No Afrikaans - Would it be a loss to the planet?

The other day jewish South Africans on It's Almost Supernatural were in a tizz about a letter.

"The letter entitled “We fought apartheid; we see no reason to celebrate it in Israel now!” angers me on so many levels, but none more so than the official endorsement of the letter by the ANC."

Commentator after commentator criticised the ANC as if the end was nigh.

"The logic is quite simple. The ANC (rightly) hates supporters of South African apartheid. If they believe that Israel is an apartheid state then they will hate Israel and its supporters. So if you are a Zionist, let it be known, the ANC officially hates you and would probably prefer it if you left South Africa. If there was no affluence in the local Jewish community, I wonder whether we would still have our place in the South African sun?"

And then I replied:

'This is not logic guys. How can you infer that they would probably prefer that you all leave?

Get a sense of perspective. Jeez. Gary goes on about the murders in Israel. There's no accurate tally but it's been suggested that more than 2000 farmers have been killed in this country since 1994.

You guys are not half as threatened as Afrikaners are and your going on as if the world has ended. If I was you I'd concentrate on defending what you have already achieved - Israel - by making some justified concessions and ignore the ANC.

At the rate things are going now your going to be a minority in your own country and you'll be screwed. Get rid of the illegal settlements for your own sake.'

My point was that Afrikaners are more at peril, because it's a language based identity. The Jews have a state and besides they have a religious based identity and not a language based one. The children of Afrikaner emigrants won't speak Afrikaans.

But a certain contributer, Blacklisted dictator commentated pointedly:

""Afrikaners "have a language based identity" which would be lost by emigrating. If that is the case, it might be better to lose your culture rather than your life?...

If speaking Afrikaans is the be all and end all of your culture/existence, then you should perhaps have a re-think about the meaning of your life. However, I have a clever solution to your dilemma..learn Dutch and emigrate to Amsterdam. It is a great city. Much better than Pretoria or Stellenbosch...

If being Afrikaans is "more than a language", what else does it include?

I supposes, it is primarily direct contact with other Afrikaners in South Africa? The question still unfortunately arises whether Afrikaners have a sustainable future in South Africa. I believe that they don't. As I have previously stated all colours and all faiths should make plans to get out."

And then the coup the grace.

"Would it be a loss to me if this planet lost the Afrikaans culture?

I think that you should put this question in context. Many many cultures are being lost annually throughout the world. It is a sad fact of life."

Indeed, would it be a loss to the world? Would it be a loss to Afrikaners? Does it matter?

I decided not to answer the Blacklisted Dictator. Instead, inspired by Andries Bezuidenhout I made a little compilation of Afrikaans songs about emigration, loss, verlange and heimwee.

Andries was queried about Afrikaans by Wits Phd student Mandisa Mbali recently. Mandisa asked him why he sings in Afrikaans, a dying language? Andries replied, "We want to give it a beautiful funeral."

Enjoy.

Afrikaner diaspora songs (best when flying or driving)


When things are going well...
Originally uploaded by j.dubb.


Playlist

Rian Malan - Trekboer (About missing Africa but being scared of it)

Gert Vlok Nel - Epitaph - (About dreaming of being as far away as possible)

Koos Kombuis - Vêr Van Die Ou Kalahari (About feeling guilty about running away)

Valliant Swart - Banneling (About being an exile)

Andries Bezuidenhout - Bus na Toronto (Remembering the struggle and wars from the safety of the North)

Gert Vlok Nel - Moenie My Hier Vergeet Nie, Dixie (The angst of being left behind in a country where whitches are still burn't)

Gazelle - Die Verlore Seun (Bright lights big city - cause there's a whole world out there - Careful, includes hidden track)

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Siener - Rian Malan's comical take the future

Talking of Music videos, here is Rian Malan's Siener video - a little sweetner for those Afro pessimists out there.

Malan's dog Tommie can see the future. Don't say you have not been warned.

It ends with the line, even if everything goes wrong for 50 years, in the end we will have a jol in Africa.

