Jaco van der Merwe

Jaco van der Merwe has been creating and performing original music since 1998, as a lyricist, vocalist, instrumentalist and songwriter. His electro-rap band BITTEREINDER won two SAMAs (South African Music Awards) for Best Alternative Albums in 2011 and 2015. Jaco's musical collaborations and projects over the past 24 years are diverse and stretch across many genres and worlds. A brief highlights reel: Touring Poland in 2008 as spoken-word poet AJAX, including being the opening act at the Afrykamera Film Festival in Warsaw. Touring Europe three further times with other hip-hop/spoken word projects, including memorable performances at Lowlands Festival in NL, Melkweg and Paradiso in Amsterdam and Badehaus in Berlin. Playing the Oppikoppi main stage, headline slots three years in a row with Bittereinder, amongst dozens of other festival main stage performances across Southern Africa between 2011-2019. Founded a spoken word collective called WALKIE TALKIE in 2013 consisting of South African spoken word poets, still operational. Formed a synthwave/dreampop band HALF-SISTER in 2017, played Oppikoppi as our first show. Founded a hip-hop/jazz band called PLACEHOLDER in 2020, featuring jazz demi-god Ngwako Manamela on the vibraphone, produced and directed a concert which was filmed and broadcast as the 2020 Afrykamera Film Festival opening performance. Made music in studio and on stage with many of my heroes, including Stogie T, The Kiffness, The Soil, Jack Parow, BCUC, Flex of He & I, DJ Spoko, Desmond & the Tutus, Inge Beckmann, David Kramer, Hunter Kennedy amongst many others. Founded an artist collective which has evolved into a platform for multi-disciplinary creative projects called WERELD in 2015. Countless other projects and details that might be interesting, including exploits as published poet, filmmaker, lecturer, workshop-host, presenter, director, editor, curator would probably not fit well into this short bio - suffice to say I have been blessed to enjoy what I do for the past quarter century, I am a keen collaborator, I make art in many different disciplines, I find deep reward in empowering others on their creative journeys, I value innovation and experimentation, and I like to make artworks that challenge, subvert, question and uplift.