Only when you listen to what she actually sings does it become apparent that Yolandi Visser is not the frail angel her voice and small figure suggest. With her pure child's voice she repeatedly sings the South African curse 'Jou ma se poes', while behind her the masked DJ Hi-Tek hits her ears with hip-hop, techno and breakbeats. Rapper Ninja is now among the dedicated audience of TivoliVredenburg. Sometimes lying down, often standing on his hands, he barks his lyrics about 'haters' through the audience in Utrecht.
Everything about Die Answer is confusing and disturbing and therefore fascinating. That was already the case ten years ago during their breakthrough, when festival goers wondered about the couple who musically and visually convey a South African white ghetto style of misfits and outcasts. They call the style itself 'Zef'. Think mullets, clean-shaven hairlines, gold teeth, half onesies and an aggressive mix of English and Afrikaans that might make it even more confusing for Dutch people.
The artist duo of Yolandi Visser (pseudonym of Anri du Toit) and Ninja (Watkin Tudor Jones) created their own freaky world with bizarre videos and were very successful with their rave rap in Europe and the United States. But four years ago, Die Answer suddenly disappeared. It had, of course, to do with controversy.
Homophobic statements
There was a video with homophobic statements. They were “put aside”, says Yolandi on Wednesday evening in Utrecht, during their first European tour since then. Canceled. The couple's rather poor defense is that their own DJ Hi-Tek is gay. In 'Everything is Perfect', Ninja elaborates further, including the criticism he received from Eminem. „I told him 'you ma se kitty', he had to Google it.”
That's the only new song of the evening. A new album is said to be on the way with the title Fallen from Heaven, but Die Answer sticks to previous hits. 'I Fink U Freaky' and especially 'Baby's on Fire' are undisputed highlights where Yolandi's foul-mouthed hopping is brutally intersected by UK rave breaks. What is new, and just as confusing, is her daughter Sixteen who appears on stage. In her white robe she swings back and forth to some kind of Efteling music. After some time she says “I love you, goodbye” and disappeared again.
Cabinet of curiosities
Sixteen is also the narrator in the documentary Zef which will have its European premiere on April 15 in De Melkweg during the In-Edit film festival. Just as the music is recognizable from thousands in its lack of genre, the documentary is the stylish cabinet of curiosities that we know from the clips of Die Answer. The image direction is by the surrealist South African photographer Roger Ballen.
The product of the Zef family, which also includes American artists such as Ghostface Killah and Frank Black, addresses the second controversy: that of foster son Tokkie, who accuses the duo of abuse. There is no evidence. Die Answer states that the boy from a Cape ghetto, whom they took under their wing, became unruly as a teenager, stole money for drugs and is now trying to capitalize on the situation. The truth lingers in a difficult-to-fathom haze of raw art, spiders, rats and fluorescent tracksuits. The documentary shows the artist duo as crazy, loving parents and performers.
It is easy to believe in Utrecht. The aggression is humorously stylized, the audience gets a lot of love and exciting music. However, the couple does not care about clarity. As a farewell, Ninja shows his bare ass, while Yolandi squeaks a final word: 'Fuck you sewers!!!'.
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