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De la Rey needs a girl
08/03/2007 13:06 - (SA)
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| The nine-year-old Son-Isha performing in her favourite Zulu outfit at a concert in Sun City. (Photo: www.son-isha.com) |
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Birgit Ottermann
Cape Town - A nine-year-old singer from Pretoria has captivated the attention of the local media with the release of a new song De la Rey moet 'n meisie kry (De la Rey needs a girlfriend).
Since its release on her second CD, with the same name, Son-Isha has been enjoying the limelight but has also been stirring up debate.
It seems a clever publicity stunt to ride the De la Rey wave, but according to Son-Isha's manager (and father) Willem Coetzee, it was Son-Isha who came up with the idea for the song.
"Son-Isha woke up one morning asking, 'why do we only learn about men in South African history - what about the women?'
"We ended up phoning a history professor later that morning to try and find answers to her question and all this resulted in her new song De la Rey moet 'n meisie kry.
"In a nutshell the song focuses on the brave women in South Africa's history, who seldom get a mention."
Son-Isha is very excited about it all: "I just love to sing and if I can help young people to learn more about history in the process, it would be a wonderful thing."
The singer first started her career at the young age of six when her father asked her to sing at his birthday party. Soon afterwards she entered and won an international singing competition and since has performed internationally in Los Angeles, Hawaii and Seychelles.
Son-Isha told News24 that she first was introduced to Bok van Blerk's original De la Rey song when a friend played it to her. "I liked it so much, that I immediately went out to buy a copy of the CD for myself," she says.
Dropped by Radio Pretoria
Her new song became so popular that she was invited for a pre-recorded interview with Radio Pretoria. The first part of the interview was to be broadcast this Tuesday and the second half on Wednesday.
However, soon after the first broadcast, the radio station decided not to broadcast the second half, nor grant Son-Isha any more interviews in the future.
This sudden decision came as quite a shock to Son-Isha as Radio Pretoria was a firm supporter of her for the release of her first CD You're my star.
"She's only a child, you know, and she really felt hurt by it all," says Coetzee. "It's all so stupid, anyway, we don't really understand the reasoning."
According to Coetzee the station told them that one of their employees saw a photo of Son-Isha performing in a Zulu-outfit at the Voortrekker Museum, on her website.
"Son-Isha had been invited by the Voortrekkers to perform at their 75th anniversary celebration - which was a great honour for her.
"However, the radio station said, the fact that she word a traditional Zulu outfit and performed near the cenotaph went against the station policy," he said.
First live performance of hit song in Secunda
Apparently Son-Isha often performs in a Zulu-outfit and even sang two Zulu songs on her first CD. "The radio station must have known about it because they gave a lot of publicity for her first CD. Also, the Voortrekkers didn't have a problem with her wearing a Zulu-outfit and even included one of her songs on a special CD of their 75th anniversary celebration.
Luckily the bubbly Son-Isha doesn't seem to be affected by it all too much. "I just love singing and performing and I will continue doing that," she enthused.
News24 spoke to her while she was travelling to Secunda for a concert on Friday. "I'll sing three concerts on Friday to present my new CD. It will be the very first time that I'll perform the song De la Rey moet 'n meisie kry, live and I can't wait. And, yes, I will be wearing my Zulu-outfit as well," she added.
On the net:
www.son-isha.com
- News24
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