A new crop of musicians is stepping up from the swamp of commercial mediocrity.
The rise of the De la Rey phenomenon has thrust Afrikaans music back into the spotlight, but the discussion seems to centre on Chris Chameleon’s release of English and Afrikaans albums, Steve Hofmeyr’s ability to sell ridiculous numbers of CDs and that Boer general whose name rhymes with lei. On the fringes, a new breed of Afrikaans artists is springing up with original sounds, in an arena where the majority of English acts tend to stick to tried-and-tested commercial formulas. While Afrikaans artists such as Kobus!, Valiant Swart and Somerfaan have released inventive albums this year, bands such as Buckfever Underground, kidofdoom and Foto Na Dans are set to release eagerly anticipated albums soon.
Is this being driven by a cultural predisposition, a captive market or a strong lineage of Afrikaans musical heroes? We went in search of some answers.
Rhythm Records’ Albert du Plessis says the reason Afrikaans musicians
feel a greater freedom to experiment and create distinct sounds is
simply because musicians have a “captive market”. “English guys have to
compete against England and America,” says Du Plessis. “Afrikaans
people want to listen to music in Afrikaans.” This makes sense when you
consider how many English-speaking South African rock acts merely try
their hardest to sound like their American or British peers. Du Plessis
says the “new explosion” of Afrikaans musicians -- which was led by
Fokofpolisiekar and includes bands such as Foto Na Dans, Die Helde and
Lukraaketaar -- is at the helm of this resurgance.
Alex Fourie, trumpet and keyboard player for the upcoming new act Foto Na Dans, believes Afrikaans immediately offers an advantage in finding an original sound. “If you sing in English you are competing with the international market on an international level, and everything has been done before,” says Fourie. “But when you sing in Afrikaans it is fresh and different. The moment you sing in another language you shift the playing field. “If we were an English band, we would have been underground. There are a lot of English underground bands that are doing interesting things, but who have gone unnoticed on the public stage,” he says. The general consensus among people interviewed was that there are not many English acts pushing boundaries and most battled to name more than one or two.
Another factor in the resurgence of underground Afrikaans music is the establishment of DStv’s MK89, the first Afrikaans music channel. MK89’s head of marketing, Haddad Viljoen, says this fresh crop of Afrikaans musicians is defining itself with a new sound. “There has been a move towards more personal lyrics in young Afrikaans bands,” says Viljoen. “You no longer see people trying to write songs for a generation, the De la Rey thing started like that, it was a construct, written to be a hit.” Francois Blom, lead singer of Kobus!, believes Afrikaans youth feel more free than anybody else in South Africa and that this is reflected in their music. Blom says the hand on the heart and brandy glass in the air, was their parents’ trip, the De la Ray trip. “It is only the older people [who are] looking for identity,” he says.
Former Battery 9 member and the brains behind Somerfaan, At Nel, says English-speaking South Africans do not have as many cultural heroes. Ryk Benade, guitarist for Afrikaans post-rock outfit kidofdoom, agrees. “Personally, I do not think that the South African English-speaking youth have as many cultural heroes as the Afrikaans youth. “When you think of people like Johannes Kerkorrel, David Kramer, Gert Vlok Nel, the list goes on, you end up with a catalogue of Afrikaans volk heroes that broke down the doors of conservative crap.” Benade says the fact that the band is instrumental has worked in their favour because they play to Afrikaans and English audiences. “As far as kidofdoom is concerned, we do not consider the language thing too much; in fact, not at all,” says Benade.
For Foto Na Dans, it was never an option to perform in English. Fourie says the drummer’s name is Dirkie Uys -- a famous hero/spy in the Anglo Boer War -- and they are deeply connected to their roots. “We are Afrikaans, we think in Afrikaans, talk and converse in Afrikaans and dream in Afrikaans. Why would we want to sing in English?” While several artists, such as Fokofpolisiekar, have expressed that the Voëlvry movement influenced some of their music, Fourie says Foto Na Dans were too young to really remember the buzz around that music. Local music scene documenter, Liam Lynch says a lot of current bands’ inspiration goes back to the Voëlvry movement. “They needed people like Johannes Kerkorrel and Koos Kombuis,” says Lynch. Nel insists that Afrikaners have always been creative, pointing out numerous prolific film and literary greats over the years. “We’ve always had a couple of people doing well and becoming world famous,” says Nel. “Afrikaans musicians are not complacent, they always want to grow and expand,” says Nel. “We are a very inventive, rowdy crowd.”