This is a subject that has caused many a heated debate amongst friends and family. Some having ended in total agreement, some we have had to agree-to-disagree, and in some (rare) cases it has ended with a screaming match and a physical confrontation.
Something must be said for Afrikaans music if it elicits such varying responses. That begs the question, what can be said for it? Can the Afrikaans music scene hold up a candle to the rest of the world's indigenous language music, or is it just a gimmicky genre made to fill a hole? With record sales on the increase, and more and more (so called) artists {I'll get back to that comment in a second} booking up to 200 gig's a year, there is defiantly something driving this niche section of the market.
Allow me to speculate on what that may be...
Is the ferociously loyal following to the Afrikaans scene due to the quality of the music, the appeal of the artist, or is there a deeper core-reason for all this madness?
In my humble opinion the primary reason for this fanatical following is not a simple one at all. The not-so-slow crawl from the metaphorical primordial-soup began around 1994. If you care to take your memories back to that year some will remember watching hundreds of thousands of people lined up to cast their vote in the first democratic elections this country has ever seen. And the result of that election (amongst many other positive changes) was the end of the Apartheid era. Now with the white supremacist government out of power, the agenda of the Afrikaans speaking South Africans was thrown out the window. With the State no longer backing the privileged position of the Afrikaans culture, the Afrikaners were grasping at straws to save their culture - NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! But to get back to the crux, my theory is that the Afrikaners will eat-up anything on offer for no reason other than the music is in their own language.
Now before you start taking me apart, this is not a political or cultural blog, this is a blog about music. But more often than not music has a political and cultural influence, a message or ideal to share. There is no debate to be had that the vast majority of Afrikaans pop sounds exactly the same a Euro pop, and to become a hit single needs nothing more than a catchy tune and an easy beat. Is that acceptable? And thus the reason for this post.
Most of the ‘artists’ are just a pretty face put on the sleeve to sell albums - and this is true for most pop around the world. (and this will most certainly be discussed in future posts on this blog) However, in South Africa this realisation has not yet hit the consumers. They are reaping up this junk, not for the quality of the artist, the depth of their lyrics, the message the song proclaims, but purely for the sake of hearing Afrikaans coming out of the speakers.
Again, I must defend my statements and proclaim that I am not at all opposed to Afrikaans music as a whole. Make no mistake, there are Afrikaans singers and song writers for whom I have the greatest amount of respect because they have earned that respect. I refer to artists like Chris Chameleon, Laurika Raugh, Koos Kombuis, Anton Goosen, Johannes Kerkorrel and even Steve Hofmeyer (although I say that with a foul taste in my mouth). These guys and girls paved the way for the newbies to make lots of money for hardly any effort! These artists pioneered, they worked their hands to the bone to get the respect and admiration they (used to) enjoy. This has been cheapened by the likes of Nicholas Louw, Kurt Darren, Jakkie Louw, Nadine, Juanita du Plessis and the likes who's themes are mundane and quite frankly, common and unsophisticated. You need to understand that these artist hardly ever compose their own music, they are, for the most part, not included in the decision making for which singles that make the cut for the album. They are not artists and should not be referred to as such. They are performers, and that is all. Pure performers, performing other people’s songs and music on a stage or in the studio. These people are not in it for the love of music or even love of entertaining, they are in it purely for the money! And they are making plenty of it just because they have a pretty face or nice hips to shake about.
This is a wake-up call to those Afrikaners who blindly buy Afrikaans music. Make your choices wisely. You are bringing this garbage into your homes, exposing your children to sub-par, unintelligent musical influences. With role-models and influences such as these, where will our future Bach’s & Beethoven’s come from? Stop rewarding mediocrity by splurging your hard-earned cash on artists who are not fit for that title.
My favorite comic strip - Cyanide and Happiness depicting what a artist is NOT:
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