NORTHAM, SOUTH AFRICA 10 August 2009: South African rock group Fokofpolisier performs at the Oppikoppi Smoorverlief festival in Northam. Thousands of people attended this years Oppikoppi festival. Photo by Gallo Images/Foto24/Cornel van Heerden)
Image Credits: Gallo Images
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In 2003, Afrikaans punk rock band fokofpolisiekar revolutionised the South African music scene. Disillusioned with conservative Calvinism which was so deeply ingrained in Afrikaans culture and not afraid to question the Afrikaner identity associated with Apartheid, the band gave a jaded generation a new identity.
Their documentary, Fokofpolisiekar: Forgive Them for They Know Not What They Do was first released in 2009 and won the Audience Award at Encounters Documentary Festival that year. It is currently running on ShowMax and rumour has it, the band is due to release a new album later this year.
Directed by Bryan Little, who later went on to direct U2's music video for This Is Where You Can Reach Me Now. His documentary, African Cypher, won both the Encounters audience award and the Durban International Film Festival jury prize. Wim Steytler, who worked as editor on the documentary, has made the switched to director and has won the CFP-E/Shots Young Director Award at Cannes Lions in 2014.
But even six years after its release, the documentary is still pertinent. Just as the lyric in their title track from their debut album says: En nou's dit ses jaar later // En soms voel als nogsteeds dieselfde .
The documentary explores, amongst other things, how fokof jolted a subculture of young, white South Africans who were as disillusioned with the church, Apartheid and Afrikaner as they were into rebelling against their values. It also offers some insight into the whirlwind rise of a band who was never even supposed to get radio play considering their apparently offensive name.
The documentary asks serious questions about just how obsessed Afrikaner (and to an extent, Afrikaans) culture still is with the church, underscored by the incident involving bassist Wynand Myburgh - writing Fuck God on singer Bobby van Jaarsveld's brother's wallet. It made the pages of Afrikaans dailies several times over and ignited a debate about the value of freedom of speech from some members of the church.
Would an incident like this even have been a footnote in European countries? Probably not. That small incident and the subsequent snowball effect, then, underscores the influence the band had on the ideals their music set out to question.
What the documentary lacks, though, is a more acute exploration of the deeply self-destructive spiral some of the members fell into.
Drummer Snake jumping out of a moving car, breaking his arm and a temp drummer having to be brought in for a recording is featured, but it rarely ventures deep into the challenges that came with being thrown into the limelight.
The film is also dated slightly by the lack of a deeper examination of the band being open to misinterpretation (their words).
At times during their journey, they were misinterpreted and not just by the systems they were fighting against. As they grew in popularity and attracted a more mainstream audience (often those same rugby-playing, box-ticking sheep that attracted more than a few mentions in the lyrics) gigs which once felt like a sanctuary sometimes felt hostile. Also absent is the broader debate on who might identify as an Afrikaner, a debate that is becoming increasingly poignant.
Of course, these considerations are all in hindsight. And what fokof managed to achieve still remains one of the most extraordinary things in the South African music industry.
To this day, they have no contemporaries. While many other Afrikaans rock bands drew inspiration from Die Bende, no one else has so far managed to replicate the success or relevance.
And if you ever wondered how it all happened, or you want a flashback to your pissed off and bloodied up mosh pit days, this is a good start.
What the critics said in 2009:
Will literally blow fans away. It's a socio-political time capsule that will make an even more interesting retrospective 20 years from now. If you're a South African and you like rock music, it's a must-see. Spling
For rock n roll voyeurs, it's priceless viewing A landmark. Channel24
Captures the way the controversial band gave voice to a generation of young Afrikaners disillusioned with the church, the state and their Apartheid heritage. The Callsheet
For fans of the band, this is the holy grail. IMDB review
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NORTHAM, SOUTH AFRICA 10 August 2009: South African rock group Fokofpolisier performs at the Oppikoppi Smoorverlief festival in Northam. Thousands of people attended this years Oppikoppi festival. Photo by Gallo Images/Foto24/Cornel van Heerden)
