Johannes Kerkorrel

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Johannes Kerkorrel (born March 27, 1960 in Johannesburg ; † November 12, 2002 in Kleinmond ; real name Ralph John Rabie; as stage name also Johnny K and Johannes ) was a South African singer, journalist, stage actor and playwright .

Life

Rabie was born in Johannesburg. His father Koos Rabie was an engineer in a coal power plant of Eskom , his mother Annie housewife. Ralph John Rabie grew up in a traditional household. When he was eight he got a piano. As a schoolboy he appeared in public as a musician. Because of his father's activities, the family moved several times to different cities in the Transvaal until Rabie finally did his matric at Sasolburg High School in 1977 . In 1978 he began studying industrial psychology and journalism at Potchefstroom University . He married in 1980, and the following year he earned an honors degree in English literature from the University of Cape Town . In 1982 he was drafted into the South African Defense Force for two years of military service. In 1983 his son was born.

After completing his military service, he worked as a journalist for the Afrikaans-language weekly newspaper Rapport . In 1986, while apartheid was at its height under the government of the National Party under President Pieter Willem Botha , Rabie began doing political cabaret at art festivals under his new stage name ( kerkorrel is the Afrikaans word for church organ ) . In 1987 Rabie was fired from Rapport for using quotes from Botha's speeches in his music. He began to compose and perform full-time with his band Johannes Kerkorrel en the Gereformeerde Blues Band (Johannes Kerkorrel and the Reformed Blues Band - the band name ironically refers to the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa ). Also a member of the band was the African chansonnier Koos Kombuis . This new style of Afrikaans-language music became known as alternatiewe Afrikaans (alternative Afrikaans-language music) - it gave a new generation of Boers an awareness of different political opinions. At the same time Kerkorrel separated from his wife.

In 1989 the Gereformeerde Blues Band released the album Eet Kreef! ( Eat lobsters ! ) At the Shifty Records music label . Six of the nine tracks were not allowed to be played on state radio and television , but the album was still commercially successful. After that, the band toured, supported by the alternative Afrikaans weekly vrye weekblad , by universities and joined art festivals on. This tour was called Voëlvry ( outlawed ). Rabie's controversial reorientation in Afrikaans-speaking pop music was therefore referred to as the “Voëlvry movement”. The conservative secret society Afrikaner Broederbond in particular tried to prevent the movement from giving concerts.

In 1990 Kerkorrel's most commercially successful album, Bloudruk , was released. In the texts he formulated his wishes for a new, social South Africa. In the song Vir 'n Wit Mynwerker , Kerkorrels sings about his friend Carol-Brink Steenkamp. The album was partially panned. At times Kerkorrel called himself Johnny K. In 1990 he visited Amsterdam for the first time . After an appearance at the Dranouter Festival in Belgium, the song Hillbrow from the album Eet Kreef! a hit in Belgium . Then Kerkorrel began a solo tour. In the following years he had significant success in Belgium and the Netherlands . He spent a lot of time in Belgium, making friends with Stef Bos , a Dutch cabaret artist, and performing with him. In 1992 he took legal action against the author Koos Prinsloo because he recognized himself in his book Slagplaas as a homosexual artist whose friend - like Steenkamp before - had hanged himself.

In 1994 Kerkorrel performed the song Halala Africa at the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela . In the same year the album Cyanide in the Beefcake was released, which for the first time contained some English-language songs, including River of Love about the suicide Steenkamps. In his 1995 album Ge-trans-for-meer he wrote the folk song Al lê die Berge nog so blou into a love song between two men. From 1997 he called himself Johannes. In 1999 he sang President Thabo Mbeki's inauguration in front of around 100,000 people. Also in 1999 he appeared as a stage actor in the play Johnny Cockroach (A Lament of Our Times) , the text of which Breyten Breytenbach had written especially for him.

death

Rabie hanged himself on November 12, 2002 in Kleinmond , near Hermanus on the Western Cape coast . He left behind his longtime homosexual partner, as well as his ex-wife and a son.

Awards

  • 1995 SAMA - Best Pop Music Album for Cyanide in the Beefcake
  • 1997 SAMA - Best male singer and best adult contemporary album in Afrikaans for Ge-trans-for-meer
  • 2001 Geraas - Best pop music album and best adaptation of Die Ander Kant
  • 2013 SAMA - Award for Lifetime Achievement Award (posthumous)

Discography

  • Eet Kreef! (1989)
  • Bloudruk (1992)
  • Cyanide in the Beefcake (1994)
  • Ge-trans-for-meer (1996)
  • Tien Jaar Later (1998)
  • Johannes Sing Koos du Plessis (1999)
  • The Ander Kant (2000)
  • Voëlvry The Toer (2002)
  • Kerkorrel - Best Of: Pêrels Voor Die Swyne (2003)
  • Hoe Ek Voel (2012) - published on the tenth anniversary of Rabie's death

Appreciations

After Rabie's death, various artists made recordings to honor his life and work, including:

Cover versions

Many cover versions of Rabie's music were made, including:

Movies

  • Who Killed Johannes Kerkorrel? Documentary, South Africa, 2011.

