Smaaking the Vibe: Lessons From the Afrikaans Pop Factory

(939 reads) For all the talk of a “Bellville rock city”, let’s not kid ourselves – there is something about most Afrikaans music that brings but one word to mind: kak.

How lekker is local, really?

Now I’m the last person to deem music bad simply because of the language of its lyrics - only the saltiest of soutpiele would dare offer “but it’s Afrikaans” as a retort to avoid listening to any Afrikaans music. There’s plenty of decent stuff out there - Buckfever Underground, Koos Kombuis, Vailant Swart, Fokofpolisiekar all spring to mind. And to generalise in the first place is an insult to any self-respecting Afrikaans musician. We never hear of “English music”, do we? Yet, speak of “Afrikaans music“, and certain images and artists do come to mind: ous like Kurt Darren and Steve Hofmeyr, chicks like Patricia and Amor.

Try to ignore the knee-jerk warning bells for a few minutes and let’s take a deeper look into the murky world of Afrikaans pop. Why? Well, for one, the numbers don’t lie - no matter what Mr. Shaik might have us believe. Just because I’m writing this in English and we’re force-fed a diet of kak American TV and music doesn’t mean that South Africa is an English country. Officially, only about 3 million of 40 million-plus South Africans speak English at home, while about 6 million South Africans speak Afrikaans. Of South Africa's 4.4 million white people, the majority (2.5 million) are Afrikaners. As a second language, presumably, Afrikaans is right up there, too.

Then consider this: top Afrikaans musicians are selling well over 100 000 copies of their albums, raking in millions of bucks, when chances are your favourite local English band is still buying one-ply at Checkers, if not holding down day jobs in advertising, or letting dad pay the rent while spending six years at varsity. Now admit it: maybe there’s something you’ve missed about music in SA.

Take a guy like Steve Hofmeyr, for instance. The guy has chalked up sales in excess of 1.5 million, largely monopolized the local DVD market, and sold more than 40 000 copies of his autobiography. So popular is he, in fact, that his on-line diary was voted South Africa's #1 website (not to mention SA's #1 blog, and #1 Political Blog) on www.satopsites.co.za.

Platinum is more than just a hair-colour for someone like Patricia Lewis, whose album Ek Is Lief Vir Jou sold some 125 000 copies, pushing her career tally over the 600 000 mark. Another album, “Wie Sou Jou Kon Liefhê Soos Ek”, reached gold status* on the day it was released. Say what you want about her (surely, there’s plenty you can say), but that’s not bad going.

And there are plenty of others who sell similarly huge amounts: Kurt Darren, Dozi (whose “Op Aanvraag” reportedly sold a mammoth 170 000), Bok van Blerk, Juanita Du Plessis, Robbie Wessels, Nicholis Louw. Leanie May, Amor Vittone, Laurika Rauch…the list goes on - a whole host of stars who sell over 100 000 copies of their albums, on par with the most popular international acts in SA.

By comparison, top-selling local English acts like Prime Circle, Watershed and Arno Carstens (and no one else really) will, at best, take six months to reach gold*, which numerous Afrikaans artists achieve in six days. For them, sales of 100 000 mean three albums; for Afrikaans acts, it just takes one.

Ironically, the main reason a guy like Arno Carstens sings in English in the first place is so that he can tap into overseas markets. But English acts struggle to sell abroad, too, with the exception of those who land international deals and relocate, like Seether. Afrikaans acts may sell some units in Belgium or Holland, or to chicken-run expats in England or Oz, but for the most part, they’re doing just fine selling only to local buyers.

The Afrikaans industry has had more than its fair share of skandale over the years (Stevo siring illegitimate love children and attacking journalists, Patricia starring in a German porno, Jurie Els molesting Robbie Klay...), but even in a supposedly “conservative” market, these things do nothing to hurt sales. In fact, the primary progenitor of such dirt, Huisenoot, recently embarked on “the biggest undertaking in South African music history” by distributing over 400 000 free “Somertreffers” CDs with its 27 November ‘08 issue, a venture backed by Vodacom and Media24, who knew a good investment when they saw one.

It’s on the live circuit where top Afrikaans acts pull in even more, earning upwards of R50 000 (sometimes as much as 80) per show, and doing three or four shows every week. Patricia Lewis, for example, claimed in a 2007 interview to have averaged 200 shows every year for the past decade. Not crummy club gigs or occasional corporate shindigs, either; but large crowds of up to 50 000.