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NuL - the online superstars

NuL has recently released an video to accompany their song, Online Superstar. As with everything else NuL does, they made the video themselves, in downtown Pretoria South Africa nogal.

NuL also has an excellent website where you can download all their tracks for free through the creative commons license.

Read more about NuL on wikipedia.



And Nul is great live.

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Your an optimist and I'm Canadian

Mhambi is feeling guilty.

There are two reasons for this, but in this post I will highlight only one: Chicken run guilt.

Ver van die ou Kalahari
aan die grens se verkeerde kant
eet ons weer nou calamari
en lag oor die dalende Rand.

Sang Koos Kombuis in the 80's.

I'm not laughing. Mhambi is sitting snug in a little cute (actually quite large compared to London) wooden house, while outside the temperature is -10 and the porch is under inches of pure white powdery snow.

Yes Montreal Canada is very cold, but it is so very sorted.

After two months in South Africa where I worked on two documentaries, myself and my partner have come to Montreal for a job she could not refuse. We promise its only for a while. Really.

It's too easy to pontificate from here, when your so far removed from the reality of South Africa's riots en hel. I suppose everything acerbic or sweet that I pen is tinged, watered down by this fact. I'm not there.

Rian Malan also has a song - Trekboer - about us Saffas living in Canada. The bottom line of the song is this: We miss you.

Trekboer
(Listen to Trekboer here or buy the album Alien Inboorling here).

Liewe Marie
Hier's dit winter al weer, ennie wind ... o jinne
Ek lewe al weke betrap hier binne
Swart reën hamer teen die vensterruite
En die ys lê ses duim diep daarbuite

En jy weet ... op aande soos dié vra ek myself al weer -
Alles in ag geneem, wat die hel maak ek hier?
Weer is ellendig, dollar's amper niks werd
En SA pronk innie koerante soos 'n spogryperd

Ek lees julle het selfs misdaad bekamp
'n Paar jobs geskep en inflasie op sy kop gestamp
Is dit leuens, Marie, of issit werklik waar?
Soos jy weet ... ek twyfel oor alles in Afrika

Trekboer o mamma ek wil huis toe gaan
Ek verlang maar ek is bang
Vir Afrika, o Afrika

Saterdag het ek vir Piet Basson besoek
Daar was wors en tjops en pannekoek
En 'n klomp verlore Boere wat vriende soek
Almal het bewend langs die braai gestaan
Terwyl ons gasheer oor die swart gevaar aangaan...

Ou Piet kry e-mails van sy regse tjomme
Volgens sy bronne gaan dit nou sleg daaronder
Hy sê die Mandela-jare was net 'n wittebrood
En oor die langtermyn maak hulle al die witmense dood

Ek was lekker getrek, so ek sê, Piet, ou maat,
Jy's my vriend, maar eish, dis bog wat jy praat
Ons is net bang om te erken ons het fout gemaak
En Suid-Afrika verniet verlaat
Ja - hy't my gedonder

Trekboer o mamma ek wil huis toe gaan...

Jy weet, Marie, toe ek emigreer...
Ek het gelieg toe ek sê dat ek niks omgee
Ek dink aan jou gedurig, amper elke dag
En droom van jou in hierdie eindelose noordelike nag

Ek droom van die maanlig in Stellenbosch
Ons twee loop huis toe na 'n jol by die Dros
Daar's iets wild in jou oë, jy sê jy wil liefde maak
En ons kruip weg in die donker daar langs Dorpstraat

Ek droom van 'n strand ... moerse wit branders
Die son op my rug, jou lyf onder my hande
Ek lê op my bed, luister Madiba Bay
Strek uit my hand en daar lê jy langs my

Ag Marie...Ek wens alles kon anders wees,
Maar jy's 'n optimis, en ek's nou Kanadees
So ek wil net verneem hoe gaan dit met jou
En vra of jy ook nog vir my onthou

Die uwe,

Trekboer

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Gee die bal vir Bryan Habana

Mhambi is way too negative. Mbeki said such nice things yesterday, and everybody was so happy. Maybe a victory by the Boks can make the country a better place. Perhaps there's hope for our blighted rainbow nation.

