In London for his first headlining performance to dance the night away as part of Afrikhaki, together with Arno Jordaan, Kurt Darren will be wooing woman from all over the UK. “It was my fans who requested I come to London,” says Kurt matter-of-factly.
After researching the Kurt Darren phenomenon, I am now aware of his swoon-ablity and accessibility. Through Jukebox, his weekly video request TV show on KykNet for which Kurt is the presenter, as well as his website biography providing many personal details, fans are able to feel close to Kurt through his open persona.
I was sent his mobile number for an interview and after reading his extensive website, felt like I’d found out near all I needed to know. All that was left to discover was whether this man had a meisie meisie in his lewe. And an engaged-to-be-married one was his reply. It was also a week after his birthday when we spoke and I’d heard stories of him celebrating on his farm in Midrand and inviting everyone along. He confirmed it was indeed a festival – Innie Bosveld – and open to the public, at which he had friends playing, the likes of Bok van Blerk and Theuns Jordaan.
Woman and nice guy stuff aside, Kurt is also more than his majestic 6.4 stature and blue eyes. He is a hard working musician who has earned the title of platinum-selling prince of Afrikaans pop through his 18 albums, Afrikaans and English, over a career of 16 years! He has just been nominated in Best Sokkie Album category for his latest Afrikaans album, Beste Medisyne. How he finds time for Monday night poker, playing Xbox and golf I’m not quite sure, but life sure does sound fun and effortless being Kurt and I could almost feel the sunshine oozing down the phone line from SA to London.
Afrikhaki won’t be Kurt’s first time to London though. In the summer of 2008, he was invited to sing for the 46664 Mandela concert in Hyde Park. “I spent two weeks in London, checking out Leicester Square and Picadilly circus, I loved it!”
Kurt’s international exposure is skyrocketing with fans even in Holland although he hasn’t yet traveled there. And in January this year, he performed in France at the massively prestigious MIDEM music showcase where South Africa was the country of honour. “We met a lot of great contacts for Europe,” says Kurt.
After his London show in April, Kurt talks of doing a similar Afrikhaki event in Australia later in the year and as a personal goal he thinks it might be nice to learn to play the guitar properly as he currently only uses it to construct basic song chords.
