Matthew Krouse
Afrikaans television just got interesting. Or did it? This month, in a bold move, pay channel kykNET has launched five new programmes. Their quality may be uneven, but there is a lot that is intriguing and, in some cases, relevant about this fare.
Top of the list must be the 13-episode series 40 Dae deur die Delta that starts on April 23. This is a showcase for the talent and personality of songwriter and musician Valiant Swart, who travels to the Mississippi delta in the United States in search of the origin and survival of the blues.
Johan Allers directs Swart, the Brad Pittish heart-throb of alternative Afrikaans rock, as he meanders through Memphis and its outlying towns, chatting up the locals and popping in at tourist sites.
There is nothing particularly insightful in Swart’s take on what he encounters in the US blues belt. But he is adorable with his pretty, slightly battered-looking face and his mild manner.
In each episode he sings at least two of his own songs, and there is an endless line-up of bad Elvis impersonators to remind one that this is the land of the King.
At one stage, sitting among the farming community of a small town, Swart reflects on the similarity of the people he’s found to those he knows back home, and you witness what is universally common to country folk. Their unashamed cheerfulness and curiosity seem almost vulgar.
Putting his finger on it, Swart reminds us that the white citizens of the delta are the descendants of slave owners while the blacks are the descendants of their slaves. Together, of course, they are the creators of the blues.
While there is something unassuming and affable about Swart, the same cannot be said of Steve Hofmeyr who hosts Dis Hoe Dit Is met Steve. Hofmeyr is one of those people you either love or hate. If you love him, it seems, you’ve also got to love the other limp gravel-voice, Neil Diamond. At the opening of each episode Hofmeyr performs a number; in the first two they’re basically impersonations taken from a revue he’s done about Diamond’s career.
Hofmeyr should be renamed Phat Steve because, really, Dis Hoe Dit Is presents a wholly white version of the Phat Joe show. It’s formula stuff. He parades an endless line-up of lukewarm celebrities who are generally overexposed in the Afrikaans entertainment media: Eden, Cutt Glas, Lochner de Kock. Appearances more rare include Hofmeyr’s onetime bodyguard Ivan Gray and George Mazarakis, producer of Carte Blanche. Neither had anything interesting to say. Mazarakis landed up singing If I Was a Rich Man from Fiddler on the Roof one’s not sure why.
Hofmeyr’s little trick, to get right into his guests’ heads, is to hit them with questions in multiple choice. He asked members of the boy group Eden, “Choose one: orange juice or beer …” All very deep and probing. There are two things Hofmeyr is mad about: alcohol and sex.
His abrasive macho fits well with the role he plays on the Afrikaans mainstream. Somehow, the terrain would seem incomplete without his fiery presence, the archetype of Afrikaans male sex symbols.
Also on the A-list of Afrikaans chatterboxes is Casper de Vries, who continues to poke fun at South African life in the next series of Die Casper Rasper Show that begins on April 27.
On the opposite end of the spectrum kykNET has initiated a new film-development slot with Prente Sonder Sente, which incorporates the work of film students of Technikon Pretoria.
In episode one we saw a mini-feature made in 1984 called Hell for Leather that, in its day, was considered ground-breaking as far as student work went.
Well, it must be one of the more bizarre moments in film history, made with a helicopter, a light aircraft, explosions, a shark attack and the capture of a live snake. Like other local “masterpieces” of that era it was set in a banana republic with a number of lethal-looking black extras in camouflage, driving around in a jeep, shooting off Kalishnikovs.
Handy hints about the making of home movies come from film educator Gerhard Uys, and, as one can rightly expect, Prente Sonder Sente will in weeks to come present South Africa with its new generation of achievers in television and film.
Resourceful programmes that form part of this new kykNET season include the layman’s look at the human body in My Lyf (a hypochondriac’s treat) and the cooking programme Pampoen to Perlemoen, presented by former model and fabulous chef Sonja Cabiano who manages, against all odds, to make Afrikaans cuisine (pumpkin and biltong!) seem truly nouvelle.
On a dowdier note is Ratwerk, presented by newcomer Chris Vermaak. This is intended to be a youthful look at the way things work. But, if an early, rather featureless, episode about mines and minework is anything to go by, the kids you plonk in front of the television set to get an education might just decide to become drug addicts instead.
Of the programmes kykNET has launched 40 Dae deur die Delta stands out as something of an achievement, taking Afrikaans culture out of its ghetto and into the big, wide world.
The details
Prente Sonder Sente:Tuesdays, 6pm
My Lyf:Tuesdays, 9pm
Pampoen tot Perlemoen:
Wednesdays, 6.30pm
Ratwerk: Wednesdays, 9pm
Dis Hoe Dit Is met Steve:
Fridays, 8pm
40 Dae deur die Delta:
Tuesdays, 7.30pm
Die Casper Rasper Show:
Saturdays, 7.30pm
For more information see www.kyknet.co.za/