For Jaco Marais, there are few things as important as emotional honesty and rawness. Moreover, it is precisely this need for honesty that led to his pseudonym, Meinhardt.
“The name represents my heart, on the contrary, I initially wanted to sing under the name ‘My heart’ rather than ‘Meinhardt’,” Jaco tells RNews.
This farmer from Beaufort West is by no means a stranger to the music industry, his path with music already began in the early 1990s.
In the meantime, he confesses, life happened and he had to lay down his writing pen for quite a few years.
Today, years after his first album was released in 2004, he once again finds a home behind the microphone. Under a new name and musical banner, it is a wonderful privilege for him to make music again.
“At the time I sang gospel music, which I no longer do today. This change made me realize that I want to make music under a new name.
“However, I still want to share a deep message with my music.”
His first single, “Koffie in die tronk”, was released in April this year, with “Kaap toe” close on its heels. These songs are examples of Jaco’s emotional honesty that he would like to live out with his music, he says.
“Kaap toe”, a song that hit the airwaves in October this year, tells the story of a divorce and the devastating impact it can have on family life. It explores a parent’s heart that yearns with loving longing to see his or her children more often.
This track, which appeared from Jaco’s pen, strikes a personal chord for this singer, as he is also the father of two sons whom he only sees every now and then.
“I had to say hello and goodbye again for seven years. Weeks and months where children and parents should have been together in the perfect world are now replaced by pictures of memories and limited hours of a catch-up relationship,” he says.
“One does not want to generalize, because many divorces are not dark, but children are introduced to a new love; one of persevering and continuing to hope.”
Listen to Meinhardt’s latest single, “Kaap toe”, here:
