Riku Lätti

Riku Lätti is a South African singer, songwriter, and writer. After matriculation in 1991 at Hoërskool Florida, Johannesburg, he studied philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand where he finished his honors degree. He changed his name to Victor S. Wolf and claimed that Riku Lattii was "dead."^[1] Since then he composed the complete film score for Jans Rautenbach's film "Abraham", on which he was credited as Riku Lätti, thereby being effectively resurrected.

In South Africa, Riku collaborated with superstars such as Koos Kombuis, Laurika Rauch, Frazer Barry, Churchil Naudé, David Kramer, Stef Bos, and Paul Riekert, among others. His songs have been performed and recorded by people like Karla du Plessis, Laurika Rauch, Bobby van Jaarsveld, the all-girl punk band The Pheobes, and the jazz outfit Tsunami, and Izak Davel.

In 2005, he broke onto the international music scene when he completed his first tour in Belgium and the Netherlands. In 2006, during a follow-up tour through Europe, he performed with Stef Bos. On October 1, 2007, Lätti released his first album in the Benelux (Akoesties). For this album, he re-recorded some of his best songs in a stripped-down version, using only his voice and a piano or a guitar.

Riku, together with Jahn Beukes, wrote the music for the award-winning SABC television series Hopeville. Hopeville won the prestigious Rose d'Or in Switzerland for best international TV series. It was also nominated for an Emmy Award. Other scores include the soundtrack for the KykNet series Wie lê waar and the drama series Vlug na Egipte.

He won a South African Film and Television Award (SAFTA) for his sound design and film score for the feature film Die Wonderlike Avonture van Hanna Hoekom.

Other awards Riku has won include 2 GMT (Geraas Musiektoekennings). The first for best alternative artist for his album Pleister vir my Nerwe. The second for best male vocalist for his album Aan't sterre tel. He also got a Vonk Music Award for his album Die President se keuse.

His greatest work is the collaborative album Radio Lava with Jahn Beukes and Arnaud van Vliet featuring his original work. He accused the South African media of not having transformed after the end of Apartheid.

He is also the chief in charge of Zimdollar, an Afrikaans cult newspaper. He is the founding father of Die Wasgoedlyn.

Die Wasgoedlyn

A few years ago Riku Lätti started recording many different artists all around South Africa. Wherever he went he took his recording equipment with and before he knew it artists started featuring on each other's tracks, collaborating and performing together, and so Die Wasgoedlyn started and Die Wasgoedlyn CD was released in 2015. Die Wasgoedlyn (The Washing Line) is a concept centering around Afrikaans musicians telling and singing their stories in their natural habitat: at their homes, around braais, with friends. These informal gatherings are recorded by Riku Lätti with his mobile studio set-up ensuring that the music is not overproduced in a studio giving a sense of the real and the unpretentious.

The name, Die Wasgoedlyn (The Washing Line), was chosen for two reasons. The first being that a washing line (in literal terms) is not usually a place where you would take your guests. It is usually in your backyard where things are a lot less presentable than the front (street view) of your house. In the same vain Die Wasgoedlyn attempts to unearth these raw performances of artists in a space (mentally and physically) that they take comfort in - in which they do not have to pretend. The second reason is that on a washing line you'll find a large variety of items, from work-shirts to church-blouses, patched socks, vest with holes in it, underwear from Jockey, petticoats, etc. Die Wasgoedlyn is as much about putting the artist in their most natural surrounding as it is about surrounding them with other artists - enabling the somewhat mystical bond between creatives to flourish resulting in instinctive collaborations.

In 2014 Riku Lätti collaborated with Kilroy Was Here! Productions (Charl J. Naudé and Gideon Breytenbach) in attempts to turn Die Wasgoedlyn into a TV series with the same concept. The first season will feature approximately twenty artists including Lochner de Kock, Ryno Velvet, Willim Welsyn, Frazer Barry, Tribal Echo, Piet Botha, Jacques "Jake Gunn" Groenewald, Dana Snyman, Gert Vlok Nel, Jannie du Toit, C. Johan Bakkes, Churchill Naude, Laurinda Hofmeyr, Andre van Rensburg, Rian Malan, Dozi, Leila Groenewald, Mervin Williams, Adries Bezuidenhout, Fran Veda (Bonsai), Charles J. Fourie, Andra, Gerald Clark, Mauritz Lotz, Les Javan, Riku Lätti, Bacchus Nel, Loit Sôls, Francois van Coke (Van Coke Kartel), etc.

