Local rocker Piet Botha, 63, dies

Cape Town – Condolences are streaming in for South African musician Piet Botha after the news of his death was shared online, Netwerk24 reported.

Piet, 63, was a rocker and the son of former South African Minister of Foreign Affairs Pik Botha. He was also the frontman for the local band Jack Hammer.

According to a biography written by Brian Currin in October 2012 on Piet’s Facebook page, the singer was born in 1955 and shares his birth date of 18 July with Nelson Mandela. He began writing songs and forming bands while still at school and his first professional gig was as an acoustic duo in 1974 at a local drinking hole in Pretoria.

Piet was diagnosed with pancreas cancer about three months ago and recently cancelled a performance at the Strab Festival, reports Maroela Media.

In an interview with Rapport’s Hanlie Retief earlier this year, Piet spoke about his diagnosis saying that “he knew there was trouble” but thought it would be “okay”. Piet was later diagnosed with a very serious type of pancreas cancer named Adenocarcinoma which had spread throughout his body. “I knew death would catch up with me one day,” he said, adding: “But I never thought this soon”.

Piet is known for songs like Suitcase Vol Winter and Goeienag Generaal – to name but a few.

“Koebaai julle konings, koebaai… (Goodbye you kings, goodbye…),” wrote local singer JohrnĂŠ van Huyssteen on Twitter alongside a photo of himself and Piet.

Channel24 has reached out to Piet’s family for comment but didn’t receive any feedback by the time of publishing this article. Should the family release a statement this article will be updated with the relevant information.

A documentary about the life of Piet Botha is currently in production.

Piet, whose father Pik died on 12 October 2018, leaves behind three daughters, Robynne, Jessica, and Piya, as well as his brother Roelof, and sisters Anna Hertzog, and Lien Botha.

Jack Hammer: Handful Of Rain | Press Release

The Jack Hammer line-up featuring on Handful Of Rain has endured over the years, with Piet Botha (guitars, keys, harmonica, vocals), Johnathan Martin (guitars, vocals), Tertius du Plessis (bass) and Paul van de Waal (drums). The album also features guest artists Arthur Dennis (guitars, vocals) and Rudolph Dennis (drums, guest vocals) from Akkedis/Lyzyrd Kyngs. Piet Botha’s harmonica is present throughout the album, and the style is familiar, lingering long after, like a renegade’s signature tune in an old western.

The timbre in Piet Botha’s singing is full of longing and resistance. In the title track, he sings “Here I go again on a lonesome highway / A handful of rain and empty heart”, with Johnathan Martin, ‘The Kid’, by his side, harmonising, singing the same words. Cut from the same cloth. â€œThat’s How We Roll” echoes Neil Young, “me, I got nothing / just this old guitar”; a song about this brotherhood of musicians defying the Man, choosing the road over the rat race with its fitting rock ‘n roll chorus.The haunting cover of Four Jacks and Jill’s “Master Jack”, a song about choosing solitude over society, flows into the album’s theme: “no hard feelings if I never come back.” Delving into the songwriting is a melancholy joy, and each listen reveals new meanings and interpretations. Is a song like “When the Moon Was Young” a love song first, a protest song second? Piet Botha gently contends,“They think they can own her / but even a fool knows / the moon belongs to lovers…” 

The hair-raising harmonies of “Emily” and “Where Is the Clown” remind us why Jack Hammer are at their best when Piet Botha and Johnathan Martin come together. Not only do they whistle the same tune when it comes to existing and creating outside of the mainstream, but their musical accord completes Jack Hammer. Handful of Rain can best be summed up in “Sweet Soul Music”, Piet Botha’s collaboration with the Soweto String Quartet: violins, harmonica and electric guitars join on a song about rivers turning into seas, about songs turning our solitude into a universe of connected souls: “Keep the music in your heart / You will never walk alone.”

Released January 2016

Track Listing:

  1. Where Is The Clown
  2. Handful Of Rain
  3. That’s How We Roll
  4. Emily
  5. When The Moon Was Young
  6. Deep Blue Sea
  7. Master Jack
  8. Sweet Soul Music
  9. When The Morning Comes

Otterlake Easter Festival 2015 3-5 April

Moonshine productions in association with STRAB presents:

 

Otterlake Easter Festival 2015

3–5 April

 

Gauteng’s premier music festival The Otterlake Easter festival is back and bigger than ever this coming Easter!

Otterlake Easter Festival

 

Enjoy 3 days of live music, performed by South-Africa’s top artists, in the serene bush-veld surroundings of Kameelfontein, north east of Roodeplaat Dam, less than 40kms from Pretoria’s center. Come and swim in our lake or pool, fish, camp, laugh and experience the magic for the long-weekend! The festival is ‘kiddie friendly’- children’s play area with jumping castles etc. and swimming pool. Free entrance for children under 12 (bring ID’s). Not only will you enjoy an experience of a lifetime; you’ll be contributing to a very worthy cause, as proceeds of ticket sales will be donated to Unite Against Poaching and help protect our country’s precious rhinos.

For the thirsty the festival has two main bars and a beer garden, for the hungry there will be a variety of tasty food stalls. Weekend Camping, clean toilets and hot shower facilities available. Other facilities include a mobile ATM, curio stalls and wood for sale.

An extra highlight on Saturday eve will be Otterlake’s Easter Fire Celebration – a 10 meter high bonfire, an old European tradition, which symbolizes the bringing of people in from the darkness and into the light.

Weekend Tickets are only R370 on-line (includes camping), limited weekend tickets will be available at the gate at R400. Day passes available at R150.

Live music starts daily from 12h00 until 24h00 Friday to Sunday. 

Gates for the event will open daily from 10h00. 

Day visitors also welcome. 

This year’s lineup includes:

Piet Botha, Francois van Coke, The Black Cat Bones, Akkedis (CPT), Tidal Waves, Jaco vd Merwe (Bittereinder), Naming James, The Fake Leather Blues Band, Gareth Wilson, Meesh-Mash, Avade (KZN), Feed The Wolf, Bacchus Nel, Crystal Park, Hoot ‘n Anny Band, Pedro Barbosa, Mountain Thief, The Pirates, Hardball, Monkeys in Boots, Yaki Naude, Tuin, Donovan Bourne, Franco Jamneck…more to be announced!

FESTIVAL CONDITIONS:

♬ Strictly No Cooler-boxes in music arena area

♬ No glasses or bottles in music arena

♬ No Drugs

♬ No Weapons

♬ No Pets

♬ No Bad Attitudes

♬ Right of Admission Reserved 

https://www.facebook.com/OtterlakeEasterFestival

 

Ghosts Of Berlin by The Lyzyrd Kyngs

Written in Berlin in the Summer of 2013 by Piet Botha. Recorded in South Africa August 2014. Piet Botha on Vocals & Guitar, Arthur Dennis on Guitar. Rudolph Dennis on Drums and Vocals. Adrian John Graham on Bass. Recorded and produced by Peter Pearlson with Charl Wentzel assisting. Footage of their Tour with Freygang in East Berlin.

New Lyzyrd Kyngs album due November 2014.