Anton Goosen at his home in Gansbaai. (Photo: Mizanne van Wyk/Maroela Media)
It’s hard to imagine that the man sitting here in front of me celebrated his 80th birthday last week. There is no mention of old people’s homes and the life of an everyday elderly person in Anton Goosen’s house. In any case, age had never been something for him to consider.
Not in his music, nor in his musical taste or personal relationships.
We sit and talk in Laventelhuis in Gansbaai, where he has lived with his wife, Estie, for the past 18 years. The couple’s three dogs, Tau the Jack Russell, and the two French bulldogs, Jantjie Harlekyntjie and Pampoentjie Pokkelpensie, run under the tables and sofas every now and then.
“We have been together for 18 years and married for eight years,” he says about his wife, a primary school teacher at a school in the area – much younger than Anton.
“It’s one of those relationships that just worked. The age difference doesn’t matter. Estie is light as a feather. Sunshine. She was the right person at the right time – it just worked.”
The couple is on the threshold of a new chapter. Estie is pregnant, and Anton is, in his own words, ready for the “pajama drill”.
“I’m going to spend more time at home. I can’t leave Estie at home with the baby, while I zip around the country – I just don’t think it’s right. My head is right. I’m ready.”
Peace and contentment
Anton talks easily and frankly. A conversation that starts with the new chapter in his life, easily ends somewhere else. Like the renovations the couple had done to the house last year. After all, the house is more than a century old, and although they were crazy about the original roof, it later started to cause more problems than anything else.
Although the house looks very different today, there are still signs of the original building that can be detected here and there. He is proud of the piece of peace he has created for him and Estie in the coastal town just this side of Hermanus.
Anton with his dogs. (Photo: Mizanne van Wyk/Maroela Media)
The decision to move to the coast at the time was not easy. In fact, it can rather be described as a flight from the north, since Anton was attacked on his farm along the Hennops River quite a few years ago.
It was extremely traumatic, he recalls the case. It took him about a year to recover.
He went to seek rest, peace and healing along the coast. Little did he know that he would find much more there. A year after he moved to Gansbaai, he met Estie in London. And that was also a Goose bather.
Her family became his family. They also live in town.
“Dis my tribe. We are terribly attached to each other,” he says.
Music still his compass
He makes a dramatic cross with his arms in front of his face when asked for his opinion on the boom in AI music. After all, he is South Africa’s songwriter – a love for stories, lyrics, research and follow-up has guided his entire career.
“Each limit in his backyard is now a mechanic. They call themselves poets. Musicians can hear it a mile away if it’s made by artificial intelligence.”
He is also not a fan of artists who use old songs and give them a new twist. Songs that have already been written and already have a tune should be left as they were made, he believes.
(Photo: Mizanne van Wyk/Maroela Media)
“I’ve allowed it with one or two, there are certain others where it won’t happen. For example, the song ‘Blommetjie gedenken aan my’ – I’m comfortable with the words, comfortable with the tune – there’s no need to change it now.
“The answer is no. That’s all,” he said, laughing from his belly.
He admits that he has gone through several musical phases in his life. He still enjoys country music; after all, that’s how he grew up. But if there is one artist who will never leave Anton, it is the one Bob Dylan.
Anton came across these in his student years, and that bond remained standing throughout the years.
“My grandmother on my mother’s side had a licentiate in violin, cello and piano. She played classical music, but on Sundays, it was jazz. They were very cool. Grandpa Van Aardt was a lawyer.
“On the one hand, I grew up with country music, but heard rock and roll here around standard 4. It was ‘Johnny B. Goode’ by Chuck Berry. In high school I met the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and then I knew.
“In college it was Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. In the late sixties it was flower powerbut when the peace didn’t work, then came punk rock. Let’s hit you with rage.
“I’ve been through all those phases. And I like all those phases. Intelligent folk music is currently my first choice. I don’t like electronic or doof-doof music.”
Five decades, not done yet
“This year it is 50 years since ‘Jantjie’ was released. And old Jantjie is still not back,” says Anton nostalgically.
He is not done yet, he says. A new single, “Hokaai hokaai”, is available soon. He will also receive an award later today, 22 March, for his lifetime contribution to the music industry at the annual Fiesta Theater Awards, which take place in Kampsbaai.
“People have told me a lot that I’m younger and older than I really am.”
(Photo: Mizanne van Wyk/Maroela Media)
If there’s one thing Anton has come to terms with, it’s that tastes differ – some people are going to be crazy about him, and others are going to willingly thumb their noses in the back direction to make it clear that they’re not in Anton’s fan base.
“I can see with shows which people are there because they want to be, and which have been dragged along by a wife or girlfriend. They come and sit with their arms crossed – and it usually takes quite a while for those arms to relax,” he jokes.
He admits that fame is a funny wind that has blown over his life. He is very aware of it and says that he became entangled in it in his first year as a singer and songwriter.
“Someone looked at me one day and just said, ‘Watch your head.’ That’s it, and from there I’m much more aware of the impact of fame. I will never let that go to my head.
“Like the wind here along the coast, fame is for artists. It will always blow, you have to accept it – people will know about you.”
He looked around him. His home – the place where love and healing made his heart beat more calmly again.
“This is my sanctuary. It’s where I can be myself. It’s where I find peace.”