Photo: Aryan Kaganof
The master narrative would have us believe that Afrikaans is the evolutionary linguistic product of the Dutch settlers. Certainly, the academic understanding of Afrikaans, the official language taught not only in South Africa but abroad, is the codified (some will also argue nationalist) project of the white Afrikaner. In so doing, a wedge was driven between the language and the identity of the majority of its speakers. There were school boycotts in the 1970s against Afrikaans as “the language of the oppressor”. In certain circles, Afrikaans is still believed to be under threat thanks to that stain.
As David Kramer and Taliep Petersen’s musical Ghoema some years ago set out to reclaim a Cape musical heritage largely written out of authorized history during apartheid, Afrikaaps is a new theatrical edutainment fighting for the recognition of how Afrikaans developed as a Dutch creolized language amongst coloured speakers outside of this white hegemony.
The first written Afrikaans was as phonetic Arabic script translations of the Qur’an over 200 years ago. The Bible was only translated into today’s official Afrikaans in 1933.
The extremely talented young cast under the direction of Catherine Henegan seeking to set the record straight are hip-hop poet Jitsvinger, singer, actor and dancer Moenier Adams, singer and poet Blaq Pearl, hip-hop artist and activist Emile Jansen, rapper and break-dancer Bliksemstraal, accompanied by composer, pianist and jazz prodigy Kyle Shepherd and musician Shane Cooper. They make a superb ensemble.
Employing music, poetry, dance, skits, documentary and interview video footage, they get their message across in a clear and humorous way. Henegan has dressed the show well, but the shape is problematic, without a coherent trajectory. Ironically, although dealing with ‘gam taal’ and street talk, it feels oddly cerebral and emotionally disinvested. Perhaps, it’s because the very good-looking cast are all male, except for Pearl. One of the principle cast members having to drop out at the last moment didn’t help.
But without a doubt this show is full of rewards and should be seen. So: “Aweh my bru! Koppel die lyne” (Hey! Spread the word).