So - in this change of mood - lets discuss Springbok tactics. It's simple and effective, like most good strategies.



Gee die Bal vir Bryan
Held van Suid-Afrika
Held van Pretoria
Bryan Ha-ba-na-na Bryan Ha-ba-na-na

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I'm a prisoner in my own country

South Africa's biggest Reggae Star has been killed in a botched car-hijacking. His former keyboarder Eugene Mthethwa wrote in todays Guardian. Lucky Dube's first album Rastas never die was banned in South Africa.

Lucky was one of the artists that this country did not honour accordingly, but buried him while he was still alive. He was more appreciated outside South Africa than in his own country. During apartheid, when he was singing against the system, he got much media coverage and love from the South African people, including the state itself, but post-1994 when we achieved the freedom he was fighting for, he never got the love he deserved, even from our state.

I am reminded of an incident when I was still his keyboard player and we were invited to perform in the then South West Africa, now known as Namibia. The booking never indicated that we would be performing at a military camp for the South African Defence Force. We only realised this when we arrived for the actual performance and saw white men in army uniforms.

We knew that we were trapped in a situation that might kill Lucky Dube's career due to the political incorrectness of the performance and a possible bomb attack from the military wing of the South West African Political Organisation led by the former president Sam Nujoma.

We got together to discuss the issue but had no answers as we could not pull out at that time. The contract had already been signed and all payments made. We ended up getting on stage and performing against our will and our principled stand against the state.

All I can remember is white soldiers dancing to lyrics like, "I am a prisoner in my own country," and here and there Lucky would sing derogatory words in Zulu so that they didn't pick up the meaning. We laughed about the incident all the many hours back to Johannesburg, as we were travelling by road and not by air.

In essence I am bringing back these memories to highlight our ruthless and non-appreciative attitude towards our own history, which we should embrace and look after by all means necessary.



War and Crime Lyrics - Lucky Dube

Every where in the world
People are fighting for freedom
Nobody knows what is right
Nobody knows what is wrong
The black man say it' s the white man
The white man say it' s the black man
Indians say it' s the coloureds
Coloureds say it' s everyone
Your mother didn' t tell you the truth
Cause my father didn' t tell me the truth
Nobody knows what is wrong
And what is right
How long is this gonna last
Cause we' ve come so far so fast

When it started, you and I were not there so
Why don' t we
Bury down apartheid
Fight down war and crime
Racial discrimination
Tribal discrimination

You and I were not there when it started
We don' t know where it' s coming from
And where it' s going
So why don' t we

I' m not saying this
Because I' m a coward
But I' m thinking of the lives
That we lose everytime we fight
Killing innocent people
Women and children yeah
Who doesn' t know about the government
Who doesn' t know about the wars going on
Your mother didn' t tell you the truth
Cause my father did not tell me the truth
Yeah



Together as one - Lucky Dube

In my whole life,
My whole life
I've got a dream (x2)

Too many people
Hate apartheid
Why do you like it? (x2)


Chorus: (x3)
Hey you rasta man
Hey European,Indian man
We've got to come together as one
Not forgetting the Japanese


The cats and the dogs
Have forgiven each other
What is wrong with us (x2)

All those years
Fighting each other
But no solution (x2)

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Soldaatvolk soldiers on

While kids in Europe in the USA are either into ironic indie rock or electro clash, Afrikaans music is for the most part somewhere else.

Cape Town based DJ Donald of Wedding DJ fame is on the while not impressed. To him Afrikaans rock is not cool. The musical style is out-dated and the lyricks, way too serious. Que bands like Fokofpolisiekar.

Afrikaans dance, is for the most part monopolised by bubblegum pop merchants.

While I agree that the musical style of most Afrikaans rock is basic and dated. Fokospoliskar sounds as naive as The Presidents of the United States of America. Basic drums, and simplistic epic guitar riffs characterise their music.

