Africa Is a Country

Meet Bittereinder

Meet Bittereinder

By
Ts'eliso Monaheng

I discovered the three-piece Afrikaans outfit Bittereinder through the internet and fell in love with them because of their live performance. Their music, a bass-heavy flurry of high-energy drops and subdued melodies, develops a different personality on stage, often in stark contrast to the studio recordings. Bleeps become filtered echoes, drum patterns change, or disappear completely. Bittereinder is Afrikaans for ‘bitter ender’. According to Wikipedia’s edited wisdom, “Bittereinders were a faction of Boer guerrilla fighters, resisting the forces of the British Empire in the later stages of the Second Boer War (1899-1902).”

Jaco Van Der Merwe, the group’s emcee, has spoken on multiple occasions of how he grew up at odds with his Afrikaner identity. He went to an English school. For a long time, he recorded exclusively in English as Ajax. For him and his bandmates – producer/vocalist Peach van Pletzen and designer/video artist Louis Minnaar – Bittereinder was a vehicle to reclaim their identity; to redefine, somewhat, what it means to them to be Afrikaner.

Their first album was released in 2010. Entitled ‘n Ware Verhaal (“A true story”), it stood apart from what noteworthy Afrikaans-rapping emcees were doing at that time, substituting Die Antwoord’s cultural appropriation with an honest exploration of their own identity, and eschewing Jack Parow‘s publicity-hungry antics for a bespoke, almost underground approach to their music-making. The album is a considered blend of Peach’s production wizardry (he also has a solo career as Yesterday’s Pupil), Louis’ striking visual identity (check out this project with his sister), and Jaco’s searing lyrics.

Jaco easily fits among the upper echelon of Afrikaans hip-hop royalty, a grand list of refined artists ranging from Jitsvinger with his glaring street poetics, to Jaak’s praiseworthy, at-times-comedic re-telling of local, national, and international stories using the most dense of Cape Flats ebonics.

He’s on a first-name basis with Toast Coetzer, the veteran journalist who also fronts the band Buckfever Underground (together they’re two-thirds of Walkie Talkie); he has two of South Africa’s most talented artists as bandmates; and collectively they put on one of the best live shows in the country. Their second album, Dinkdansmasjien (2012), takes its cue from hard-edged electronic music, something they started exploring on the first outing. The collaborations also range from genre-straddling artists like rapper Hemelbesem or this one with vocalist Chris Chameleon:

 

Further Reading

Not exactly at arm’s length

Despite South Africa’s ban on arms exports to Israel and its condemnation of Israel’s actions in Palestine, local arms companies continue to send weapons to Israel’s allies and its major arms suppliers.

Ruto’s Kenya

Since June’s anti-finance bill protests, dozens of people remain unaccounted for—a stark reminder of the Kenyan state’s long history of abductions and assassinations.

Between Harlem and home

African postcolonial cinema serves as a mirror, revealing the limits of escape—whether through migration or personal defiance—and exposing the tensions between dreams and reality.

The real Rwanda

The world is slowly opening its eyes to how Paul Kagame’s regime abuses human rights, suppresses dissent, and exploits neighboring countries.

In the shadow of Mondlane

After a historic election and on the eve of celebrating fifty years of independence, Mozambicans need to ask whether the values, symbols, and institutions created to give shape to “national unity” are still legitimate today.

À sombra de Mondlane

Depois de uma eleição histórica e em vésperas de celebrar os 50 anos de independência, os moçambicanos precisam de perguntar se os valores, símbolos e instituições criados para dar forma à “unidade nacional” ainda são legítimos hoje.