“I’ve decided it’s time again; I’m ready again.” (Photo: Cornelia Thirion/Maroela Media)
As a Karoo farm boy, the singer Tobi Jooste often stood on the bank of the farm dam. In his mind’s eye, the flocks of sheep were his audience and the ironstone cups that surrounded him from behind, his orchestra.
Now, after a quarter of a century in the Afrikaans music industry, this childhood dream has taken on a real form in his new single and music video, “Ek mis jou lyf”.
The track was written by Sunette Bridges, daughter of Bles Bridges, and produced by Rivers & Bridges, Sunette’s US-based record label.
“‘Ek mis jou lyf’ is a tango with cello added, because I mastered the cello during the covid-19 pandemic. You can long arm dance to the song, and of course you can tango,” says Tobi. “I told Sunette I was looking for a pop sound. I want to move a little more on stage, but I don’t want to lose the old Tobi.”
You can put Tobi through a ring, and it is almost difficult to relate him to the dusty Karoo. Yet the warmth with which he visits Maroela Media’s stoep is reminiscent of late afternoons on a farm stoep in this special region.
Tobi has not released any music in the last eight years, partly due to the many developments and changes in the music industry. Moreover, he wanted to see the cat from the tree first. “Ek mis jou lyf” is the first track to see the light again after the almost decade-long silence.
“I’ve decided it’s time again; I’m ready again,” says Tobi.
(Photo: Cornelia Thirion/Maroela Media)
Over the past 25 years, he has experienced many highlights. However, these milestones are not measured by the thunderous applause for it, but rather by the emotion that his music evokes in the audience.
“The benchmark will be the time I sang in Wembley Stadium in England in front of 30,000 people, but I’m not a numbers-dude not I am an emotional singer. I don’t want to see people on the dance floor, I want to see a tear roll down their cheek. I want to hear how my music touches them. Such things I call highlights,” says Tobi.
“I have already performed in the Cairo Opera House in Egypt with the Mpumalanga Youth Choir, but if I really have to single out one highlight, it would be the time I decided to test the acoustics in an ancient church in Austria that was under construction.
“I sang ‘Amazing Grace’. The acoustics were so strong, I had to wait before I sang the next line. When I saw again, a street musician came in with his violin and started playing along. By the time we finished, there were probably 60 people standing for us and clapping.
(Photo: Cornelia Thirion/Maroela Media)
“I smile at the man and extend my hand to introduce myself and ask his name, and he shows me ‘no English‘, he is Russian. And there I realized the power of music. We just made the most beautiful music together in one of the oldest churches in the world, but I can’t even ask him what his name is. And this is music – it transcends borders.”
About low points, he says that if there were any, he would rather forget about them.
“There is not a low point, rather moments where you expected more. I think any career has such moments. I can tell you when I performed in X-town and only ten people showed up, it was a low point. But for those ten people it was a night to remember. A low point is a relative concept, just like a high point.”
Apart from his renewed entry into the music industry, Tobi is currently writing his fifth book. He has his debut novel, There is an Eiffel Tower in his estatelaunched in 2013. Meanwhile, he also has a recipe book, There’s a man in my kitchenwritten
“I love motivational books and where I can, I also read psychology books. I am now working on a motivational story. It draws a lot on my first book with a more humorous focus, but I don’t want to give too much away.”