Fokofs lyricks, on the other hand is wonderfully existential if a bit too didactic. Nihilistic, fatalistic and despairing, it expresses the angst of post-Apartheid Afrikaners brilliantly. Nothing I have listened to from the West compares.

And now Mhambi has found another example. Soldaatvolk's (Soldier people) Foto na dans (Picture after a party).

It features a party in an up market house, full of girls with beautiful frocks, which turns into an orgy of drug taking and sex. The singer tries to make sense of all the excess amid the angst - everything is falling apart. There is only place for one person in his coffin he sings. I could only look on while everything is destroyed.

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Loslap by Snotkop

Mhambi stands accused of dropping his musical tastes. It has been eroded by nostalgia, caused by years away from my vaderland.

Well, here's another track which runs the borderline between cool and zef (chav). But definitely come down on the cool side in Mhambi's opinion. It's Loslap by the artist Snotkop. (Afr: Slapper by Snothead).

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Ek is verlief op die kind

Mhambi is in Geneva. For those travellers feeling nostalgic and missing home, an nice old song from South Africa: Ek is verlief op die kind. Thanks for Nerina aka Locura from NY for sending it to me.

Actually, on second thoughts - perhaps me liking this song is proof that expat nostalgia is detrimental to your music taste? Mmmmm...

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This farm is cursed

The band NUL

For your week-end enjoyment Nul - the avant guard Afrikaans electronic /industrial band - has a new single out. It called Vloek, or curse.

Vloek is a song about a cursed farm.

Listen to Vloek by Nul.

And here is Nul's English website.

A cursed land - South African land reform

Talking of cursed farms. This week Mhambi listened to the BBC's Thinking allowed program which Mhambi cant recommend highly enough.

In this program Dr Deborah James, Reader in the Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics outlined the current status of South Africa land reform. She has just written a new book called Gaining Ground?: ‘Rights’ and ‘property’ in South African Land Reform.

Powerful symbol but reality different
In the program she makes some interesting assertions. Land is seen by all South Africans as a powerful symbol of belonging. However - few black South Africans actually want to go back to rural areas. According to her the whitey farmers are not that keen on the farms either.

Allot of white farmers are looking to get out of farming because agriculture has been suffering from bad weather and the Sa government has stopped all farm subsidies. And lastly that she does not think that black South Africans will easily do Zimbabwean style farm invasions.

And talking about land bound identity - here is an old Afrikaans folk favourite, Bo alles.

Bo alles

O boereplaas, geboorte grond
ek het jou lief bo alles
al dwaal ek heel die wereld rond
waar so gelukkig so gesond
O boereplaas, ek het jou lief bo alles

O Boer farm, birthplace
I love you above all
even if I travel the whole world
happy and healthy
Boer farm, I love you above all


Hear a rendition of Bo alles here.

And here is another Afrikaans song, Gazelle's Sorry Pappa where the theme of the farm figures.

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The whole Volk van Main! joins facebook

News has it that Facebook has hit South Africa like its something-like-a-phenomena. Mhambi wonders whether the explosive growth is even more acute amogst its internet users than elsewhere?

Mhambi is part of a group dedicated to the weird and wonderful Afrikaans band Kobus! Already a 100 members strong.



Some members of the volk van Main!

Today I got this message from the Kobus! admin.

Yeah dudes and lady dudes who love KOBUS! We are now more than 100 strong! Exellent. Play KOBUS! to all non-believers. Play it to your girlfriends, boyfriends, friend girls, friend boys, imaginary friends, moms, dads, brothers, sisters, dogs and gerbils and then get them all to join our group! Thank you all for joining and giving the best damn band in SA (and the wordl) the respect they deserve!

Thanks to you all, die volk van MAIN!

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DJ Sbu vs Kurt Darren

Last week Aubrey Matshiqi opinioned that Oskido should remix the now controversial song De la Rey. But according to the Sunday Times, a collaboration between Afrikaans pop boy Kurt Darren and urban DJ Sbu is more likely.

