Embrace your Inner Zefness

As I’m writing this I’m listening to Die Antwoord, Waddy Jones’ (of Max Normal and Original Evergreen fame) lank hos, holla 7 alterego Ninja rapping about his tik-kop sexual fantasy “"Beat Boy": "Shaking Your Nice Boobs, I Tell You I Like You, You Feel My Piel” over an classic house, zef-rave “build-up”, cringing, shaking my head in disbelief, at the sheer genius of these characters created.

Reports of Die Antwoord being fake are grossly exaggerated. The fact is: It doesn’t matter. Expressing surprise at this “revelation” is like being shocked that David Brent of The Office is only a character and Ricky Gervais is not really the egomaniacal, foot-in-mouth retard of a boss that he plays (well…maybe that wasn’t the best example).

I digress. What I originally wanted to write about how proud I am that Die Antwoord have emerged and how grateful the country, especially its creative arts industry, should be to Waddy and his crew. This light-hearted, yet sarcastically-cutting, piss-take of your own culture is what I love about South Africa and I see the same thing in Australia, in a differing degree. It makes you reflect on the things we’re saturated with in the news every day and all the so-called “serious because the media say so” crap we’re force-fed and  being able to actually see the funny side of life. This is also a lead-on after watching Wil Anderson at the Brisbane Comedy Festival at The Powerhouse Theatre last weekend, which was equally cutting, crude and hard-hitting.

I see multimedia like Die Antwoord evolving from previous kitsch cultural commentary like Orkney Snork Nie (Waddy would probably hate me for comparing Die Antwoord to them), in South Africa, and Kath and Kim and The Castle in Oz, taken to another level, laid-over some over-the-top synth beats (“DJ Hi-Tek – take it to the next level!”, Waddy’s creatively raised consciousness and affie Cape Flats rhymes ala Brasse Vannie Kaap, interjected with a generous ladling of Yo-Landi’ Vi$$er's buttery, child-like ,but disturbingly out-of-place, crudeness. Die Antwoord are the mengelmoes poespap potjiekos opiate for the masses. They’re what fokofpolisiekar is for the angst-ridden and frustrated Afrikaans youth and what kwaito, when it first evolved in the mainstream in the early 1990s was for many suppressed young black South Africans. Personally, I can’t wait for what’s coming out next, and the fact that they’re taking it overseas is great.

We should all be able to laugh at, and embrace, our own zefness every once in a while.

Check out their fantastic Interweb site and wallow in the brilliance of it all.

Proudly Oz-African

One of the first things I've noticed, being a fresh-off-the-boat Souf Efrican in Oz, is the  number of South African companies that have opened up shop here. I get really excited about this, pointing them out to no-one in particular whilst jumping up and down like a kid outside a petshop. Yet, when I proudly enlighten Aussies of the roots of these companies I tend to get a "Oh, I didn't know that so and so was South African," usually followed by a "I also don't really give a shit...," muttered under the breath.  I guess it's not really that interesting to most people, but I think other Saffa expats know the feeling, that twinge of pride mixed with homesickness, of unexpectedly seeing something from home in a foreign location.

 Ann Street Spar, Fortitude Valley

The first time it happened was when I was walking around in our neighbourhood and spotted a Spar Supermarket (There's a friendly Spar, wherever you are!). Funnily enough, they are pretty much the same as normal Spar's in South Africa (in other words, a tad more expensive than your average supermarket chain). Of course, like most South Africans I ignorantly assumed Spar was a South African company (due to the name which means "Save" in Afrikaans) but they're actually Dutch and moved to SA in the 1960s (and Oz in the mid-80s) and have the most stores in the UK with well over 2000, compared to SA's odd 700 and Australia's 75 shops.

Brisbane is also home to Australia's two Pick 'n Pay Hypermarkets, in Sunnybank and Aspley. The Pick 'n Pay in Aspley which was established in the 80s, was,according to Wikimapia, once "the largest supermarket in the Southern Hemisphere", and is now owned by Coles.  Nice and big, just like the South African ones, where you could get lost in the myriad of neon lights, whole trolley-surfing down the white-tiled aisles and  perusing the  endless Great Wall-like shelves for hours!

Perhaps my favourite South African company in Australia (at least the one I'm most thankful for) is Nando's. Luckily, their Australian marketing is as on-the-ball and witty as their South African big brother's, with a great website and in-store advertising. I do miss the fantastic TV ads which the franchise is so famous for in South Africa and is sadly lacking here.

They've been in Oz since 1990, arriving on the Western shores just like those famous peri-peri Portuguese explorers Da Gama and Diaz did round the tip of Africa all those years ago. Their chicken is also just as tasty, and they offer the same range of scrumptious sauces and marinades here.  In fact, if I walk around in a Spar here in Brissy and am faced with a shelf-full of Nando's sauces, I could just as easily be anywhere in suburban South Africa.

Courtesy of www.evalu8.org

Sadly, if you google Nando's, the UK franchises dominate, the web which may actually fool people into erroneously believing that this salivating peri-peri chicken take-aways originated in England (or Portugal!). This proudly South African export is now in 26 countries on five continents.

The final, and perhaps most surprising South African company in Oz is those brasse "Ek en djy", or the fish company I&J! Their fish fingers can be found adorning the frozen foods section of many an Aussie supermarket today, a long cast from Charles "Ocean" Johnson and George "Driver" Irvine's humble beginnings, trawling the Cape coastline in the early 1900s. They hit the Australian market in 1997, and have since defrosted the Aussie hearts with their fantastic ad campaign starring Iron Jay, the fish-finger mad, pro wrestler, who has since built up a cult following. I&J is now the second biggest retail seafood brand in Australia.

I have a feeling that this might only be the tip of the frozen iceberg lettuce and I'll try to uncover more South African brands living large in Oz, but if you know of any, please  drop a comment!