The Voice Behind the Wall

In 2022 Gideon Breytenbach and Riku Lätti co-directed and produced the film The Voice behind the Wall which won the Cannes Film Award 2023 for Best African Film. The film also won the Angeles Film Festival Award for Best Feature Documentary 2022. The Voice Behind The Wall is a conscientious examination of the Afrikaans music industry and the racial imbalances that still persist almost 30 years since the abolishment of Apartheid. Despite the fact that the Afrikaans language was used to champion white supremacy in a system of institutionalized racial segregation known as Apartheid, its origins lay within the brown communities of Southern Africa. This documentary exposes the cultural appropriation of Afrikaans by the white elite and delves into the disastrous state of the post-Apartheid Afrikaans music industry, where the erasure of brown contributions to the Afrikaans culture is still perpetuated. In this film Churchil Naudé, exceptional poet and rapper, stands as a surrogate for a whole community of ignored artists, whose voices are now oppressed by the very same media industry that was guilty of using its powerful platform to further the white cause during one of the world's worst crimes against humanity. These voices, a whole community of voices behind the wall.

Die Kaappunters

In 2022 Riku formed the band Die Kaappunters with drummer Jean Tunes Marais, bassist Mark Ellis, guitarist Willem Möller (Die Gereformeerde Blues Band), Jackie Lätti and vocals and the rapper Churchil Naudé. Their first release was their EP Ons het so pas begin in September 2022.

Discography

• Me and Mr. Sane

1. Electric Chair
2. Hey hey hey hey
3. Seveneight
4. Crazy like a bird
5. Muscatoman
6. Cool Kids
7. 99
8. Everything
9. One fine day

Featuring musicians Peter Auret, Max Loubscher, Justy Range, Willem Moller (who played with Johannes Kerkorrel) and Stefan Ackermann

• Pleister vir my nerwe

1. Sterre
2. Rooirok
3. Pakpoort
4. Onder my asem
5. Jas
6. Agter my rug
7. Valley
8. Verander
9. Stuikel
10. Waar is jy
11. Laughing

Featuring musicians Peter Auret, Max Mikula, Brendan Ou Tim, Bob Biggens Hendrik Coetzee The album won the GMT Award for Best Alternative Afrikaans Album

• WOKNAKWYF!

1. Slaap
2. In die begin
3. Reën
4. Moet nooit die belangrikheid van goeie mond higiëne onderskat nie
5. Slaap maar weer

• Jean Marais - Nou

1. Aan almal
2. Saamstaan
3. Dis te laf
4. Suit
5. Staar
6. Nou
7. Hoekom is jy bang vir my
8. Eiland in die son
9. Die laaste wals
10. Tussen my en jou

The album was a collaboration between Riku and Jean Marais (MoShang) with contributions from Ewald Cress. It was hailed by the media as "the most progressive Afrikaans album ever".

• Aan't sterre tel (2004)

1. Oorlogtyd
2. Medisyne mens - with Steve Hofmeyr
3. My Amerika
4. Op die maan - with Laurika Rauch
5. Staar
6. Waar is jy
7. Verander
8. Osama Bin Laden - with Paul Riekert
9. Soms - with Liela Groenewald
10. Deesdae
11. Smoorverlief

Featuring musicians Peter Auret, Jonathan Crossley, Cesare Cassarino, Rory Gaddin The album won Riku the GMT Award for best male vocalist.

• Radio Lava (2007)

1. Afgrond
2. Strate
3. Eenling Is Die Mens Gebore
4. Hekkie
5. Hoofstroom
6. Om En Om
7. Onthou Jy Nog
8. Blom
9. Ysbeer
10. Die Cool Wat Deur Die Kerk Is
11. Sneeuwitjie Se Partytjie
12. Voor Jou Oe
13. Weet Van Beter
14. Jeane Se Partytjie

Featuring Jahn Beukes and Arnaud van Vliet.