Both have been nominated for South African Music Awards (Sama) song of the year awards.



De la Rey received no nominations. An opportunity for appropriation of the song by a wider audience has been missed. Darren, who's album was also nominated for best Afrikaans pop album, makes bubblegum lekker lekker pop, euro disko style.

But obviously some are excited by his music.

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Oskido should remix De la Rey

For the sake of our rainbow, says Aubrey Matshiqi, Oskido should remix the now controversial song about the Boer War General.

All of us must take ownership of the De la Rey song to deny bigots the opportunity of turning it into something ugly and reactionary when it is not. I am going to buy the CD because it does warm that part of my black blood that comes from my Afrikaner ancestor, Bartman. Maybe in taking ownership of the song, we must ask someone like DJ Fresh or DJ Oskido to remix it into a house tune for a wider, nonracial audience.

Touche says Mhambi. Can't agree more.

According to Matshiqi both whites and blacks (how refreshing that he does not talk of whites and Africans) should realise that they comprise of a majority in some sense.

The challenge, therefore, is for black and white South Africans to recognise that there are times when they are part of a majority. Black people as part of a numerical majority must defend and advance the rights of numerical minorities because in doing this they will be showing the confidence and leadership that is sometimes lacking among us. White people, as part of a cultural majority, must act in ways that promote the cultural rights of their black counterparts because, in doing so, they will be displaying a sense of humility that is sometimes lacking in debates about identity and cultural rights.

Problem is Aubrey, that allot of what you think of as white culture, Afrikaners see as a bland foreign version of English or American culture, sometimes rightly sometimes wrongly.
Aubrey also says:

Since the extent to which a black person is unable to speak an African language has, to some, become a measure of their sophistication and civilisation, the day is near when we will no longer be able to blame apartheid for the marginalisation of African culture and languages.

The same could have been said of Afrikaans, 150 years ago. Today Afrikaners see the inability of black South Africans to use their own language as the same pscycological subservience they suffered from. If only Biko was still alive.

(As an aside, Afrikaners at least did not call their rugby teams, Maritizburg United, Helenic, Ajax Cape Town, Bloemfontein Celtic, nor the league the Premiership. Nor was Pretoria named, Nieuw Amsterdam or East London, or Potchefstroom Brugge or any of the other major towns named by the Voortrekkers named after a European equivalent. They were all unique to South Africa.)

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Pallo is a Bok for sports but no treason

Mhambi is getting a bit tired of serving up stories about Bok van Blerk, but the plot thickens, and I have to do my duty.

The South African Ministry of Arts and Culture have no doubt stoked the fires with this statement that claims the De la Rey song could become "a rallying point for treason."

James Myburg reports that a statement issued on Tuesday the Ministry warned that the song was "in danger of being hijacked by a minority of right-wingers who not only regard De la Rey as a war hero but want to mislead sections of Afrikaans-speaking society to think that this is a struggle song that sends out a call to arms."

But to be fair to the department, Die Huisgenoot - an Afrikaans magazine - asked for an opinion from the department on the song. And much of the rest of the statement is sensible. Mhambi wants to bet his bottom dollar that smarty pants Pallo himself wrote it:

As the Ministry of Arts & Culture, we want to state it categorically that the Minister Dr. Z. Pallo Jordan together with countless other unsung heroes - spent his entire adult life and much of his adolescence and youth fighting for the right of freedom of expression.

Whatever the intentions of the composer, be they to mobilize White Afrikaans-speakers, or "the Boers" as the singer calls them, to oppose the democratic government, provided that opposition is within the terms of our Constitution, we as the Ministry see no problem.

However, there are two very important considerations which everyone must weigh. Firstly, during the time the song refers to, the White Afrikaans-speaking communities of the then Oranje Vry-Staat and Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek were at war with the British Empire. Unless the composer, performer and his audiences regard themselves as in a state of war with the rest of the population of South Africa, the song is merely a historical curiosity.

