Jethro Louw

Poet and Performer

Performance format:
solo poetry performances; with the Khoi Khollektif; with the Khoi Khonnexion

	Jethro Louw’s compositions and performances feature on Volume One of our Bootleg Series, by the Khoi Khollektif, in collaboration with several Cape Town acts.The tracks are all live recordings from shows in Cape Town between 2004 and 2007.
	Jethro also features on the Goemarati compilation, with his track In a Third World, a collaboration with Black Rose.Both of these albums will be available shortly in our online shop.

LISTEN

{mp3}In a 3rd World Master{/mp3}
In a Third World
{mp3}KHOE KHONNEXION Dance Khoesan Dance{/mp3}
Dance, Khoesan, Dance
{mp3}Remember_Girl{/mp3}
Remember Girl

JETHRO is thin, wears short dreadlocks and torn clothing, and is missing his top front teeth. The police assume he is a two bit felon and constantly harass him.

In fact Jethro is a poet and a former Western Province athlete. He writes and performs in English and Afrikaans. For the last few years he has been performing both solo and as part of the Khoi Khollektif. The Khollektif is a group of musicians and poets gathered under their Khoisan heritage and desire to rewrite the disturbed representation of the Bushmen people and their culture. The Khollektif includes Garth Erasmus, Loit Sôls, Leslie Javan and Monica Botha.

Jethro has achieved high acclaim in Cape Town, recording and releasing as part of the Wondergigs live recording series in 2002, featuring on various Cape Town Festival stages and at poetry events such as Urban Voices. He is regularly invited by government to perform at events relating to arts, culture and language – he was a feature of the 2002 World Trade Summit in Johannesburg. During the era of the Monday night poetry sessions – at Café Camissa and then at Papa’s – Jethro established himself as one of the city’s most compelling voices. His words follow in the tradition of social critique offered by griots like Bob Marley and Linton Kwesi Johnson.

Jethro loves to walk. One year he walked from Cape Town to Grahamstown to perform on the street and sell self-produced copies of his poetry. He regularly walks home to Kalkfontein from city a distance of some 35 minutes by car from the City. The walking, he says, provides good time to think and compose poetry.