Listen | Wynand Strydom wants to preserve origins with a new album

Wynand Strydom. (Photo: Cornelia Thirion/Maroela Media)

In his baritone voice rumbles the sound of horse hooves that our ancestors faithfully carried through the Anglo-Boer War.

His pensive eyes and the silences between his words embody the courage of the Boer women and children who experienced unprecedented loss in the concentration camps. His moldy beard is the smoke that hung over the Transvaal after farms were burned to the ground and years of toil and sweat were destroyed in the blink of an eye.

This is singer and songwriter Wynand Strydom’s origins, which he refuses to forget. His new album, 31 Meiaccording to him, is a weapon with which he fights for the preservation of the stories of our ancestors and the country’s history.

The album’s name refers to South Africa’s becoming a republic on 31 May 1961 and was written with his children in mind.

In Maroela Media’s studio, Wynand tells that his children are not taught the complete history of Afrikaners’ ancestors as they experienced and retold it.

It was a wake-up call for him, because he realized that a precious history was in danger of being lost to future generations.

“I would like to remind people again of where we come from. Not to live in the past – I think it is important to focus on the future – but rather so that people realize that our ancestors gave us the opportunity to be who we are today,” says Wynand.

“It is our responsibility as adults to pass on history to our children and hopefully plant a seed in them to delve deeper into history. I am afraid that if we stop talking about history, a generation from now on will no longer know where we come from.”

• Listen to the interview with Wynand Strydom at the top of the report.