Frieda van den Heever introduces her debut album titled “Spoorsny.”
Spoorsny is Frieda van den Heever‘s (better known as a voice artist, radio presenter and director) first full-length Afrikaans album. This album was born from the dreamspace of yearning, like most other music. Life had to leave traces before she could cut – tracks, record tracks, trust her instinct. The tracks run through landscapes of loss, longing, questions, ecstasy, hope, love: life… and also life after death. The longing to escape, to be home, to fly, to land, to forget, to remember, to break free, to hold – the paradox of being human. Frieda sums it up: “I had to live before I could sing about it.”
The songs on Spoorsny were written over many years and have now taken shape in its offering as an album. The music was originally created for an award-winning production at the Woordfees titled “Skoonveld” Afterwards, audiences convinced Van den Heever that she could make a valuable contribution to the ‘body of work’ of Afrikaans music and that she in fact owed it to Afrikaans to share her work.
The album was recorded over the span of a couple of months, with the legendary Jürgen von Wechmar at Sunset Recording Studios. Frieda fine-tuned the songs with the help of two genius producers, Fred den Hartog and Johnny de Ridder. Some of our country’s leading session musicians can also be heard on the album.
The first single on the album, Bon Voyage, was the very last song written by Van den Heever before the album was recorded. She was super keen to work with Die Heuwels Fantasties on one of her tracks, because she loved their previous collabs on some older songs, Mangemaak, Pêrels en Lewensredders and Nodig. Bon Voyage saw the light along with Pierre Greeff and Fred den Hartog as producers.
Jozua Malherbe and Rolanda Marais were at the helm of directing and filming the Bon Voyage video, the camerawork was by Lourens van Rensburg (7Films), editing Damiane van Reenen and the grading by Justin Wall.
Other highlights on the album include Slot Wat Aanhou, a duet with Laudo Liebenberg, Huis Toe, a favorite among audiences who came to watch the music production, Asem, a track that often plays on RSG, Branders ken Strande, a song Frieda wrote on the first Christmas day after her husband’s death and Soos `n gebed, the only song on the album that she did not write herself. Soos `n gebed is the setting of a special poem by Hilda Smits (Ingrid Jonker Prize winner of 2017) to music.
This album evokes deep memories of what it means to be fully human. Frieda van den Heever tries to interpret the complexity of being human by giving words for the indescribable magnitude of it all, often an impossible task, she would admit. She consistently attempts to write as she smells, to sing as she speaks, to track down what she hears.
Leonard Cohen said: “Whatever pain you can’t rid of, make it your creative offering.” This album is Van den Heever`s offering, It is not light music, but it is full of light
View the Bon Voyage video: HERE
Stream Spoorsny album Here
Social Media:
Instagram: @friedavdheever
“The dead leave us starving with mouths full of love.”
– Anne Michaels.