Beneath the Chords brings another stripped down storytelling show to KZN. This time we welcome rock icon, Francois van Coke, to share his stories that lie Beneath the Chords.
Beneath the Chords was built on passion, love and appreciation for intimate live music experiences. An authentic curiosity into discovering what lies Beneath the Chords of Francois van Coke and the stories or muse behind his anthems that we so fondly know.
Our vision is to create one of a kind intimate, stripped down, storytelling sessions with small audiences, allowing you to feel up, close and personal with the artist. We wish you to leave our event feeling like a friend of the artist, not just a fan.
Francois Badenhorst, better known by his stage name Francois Van Coke, rose to fame as the front man of South African rock bands Fokofpolisiekar and Van Coke Kartel.
As a solo artist, van Coke has performed with nationally recognised artists like Karen Zoid, Die Heuwels Fantasties, Early B, Laudo Liebenberg and Jack Parow. In 2015, Francois launched his self-titled debut solo album and kicked his solo career into gear with the release of – Toe Vind Ek Jou featuring Karen Zoid. It was the first Afrikaans album and single to simultaneously jump to number one positions on the South African iTunes Store. The music video for “Toe Vind Ek Jou” was viewed over a million times within six-month and was announced as the biggest Afrikaans music video of 2015.
Van Coke has always had an affinity for music. Moving to Bellville, Western Cape in his early childhood where he grew up, he participated in high school in a battle of the bands competition where he performed the vocals for the band. He was later kicked out of the band, which put him off performing vocals for a while. Van Coke’s strong Christian upbringing (his father was a pastor) led him to create the Christian band AS180. Van Coke established himself in the Bellville underground music scene by forming the band “A Guy Called Gerald”, which later changed its name to “New World Inside”.
Van Coke then co-founded the rock band Fokofpolisiekar. The band was initially started as a joke to shock the widely conservative Afrikaans community. Van Coke recalls that, “My mom cried for a day or two when she heard the name of the band”. After initial performances his father asked him to change his surname from “Badenhorst” to “Van Coke”, as his father, being a minister, was receiving complaints about his son’s performances from the local church-going community.
Francois is coming to Durban to perform at Talloula’s in Bothas Hill on Saturday 17th December.