This week's show was inspired by a new version of Johannes Kerkorrel's song 'Liefde' performed by his former band mates in Die Gereformeerede Blues Band, with Arno Carsten of the Springbok Nude Girls filling in for the late Kerkorrel.
The song was originally from their seminal 1989 album Eet Kreef which is one of the records credited with spawning the alternative Afrikaans 'Voelvry' (or 'Outlaw'; literally 'free as a bird') movement, which spearheaded the younger generation of Afrikaners' rejection of Apartheid.
Along with Andre Le Toit (aka Koos Kombuis) and the late James Phillips (aka Bernoldus Niemand), Kerkorrel - real name Ralph Rabie - was part of the star triumvirate of this movement. A journalist by trade, Kerkorrel had an acute eye for detail which he translated successfully into writing songs of cutting personal and social observation. Sadly, he committed suicide in 2002, leaving behind a great body of work.
Now, before we explain how this inspired the show, let us give you a little background. Like many countries around the world, South Africa was once deeply in the thrall of imported music from the US and UK, whether that was jazz, rock or pop.
Many singers and bands made a living playing covers of hits from overseas, and indeed even charted with local versions of international hits. Certainly, to make a living as a live band, most would resort to playing standards and hits from abroad. One often even got the impression that a musician was measured by their ability to replicate familiar songs from the radio.
Against this backdrop, some local artists valiantly continued to produce music with a home-grown flavour. Of course there were other factors working against them: police harassment of chiefly black but also white progressive artists, the cultural boycott affecting all, and other issues, but that's a story for another day. Many went into exile for political and/or musical reasons and sought to build careers abroad. But many stayed.
Suffice to say, the idea of 'cover versions' became the dividing line between mainstream career-orientated musicians and the 'serious artists' who wanted to reflect, comment and construct an indigenous South African culture which spoke to the South African experience. By definition, those sneeringly dismissed as 'covers bands' did not play original music and 'original music' bands, as a badge of honour, did not play covers, preferring to produce their own music.
But the more recent development we're keen to acknowledge with this episode of Tune Me What? is the gradual advancement of a South African musical canon from which South African artists can draw and pay tribute to each other. It is as if in the last quarter century, we've finally accepted that our peers are producing music just as classic and worthy as the cultural icons we borrowed from overseas.
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It seems to us that South African music has come of age. Covering songs by fellow South African artists is at once a recognition of a growing deep and rich canon, a celebration of a self-sufficient musical legacy, and a realisation that so much music has been made of such enduring quality that it's worth repeating. Put more plainly: we South Africans have written some fantastic songs!
For proof, tune into Tune Me What? and listen to tracks by Die Lemme, Jack Parow, Jennifer Ferguson, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Nico Carstens, Sharon Katz, the Soweto String Quartet, Tony Cox, Urban Creep, Matthew van der Want & Chris Letcher, Vusi Mahlasela and Wonderboom.
If that isn't enough name dropping, we will be playing music by Johannes Kerkorrel, David Kramer, Four Jacks & A Jill, Solomon Linda, Strike Vilakazi, Miriam Makeba, Koos Kombuis, Edi Niederlander, James Phillips, Bright Blue and Juluka.
One of the particular highlights of the show was Sharon Katz and the Peace Train, with guest Abigail Kubeka playing Miriam Makeba's 'Pata Pata', but there is a charming video on YouTube of Katz and Kubeka joined by Dolly Rathebe and Miriam Makeba herself having fun with the song informally at a social event at the latter's house in 2003.
Tune Me What? is a podcast and blog by Brett Lock and Leon Lazarus that highlights South African music and artists at home and around the world. For more information, visit tunemewhat.com or facebook.com/TuneMeWhat.
