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Jak de Priester - Stellenbosch Lovesong

Jak de Priester is not the messiah of innovative Afrikaans music. But he is a front runner when it comes to bringing Afrikaanse musiek to the masses. He achieves this with his lyrics. By singing about every day things such as bad breath, dog poo, fudge and your local SPAR he speaks to everyone…well, to the lowest common denominator at least.

He kicks off the CD with this nugget: “In die oggend as ek opstaan | Ruik my asem net soos joune | Dis nie lekker om te weet nie, maar dis waar”. Later in the same song, “’n Helder Sonskyn Dag” he says: “En dis aantrek en dis uitrek en dis toilet toe en dis pap eet...” Who wouldn’t relate to such situational comedy? Especially, when such lyrics are underscored by wacky upbeat hillbilly guitars. Pity that on some of the other songs the comedy doesn’t work as well. In soppy slow dance love song “’n Mond vol fudge” the slapstick words clash with a sombre piano and guitar melody. Just pop this in your mouth: “Jou mond was swart van toffies en jy’t gepraat terwyl jy eet | My oë was soos ‘n naelstring aan jou vas | En toe koop jy vir my fudge by die naaste Super SPAR.”

Despite such lyrical flourishes, the theme of the album is pretty much straight forward. It’s all about love: falling in love, holiday flings and random horny moments. The music is mostly slow-paced; basically 80 percent are standard love songs. There are a few Bryan Adams flashbacks where guitar solos rule the refrain. But even channelling Bryan Adams can’t save Jak de Priester’s album from sounding a little like cabaret music. “Ai Britney” and “Rock & Roll Waitress” are good examples.

In the end, the album is a bit like ‘’n mond vol fudge’. It is sweet but too much of it can leave you feeling slightly nauseous.

- Annél Malan

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