Know your voorloeper from your kriewelstok

For an outsider, listening to the minstrels talk of a voorloeper or a kriewelstok can be baffling. Here’s some of the terminology to get you started...

Cape Town - With every culture comes a unique glossary of terms no one ever teaches you.

For an outsider, listening to the minstrels talk of a voorloeper or a kriewelstok can be baffling.

With a little help from the founders and owners of the Santam D6 Entertainers, we have put together a glossary so that you’ll know a soldaat from a kaptein.

For example, if you’ve ever wondered where the term “klopse” comes from, one of the long standing members and current consultant to D6, Achmat Gyer explains: “When we had all the cultures coming into the Cape speaking their own languages, they needed a way to communicate. They were slaves, artisans, workers, and they couldn’t communicate with each other. They produced their own creole.

“In English, a bed is a bed, and in Afrikaans it’s a bed.

“But here in the Cape it’s a kooi. So klopse came from the English word ‘club’.

“As the language evolved, it was just a mispronunciation of ‘club’.

“Club, klob, clubs, klops, klopse.”

Here’s some of the terminology to get you started:

*Klopse jol: The parade or party inside the competing arena at Athlone Stadium, where the troupes or teams are judged on best co-ordinated dance to traditional klopse Ghoema music.

* Ghoema: A barrel shaped wooden drum or “vat”, also referred to as a gummy used to give the bass beat during a jol. You’ll often hear people saying “die percussion is tight” or “die gummies is tight” meaning the band is on point.

* Moppie: A comical song either sung in English or Afrikaans which often parodies current affairs, prominent figures or politicians.

* Soldaat gear: The uniform or apparel worn by a member of a troupe.

* Kaptein gear: The uniform worn by the working committee of the

troupe.

* Director baadjies: The apparel worn by top brass of a troupe, normally the owners and financial contributors, as co-founder of D6, Malick Laattoe explains, the “dik dinge”.

* Jingle pak, squad or kriewel pak: Refers to a group of youngsters playing the wooden or aluminium percussion instruments.

* Kriewel stok: A wooden stick about 1m long adorned in troupe colours in satin, feathers, paint and masks. “The kriewel pak jols with these sticks high above in the air,” says Laattoe.

* Tamariena: Tambourines.

* Bolle: Plastic balls filled with pellets forming part of the percussion.

* Houte Band: The percussionists of the brass band.

* Die Brass: The brass-and-wind section of the band.

* Voorloeper: Drum majors leading the troupe.

*Voorsinger: The lead singer in both the English and Afrikaans moppie songs.

Road closures on January 2

With the minstrels’ parade just days away, the city council has announced a list of road closures for the event.

So, if you would like to see the Tweede Nuwejaar march, you would do well to secure your spot early, even though the festivities themselves only get properly under way in the afternoon.

Depending on the pace of the march and the size of the troupe, the parade takes between four and five hours.

The following roads will be closed on January 2:

* Rose Street, between Wale Street and Strand.

* Buitengracht at Wale Street, with intermittent traffic flow.

* Bree Street, between Leeuwen and Church streets.

* Loop Street, between Leeuwen and Wale streets.

* Long Street, between Church and Wale streets.

* Burg Street, between Wale and Longmarket streets.

* Wale Street.

* Spin Street.

* Longmarket Street.

* Adderley Street, between Wale and Strand streets.

* Parliament Street.

* Lower Plein Street, between Darling and Strand streets.

* Plein, Corporation and Parade streets, between Longmarket and Darling streets.

* Darling Street, between Buitenkant and Adderley streets.

* Sir Lowry Road, between Buitenkant Street and Keizergracht.

* Buitenkant Street, between Caledon and Darling streets.

* Lower Buitenkant Street, between Darling and Castle streets.

* Canterbury Street, between Longmarket Street and Sir Lowry Road.

* Keizersgracht, between Sir Lowry and Tennant roads.

Cape Argus

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