Pieter Senekal - Boetie
2,977 views · Published 3 July 2011 · 4:28 · Indexed 20 October 2026
Channel: Jan Tak · 2011 · Music
Boetie (nickname: Lit. Little Brother) by Pieter Senekal from his album "Gee Dit Nou" (Give It Now). I have no idea who Pieter Senekal was, nor do I have the original album on which this excessively sentimental song appears. The only reason I have a copy is because my brother in law popped it into the car's tape player as if he listens to this kind of stuff for pleasure. The almost immediate overreaction from my dad is why I do remember the incident and even bothered to obtain a copy. (Needless to say, we all had a good laugh when we found out it was a joke.) Anyway, this piece is another example of the kind of tearjerker that was quite popular amongst the Afrikaners from the 1930's to 1950s in South Africa. These kinds of songs reflected the feeling of hopelessness besetting the Afrikaner psyche after the period between the Second Boer war and the Great Depression (1902-1933) which was characterized by great social and political upheaval in South Africa. Many Afrikaners were desperately poor; coming from farms destroyed during the war, and without significant education. In some areas up to 40% of schoolchildren were suffering from malnutrition. No wonder that the songs by groups from this era mainly dealt with suffering, and longing for the good old times. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War#Aftermath_and_analysis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikaner_Calvinism#Afrikaner_Broederbond I don't like this kind of music, neither do I think it is very good, but it does have some historical significance and should therefore be preserved.
