Suddenly his name was buzzing around in the Dutch media: Gert Vlok Nel. A pointed name, suitable for a man who doesn't say a word too much. At least, that's what the South African singer / poet gives in the documentary Beautiful In Beaufort-Wes. Gert Vlok Nel grew up in a region called Groot Karoo, somewhere along the road between Cape Town and Johannesburg. His father earned a meager wage on the
… railways. After an aborted study, he devotes himself fully to poetry. His first collection was published in 1993: Om Te Lewe Is Onnatural - Simple Railway Stories. The critics are wildly enthusiastic. Yet it takes five years before his next work is released: the CD Beaufort-Wes Se Beautiful Woorde. A modest poetic album, in which his birthplace and lost loves are sung. Thanks to the documentary that Walter Stokman made about the South African troubadour, his talent has not gone unnoticed in the Netherlands. (MH)more
