Rooibaardt was a South African band formed in May 2004 with Hensi Van Staden, Denzl Keenan, Louis Esterhuizen and André du Plessis. They played their first gig in June 2004 at Konkakol

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

Arts festival. They all lived in

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

in the Free State province of South Africa The name of the band came to them in their "pirate ship", a

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

Combi, on the way to the first gig.

Redbeard Redbeard or Red Beard may refer to: People * Frederick Barbarossa (Redbeard), another name for Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor (1122–1190) * Oruç Reis or Redbeard (''Barbarossa'') (1474–1518), Ottoman naval commander * Hayreddin Barbarossa o ...

was a great pirate of times gone bye.

Biography

Previously Hensi Van Staden and Denzl Keenan had a project called Fumadores (1999) which took them all over South Africa, gipsy style, performing and selling their music. In 2000, while Van Staden and Du Plessis went traveling abroad, Keenan met Louis Esterhuizen and together they were involved in projects like Baraka, Spin Nasi and Shamanzi. Mario van Vuuren – pub owner and music lover from Bethlehem promoted their music. Returning from their travels, André du Pessis became a school teacher outside Bethlehem, playing drums for local bands in his spare time. Van Staden passed through town one day, met his old friends and started jamming in the Game Cock Inn. Since then they have been on the road mostly using Bethlehem as their base. In May 2006 another local talent, OB (Louis-II) Swart (previously from the Pretoria band Mrs B) joined the group on base and Esterhuizen moved to electric guitar. But in January 2007, after losing their equipment and van they scaled down playing mostly in the small town Clarens. Esterhuizen relocated to Western Cape. Hensi and Denzl went on playing under the name Rooibaardt Light/Fumadores and OB and Andre together with Riaan de Jager (Pirhanna) formed the group BenDover. From August 2010 Rooibaardt started gigging again and was active at least until 2013.

Style

Rooibaardt uses a wide variety of sounds and instruments: classical,

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

and

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

, colongo,

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pan pipes A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...

pennywhistle The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, a class of instrument which also includes the recorder and Native American flute. A tin whistle player is called a whistl ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

melodium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

jaw harp The Jew's harp, also known as jaw harp, juice harp, or mouth harp, is a lamellophone instrument, consisting of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue or Reed (mouthpiece), reed attached to a frame. Despite the colloquial name, the Jew's harp most like ...

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (;()), also spelt didjeridu, among other variants, is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgerido ...

saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, Wire saw, wire, or Chainsaw, chain with a hard toothed edge used to cut through material. Various terms are used to describe toothed and abrasive saws. Saws began as serrated materials, and when man ...

samplers Sampler may refer to: * Sampler (signal), a digital signal processing device that converts a continuous signal to a discrete signal * Sampler (needlework), a handstitched piece of embroidery used to demonstrate skill in needlework * Sampler (surna ...

djembe A djembe or jembe ( ; from Maninka language, Malinke ''jembe'' , N'Ko script, N'Ko: ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe ...

and clay pots. Their style is therefore hard to define, but has been described as Afro world trans, Boere reggae and Gipsy cowboy rock. Their message – often serious, sometimes political, sometimes satirical in English, Afrikaans,

Sotho Sotho may refer to: *Sotho people (or ''Basotho''), an African ethnic group principally resident in South Africa, Lesotho and southern Botswana *Sotho language (''Sesotho'' or ''Southern Sotho''), a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa, an offi ...

and Zulu. Rooibaardt was one of few touring bands in South Africa and spends most time on the road, pirate style. Increase da Peace, Rooibaardt's debut album was recorded and engineered by the band themselves in their makeshift studio build from hay bales. The first album was released in May 2005. The second album "More Fire, Less Bullets" was released in 2013.

References

{{Reflist

External links

band website

Musical groups established in 2004 South African rock music groups