Steve Hofmeyr’s beat lives on…                                                Photos here

Steve Hofmeyr’s popularity was evident in New Zealand during July when more than 1,400 people attended The Afrikaans Club of New Zealand’s two KiwiKasie concerts in Auckland. Add to that a record 500 people in Hamilton and sell out performances in Christchurch and Wellington, with excellent attendances in Tauranga, Palmerston North and New Plymouth and the tour can safely be called a huge success.

After more than a decade in the spotlight and album sales of over 800,000 units, Steve Hofmeyr is undoubtedly a success story. When he is not singing, he is acting and when the actor is taking a break then the writer takes over, composing songs and writing poetry. Most of the songs on his albums are original (English or Afrikaans).

Hofmeyr’s CD “Gewildste Treffers II” has already achieved gold status in South Africa. His stage production “Beautiful Noise - A Tribute to Neil Diamond” filled 260 venues in South Africa to capacity and the CD with the same title has already surpassed 100,000 sales. It is no wonder that he is the most famous male pop vocalist in South Africa.

As usual some of the best Afrikaans musical acts in Auckland took to the stage as part of the support programme of the two main KiwiKasie shows, warming things up for Steve’s performance. The Afrikaans Club has provided a support programme for every guest artist since KiwiKasie’s inception, providing a platform for the development of a variety of local Afrikaans talent. This included the Club’s own productions with local volunteers and performances by groups and individuals such as Dewald Kritzinger, AfriCapella (male voice group), Umoya (female voice group), Marinda de Villiers (soprano), Janine and Daniël Nel and many more.

This was The Afrikaans Club’s fifth KiwiKasie Festival and Hofmeyr was the eighth Afrikaans artist to be brought to New Zealand. This was by far their most ambitious project to date, as eight performances were organised in seven New Zealand cities. The Afrikaans Club shared the Hofmeyr party’s international air fares with the Afrikaans Club of Australia, as Hofmeyr also toured Australia for four performances.

The New Zealand tour has been made possible through the great co-operation between The Afrikaans Club and other South African support organisations and churches with South African members in New Zealand. These include the Afrikaans Christian Church of NZ (Hamilton congregation), the Reformed Church of Kapiti-Mana (Afrikaans service in Wellington), the South African Club in Tauranga and SINZASA in Christchurch. Two individual volunteers also pulled their weight: Richard Marais in New Plymouth and Ilse Boessenkool in Palmerston North.

The project was sponsored by various sponsors. The following companies were major (“anchor”) sponsors: AI Financial Services aifin@xtra.co.nz, The South African Kaffee and the South African Shop www.saproducts.co.nz and NewBegiNZ in collaboration with Fritz Swart Insurance Services www.newbeginz.co.nz and www.fritzswart.co.nz

Steve has been and is gone, but his beat lives on…