A usual Sunday typically means doing absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. Sleeping in, cooking an English breakfast and watching silly television shows, all day long. But this Sunday was no normal one. I was on a mission. The mission was simple. Be at the Voortrekker Monument for another awesome Park Acoustics event.
HeyBangDead probably got on stage as I parked my car. Busses took us all the way up from the Voortrekker Monument to Fort Klapperkop. The wait for one of the two busses was long – too long and the only disappointing matter of the day, apart from the comedy show later the day – and we were just in time to catch their last time.
Comprising of Tom Quinn (vox and guitar), Jethro Lock (bass, backing vox) and Tim Edwards (drums and backing vox) started their journey as a band in their hometown, Port Elizabeth. Creating a distinctive sound that includes reggae, indie, jazz, ska, blues and rock, they reminded me of 340ml. The songs generally build into a dance section that has the potential to bring the crowd to their feet. This was Park Acoustics though, and it was 11AM. HeyBangDead nonetheless made an impact.
A blues/rock driven outfit from Pretoria got on stage. Bark, not often seen on stage, made for sleek, tight indie blues-rock. Fans were delighted to see the two brothers, Emile Swiegers (vocals/guitar) and Jean Swiegers (drums, ex-Tuindwergies) and Franx (bass). They have a very relaxing feel about themselves, but not to be underestimated. Their set changed dynamically from soft blues tunes to gutsy rock-n-roll and felt all too short – perhaps due to some sound feedback on stage or perhaps because I just enjoyed it so much.
The next act took their time to do their sound check. I haven’t heard these guys before so I was eager to see them. They sneakily put up a sign that read in capital letters, “MANOUCHE”, in front of the stage. “How do you pronounce it?” I heard many people ask. We found out when they introduced themselves as ‘man-oush’ which is French for ‘gypsy jazz’. And this is exactly what they do. Anneli Thandeka Kamfer (vox), Diana Neille (violin), Bernard Kotze (guitar) and Sarah Blake (double bass) all from Stellenbosch, entertained us with their brilliant vocal and instrumental skills and took us from the all-time jazz classic ‘Summertime’ (their opening song) to off-the-cuff Afrikaans hip hop and back.
I pondered about the lack of drums for a while and initially felt drums may have rounded off their sound. But the truth is that they need no drums. Kotze’s acoustic guitar gives that old washboard feel to the sound much like in the ‘ol blues days when it was used to keep rhythm. They create further rhythms collectively as the double bass plucks the rhythmic patterns and the violin drives the melody line. Even though their set was flawless and got the crowd moving I got slightly impatient with the similarity of their arrangements and eventually felt their set dragged on too long.
Next up, Gerald Clark who promised to end his show with “a bang”. I’m always in the mood for good blues, in this case folk blues. Clark started the set off with a solo performance. Stripping it down to the bone, Gerald’s acoustic performance changed the atmosphere, making the Park Acoustics event more intimate. Gerald was soon joined by Karen Zoid’s band members (Henry Steel Jnr (guitar), Schalk van der Merwe (bass) and Tim Rankin (drums) to deliver a great set, changing the feel of the set into exciting folk/rock sounds. Introducing “Die Dink-Dans-Masjien”, Jaco van der Merwe (from Bittereinder), towards the end of the show to do a few rap songs and to collaborate on Clark’s song “I Don’t Want to Work No More” transformed the set into a modern take on folk blues.
Now I haven’t seen Zoid perform in years and she started with some of her older tunes like ‘Ek Soek Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and throughout her set played the older favourites like ‘Afrikaners is Plesierig’. Zoid’s vocals and performance have matured over the years and she knew how to keep the crowd in the palm of her hand. She was entertaining. She was funny. She played a mean guitar. She rocked. She had the crowd on their feet, singing along with her and at times without her to became an extension of Zoid. Zoid and the band were as tight as hell and her AC/DC mash-up as an encore ended their set, and the day, on a high.
