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- Farrèll Drew, a Pietermaritzburg-born artist, prides himself on learning more South African languages.
- He believes this will help bridge the gap between people of different cultures, races and ethnicities.
- Drew's Zulu rap skills have earned him hundreds of thousands of online followers and millions of views.
KwaZulu-Natal artist Farrèll Drew is one of many South Africans who enjoy amapiano music but one of the few who can rap to DJ Maphorisa's verse on the hit song Izolo.
The 31-year old from Pietermaritzburg recently shared a video to show off his skills after his friends challenged him to a dare. The video has garnered more than 3.3 million views on video sharing app TikTok.
Drew told News24 multilingualism is part of his heritage. His mother is Indian and his father is coloured.
He said people were either shocked or pleasantly surprised when they heard him speaking Zulu to them.
He said he learnt the language at the Durban University of Technology, where he studied drama.
He added:
Drew said although he also took Zulu lessons in his second year of study, he attributed his fluency and understanding of the tone and nuances of certain words to learning them in informal settings among friends.
WATCH | Artist keeps African heritage alive, one brushstroke and illustration at a time
Drew, who also speaks Afrikaans fluently, said multilingualism should be embraced by all South Africans to have a deeper understanding and appreciation of one another.
Drew said:
Drew's fluency in Zulu has gone beyond online virality. It has inspired other Indian and mixed-race people in his circle to want to learn the language.
He believes they stand to know more than just the language.
"You get to understand the culture and imicimbi (traditional ceremonies), their significance, and why people do them," he said.
A South Africa where all citizens are multilingual is possible, according to him.
"This generation can change the narrative of how we see our cultures and multilingualism. We can build a country where any South African can speak all the languages," said Drew.