literature

  • Leswin Laubscher: Afrikaner identity and the music of Johannes Kerkorrel . In: Psychological Society of South Africa (Ed.): South African Journal of Psychology . 35, No. 2, 2005, pp. 308-330. Retrieved April 21, 2013. “As old identity verities are dislodged, post-apartheid South Africa is witness to dramatic identitary flux. This study examines Afrikaner identity and particularly that of the generational cohort who witnessed the end of apartheid as young adults. Employing a hermeneutic semiology, the study provides a reading of Johannes Kerkorrel's music, arguing that, as cultural text, it enacts identitary discourse and tension. As such, several identitary moments and motifs are noted across a period of roughly 20 years, including that of identity as rebellion, location and individualizing interiority. Finally, it is suggested that the law-of-the-father, as apartheid bequest, organizes and animates identity struggles for this generation. "
  • Martina Viljoen: Johannes Kerkorrel en postapartheid-Afrikaneridentiteit ( Afrikaans ) November 1, 2005. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  • Pat Hopkins: Voëlvry the movement that rocked South Africa . Zebra Press, Cape Town 2006, ISBN 9781770071209 (Retrieved April 21, 2013).
  • Hendrik Michael Grobler Uys: A Psychobiographical Study of Ralph John Rabie. Master's thesis at the University of the Nelson Mandela Metropolis , 2010. Digitized version (PDF)
  • Johannes Kerkorrel ( Afrikaans ) roekeloos.co.za. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  • Music Artists: Johannes Kerkorrel . Entertainmentafrica Mobile. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved on April 21, 2013.
  • Voëlvry . Shifty. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved on April 22, 2013: “Ralph Rabie, who was at that time a journalist on an Afrikaans paper, went down to Cape Town to interview André when Vêr van die ou Kalahari was released. There was a meeting of minds which eventually led to both of them playing in the first incarnation of the Gereformeerde Blues Band. A short while later, André left to forge a solo career as Koos Kombuis, while Ralph, by then known as Johannes Kerkorrel, went on to record the seminal Eet Kreef album with the remaining members of the GBB. Both artists featured on the Voëlvry compilation, which came out around this time. "
  • Johannes Kerkorrel & GBB . Shifty. Retrieved April 22, 2013: “Slashing their way out of the Nationalist Party ideology, the GBB charted the wide open spaces of a new Afrikaner rebellion. This time the insurrection was a musical one, with the GBB as rock & roll outlaws slinging guitars and stinging criticism against the laager mentality of volks kultuur and the apartheid way of life. Moving conventional rock into the realm of political theater and satire as successfully as they did proved that if the GBB were to be seen as cultural upstarts, they were upstarts with a vision both innovative and lucid that could not be ignored. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e 'Dylan' of Afrikaans rock dies . SouthAfrica.info. November 13, 2002. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 20, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.southafrica.info
  2. ↑ a b c d Robyn Sassen: Just Another Day in Africa: In no-man's land I got lost . January 15, 2003. Retrieved November 13, 2007.
  3. ↑ Hendrik Michael Grobler Uys: A Psychobiographical Study of Ralph John Rabie. Master's thesis at the University of the Nelson Mandela Metropolis , 2010. Digitized version (PDF), p. 35. ( Memento from January 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ a b Hendrik Michael Grobler Uys: A Psychobiographical Study of Ralph John Rabie. Master's thesis at the University of the Nelson Mandela Metropolis , 2010. Digitized version (PDF), p. 40. ( Memento from January 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Portrait of Kerkorrel at entertainmentafrica.mobi ( memento from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (English), accessed on January 1, 2014
  6. ↑ Hendrik Michael Grobler Uys: A Psychobiographical Study of Ralph John Rabie. Master's thesis at the University of the Nelson Mandela Metropolis , 2010. Digitized version (PDF), p. 43. ( Memento from January 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Hendrik Michael Grobler Uys: A Psychobiographical Study of Ralph John Rabie. Master's thesis at the University of the Nelson Mandela Metropolis , 2010. Digitized version (PDF), p. 46. ( Memento from January 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ a b Hendrik Michael Grobler Uys: A Psychobiographical Study of Ralph John Rabie. Master's thesis at the University of the Nelson Mandela Metropolis , 2010. Digitized version (PDF), p. 49. ( Memento from January 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ^ Pieter Redelinghuys: Kerkorrel commits suicide . In: News24 , November 12, 2002. Retrieved April 22, 2013. 
  10. ↑ Remembering Kerkorrel . In: Mail & Guardian , November 13, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2013. 
  11. ↑ Jacob Rooi: 'I'm sorry mom' . In: Rapport , November 17, 2002. Retrieved April 21, 2013. 
  12. ↑ 'Who killed Kerkorrel?' . In: News24 , August 25, 2005. Retrieved April 20, 2013. 
  13. ^ The long road ahead . In: Mail & Guardian , May 2, 1997. Retrieved April 21, 2013. 
  14. ↑ Mariana Malan: First Geraas award ceremony . In: Die Burger Wes , November 6, 2001. Retrieved April 21, 2013. 
  15. ^ Music veterans to be honored at SA Music Awards . In: Mail & Guardian , April 3, 2013. Retrieved April 21, 2013. 
  16. ^ Charles Leonard: Johannes Kerkorrel: The wise fool who left the fray . In: Mail & Guardian , May 10, 2013. Retrieved May 13, 2013. 
  17. ↑ The 10-jaar herdenking van Johannes Kerkorrel se dood . yes.fm. November 8, 2012. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Kerkorrel, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rabie, Ralph John (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African singer and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Johannesburg , South Africa
DATE OF DEATH November 12, 2002
Place of death Kleinmond , South Africa