Secondly, today, in terms of our Constitution, every citizen of the country, irrespective of race, colour, creed, gender or home language has equal rights. As such even the most discontented White Afrikaans-speaker has the untrammeled right to organize a political party, to go into the hustings and persuade fellow citizens to his point of view, and contest elections. Provided he/she commands a sufficient number of votes, they will win seats in the national, provincial or local legislature and they have an equal opportunity with all fellow citizens to make their concerns known. We would have thought that the taking up of arms was superfluous in such circumstances.

Z Pallo of course knows full well that as a minority Afrikaans speakers do not stand a chance when organising in this fashion and contesting an election. But he is technically correct. He continues:

If there are White Afrikaans-speakers who feel they are besieged by crime, it will not help matters for such persons themselves to engage in criminal activity. Taking up arms against a democratically elected government, no matter how much one dislikes that government, is a crime, and a grave one at that.

...but z Pallo - i'm sure - is being disingenuous and aware that one of the first duties of a state is to protect its citizens. The point is that Afrikaners want more state involvement not a non-government.

Pallo continues:

The oft heard complaint that Afrikaans culture and the language are under threat is a nonsense, disproved by the very existence of journals like "Huisgenoot", "Rooi Rose", "Sarie Marais", and a host of others plus at least two daily newspapers. Are there equivalents of these in the largest language community, isiZulu? Are there equivalents of these in the smallest language community, shiVenda?

Afrikaans speakers, White, Coloured, African or Asian, have exactly the same rights as other South Africans. It would be a terrible shame if a handful of misguided individuals hope to use an innocent song as a rallying point for treason.

The law on the issue of treason is clear, as the accused in the current "Boeremag" Trial are discovering. Those who incite treason, whatever methods they employ, might well find themselves in difficulties with the law.

It is significant to note that Van Blerk himself has denied that his song has any contemporary relevance.

Mmmm.... Pallo has conjured up the spectre of the Boeremag.

Boeremag ghosts
Let me let you into a secret. Mhambi knows some of the accused in the Boeremag trial. I was a junior student in the same residence as some of them at university. The Pretorius brothers and their friends relished ******* on our ****** when we could not remember their names, room numbers and girl friend's names, which in my case, was often. I had a good visual memory but trouble remembering numbers. The Pretorius brothers had particularly firm hands.

They harrassed me because my hair style offended them. I must admit that I had a pretty bad hair style, but I thought it was pretty over the top of them to get so upset. At least my hair style changed. Their hair was shockingly ordinary day in day out.

One night hooded men stormed into my room, demanding I cut my hair and to stop being so stubborn. I had to endure a few more *******. I imagined the Pretorius boys were there that night.

Yes, they are a pretty unpleasant lot these Pretorius brothers. Not just because I say so, others would agree. They together with characters like a certain Cristiaan van der Merwe, made a hell of a comotion when Nelson Madela was about to give a speech - in Afrikaans nogal - at the university. I did not get it, Nelson's hair was short and neat - he was fresh out of prison.

When the Boeremag was caught, they had little sympathy from the vast majority of Afrikaners. The whole criminal justice system that is dealing with their case is made up of Afrikaners. This did not surprise me one bit. It is not such a big community. Allot of us knew them or knew about them. The type of people that would not be out of place in stereo-typical Hollywood portrayals of Afrikaners - and we don't like bad movies.

The Boeremag would not have been going down, without the support of the Afrikaans population at large. But they are going down.

But I digress. I forgot to mention Z Pallo's coup de grace.

As the Ministry of Arts & Culture, we wish the singer, Van Blerk good luck with his song, and who knows, if it's really good, it might even become an international hit, like Solomon Linda's "Mbube"."

Ouch! Pallo - that hurt. What a bitch slap!

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The story of Koos and Bok

The debate around Bok van Blerk and his De la Rey song is showing no sign of abating. Koos Kombuis (Wikipedia), the Afrikaans singer, poet, writer and counter-culture libertarian icon has spoken about the surprise he felt at the strong contradictory feelings the song elicited in him.

Kombuis attracted some controversy just recently when he publicly resigned from Afrikanerdom, Koos wanted to rid him of all that Boer baggage.

