Koos Kombuis: Ikonoklas na ikoon

Abstract

Die Afrikaanse skrywer en musikant Koos Kombuis word vandag wyd as 'n ikoon beskou. In die 1980's was hy egter 'n randfiguur van die Afrikaner-establishment. Hoe het hierdie transformasie van ikonoklas na ikoon oor tyd plaasgevind? Kombuis het sy loopbaan as digter en skrywer in die 1980's begin. Hy het homself aan die spits van die sogenaamde Tagtigerbeweging in die letterkunde bevind, en in 1989 het hy aan die berugte Voëlvry-toer deelgeneem wat sy status as dwarstrekker verskans het. Sy letterkunde en musiek van dié dekade het gepoog om die waardes en norme van die heersende Afrikaner-establishment omver te gooi. Die vroeë 1990's het bepaalde veranderinge in sowel die breër sosio-politieke konteks van Suid-Afrika as Kombuis persoonlik gesien. Sy beeld onder Afrikaners het stelselmatig begin verander, en soos sy loopbaan in die jare sedertdien ontwikkel het, het hy algaande ikoonstatus bekom. Hierdie artikel stel ondersoek in na Koos Kombuis se transformasie van ikonoklas na ikoon binne Afrikaner geledere.

The Afrikaans author and musician, Koos Kombuis, is widely regarded as an icon today. In the 1980s, however, he was a fringe figure, arguably even an iconoclast of the Afrikaner establishment. How did this transformation from iconoclast to icon happen over time? Kombuis began his career as poet and author in the 1980s. He found himself as a leading figure of the so-called Tagtiger movement in Afrikaans literature, and in 1989 he participated in the Voëlvry tour which entrenched his image as an Afrikaner iconoclast. His literature and music of this particular decade attempted to overthrow the accepted norms and values of the reigning Afrikaner establishment. The early 1990s saw certain changes in the broader South African socio-political context as well as in Kombuis personally. His image among Afrikaners started changing and as his career developed in the years since, he gradually obtained icon status. This article investigates Koos Kombuis's transformation from iconoclast to icon within Afrikaner society.