Lekker Langarm With Gyzie

It warms your heart. It uplifts your spirit and has the ability to bring two dancers together in a sequence of beautifully synchronised steps. It sets the mood for the perfect stoep party. It is langarm.

Twenty-first birthday parties, weddings or even family get togethers wouldn’t be complete without a selection of culturally inherited langarm nommertjies – whether you are talking about Sugar Daddy’s ‘Jaloers Bokkie’, Boeta Gammie’s ‘Akkedissie’ or the various great Namibian langarm legends such as Whani Jansen, White Horse and Reho Combo.

Well, there’s a fresh face representing the genre and keeping it alive for the new generation and he goes by the name Alvar Uys, better known as Gyzie.

Earlier this year, I stumbled upon the langarm prodigy on social media delivering some refreshing sounds such as ‘Die Mancave Vastrap’, ‘Loop As Ons Loop’, ‘Rookstok’ and ‘Woelige Water’.

Gyzie was born at Rehoboth in 1985 to a Namibian father, Tyrone Plaatjie, and South African mother, Johanna Uys. Although born a Rehoboth Baster, Gyzie moved with his mother to the Richtersveld, Eksteenfontein in the Northern Cape and attended Stephen Malherbe Primary School. He then finished high school in 2002 at Steinkopf, Namaqualand.

“Finishing matric was critical for me as I wanted to go study in Cape Town,” Gyzie said, adding that sound engineering was the path he chose and he completed his diploma at Cape Town’s City Varsity Multimedia School.

“At the age of six I realised I had music in my genes. I could complete any string orhcestra hymn on the bass guitar on the correct notes and transcriptions without being able to read music,” Gyzie revealed.

He then became a member of the church orchestra playing the bass guitar until he became quite proficient regarding performances. “My family was quite supportive of me by exposing me to guitars, bass guitars and the keyboard from a young age, helping me master my art. At that stage, spiritual music was my everything. It was so peaceful.”

Seeing as the musician started off in church, how did he transition to langarm? “Langarm musiek lê baie mense na aan die hart, veral mense van die Baster kultuur (Langarm music is close to many people’s hearts, especially people of the Baster culture).” Gyzie mentioned that even jazz musicians can improve their techniques on the simple form of langarm music.

“I enjoy it and makes people happy.”

He said his time on the Cape Town scene exposed him to jazz as well as various artists such as Jonathan Butler, Theuns Jordaan, Emo Adams and Jimmy Dludlu. Gyzie added that legendary jazz producer, keyboardist and co-founder of Cape Music Institute, Camillo Lombard, advised him to strengthen his langarm sound, as well as establish and develop his own musical identity. Gyzie said that this genre plays a large role in the Rehoboth Baster culture. “I find it to be very nostalgic when it comes to our people,” he said. “Every song can have a bitter or a sweet memory attached to it. It either makes you laugh, or it makes you cry,” the musician said.

He said that this is one of the simplest art forms, however he finds so much colour and flavour behind langarm. He added that it takes a lot of energy to move a large a crowd to the same beat at once.

“I found myself shedding a tear once while I was performing,” Gyzie admitted. “It was so moving when I realised I, as one man, could move so many people on the langarm dance floor and bring them that amount of pleasure and enjoyment.”

Gyzie said that a lot of the music he does he composes himself, however, some of his music are renditions of previous musical pieces by artists who didn’t have access to good quality equipment, but had the sound he likes. “In doing that, I pay homage to them and give their music new energy. I also always give credit to the musicians to whom the copyrights belong to.”

The 32-year-old musician said in his time of being a musician, he has worked with 14 different bands in South Africa, some of which include The Renegades, April Band, Unity Live, Arcades, Real 4 Real, The Freeway Boyz, The Stone, Jsd, Simon April and Brown Sugar.

“In addition, I had the privilege of playing alongside Major 7th of Rehoboth, as well as N2, a popular jazz band in Cape Town. Dr Victor and the Rasta Rebels also helped mould me into the artist I am today,” he said, adding that many people think he isn’t diverse beacause he does langarm, but he can contribute to any genre out there.

“My duty as an artist and a musician is to preserve the langarm culture at all costs. I will try to develop new compositions, sound quality and have workshops to convince other musicians that langarm shouldn’t be associated with an inferiority complex.”

“We should cherish our langarm culture for our future generations.”

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