Piet van Wyk de Vries
Encyclopedia
Piet van Wyk de Vries is an independent South African song writer and performer, born in Pretoria
in 1972.
for Sting Music in Johannesburg
. He used this Pro Tools
based studio to produce the first Afrikaans
album by the artist Dozi
, entitled "Op Aanvraag", which has since become one of the most successful albums of that genre of all time. This album also launched the career of songwriter Stef Kruger.
Before the Dozi
album he arranged, wrote and produced music and live items for many South African artists in the English
and Black
markets, including PJ Powers
, Lebo Mathosa
and Billy Forrest. He also co-engineered a private recording for Eddy Grant
, who recorded a birthday song in South Africa for his wife.
market, where he has produced mostly compilation albums, examples being some of the "Sokkietreffer" and "Bokjol" franchise compilations. He is much better known as a song writer, and has written for a number of Afrikaans
singers. Most notable of these are Dozi
, Wynand Strydom and Mathys Roets, the last of which uses his songs almost exclusively. Due to his extensive use of pseudonyms, it is almost impossible to track his works and involvement in the South African music business. Nobody is sure how many songs of his has been recorded and covered yet, but most people who are close to him describe it as "hundreds". Not EMI music publishing, nor the South African Music Rights Organization, SAMRO, are prepared to clarify this, for reasons of confidentiality.
In 2006, van Wyk de Vries returned to original production when he co-produced the album "Kom 'n Bietjie Binne" for Dozi
, following the artist's move to Sony/BMG. This also contained the hit song "Susanna Soen My", which he wrote, produced and sang on.
His radical and often surprising attitude to his career and his writing has won him very few friends in the music business, but has secured him a growing and exclusive "word of mouth" niche in the Afrikaans music market, and insulated him from a genre of music which is increasingly being criticized by speakers of the language for its general low quality of content.
In September 2008 he released his second solo album, called "'n Pyl deur seil met vuur" (An arrow through sail with fire), and surprised attendants at a concert with a collaboration on stage with singer/songwriter Andre G. Nel. He has also recently collaborated with the Coleske brothers on songs for the singer Guillome and others.
in April 2009. His stated aim is to be self-sufficient with video production, and to focus on very low budget original concepts.
All videos made by van Wyk de Vries have thus far been available on various websites, and on some of them for free download. He has also been known to give people permission to freely disseminate his music, and bootleg videos taken at performances.
Incidentally, he is related to British
music producer Marius De Vries
, who he claims never to have met in person, although they are in similar fields of interest.
He currently lives with his wife in Centurion, South Africa, with no pets. Not even a raccoon
.
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
in 1972.
Early career
He started in the music industry by fronting the band "Flying Circus", but soon changed directions by focusing more on music production and studio design. This culminated in 2000 when he designed and built what was at the time the largest digital studio in AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
for Sting Music in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
. He used this Pro Tools
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
based studio to produce the first Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
album by the artist Dozi
Dozi
Dozi is a town in the Dey Chopan District of Zabul Province, Afghanistan...
, entitled "Op Aanvraag", which has since become one of the most successful albums of that genre of all time. This album also launched the career of songwriter Stef Kruger.
Before the Dozi
Dozi
Dozi is a town in the Dey Chopan District of Zabul Province, Afghanistan...
album he arranged, wrote and produced music and live items for many South African artists in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Black
Black
Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...
markets, including PJ Powers
PJ Powers
Penelope Jane Dunlop also known as PJ Powers or Thandeka has enjoyed a highly successful musical career in South Africa spanning more than 15 years. P.J. Powers has recorded 15 albums and is well known for her UK chart hit "World In Union" in 1995.-Early life and career:Penelope was born in...
, Lebo Mathosa
Lebo Mathosa
Lebo Mathosa was a popular South African kwaito singer.Mathosa started her career with the popular South African band Boom Shaka in 1994 at the age of 15, after she caught the eye of music producer Don Laka at a club in Johannesburg. She was one of the few successful female kwaito artists in an...
and Billy Forrest. He also co-engineered a private recording for Eddy Grant
Eddy Grant
Edmond Montague "Eddy" Grant is a musician, born in Plaisance, Guyana.- Life and career :When he was still a young boy, his parents emigrated to London, UK, where he settled. He lived in Kentish Town and went to school at the Acland Burghley Secondary Modern at Tufnell Park...
