The Voëlvry movement () in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

was genre of

anti-apartheid music The apartheid regime in South Africa began in 1948 and lasted until 1994. It involved a system of institutionalized racial segregation and white supremacy, and placed all political power in the hands of a white minority. Opposition to apart ...

sung in

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

. The term Voëlvry means both "free as a bird" and "outlaw". This movement has been said to have started on April 4, 1989 in Johannesburg in a packed club. This marked the beginning of what some have called a ''

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

uprising''. The Voëlvry movement used music in the

language to show pride. The movement focused on Afrikaner youth. The main goal of the movement was to get Afrikaner youth to see the changes that had to occur in the “authoritarian, patriarchal culture”.

History

South Africa lived under

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

—the separations of race enforced by law. The non-white race were barred from political office or even removed from the country. Uprising and protests increased in number and lead to major anti-apartheid movements. One of these movements, in 1989, was called the Voëlvry movement. The Voëlvry movement started in the 1980s with the opening of Shifty Mobile Recording Studio. Started by Lloyd Ross, this company began playing Afrikaans rock music, but it was too early for wide acceptance. Shifty Records asked three major questions when looking at music to accept: is it original? Does music have quality? And does it allow for growth in South Africa’s music development? This lead Ross to allow music that was angry and music that directly sang in response to Apartheid. Ross was quoted saying, “But I am not a movement type of guy and never joined any political party or organization. What fascinated me was the culture coming out of it. That’s what I wanted to capture”. Ralph Rabie, under the stage name

Johannes Kerkorrel Johannes Kerkorrel (27 March 1960 – 12 November 2002), born Ralph John Rabie, was a South African singer-songwriter, journalist and playwright. Career Rabie, who was born in Johannesburg, worked as a journalist for the Afrikaans newspapers '' ...

, was a major force in the movement. Rabie used this name as a stage name to mock the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

. (Johannes Kerkorrel is the trademark of a Dutch organ.) Other musicians, such as

Koos Kombuis Koos Kombuis (born ''André le Roux du Toit'', 5 November 1954) is a South African musician, singer, songwriter and writer who became famous as part of a group of anti-establishment maverick Afrikaans musicians, who, under the collective name ...

, James Phillips, (also performing under the name

Bernoldus Niemand James Phillips (22 January 1959 – 31 July 1995) was a South African rock vocalist, songwriter, and performer. He was best known for his rebellious and satirical political music that spoke out against the South African government during Apa ...

), and Karla Krimpelien were prominent in the movement.

Concerts: The tour

The tour focused on getting South African youth to understand issues going on in the government. Major surveillance and threats from police sparked trouble at the beginning of the tour. This created issues over suitable venues to host the tour. The tour tried to get into University venues, but was banned from most and not allowed to perform because of the “offensive language by the bands ran counter to the refined art of academic debate.” Instead, the tour played in abandoned buildings. During the tour, media coverage was negative. The media claimed that the tour's song lyrics were naïve. Kerkorrel later said that, “They obviously don’t realize that our whole idea is to write naïve lyrics. We are liberating the language. If you can make a language into rock and roll, it can’t be an oppressive language anymore.” The musicians used rock and roll music to represent traditional Afrikaans songs and symbols. Songs in the movement portrayed basic symbols that were important in South Africa—re-purposing them to represent their message. For example, in the song, Ossewa (oxwagon), the standard symbol of the oxwagon was changed to a car and helped to lead Afrikaners out of political turmoil and into the future.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:The Voelvry Movement South African styles of music