Besides income from live shows, Afrikaans stars can cash in on their celebrity through various endorsements, all of which ensure a steady flow of money. According to Melvin Khumalo, head of A&R at Gallo, “Most artists earn royalties bi-annually. Concerts and endorsements assist the artist to make money during the waiting period. Depending on their popularity, some artists make more money this way than sales.”

Then consider that plenty of these guys are also acting in soaps and hosting TV shows, and you’ve got a shitload of bucks by anyone’s standards – millions of Rands - enough, perhaps, to give credit where it’s due. Stylistic shortcomings aside, these are undoubtedly some of the most successful entertainers in our country,

Aside from the usual suspects of major labels, one relatively small label stands heads, shoulders and mullets above the competition. Cape-based Select Music is to Afrikaans pop what DFA is to New York hipsters, Warp to electronica, or Motown to - well, Motown. They’re a veritable hit factory of Afrikaans music. According to a 2007 article in Billboard magazine (THE Billboard magazine), Select claimed an impressive 21.4% of the R400 million domestic market that year, well up from its figures from 2005, and behind only EMI with 27%.

Clearly, Select have an uncanny ability to make a negligible amount of talent go a long way. Niel Schoombee, part of the A&R team at Select, emphasises that top Afrikaans artists are simply a brand who can be relied upon to sell well with every release. “The whole package is very important. First you have the vocal. You do not need to be a flawless singer in SA to really make it; you need to have a ‘vibe’, a certain energy. Then you obviously need to have a marketable image, depending on the market you cater for.” Whether that’s “funky” and “hot” for the big-spending tienermeisies or clean cut and wholesome for the tannies.

According to Naomi Le Roux, head of the Afrikaans division at SonyBMG, “It’s the whole package… Firstly, you need that illusive hit song to draw the public’s attention. Then you need a good production. Once you have the public’s attention, personality is very important; looks count but are not massively important.”

“There goes a LOT of money into marketing,” continues Schoombee, “If you cannot make people aware of the artists, and bring the music to each and every Afrikaans household, how do you intend on selling units? That is why we spend a lot of money on flighting music videos on TV, and also marketing campaigns in printed media, radio and television.”

Simplicity is key. It’s music that appeals to an “essence of what Afrikaans culture is all about, that the crowds understand, and can party to. They can have a jol to the music, and braai and ‘kuier’ - that’s why they like it.”

Despite its popularity, Afrikaans music remains derided by those on the outside. Musically, says Piet van Wyk de Vries, producer of artists such as Dozi, Lebo Mathosa and PJ Powers, apartheid repression hurt Afrikaans creativity, as it did all others. “The Afrikaans market might be less sophisticated than some others, because it has not been free for a long time - Afrikaans cultural freedom was severely repressed in the old SA - and is now catching up. Therefore you may find that you can sometimes not be as adventurous with a production.”

At the end of the day, pop is pop in any language, and needs to be judged as such. “Yes, these guys are very commercial and the songs are sometimes very stupid and childish. But I think that the Afrikaans culture has some stigmas already attached to it that influences outside opinions, and in any event, the commercial sections of R&B, Hip Hop, or Brit Pop, or whatever you can mention, are as plastic and false as the worst of Afrikaans. They are all the same thing, They are all equally good and crap at the end of the day.”

Just because it’s commercial doesn’t mean it’s intended to have a broad target market anyway. Any country will have popular local sounds that won’t travel far. “There are many markets around the world that have a unique sound and that only appeal to the locals,” says le Roux at SonyBMG. “This does not mean that the countries in question have bad taste. It is just a unique taste that is created by the locals.”

More problematic is the perception that local commercial sounds are somehow “not good enough,” which sales figures suggest is particularly prevalent amongst English consumers. Not only are English consumers less “loyal” to SA bands than their Afrikaans counterparts; more telling, as le Roux points out, is that “local English releases do not do as well as Afrikaans simply because English artists have to compete with artists from around the world with productions that cost millions of Rands.” As van Wyk de Vries put it – “Nickleback does not sing in Afrikaans. It’s more a result of the way the market is than anything the companies could do differently.”

Also, it’s not as if ALL Afrikaans albums are selling like vetkoek at a jukskei kompetisie. “There is a perception out there that everything that is released in Afrikaans sells,” le Roux explains, “This is nonsense. The Afrikaans public now demand quality. There are a vast amount of Afrikaans titles released that sell very little. The difference is that when a title goes big, it goes very big.”

