Valiant Swart rides again

Great News SA Music fans! It has been 19 years since Valiant Swart released his ground-breaking debut album, “Die Mystic Boer” was released on CD and now you can relive that magic again, on your record player. The album is being released on vinyl, in association with Cape Town design agency (and friends of Valiant) Cow Africa. Fans can rediscover the iconic songs that first put this Boland punk on the map, including “Die Mystic Boer”, “In Die Transvaal”, “Ware Liefde” and “Buitenkant”.

The “Die Mystic Boer” vinyl package includes a high-quality vinyl record (180-gram, 33RPM), the classic album cover, as well as a full colour inner sleeve with the lyrics and a collage of historical reviews and exclusive photos from the group’s personal archives. This is definitely a collector’s item if you ask me.

Valiant Swart had this to say about the vinyl release

“Since childhood I’ve dreamed of making a record. In 1990, when I started making music full-time, I thought it was just a matter of time before my debut would be released. Since 1985, however, CD’s started replacing vinyl records as the preferred music format. In 1991 The Dolly Rockers, at that time the most popular alternative group in Cape Town, used up the last available vinyl in the Cape for their EP.”

“There was literally no more stock of the required raw material to make vinyl records in the Cape! For a poor alternative Afrikaans rocker like me it was an unthinkable and impossible dream to make a CD. I had to wait another five years for my debut release – on CD.”

“By that time, vinyl records had largely disappeared from the scene. The vinyl revolution of the last couple of years got me thinking that it would be quite special to do a limited edition of one of my albums on vinyl.”

“Great was my surprise when Charles from Cow Africa phoned me one day to suggest that they assist me in realising this dream. I immediately agreed and today I finally have my debut album on vinyl – albeit twenty five years later!”

I’m a huge Valiant Swart fan

He was one of the first acts that I watched live way back in the mid 1990’s. A couple of years ago I dug u poster advertising one of the shows that I went to watch at Shaft (a rock pub that used to be located on Lynnwood road in Pretoria). I would not mind having this vinyl in my collection (although I have to admit that I need a record player to play it on first).

The original album cover was carefully revised and updated by Cow Africa. The music itself was left intact; sound levels were only slightly adjusted for the vinyl format.

According to Charles Miller from Cow Africa: “The rediscovery of vinyl is something all of us at Cow are quite passionate about and we have a couple of serious collectors in our ranks. One day we were discussing some of our favourite artists that should have been released on vinyl but never were and Valiant’s name came up first. We knew what we had to do.”

This release of “Die Mystic Boer” brings Valiant Swart’s music to the vinyl format for the very first time. Fitting then, that it’s his debut album and just in time for its twenty-year anniversary in 2016. Only 500 of these limited edition collectors’ pieces are available at R300 each. You can order a copy of the album on the Permanent Record website.

Permanent Record is an independent record label and online vinyl merchant based in Cape Town, South Africa. The label was founded in 2014 with the aim of providing a platform for local artists to release their music on vinyl.

In less than a year, Permanent Record already boasts releases by Valiant Swart, Francois van Coke, The Slashdogs, Hilton Schilder, Peasant and Wildernessking.

Watch this space for regular updates in the Music News category on Running Wolf’s Rant.