FOKOFPOLISIEKAR arrived on the scene over five years ago as the controversial Afrikaans rock band who got many a mother’s arms in the air over the cheeky name and then controversial wallet signing anti-big-dude-in-the-sky antics. A few years after that, something called the Van Coke Kartel was launched - not a local mafia initiative - but another band, also with the Fokof frontman Francois Van Coke.

While Van Coke was brewing, so too was another band rising from the Fokof ashes as aKING fast became a hot contender on the English melodic rock scene with a cleverly named debut album, Dutch Courage. aKING is made up of Fokof guitarist, Hunter Kennedy.

And then when Hunter felt he needed a little something new - he headed back to the roots of Fokof and his home taal, kicking off ‘Die Heuwels Fantasties’ with Pierre Greef and another Fokof member, Johnny de Ridder. With the band name akin to images of rolling green hills (Heuwels Fantasties translates as fantastic hills), the hills in question are in fact those of Tygerberg and Durbanville in the Cape.

And all the while in a suburb not far away, a musical phenomenon was being named and claimedЙ

Coined five years ago by Jaco Venter (drummer of Fokof), ‘the Bellville City Rock Phenomenon’, was both a tongue in cheek take on the slang use of the word ‘rock’ for an Afrikaans person, as well as recognising the contribution of these Bellville bands to SA rock.

HIERDIE IS LEKKER 
CONFUSING EK SE!

So you got it now? Who fits in where, plays for which band and when? Ja, no, fine, good! Glad we cleared that one up before we got into the details of who has which albums out and has won which awards... and the winning question of ‘so if all four bands play together in one night, how many guitars do they actually have between them if each one has only one guitar!?’

Still confused? Ok, we’ll break it down, separate the English from the Afrikaans, the electronic from the melodic.

FOKOFFSPRING

Fokofpolisiekar is aggressive Afrikaans rock focused on South African socio-political commentary from the young Afrikaners perspective. They have released two albums and three EPs to date with hits such as ‘Hemel op die platteland’ and Brand Suid Afrika’.

Van Coke Cartel is an Afrikaans rock group with two albums out, a self-titled debut in October 2008 and ‘Waaksaam and Wakker’ is their latest offering which won a 2009 SAMA for Best Afrikaans Rock Album.

aKING is an English pop rock act who had a hit single with ‘The Dance’ on their first album Dutch Courage. Within a year of the first album, they have already released their second, ‘Against All Odds’, produced by the multi-award winning producer Theo Crous of original Nude Girls and now Kobus fame.

The newest of them all is doing it electronically with a touch of guitar. Die Heuwels Fantasties is an Afrikaans electronic pop act focused on being listener friendly. They brought out an EP earlier this year called ‘Pille vir Kersfees’ which followed their first ever gig in only December 2008.

When asking Hunter why he started both aKING and Die Heuwels after Fokof took a break, he replied, “Boredom basically. I want to play music, so it was logical to us. We started the bands because it’s what we do!”

MARKETING SPOOF OR MUSIC SOCIAL SCENE

So is it all a marketing spoof to create, name and claim a ‘phenomenon’? Maybe. But there is no denying the collective amount of talent coming out of the Cape. And if it helps to pin both Bellville and SA music on the world music map, then why not? More musicians should look around for similar ‘band wagons’ to get on board!

Other artists who are rolled up in this Cape corner of creativity are heavy rockers Kobus with their album ‘Swaarmetaal’ (translated as heavy metal), old school original rockers Springbok Nude Girls, Foto Na Dans who won a SAMA for Best Afrikaans Alternative Album and Ashtray Electric who recently won an MK Award as Best Newcomer.

And you can get it all of these artists on one CD Р appropriately called ‘Bellville City Rock Phenomenon’. This is value for money since it even includes’12 Mile Stone’ - a sort of rockumentary film capturing some of these bands on the influential up!

Seems it all started with Fokof, before mutating, multiplying and merging and creating new paths for more bands to achieve greatness! Long live the Bellville Hills!