While an English band in Cape Town will struggle to play more than 25 gigs a year before they risk burning out their audience, and a more established act has only a handful of cities to choose from, Afrikaans acts can sell out hundreds of gigs a year – festivals, school fundraisers and charity functions in town halls from Nylstroom to Nababeep, after which they can meet star-struck fans, have a photo taken, sign some underwear and sell a boxful of CDs or DVDs, then sail on down the N1 to the next town.

In the English market, that infrastructure isn’t there to the same extent. Most English artists are reluctant to even try, so they get stuck on the same small treadmill of bars, playing to students who’d sooner spend their cash on jager-bombs than CDs, and still moan about the cover charge.

The English and Afrikaans markets are like chalk and cheese. The dedication of their audiences and the lack of appreciation from anyone else make Afrikaans music more comparable to traditional African markets. According to Khumalo at Gallo, “You will find that even a top-selling Zulu artist would not make an impression outside their target market. That's what makes us the rainbow nation. With traditional and gospel you get people who are loyal to their favourite artist, whereas with the more urban genres, it is about the current hit. In my opinion, Afrikaans music tends to lean more on the traditional side of music.”

While snooty English fans are likely to run for the door if their favourite band dare try to sing something in Afrikaans, Afrikaans fans are a less supercilious, more bilingual lot. Most Afrikaans musos offer plenty of original English fare, and the biggest of them all have had huge success doing cover albums of international artists, aimed primarily at Afrikaans buyers – Hofmeyr doing Neil Diamond and Kris Kristofferson, Patricia doing Olivia Newton-John, and Dozi doing Creedence.

Some commentators have suggested that the popularity of Afrikaans music is a sign of Afrikaners starting to celebrate their identity in democratic SA (think De La Rey). And while one might assume it to be the realm of white Afrikaners only, in truth, a major reason for the huge sales is that there are plenty of coloured Afrikaans fans buying the music too. The majority of Select artists may be white, but Schoombee in A&R knows that coloured people make up “a big part of the Afrikaans buying public. I see a lot of them at all the festivals and they all know the words to ‘Loslappie’. Do you really think we will NOT target them? Whoever buys and listens to Afrikaans music is part of the market we sell to; therefore we have to keep all races in mind when selling music.”

Perversely, almost, Afrikaans pop is one of the few types of music in SA that truly crosses racial divides. “Much of racism in SA is cultural, and more importantly, linguistic” says van Wyk de Vries. “Therefore there are far fewer barriers between these two groups than between other groups in SA.”

Piracy is an issue too, as much in wealthy areas with good computers as in poorer areas lacking disposable income, where sales of cheap pirated CDs fly under the industry radar. The Afrikaans-speaking middle class, then, appears to be one of the last outposts of dedicated CD buyers.

So, at a time when CD sales across the board are dwindling due to the twin threats of the internet and an economic slump, Select Music isn’t worrying – they know their loyal buyers will continue buying CDs, albeit perhaps fewer than before.

Afrikaans no longer enjoys the preferential treatment on TV and radio that it once did, but dedicated channels like MK89, KykNet and RSG have loyal followings. The same can be said of traditional and urban African markets, whereas English TV and radio remains saturated with American and British fodder. Lacking quotas on TV and radio, it’s arguably local English artists who suffer most.

The success of the Kurt Darrens and Juanitas out there only can be a good sign for more discerning Afrikaans musicians. “If you look beneath the layer of the so-called ‘top selling pop stars’ in the Afrikaans market,” explains van Wyk de Vries, “there is quite a unique and diverse market, in a very exciting period. Afrikaans music is at this time the least under threat ever. Some paranoid die-hard's may disagree - you know, people with bomb shelters.”

Let’s hope English consumers get their act together and start buying CDs at gigs or paying for MP3s, that the new government will pull finger in implementing local radio quotas, and that English artists start making an effort to get to smaller towns, no matter how “uncool” it may seem at first.



* Gold and Platinum benchmarks in SA are currently disputed: AIRCO (Association of Independent Record Companies) considers sales of 25,000 for Gold starus, and 50,000 for Platinum, while RISA (Recording Institute of SA) recently dropped their standards to 20,000 for Gold and 40,000 for Platinum.