The clubrooms (klopskamers) are open every Sunday now. Klopse season is here, for real.
After Covid-19, there is a new sense of energy and enthusiasm. There is going to be a Cape Town Minstrel Carnival come hell or high water in 2023. Time to start showcasing more of our klopse troupes.
Back in 2005, the Minstrel Carnival was in a rut. The same troupe had been winning the carnival every year with no challengers in sight. A few wise men in Bo-Kaap got together and launched arguably the best troupe of the millennium thus far. District Six Entertainers, later D6 Raw.
Everyone watched with great interest, many had come with great fanfare before them and disappeared within a year or two. Klopse, as I have said before, is an expensive game.
D6 was different, though. Shahied Simons, Malick Laattoe, Kader Miller, Cassiem “Archie” Miller, Nazeem Davids, Jowa Lucas, Yusri Jacobs and Naashief Abrahams came with a thorough strategy and successfully secured an insurance giant, Santam, as a sponsor.
Bear in mind that many corporate sponsors are still loathe to attach their brands to minstrel troupes, because of the perceived negative image of the Kaapse Klopse in some quarters.
The D6 marketing and branding campaign was led by astute corporate trained directors, who understood the people they were targeting.
D6 was not just going to be a Klopse troupe, they were going to be a brand. Their target market? The well-to-do middle-class who frowned upon the Klopse culture.
The strategy was simple: classy, trendy and professionally designed apparel that appealed to the younger generations; regular, visible, exciting social media and press updates; and strict rules banning the consumption of alcohol at their gatherings.
Cape Town was captured. D6 instantly became the “People’s team”. When I say “people” I mean all people. From Bo-Kaap and Rondebosch East to Tafelsig and beyond, everyone just loved them.
Ironically, George “Boeta” Rautenbach, a white boy from Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), became one of the D6 icons, religiously making the annual trip to Cape Town to participate in the carnival.
Many a foreigner joined D6 to take part in the carnival. D6 undoubtedly brought a much-needed touch of class to the Minstrel Carnival.
In 2006, their first year of competition, D6 won their section of the Klopse Carnival – no mean feat as they competed against some long-standing troupes.
The following year, D6 joined forces with the brass band, Impronto, to form a legendary partnership that would last for almost 10 years.
They finished second to Pennsylvanians (PSV), the troupe that nobody could topple for years. But, the Mighty D6 did not go down without a fight. They came close, easily winning the choral items, and the paying public acknowledged a worthy challenger had arrived.
In 2010, after a few hotly contested competitions, D6 achieved the unthinkable.
They became worthy Carnival Kings, the first troupe to beat PSV in 13 years. They would go on and win four more competitions, and have never finished outside the top three.
Like all the other troupes, D6 Raw have been very busy preparing for Carnival 2022/23 and have signed Phantoms Legionnaires brass band for the upcoming season.
Their directors for the new season are Klopse veterans Shaheed Simons and Malick Laattoe, Achmat Harris, Ebrahim Christians, Fadl Salie, Yusuf Jattiem, Faadiel Davids, Allan Samuels, Ghumaid Johnson, Yaaseen Arendse, Wagied Maker, Shafiek Abrahams, Fatima Osman and music director, Ziyaad Hattas.
Christians says: “We have been very busy behind the scenes and have had a few challenges, but like we say in Cape Town, ‘Ons versak nie’.
“Our official opening for the year will be on August 28 at the Schotcheskloof Civic Centre. We have lots of functions planned, with the main event for the year a black tie evening to be held at Country Manor on November 5, 2022.”
The Mighty D6 have always been admired for their incomparable choral renditions and coach Ziyaad has promised there is more to come.
Simons says: “As always, we are not saying much, but come competition time, we are not taking any prisoners.”
Call the law, D6 Raw are aiming to be number one.
* Nazeem Davids
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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