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Afrikaner Music and Identity Politics in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Bok van Blerk and the De la Rey Phenomenon

Afrikaner Music and Identity Politics in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Bok van Blerk and the De la Rey Phenomenon

P. Eric Louw
Copyright: © 2017 |Pages: 20
ISBN13: 9781522519867|ISBN10: 1522519866|EISBN13: 9781522519874
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-1986-7.ch005
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MLA

Louw, P. Eric. "Afrikaner Music and Identity Politics in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Bok van Blerk and the De la Rey Phenomenon." Music as a Platform for Political Communication, edited by Uche T. Onyebadi, IGI Global, 2017, pp. 89-108. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1986-7.ch005

APA

Louw, P. E. (2017). Afrikaner Music and Identity Politics in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Bok van Blerk and the De la Rey Phenomenon. In U. Onyebadi (Ed.), Music as a Platform for Political Communication (pp. 89-108). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1986-7.ch005

Chicago

Louw, P. Eric. "Afrikaner Music and Identity Politics in Post-Apartheid South Africa: Bok van Blerk and the De la Rey Phenomenon." In Music as a Platform for Political Communication, edited by Uche T. Onyebadi, 89-108. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2017. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-1986-7.ch005

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Abstract

A song about a Boer War general, released in 2006, stirred controversy in South Africa by triggering a gearshift amongst Afrikaners towards re-engaging in the political process. The song “De la Rey”, which became a popular South African hit, captured the alienation many Afrikaners felt at having become a politically marginalized and disempowered ethnic minority within a state where Black Nationalism had become the dominant discourse. The song triggered the De la Rey phenomenon in which Afrikaners became once more politically assertive, following a decade in which this community had been politically dormant. Afrikaners took to singing “De la Rey” as a sort of ‘national anthem' when they gathered in sports stadiums, BBQs, pubs and parties. Twelve months after “De la Rey” was released, the South African government expressed concern the song could become “a rallying point for treason”. The De la Rey phenomenon offers an excellent fulcrum to consider how music can provide a platform for political messages which have consequences for the political process.

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