amaBhulu? - Colonos Sudafricanos (South African Settlers)
2,748 views · Published 7 November 2011 · 3:54 · Indexed 20 October 2026
Channel: Jan Tak · 2011 · Music
AmaBhulu (Xhosa for "The Boers") refers to themselves as folk band from the Boland, mixing folk, kwela, blues, reggae, country, tango, gypsy and melancholy ballads into boeremusiek. Now, I'm not so sure about the boeremusiek part, but the result of their efforts is well worthwhile. In fact I think they are one of the most promising post apartheid Afrikaner bands! The most interesting thing about this song, called "Colonos Sudafricanos" (South African Settlers) is the comparison they make between the Afrikaner Diaspora (Argentina, in the song) in the early 1900s and that of the current stream of white South Africans leaving for overseas (Australia, in the song). It appears on their brand new 2011 album, "Die Wis en die Onwis" and is available for download from the Rhythm Music Store: http://rhythmmusicstore.com/music/6655/amaBhulu?/Die-Wis-En-Die-Onwis http://www.amabhulu.co.za/index.htm To fully see where they are coming from with this song, one needs a little history: In a sense Afrikaners are like the gypsies (Romani people) of Europe -- always on the move. From the first Trekboere trying to escape the autocratic rule of the Dutch East India Company, to the Voortrekkers moving away from British colonial rule in the Cape Province, the "Boere" wanted nothing more but to be left alone. Eventually the steady trickle of Voortrekkers became a river, culminating in the Great Trek which led to the founding of several Boer republics, the most notable of which were the Natalia Republic, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. The discovery of gold and diamonds however brought a massive influx of people into these sparsely populated new republics, and soon led to renewed interest from the British Crown. The end was predictable - two wars. The Second Boer War (1899--1902) ended with British victory and annexation of the Boer areas into the British colonies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trekboer#Origins http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voortrekkers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Trek As a result of the British scorched earth tactics during the war an estimated 27,000 Boer civilians (mainly women and children) died in concentration camps from hunger and disease. This was 15 percent of the Boer population of their former republics. Severely discouraged, significant numbers of Boers continued the Great Trek (now called the Afrikaner Diaspora) and ended up in a number of countries, e.g. Kenya, Zimbabwe, Angola, the USA, Mexico, and Argentina. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikaner#Post_Boer_War_diaspora Between 1903 and 1909, between 600 and 800 Boer families trekked by ship to Argentina -- and settled originally in the vicinity of Comodoro Rivadavia, a city in southern Argentina. Desperate for an adequate water supply for their livestock they drilled for water, but instead found oil. Although much of this oil was on land given to the Afrikaner settlers, Argentinean law decreed that all mineral deposits belong to the state, so most of the town's Afrikaans settlers packed up and eventually settled in the vicinity of Sarmiento. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comodoro_Rivadavia#Foundation_and_History_of_the_Port http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarmiento,_Chubut http://mg.co.za/article/2009-12-01-end-of-an-era-for-argentinas-afrikaners
