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Kerkorrel legacy will run deep
13/11/2002 10:27 - (SA)
Dirk Jordaan, Beeld
Johannesburg - The first time I saw Ralph Rabie he walked, guitar in hand, past me at Die Bult in Potchefstroom. He was obviously not at home in the student environment - "Moffie! (Gay!)" one of the guys shouted at him from one of the communes in Tom Street.
Johannes Kerkorrel looked up, smiled and walked on.
I had forgotten about the incident, even when he worked as a reporter in Johannesburg. It was only years later, when he appeared on stage and started singing Sit dit af, sit dit af that I remembered who he was.
As leader of the Gereformeerde Blues Band, he was an active member of the Alternative Afrikaans rock movement and the associated Voëlvry tours.
It could not have been otherwise. With songs like Sit dit af, Ossewa and BMW he poked a finger in the eye of the establishment. He broke down the icons, made a mockery of yuppiedom.
Crossed swords
But, he will probably be remembered best for his ballad, Hillbrow, a melancholic, but positive, creation that asked tolerance of South Africans and demonstrated a scene from life in South Africa in the eighties.
Kerkorrel, himself, did not always get the same tolerance. But, truth be told, he did not always have it himself. Often, even in public, he crossed swords with other artists.
There was the fight with writer Koos Prinsloo and a recent debate with Dagga-Dirk Uys, a Alternative Afrikaans rock movement peer, on the LitNet website. Kerkorrel, also, did not shy away from taking up a poisened pen when he did not agree with criticism.
He took up different personalities - first as Johnny K and the Johannes. But he recently reverted to Johannes Kerkorrel, a name he decided on when, in the eighties, he saw an advert for "Johannes-orrels" in Cape Town.
Kerkorrel's audience of the eighties did not grow with him, although some had regard for his movement towards cabaret, especially after he came under the influence of Stef Bos.
His music became more specialised. He received Sama awards, but openly complained that audiences in Europe had far bigger regard for his creations than local ones.
At this year's Aardklop arts festival in Potchefstroom, he presented a new music production that was keenly accepted by the audience.
However, the general impression of the past years is one of frustration.
Ralph Rabie created an alter-ego to give voice to his frustration when he was still filled with the fire of rock music. Later, it wasn't enough.
But his contribution to modern Afrikaans music should not be underestimated.
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South Africa