, who recorded a birthday song in South Africa for his wife.
Afrikaans Writer
After that van Wyk de Vries switched his focus to the AfrikaansAfrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
market, where he has produced mostly compilation albums, examples being some of the "Sokkietreffer" and "Bokjol" franchise compilations. He is much better known as a song writer, and has written for a number of Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
singers. Most notable of these are Dozi
Dozi
Dozi is a town in the Dey Chopan District of Zabul Province, Afghanistan...
, Wynand Strydom and Mathys Roets, the last of which uses his songs almost exclusively. Due to his extensive use of pseudonyms, it is almost impossible to track his works and involvement in the South African music business. Nobody is sure how many songs of his has been recorded and covered yet, but most people who are close to him describe it as "hundreds". Not EMI music publishing, nor the South African Music Rights Organization, SAMRO, are prepared to clarify this, for reasons of confidentiality.
In 2006, van Wyk de Vries returned to original production when he co-produced the album "Kom 'n Bietjie Binne" for Dozi
Dozi
Dozi is a town in the Dey Chopan District of Zabul Province, Afghanistan...
, following the artist's move to Sony/BMG. This also contained the hit song "Susanna Soen My", which he wrote, produced and sang on.
Solo Work
In 2007 he more or less retired from production work, and released a solo album, entitled "Die son die maan die sterre" (The sun the moon the stars), containing 11 original works, including the radio hits "MadeleinMadelein", "Iemand soos jy" and "Leë Skoene". He received a lot of press attention and commercial success with this album, but refused to exploit it by not entering for any of the major South Africa music award competitions (and withdrawing his name from those he did not enter, but were nominated in anyway).Independent Artist
In another controversial move he withdrew from all South African arts festivals in late 2008, citing the fact that they no longer represented the artists of South Africa, but were becoming too commercially oriented. He has also been known to often refuse commissions for songs from top selling artists and to sometimes choose small "gigs" in restaurants over bigger events. He has on at least one occasion asked members off the press to leave a theatre before performing.His radical and often surprising attitude to his career and his writing has won him very few friends in the music business, but has secured him a growing and exclusive "word of mouth" niche in the Afrikaans music market, and insulated him from a genre of music which is increasingly being criticized by speakers of the language for its general low quality of content.
In September 2008 he released his second solo album, called "'n Pyl deur seil met vuur" (An arrow through sail with fire), and surprised attendants at a concert with a collaboration on stage with singer/songwriter Andre G. Nel. He has also recently collaborated with the Coleske brothers on songs for the singer Guillome and others.
Exhibitions
In 2008 the South African painter Bess Rheeders discovered van Wyk de Vries, and painted a series of paintings inspired by the songs on his first album. These were only displayed to the public once, and have all been sold into private collections since, apart from one painting, which she gave to the artist.Music videos
In 2009 he expanded his personal studio to include video production, and the first music video out of there started airing on the Afrikaans Satellite Music channelMKMk
mk is the build tool replacing make in Version 10 Unix, Plan 9 from Bell Labs, and Inferno. It improves upon its predecessor by introducing a completely new syntax that is both easier to read and more powerful...
in April 2009. His stated aim is to be self-sufficient with video production, and to focus on very low budget original concepts.
All videos made by van Wyk de Vries have thus far been available on various websites, and on some of them for free download. He has also been known to give people permission to freely disseminate his music, and bootleg videos taken at performances.
Incidentally, he is related to British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
music producer Marius De Vries
Marius de Vries
Marius Van Wyk de Vries is an English music producer and composer. He has been behind some of the key albums and soundtracks of recent times, gathering five Grammy nominations, two BAFTAs, and an Ivor Novello award along the way.-Music Producer:...
, who he claims never to have met in person, although they are in similar fields of interest.
He currently lives with his wife in Centurion, South Africa, with no pets. Not even a raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
.