King Koos

It would appear from the scant number of hits received that you lot don't much care about the sounds of young Liege we posted a few days ago. So in a desperate bid to curry favour, and at the risk of alienating those of you who thrive on wilful obscurity, we are going mainstream. Well, as mainstream as Afrikaans underground music gets.

Koos Kombuis is a bit of a legend as far as I am concerned. A writer/performer who is one of the founding fathers of the anti-establishment Afrikaans music scene, he first came to prominence as part of the Voëlvry movement in the 1980s. He has continued to make great music ever since.

Although he occasionally performs in English (such as on "Madiba Bay" here), most of his work is in Afrikaans. If you don't speak the language - and I am guessing most of you don't - you can still enjoy the tunes. And when you have enjoyed them, go and download a load more from Amazon, eMusic etc.

"Madiba Bay" - Koos Kombuis

"Paranoia" - Koos Kombuis

"'n Kaartjie Van Koos" (A Card From Koos) - Koos Kombuis (with Valiant Swart) 

"Lisa Se Klavier" (Lisa's Piano) - Koos Kombuis

 On "Paranoia", Koos talks about paranoia in Parow North, one of the less lovely suburbs of Cape Town. It also gave its name to Afrikaans rapper Jack Parow (who is actually from nerby Bellville). Although musically rather different from Koos, he has very much inherited the Voelvry spirit. In this little number, he bigs up the Bellville massive so to speak, proclaiming that while they may not have the money and so-called style of some of the more fashionable parts of Cape Town - and believe me if he really gets his clothes at Pep Stores as he claims he is in no danger of being mistaken for a lover of haute couture - they are ineffably cooler.

"Cooler As Ekke" (Cooler Than Me) - Jack Parow

Here's Jack.