Never one to shy away from using her place as a champion of good causes for South Africa, singer and songwriter Karen Zoid is as lyrically ripe as she is melodically ready to welcome a wave of good fortune, envy and increased popularity after the recent release of her second album, Chasing the Sun. With her wild stage antics, her defiant lyrics and rock-doused attitude, Zoid is giving Afrikaans music a new pop identity. Adding a feminine touch to the angst of Valiant Swart and Koos Kombuis, she has been called the leader of a new generation of Afrikaans music. That she has broken the mould of what traditionally constitutes Afrikaans music may be true, but her role of leader is not a premeditated one. “I don’t have a mission,” says Zoid. “I just want to find the balance between what’s relevant, what’s real and what makes me happy.” This attitude has seen her become the voice of a younger, and a young-at-heart, generation, and a role model for South Africans of all persuasions.Backed by her debut album’s sales of 18 000 and an equal amount of socially aware fans, she is preparing to influence positive change for a second time. Part of that strength comes from the rules and traditionalism within the Afrikaans community that Zoid grew up hating. “When I was younger I found it all very irritating, but now I see it gave me confidence to deal with people. After all, life is all about people.”With the hit singles Southern Skies and her rendition of Afrikaners Is Plesierig, both from her 2001 debut Poles Apart, this unlikely and at times unassuming time bomb has been ticking louder and louder as her audience has been growing. Her lyrics stir up a love/hate response from the public.
“This music thing is very emotional,” she says. “It’s weird to see the effect people have to my being on stage and playing my music.”As the youngest and certainly the funkiest of the more recent inductees into the South African music scene, Zoid has been using every opportunity afforded to her. From high-school rugby fields in Kimberley to pokey Cape Town nightclubs, she has played out her mantra to all who would listen. With Chasing the Sun in hand and a recent mini tour of the country paid for by Levi’s Strauss, local is looking more than lekker, even if the funds come from the United States. Levi’s realised (before any local sponsors, mind you) that there are loads of cash to be made in this sector of our nation of rainbows and is staking its claim in this potential export. Today artists the calibre of Zoid can get on planes and head for Europe and get paying gigs on the premise that they are South African. Not 10 years ago equally talented artists were turned away for the same reason. Locals are more likely to catch a Zoid gig in Ireland before experiencing the new material locally. “Our tours in July and October are helped by the fact that we are South African,” says Zoid. “It’s also helped by the fact that there are so many South Africans living in Europe, England and Australia. The long-term plan and vision for us is to crack those markets, as all artists want, I suppose. “I figure if the Russians [tATu] can crack it, then fuck it, we can too!” she adds. “We’re still struggling as a country to decide what it is that we should present to the world as indicative of what and who we are. Even though I enjoy Johnny Clegg and PJ Powers, I don’t think they are the ones who are going to cut it internationally any more, even though I like them both. What they did was critical in the sense that the result of their ‘struggle to be heard’ affords me the opportunity to be heard overseas today.”Zoid has had a fair share of negative retorts from those who dislike her stance, political or otherwise. “I’m into globalisation as much as I am anti [Robert] Mugabe,” she says. “As excited as I am about being a South African and the support my music receives, I am as afraid of what is happening here. We condone atrocities mere hours away from a city like Jo’burg with its First Word value system, while offering humanitarian aid to butchers like the Zim government — that is some scary shit! We need to make it our business to make our government accountable. If we don’t, what chance do we have of ever realising our true potential as a nation?”Zoid’s new disc came together less organically than Poles Apart, because she was given more time and latitude by her record company. With that new-found freedom she decided to head out to Ermelo with her band to lay down the basis of Chasing the Sun. “We started recording in Ermelo and ended up in Sandton,” Zoid laughs. “Two songs from the ill-fated Ermelo sessions made it on to the new album,” she says. “Both are acoustic tracks and both were recorded live. The balance of our time was spent in pre-production, so it worked out well in hindsight. The guy we worked with [Andrew Roos] is mad. He’s 40 and lives with his mom and dad. His mom would make ginger beer and cook up a storm. He turned his parents’ house into a fully-fledged studio. The vibe was great and a lot of great material came out of those sessions, but Sandton and the city were necessary to compartmentalise and make sense of it all. A marriage of small town meets big city, if you like.”Zoid’s unadulterated love for the rock genre is evident. For her, rock’n’roll is a means of self-expression. She feels it is important for people to be educated to express themselves beyond their physical needs. “The spiritual and intellectual side needs exploring and stimulating,” Zoid concludes. “Rock teaches people to express themselves. That’s why Elvis is the king. He went out on a limb to express himself through his music. Today all those people who were against him are now converted. “Like good wine or a cold beer, like the sun rising, rock is timeless. It will never go out of fashion. The things rock musicians said and the clothes they wore might, but the music never will.”