And the song *had* felt wrong. It felt like a call to war. But on the other hand, Koos found himself, when ever he heard the song, involuntarily sing along: "De la Rey, De la Rey, sal jy die boere kom lei De la Rey. De la Rey, Generaal, Generaal, soos een man sal ons om jou val, generaal De la Rey". (English translation here.)

Koos realises - as he thought might happen - that the song is becoming huge, it's something-like-a-phe-no-me-na. Bok has to be stopped.

And then one day Koos said so, in one of his Rapport articles.

And to Koos's amazement he gets an email from Bok. He wants advice about life, the universe and South Africa.

Koos meets Bok in one of South Africa's cathedrals to materialism and the non society, the Centurion mall. Koos expects the devil. He did his research and apparently Bok used real farmers when making his music video. But he had to use girls to play the Khakhis because the farmers refused to play the British. Koos also suspects he used Jafta - the black servant - to dig the trenches.

Bok does a very un-Afrikaans thing and arrives late for his appointment.

But when he does arrive Koos is amazed. Bok seems vunerabale, sensitive. He looks like someone whose been through life's treadmill.

He reminds Koos of Johannes Kerkorrel! Johannes you will remember was the singer and spokesperson for the Voelvry movement - an Afrikaans music movement against the cultural and political shackels of the Afrikaner Nationalists. Johannes commited suicide.

Koos is stunned, but still suspicious of his feelings, he sets out to research who this De la Rey was.

Koos is truely amazed.

It turns out De la Rey was the last Anglo Boer War General to go to war, after arguing in parlaiment passionately against it, often enduring accusations of cowardice.

De la Rey also opposed, together with General Joubert, the anti-foreigner policy of President Kruger.

But when war was inevitable he joined the fight and soon he was the most succesful General in the War. Alobg the way he is credited with inventing new guerilla warfare tecniques.

After the war ended he strove ceaselessly for reconciliation between Boer and Brit.

Koos realises that De la Rey was not a Terreblanche, not a George Bush or a Tony Blair but an Afrikaner Steve Biko. An enlighthened man of action, conscience and peace. And he realises that Bok is right. South Africa needs leaders like that - leaders of action, wisdom and peace.

But is that not why Bok came to Koos?

Is Bok and the volk not desperately looking to people like Koos and other credible Afrikaners for guidance? But Van Zyl Slabbert in no longer an Afrikaner, Bad boy poet Breyten's ego just keeps on getting in the way, and Koos has resigned his membership. But if they won't, Mhambi thinks others might.

To qoute Kerkorrel: "Ons soek 'n nuwe energie."

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Gazelle's "Die Verlore Seun" does electro in Afrikaans

Who said Afrikaans can't do electro?

Dirty synths, robot rhythms and sexy male vocals crooning existentially:

"Sorry Papa, ek moes die plaas verlaat, want ek mis die disco ligte, te veel"
- Sorry dad, I had to leave the farm, because I miss the disco lights, too much.

Check YoGazelle on their (his) MySpace page and listen to "Die Verlore Seun" (The prodical son) and his other song "options".
Shout-out once again to the man in Cape Town with his finger on the musical pulse, Wedding DJ Donald!

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The coolest party in Cape Town

Ever wondered were besides hip-hop, R & B and hippy trance one could go for a party in Cape Town South Africa? Well look no further. If you like your music ironic, synth pop or you genuinely dig Phil Collins, Jaluka and even Annelie van Rooyen, the Wedding DJ parties is the place to go.

Brought to you by co-founders of that uber-zef-but-cool Afrikaans website - Watkykjy - you will dance your ass off. It's as close you'll get to a late night at Mother in London's Shoreditch south of the Sahara.

But be warned you need to be able to speak either Afrikaans or Xhosa to get in.

Just kidding.

Visit the Wedding DJ blog for more info.

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Iron Maiden The Trooper By Gauchos

Is Bok van Blerk's De la Rey song actually loaded with meta textual references to Iron Maiden's The Trooper?

