I'm very outspoken about Afrikaans music and regularly get lambasted by family and friends for not being more positive about it. Now I've always been a big fan of Afrikaans music. Sure, stuff like Kurt Darren and Juanita du Plessis don't exactly get me putting the volume up on my iPod, but these guys have a target market and make ORIGINAL music specifically for them. Please note my CAPS LOCK being on for the word original. I started to develop a slight dislike for Afrikaans music when a certain Nicholis Louw burst onto the scene with this massive Afrikaans hit.
This song got extensive airplay when it was released and Nicholis Louw shot to stardom in an instant. Ou tannies from Centurion to Cape Town went gaga for his dance moves, not-so-stylishly gelled hair and oversize Doc Martins. However, when I first heard the song I became very suspicious about it's catchy beat and melody. And then I remembered that I've heard this before...
Yes, the great original version by Nicholis is not original after all. Afrikaans artists have always been renowned for covering other songs e.g. Steve Hofmeyr releasing 2 Neil Diamond CDs. But this act of copying by Mr. Louw just screams "let's use that other catchy tune and put Afrikaans words in it to sell as a sokkie hit". And I thought that it would stop there but it didn't. Take a look at this one.
Not a bad song and obviously just as popular upon release. But wait for it...
Poor O-Zone must wonder how this ever happened? I truly wonder if there was royalty fees involved when their songs were used by our local artists. Now I'm not saying that the international versions are great, but they're significantly better than the local ones and much more original.
So there you go. Whenever I get asked why are you so against Afrikaans music etc. etc. I will purely point people towards this blog post.
P.S. If you do a cover, admit it's a cover and do it well, like local boys Van Coke Kartel doing a cover of the 80's classic Maniac.
All videos contain copyright to the relevant parties and are purely here for demonstration purposes.
