You have
accessed the official homepage of the Brixton Moord & Roof Orkes.
Directly translated from Afrikaans, this means "Brixton Murder &
Robbery Band".
"Brixton"
here does not refer to the Brixton in London, but to a suburb of
Johannesburg, South Africa. The name of the band refers to a notorious
police unit (now disbanded), that was stationed in the suburb.
The Brixton Tower
- one of Johannesburg's landmarks.
The four members of the band, Drikus (Brixton) Barnard (on bass and
vocals), Ockert (Murder) Greeff (on drums and brandy), Kapelaan Pat Plank
(lead guitar) and Andries
(Robbery) Bezuidenhout (on guitar and vocals) all live in Brixton.
The
band plays a style of music sometimes referred to as "alternative
Afrikaans music". The label "alternative" has become
problematic though. Originally it referred to a group of Afrikaans
musicians who, in the 1980s, used their music to criticize the apartheid
establishment through their satirical lyrics. The most prominent of these
artists were Johannes Kerkorrel, André Letoit (later known as Koos
Kombuis), and Bernoldus Niemand (pseudonym for James Phillips, one of
South Africa's most brilliant rock musicians).
This
movement opened up the space for young Afrikaans artists to explore a
variety of musical styles - including industrial, different styles of
techno, rap, jazz, etc. Hence, since the 1990s, the distinction between
"mainstream" and "alternative" Afrikaans music has
become an arbitrary one.
The
collapse of the apartheid state has enabled the socially
engaged songwriter to explore a new range of exciting topics - hence, the
tradition of the "alternative Afrikaans" movement still
continues, but in the context of a post-apartheid society - one that is
different from the past, but unfortunately also with striking similarities... The
Brixton Moord & Roof Orkes attempts to explore some of these themes
without losing the sense of humour required to survive in South Africa.
There
is a link on the CD page to oneworld.co.za,
an online CD shop for South African music. You can sample some of the
band's music from there, as well as a whole range of music produced by
other South African artists.
Read
more about the band in English on the media
page.
