He’s the face of gatskeur Boere Pop and, more recently, Vodacom’s Player 23 Campaign. No, not Jan, it’s Robbie Wessels.

Knowing full well that his profile has never been higher, Robbie set out to make the album that would cement his position in the charts for the next two years (and maybe get him that turbo-charged Hilux he’s been yearning after).

He has a winner on his hands.

“Wat het hy wat ek nie het nie / Sy Ford is niks teen my Opel Kadett nie” sings Wessels (as a jealous suitor) on the theatrical “Stacey en Thysie”. It’s funny, it’s familiar and damn near guaranteed to bring smiles to its audience. So too are “Liewe Ouers”, a nod to starving, homesick Afrikaners in London and “Speedos and Crocs” a self-explanatory reaction to South Africa’s most disturbing vakansiedorp trend.

But for all its comic pedigree, Robbie wants to be taken seriously.

His saddest song to date, “Sein In Die Hemel” is one of several ballads to dip into the emo side of a performer much better known for laughs than tears. What if the last SMS you received from a deceased loved one wasn’t the last, he wonders. What if you could receive another… from heaven? It’s touching stuff, and thanks to these somber touches Afrika Sonsak is a well-rounded treffer trove that bears listening right through.

Having shed a tear or two and sweetening our brandy’s & cokes with some gags, Wessels is well on his way to having every Player 23 in the country on his side.