Letting music be the art of love
Former Springbok Nude Girls rocker Adriaan Brand is the music director of the Delta Trust, which focuses on building social cohesion in the Western Cape’s Franschhoek Valley wine region, writes Margaret Harris
What do you do at work each day?
I coordinate all of the many music events that take place at Solms-Delta, such as the annual ATKV Oesfees. Every March, we give thanks at the festival for the harvest, bringing farmworkers and farm owners from the Franschhoek Valley together to kuier [visit] and vastrap [dance], along with thousands of others who enjoy the sounds and flavours of the rural Cape.
I also coordinate staff and participant efforts in the Music van de Caab heritage development project, an initiative of the Delta Trust. I manage music project logistics and attend meetings as a consultant and administrator for Solms-Delta and the Delta Trust. I also facilitate group rehearsals and public performances, compose and arrange music, and design and deliver staff training when necessary.
Much of my time is spent preparing our own farm musicians for the harvest festival, and I regularly hit the road in search of rural talent for it — my most recent trip was to the Richtersveld. What drew you to this particular career?
I have always been a performer and facilitator of music. Even in the days when I was performing full time with the Springbok Nude Girls, I was always involved in some kind of community-based music project. In my 20s I did a BSc, and in my early 30s I worked in education and teacher training in Asia. In my mid-30s I completed an honour’s degree in psychology at the University of South Africa and, most recently, an MMus in music therapy at the University of Pretoria.
What I do now is the natural convergence of everything I have ever done and been interested in. What did you want to be when you were a child?
A musician. I guess this was because, from an early age, I felt the power of music as a ritual and also as a way of building social cohesion. What about your job gets you out of bed each day?
Interacting with people in and around musical expression. What about your job keeps you awake at night?
Nothing, I am happy to report. What would you do if you could not do this job?
I would either become a music therapist or seek employment in corporate human resources, providing wellbeing intervention services in and around the creative arts. What qualifications do you have and how do they help you to do your job?
My first degree, in physiology and psychology, laid the base for the thinking that permeates much of music therapy literature. In honours, I focused on community psychology, social, developmental and cognitive psychology and psychological research and assessment.
I have also completed music studio recording and production courses. These proved extremely valuable when I was producing albums with development ensembles and someone had to “clean up” recording takes. And the training I received in student-centred teaching techniques and manage-
ment has also been valuable. What qualities do you need to do this job?
You definitely need to be a people-oriented person with lots of emotional and spiritual resources. It has also been useful to have been trained as a therapist. This equips one to kindly set personal boundaries that ultimately make one’s efforts more sustainable. It also assists in understanding others. And, of course, it is essential to be a well-versed musician. What is the best career advice you have ever received?
When I graduated from Stellenbosch University with a BSc, I explained to the professor who selected me for honours that I was, at heart, a passionate musician, but that I was anxious I wouldn’t survive if I didn’t continue studying psychology. He told me he was dying of cancer and had always wanted to be an opera singer. He regretted not having followed his passion and encouraged me to follow my dream. He assured me that I would always be selected for honours again at a later stage. How right he was. What was it like to be a “rock star” when you were part of Springbok Nude Girls?
It was the most amazing, carefree, fun and inspiring way I can imagine to have spent my 20s. It was glamorous, yes, but also slightly hysterical at times. It was always clear to me, even then, that it would not be where I would stay professionally. It feels like I have found better, deeper and richer ways to serve humankind in and around music as I grew older.