A journey through the world of a brilliant dreamer.
Jannie du Toit sings Jacques Brel in French, Afrikaans, English and Dutch. A once off performance of this exquisite production is scheduled at the Theatre on the Square, Sandton at 15h00 on Sunday, 25th August 2024.
Book via theatreonthesquare.co.za
Contact the theatre on 011 883 8606.
Jacques Brel: All music and French texts
Susan Mouton: Cello/piano, Chanie Jonker: Piano/accordion
Jannie du Toit: Vocals/guitar
Juanita Swanepoel: Direction
Clinton Zerf, Matthys Maree, Christa Steyn, Jannie du Toit: Musical arrangements
Naòmi Morgan and Bernard Odendaal: Translations
In Bonjour Monsieur Brel, Jacques Brel’s colourful texts are sung in four languages and accompanied by a splendid ensemble of piano, cello and guitar. Jannie has been a highly regarded Brel interpreter for decades and a permanent exponent of excellence in songcraft, amongst others in Dutch. He sang his first renditions of Brel in 1988 in the production Van Berlyn tot Bapsfontein with Laurika Rauch in Club’58 – Hillbrow. Since then, Brel has consistently featured in his shows such as De Kleine Man and Jannie en die Tannie together with Christa Steyn. His first performance in a full on Brel production was Brel in Brooklyn in 2010, again with Laurika, Christa at the piano and Sergio Zampolli as accordionist. Particularly two Brel songs sung in Dutch – Madeleine and Liefde van later – established him as a Brel performer in the early nineties and in later years his Brel recordings were regularly heard on Classic FM.
Response from the media:
Paul Boekkooi, Beeld (translated)
Anyone with a frame of reference around the real Brel will agree that Du Toit and his ensemble have created one of the brightest Brel offerings to date in South Africa. Jannie du Toit’s recitation and singing Brel is exactly where it should be: idiomatically rich and nuanced, with great diction and a voice that can risk a lot emotionally and dramatically. We have waited a long time for such a quality presentation.
Lesley Stones – Daily Maverick
Bonjour Monsieur Brel is a fine show spanning a collection of the Belgian musician’s work in English, French, Dutch and Afrikaans. They’re brought to rip-roaring life by Jannie du Toit, who performs them with the spitting, striding intensity that the man himself would approve of. Du Toit is superb, with the gravitas and vocal power to do the songs justice. The music is provided brilliantly by Susan Mouton on the cello and piano and Chanie Jonker on piano and accordion.
Herman Meulemans, on Litnet, Tinnenpot Theatre, Ghent, Belgium – (translated from Dutch)
Jannie has a voice timbre of that lends itself exceptionally well to sensitivity and tenderness. But he can switch head over heels to a completely different register: where rhythm sets the tone as in La valse à mille temps, impatience, as in Madeleine, or sailor’s brawl as in Dans le port d’Amsterdam. The languages he uses: French, Afrikaans, English and Dutch, flow as if they had merged into a single language which transforms Jacques Brel to a universal singer, poet and wordsmith.
Bonjour Monsieur Brel
