April Who’s Fooling Who?

Our April Who’s Fooling Who mixtape focuses on South Africa songs which in some way or another reflect the theme of ‘fooling’. In some songs musicians set out to make fun of others, usually through satire or parody, while on occasions they humorously simply fool around, often in the form of novelty songs which they hope will amuse the audience in some way or another. There are cases where musicians simply make fools of themselves, most often without meaning to, by releasing a song which audiences think is simply cringe-inducing.

Stimela kick off this mixtape with “Who Is Fooling You”, a song which warns people that those who laugh at others as part of their attempt to control them, calling them fools, could in the end be the ones who are laughed at. On this mixtape some musicians have used their songs to poke fun at stupidity, using laughter as a weapon, for example Roger Lucey’s response to Jacob Zuma refusing the Dalai Lama a travel visa so that he could attend Desmond Tutu’s birthday celebrations. The Gereformeerde Blues Band change the words of a Christian hymn to poke fun at and criticize apartheid-era State President, PW Botha, while the Kalahari Surfers point out the foolishness of the extreme arguments made by Christians spouting ideas about backwards masking making people do things they don’t want to do, such as taking drugs. The Aeroplanes make fun of the majority of white South African males in the 1980s, who ended up expressing their individuality in the same foolhardy ways.

The Happy Ships have fun hooting about with “Car Hooter” while in “Country And Western” Matthew van der Want and Chris Letcher make fun of rival South African bands and of themselves. As for the rest, well … whether a song is regarded as a clever or fun novelty song or as a cringe-inducing or offensive failure, is in part a subjective process. Most of these songs fit in their in some way or another. They should all bring a smile (at least intellectually) or grimace to your face, but whatever you think of these songs, we will leave it up to you decide who’s fooling and who’s being fooled.

  1. Who Is Fooling You? – Stimela
  2. Car Hooter – Happy Ships
  3. Country And Western – Matthew van der Want & Chris Letcher
  4. Nik Nik Nah – Nik Nik Nah Band
  5. It’s Amazing – Pocket Lips
  6. I Like – John Ireland
  7. Play It Backwards – Kalahari Surfers
  8. Wat ’n Vriend Het Ons In PW – Gereformeerde Blues Band
  9. Stay In Grahamstown – Daniel Friedman
  10. My Broken Heart – Bernoldus Niemand
  11. South African Male – The Aeroplanes
  12. Dalai Lama – Roger Lucey
  13. Susannah Van Agulhas – Koos Kombuis
  14. Fatman And Bobin – The Bats
  15. No Way – BJ and the Koek Sisters
  16. Strip Tea – Glenda Kemp
  17. Da Da Da – Amanda Strydom
  18. Ek Soek Die Lekker Ding – Oom Hansie
  19. Bloemfontein Blues – David Kramer

More Music from Makhanda

In our previous mixtape we featured music by musicians who at some point or other have lived in Grahamstown/Makhanda. This time around we focus on songs about Grahamstown, some of which are performed by musicians included in that mixtape. All the songs included here were recorded before Grahamstown became Makhanda, and so we stick with that name when mentioning the place the musicians refer to. Most of the songs (some of them instrumentals) refer to the town in general, including several which are named after the town itself.

Two of the instrumental pieces – David Goldblum’s “New Street” and Nishlyn Ramanna’s “Oatland Road Blues” evidently refer to Grahamstown street names while two of the songs –Barry Gilder’s “Makhanda’s Song” and Roger Lucey’s “You Only Need Say Nothing” relate to the political history of the town. Gilder’s song explores the story of Makhanda himself while Roger Lucey’s song touches on various aspects of the struggle around apartheid, including the fact that Peter Jones was detained in Grahamstown after he and Steve Biko were arrested at a roadblock outside the town in 1977.

The Fishwives and Daniel Friedman (Deep Fried Man) sing lighter songs. “Pied Piper” by the Fishwives refers to a Pied Piper leading rats to a gathering in Grahamstown, while “Stay in Grahamstown” by Daniel Friedman is a satirical consideration about people who settle in Grahamstown too long. It pokes fun at white liberal fears and the ruts that settle in when one stays in Grahamstown too long.

Two of the songs – Lucy Kruger’s “Heart of Stone” and Tim Hopwood and Joe van den Linden’s “Scattered” – do no refer overtly to Grahamstown/Makhanda but were written about the musicians’ personal experiences in Grahamstown, both about leaving, manifestly having taken heed of the warning not to stay in Grahamstown too long.

We don’t want to say too much about the songs featured here, as we want to leave it to you to listen to and explore reflections on the town as these musicians would want you to. Enjoy!

  1. Umsakazo E Grahamstown – Alabhama Kids
  2. G-Town – Eddy De Clerq, Yemu Matibe & Alungile Sixishe
  3. Grahamstown – Zulublue
  4. Pied Piper – Fishwives
  5. Grahamstown – Carl Allen And Rodney Whittaker
  6. Settler Country – Larry Strelitz
  7. Grahamstown Fever – The Sighs Of Monsters
  8. Lekker Sakkie – Hot Water
  9. Stay In Grahamstown – Daniel Friedman
  10. Grahamstown – Decio Gioielli
  11. New Street – David Goldblum
  12. Grahamstown – Philip Malan & Ronan Skillen
  13. Oatlands Road Blues – Nishlyn Ramanna
  14. Grahamstown – Eric Van Der Western And Louis Mahlanga
  15. You Only Need Say Nothing – Roger Lucey
  16. Pondo Fever – Matt Vend & The Tender Ten
  17. Heart Of Stone – Lucy Kruger
  18. Scattered – Tim Hopwood & Joe Van Den Linden
  19. Makhanda’s Song – Barry Gilder