Bittereinder is a South African rap/electro band from Pretoria who perform in Afrikaans. Jaco van der Merwe, Peach van Pletzen, and Louis Minnaar founded the three-man band in 2009,[1] and have since performed at major South African festivals such as Oppikoppi,[2] across southern Africa, and the Netherlands.[3] They are known for their high-energy performances. The name Bittereinder originates from the Second Boer War. Towards the end of the war, so-called Boers, Afrikaans-speaking farmers, engaged in guerrilla warfare against the British despite the fact that they had already lost. They fought “to the bitter end”, and were therefore called “bitter-enders”, or, in Afrikaans, “bittereinders”; more colloquially, the English translation would be “diehard”.[2] Van der Merwe says that the band interprets the word more positively: “Today, it means more not giving up.” They have been characterised as more positive than Die Antwoord. Van der Merwe’s lyrics are “a little more hopeful”, he has said, because he tries to find things to be proud of in the Afrikaans identity, although it is difficult because there is “much to be ashamed of”.[1] Typical for Bittereinder’s lyrics is the amount of code-switching between Afrikaans and English. All three members of Bittereinder are from Afrikaans-speaking families in Pretoria but went to English-speaking schools. Due to the low status of Afrikaans in post-Apartheid South Africa, as a boy, Van der Merwe was made to feel like an outsider growing up, and was “called ‘Dutchman’ and ‘Boer’ daily.”[1] The shame he felt as a result led to him rejecting the language and culture when he was growing up. He began writing rap when he was fifteen years old, initially in English, and only later in Afrikaans, “with a dictionary in […] hand” as he tried to learn the language after he had reconciled with his background. From 1998, van der Merwe had written and performed in English under the stage name Ajax.[7] He met Peach van Pletzen in April 2008, when he toured with Pletzen’s solo effort, Yesterday’s Pupil, in Poland. Louis Minnaar, who was known for his award-winning music videos for Van Coke Kartel, Yesterday’s Pupil, and Die Heuwels Fantasties, was originally brought into the group for that purpose, but also became a composer and producer during the writing and production of ‘n Ware Verhaal. In 2009, Jaco van der Merwe approached Peach van Pletzen and Louis Minnaar about his desire to start an Afrikaans rap project, which project would become Bittereinder. Their first album, ‘n Ware Verhaal, was in production for almost two years. In 2013, they released “Kwaad Naas”, a lighthearted song about the tension between English and Afrikaans whites in South Africa. In 2015, Jaco van der Merwe with Jean-Louise Parker started the music label Wêreld Records.
