Boere Music, Afrikaans... and Paris

Those of us in the Paris, France, region of South Africa will have to be forgiven our ignorance. Especially when it comes to matters like discussions of Boere Music, or Boeremusiek, or whatever it's called (we speak a very curious Afrikaans argot in this arrondissement).

And because our Afrikaans is so lacking, up here in Johannesburg's northernmost suburbs, we worry sometimes. We worry that we're missing nuances, or that we're not currently right in the thick of what's left of the argument over Bok van Blerk and "De La Rey." (Even if that discussion seems a little overwrought to our Southern South African comrades, we here in Paris love to sit around Les Deux Magots and discuss the finer details.)

But in our effort to inform ourselves, we came across a pretty extraordinary piece of work by Andries ''Roof'' Bezuidenhout, on SA's own LitNet Vryepoort. It's a lively, lengthy article that makes a tremendous effort at putting "De La Rey" and conteporary music in Afrikaans in context. We need that up here in Paris, frankly.

So we're adding a link to this article in here, in hopes of stimulating a small and civilized but lively discussion. And note that it even has footnotes, which means it must be good. (We Parisian philosophes love a laundry list's worth of footnotes. It makes us feel — how do you say it in Afrikaans? — tres existentialiste?