Bittereinder: A Tale of Three Cities

12 Oct 2010

The tale of A Tale of Three Cities is a song by Bittereinder featuring Tumi Molekane and Jack Parow. It comes from Bittereinder's debut album "'n ware verhaal". Pretoria, Joburg and Cape Town are the cities featured in the song.

"A Tale of Three Cities" off Bittereinder's debut album is a meandering narrative of three cities, containing three verses and three unique rap-styles. Front man Jaco van der Merwe's first verse is a journey through the streets of his home city, Pretoria. Tumi Molekane (of Tumi & the Volume) delivers the second verse - a poetic tribute to Johannesburg - and the final verse is performed by Jack Parow, who presents us with a humorous and insightful portrait of Cape Town.

The idea for the song was born in Jaco's mind early in 2009, after he had jotted down a few ideas for a track about Pretoria to record on Bittereinder's debut album "'n ware verhaal". At the time, one of Bittereinder's two producers, Peach van Pletzen, was working with Molekane and Parow on separate projects. Coincidence? Van der Merwe thought not.

Different times, different places

When Van Pletzen proposed the idea for the track to the two guest rappers, they were immediately sold. They wrote and recorded their verses at different times and in different places, and the end result is three distinctly unique stories about three of the most important cities in South Africa. Because of its wide appeal, the track produced a remarkably patriotic response from listeners who happened to be from one of the three cities. The Afrikaans/English collaboration on the song is also one of the firsts of its kind in the genre, another reflection of the diversity already contained so broadly in the lyrics. Bittereinder is confident enough about the depth of this song to proclaim that if you are South African, you will relate to, and most probably fall in love with, "A Tale of Three Cities".

Ware Verhaal

The first official single off Bittereinder's debut album is Ware Verhaal, a satirical social commentary that weaves through a lonely Afrikaans rapper's journey of discovery and revelation in his first authentic meeting with his mother tongue. Keep your eyes peeled for the brand new music video for Ware Verhaal on DStv, SABC and YouTube.