You'll take my life but Ill take yours too
Youll fire you musket but Ill run you through
So when your waiting for the next attack
Youd better stand theres no turning back

The bugle sounds as the charge begins
But on this battlefield no one wins
The smell of arcrid smoke and horses breath
As you plunge into a certain death

Yes, It's the silly season, news is slow. The link is tenuous to my other high minded discussions on South African identity politics. So what.

Shout out to Wedding DJ Donald for the link.

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French Congolese rapper Kamini and the farmers

I come from a lost village in Aisne to Picardy. Easily 95% of cows, 5% inhabitants And among them only one family of blacks -Kamini

AFP reports - A rapper from a Fench backwater village is becoming a media sensation after a tongue-in-cheek video of him debuted on the internet.

Marly-Gomont, France - A black rapper from a backwater village is rapidly becoming a media sensation in France after a tongue-in-cheek video of him singing about his rural experience debuted on the internet.

Kamini, as he is known, has been thrust into the spotlight since his tune about his home town (population 423) of Marly-Gomont first hit the web in September.

He has been interviewed on television, sung on a talent show, and been fought over by record labels who see him as a new entertainer offering a rap wrested free of the urban angst common to the genre.

"Marly-Gomont is a song about my life," the 26-year-old told AFP as he sat outside his home in the rolling countryside north of Paris. His father, a Congolese doctor, has his practice on the ground floor.

The video, made over three days by a friend doing film studies, features Kamini rapping about being a young black guy growing up in a rustic setting populated by cows, tractors, old farmers, and more cows.

Although humoristic, it takes stabs at the latent racism he often ran up against, with for instance lyrics that go: "There's no concrete, only pastures, but even so I've come across a lot of trash."

Locals from the village are seen dancing along in the video, which has none of the flashy cars and g-stringed models common to the more traditional rap clips, even in France.

After being sent in as a sample to French music companies, it found its way on to video websites such as YouTube, where the number of viewers has grown to over a million. Its success on Kamini's own site shows no sign of flagging.

Shout out to Wedding DJ Donald of Cape Town for this info.

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Bo alles - District six, Koeka's sad video with Boereplaas score

Mhambi mentioned the other day why PW Botha almost destroyed Afrikaans because of what he did to Distric Six.

But what did he destroy? Watch this video Bo alles, by artist Koeka Stander and weep for District Six.

Filming of the original 16mm was commissioned by the BBC in the 70s. The footage was confiscated by apartheid police at the time and discovered 20 years later by Stephen Bourne, a 16 mm enthusiast. He asked Koeka to convert the film to DV. Moved by the children's faces, she created this short video.

Koeka decided to use Mimi Coertse's O, Boereplaas as emotive accompanyment to the film. For her, Afrikaans Opera star Mimi, represented the period when District six was destroyed. She spoke to coloured South Africans and they - perhaps surprisingly - identified with the song. Not with the yearning for the mythical farm expressed in it, but with the love for the Afrikaans language.

The song enthuses about a deep attachment to the Boereplaas (Boer farm), as geboorte grond (birth place, but also about the moedertaal (mother language), a reference to Afrikaans. Ek het jou lief bo alles. (I love you above all).

"They are Afrikaners too" Stander said to Die Burger. That Afrikaner nationalism destroyed an Afrikaans community in the heart of Cape Town, makes the use of the song sad and ironic.

On 11 February 1966, the apartheid-era government declared District Six a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act, with removals starting in 1968, directed by P W Botha. By 1982, more than 60 000 people had been relocated to the comparatively bleak Cape Flats some 25 kilometers away, and the old houses bulldozed. The only buildings left standing were places of worship. International and local pressure made redevelopment difficult for the government, however. The Cape Technikon (now part of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology) was built on part of the former District Six and the area was renamed Zonnebloem, but apart from this the area was left as a wasteland until relatively recently. Big shout out to Bonnie who sent me this link.

Original Director
Cas van Rensberg

Editor
Koeka Stander

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