega Limited were formed in Cape Town in 1966. Heavily influenced by Psychedelia and the Hendrix-sound, they won the “Battle Of The Bands” in 1967 and 1968! ‘Tchaikovsky 1’ reached #3 on the Springbok Hit Parade in May 1970.
Tchaikovsky 1 (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, arranged by Omega Limited) / The Boy And The Bee (A. Curtis)1, Polydor PS 37, March 1970 produced by Billy Forrest
Grieg 1 (Edvard Grieg, arranged by Omega Limited)2 / Black Night (Blackmore, Gillan, Glover, Lord, Paice)3, Polydor PS 121, November 1970 produced by Billy Forrest
If I Were A Carpenter (Tim Hardin) / Mother Loves Her Son (Louis Greeff, Barry Irwin), Jo’Burg TJS 13, 1974 arranged and produced by Julian Laxton
Taking It Easy (Omega Limited) / I Love My Life (Omega Limited), Epic EN 1603, 1977 A Spaced Out Sound production (Tully McCully)
Dave Gommersall: guitar later in Sudan (the band, not the country)
Omega Limited 1974: Barry Irwin / Derek Gordon / Louis Greeff (at the back) / Mike Brand | credit: Southern African Music Archive
Comments
I remember seeing Omega Limited playing live at the Clifton Hotel in the late 70s… great stuff.
Brian Currin, June 2000
Tchaikovsky One: Classical Music Meets the Pop Charts
“Tchaikovsky One” is a striking example of classical music reimagined for the pop era, based on the iconic opening theme of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. During the 1960s and 1970s, several groups adapted this dramatic melody into radio-friendly instrumental singles — a trend that proved surprisingly successful on the charts.
British group, The Second City Sound made an early splash with their rendition, reaching #22 on the UK Singles Chart and #8 on the Springbok Radio Charts in 1966. Their version transformed the piece with thundering piano passages, layered vocal harmonies reminiscent of Ray Conniff and James Last’s orchestral pop style, and a sophisticated mod-influenced arrangement that seamlessly wove classical grandeur into the vibrant sound of 1960s popular music.
A few years later, the piece experienced a revival in South Africa. In 1970, Omega Limited released a guitar-driven adaptation of “Tchaikovsky One” (labelled “Tchaikovsky – 1” on the single), which struck a powerful chord with South African listeners and became a local sensation. It climbed to #3 on both the Springbok Radio and LM Radio charts, becoming one of the most memorable South African instrumental hits of the decade.
Though each version had its own stylistic flair, the enduring appeal lay in Tchaikovsky’s powerful melody — reinterpreted to fit the sounds of the time. “Tchaikovsky One” remains a fascinating cultural crossover where classical music not only entered the mainstream but thrived in it.
Brian Currin, July 2025
The Boy And The Bee
The b-side of the ‘Tchaikovsky One’ single featured this cover of a Gun track. Louis Greeff’s guitar buzzes and zooms dramatically on this psyched-out version of Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Flight Of The Bumble-Bee’.
This page was originally created by Tertius Louw in October 2001, updated by Brian Currin in July 2025 and January 2026.
Footnotes
British band Gun first recorded this in 1968. The full title is “The Sad Saga of the Boy and the Bee,” written by A. Curtis (Adrian Gurvitz). It ends with a section from Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee”. ↩︎
A pop-rock arrangement based on the classical composition Piano Concerto in A Minor by Edvard Grieg ↩︎
“Tchaikovsky 1” is listed simply as “Tchaikovsky” (omitting the “1” or “One”). This track only appears on the South African pressing, other territories replace it with “Brontosaurus” by The Move ↩︎
B-side unknown for the South African pressing. Discogs lists it as being a single-sided disc, though this is unlikely. The b-side was most probably “In A Mist”. ↩︎
The year of release is probably sometime in the mid-to-late 60s based on the catalogue numbers of other releases on the Cape Town-based Meteor label. ↩︎