• Akoesties (2009)

1. Hoofstroom
2. Ysbeer
3. Pakpoort
4. Afgrond
5. Somer
6. Blom
7. Voor Jou Oë
8. Aubade II
9. Stertrap
10. Strate
11. Sunday's Like This
12. My Amerika
13. Onder Jou Asem
14. Op Die Maan - with Jelle Amersfoort
15. Dood Spoort (hidden track by Jelle Amersfoort, Dutch translation of Hoofstroom)

Benelux-release only, acoustic recordings with Riku on piano and guitar.

• Die Ongelooflike avonture van Hanna Hoekom (2010)

Original soundtrack for the film available from Gallo Records

1. Ratelslang
2. Hoekom Altyd
3. Huis
4. Virus
5. Pak Saam
6. Konigin Binne
7. Wonder
8. Raaisel
9. Rooirok
10. My Kap
11. Weet Jy (Dat ek nog aan jou klou)
12. Suikerbostango
13. Jêm
14. Nuwe Lewe
15. Dis 'n Dogtertjie
16. Konigin Binne (&0s Rules Mix)

• Janneman in die Diereryk (2011)

Kinderalbum/Children's album Stories and songs available from AKA Records

1. Stoomtrein
2. Janneman
3. Vertelling- In die takke
4. Oupa Die Uil
5. Vertelling - Waar Gaan Al Die Diere Heen
6. Koning Leeu Se Partytjie
7. Slaap, Hasie, Slaap
8. Skildpad In My Hangmat
9. Vir Die Voëls
10. Vertelling -'n Slang In Die Stad
11. In Die Woud
12. Vêr Weg Van Die Huis
13. Elke Dier Het Sy Dag
14. Swaeltjie
15. Vertelling - Janneman Gaan Huis Toe
16. 'n Ding Soos Die
17. Vertelling - Hoekom Moes Janneman Weggaan
18. As Al Die Sterre Stukkend VAl
19. Droomland

• Die Wasgoedlyn Volume 01 (2015)

1. Verskeie Kaalpruts - Wasgoedlyn
2. Gert Vlok Nel - Fly My To The Moon
3. Rian Malan - Jezebel
4. Les Javan - Rooirokmoles
5. Bacchus Nel - Lucy
6. Nike Holm - Seil
7. Loit Sôls - Die Law
8. Lochner de Kock - Die Muur
9. Gert Vlok Nel - Hand Vol Gruis
10. Piet Botha - Bitterfontein
11. Oom Koos - Sarie Marais
12. Les Javan - Rietfontein
13. Bacchus Nel - Waar Die Dice Val
14. Neil Sandilands - Stof Tot Stof
15. Jackie Lätti - Boereplaas se Lakens
16. Die White Ou Not Kwaito Ensemble - Boegoeberg se Dam
17. Toast Coetzer - Sagte Vleise
18. Jaco Botha - Saggies en Teer
19. Rynier Ernst Julius Prins - Groot Verlange
20. Jackie Lätti - Laaste Dans
21. Laurinda Hofmeyr - Al In Die Rondte
22. Riku Lätti - Slaap Klein Beminde
23. Verskeie Kaalpruts - Onder Jou Asem
24. Verskeie Kaalpruts - Wasgoedlyn Tot Siens Sê

• Die klankbaan van Jans Rautenbach film - Abraham (2015)

Original soundtrack for the film, available from Vonk Musiek.

1. Treinspoor
2. Dwarrelwind Van My Lewe
3. Lyperplant
4. Fyntrapriel
5. Bergwind
6. Springbok
7. Stofpadriel
8. Triomftog
9. Twee-Paaie-Riel
10. Op Na Die Berge
11. Tyd Vir Kuns
12. Leeu In Die Sitkamer
13. Sy Bloed
14. Olifant
15. Iemand Wat My Hoor
16. Katie Se Byl
17. Langs 'n Stofpad Vêr
18. Waai
19. Heilig Is Die Lewe
20. Op Na Die Berge (Bonus Snit)
21. Hidden Track

• Hoop daai boom is Oukei (2018)

1. Die Son
2. Hoop daai boom is oukei
3. Kom saam met my
4. Dans is al
5. As tyd kon tik
6. Transformeer
7. Waai
8. Wen! Wen! Wen!
9. Oomblik en Ewigheid (poem by Henning J. Pieterse)
10. Kersfeesvader
11. Krokodil
12. Heilig
13. Neem my saam

References

1. The Death Of Riku Lätti And The Birth Of Victor S. Wolf, Rolling Stone, 2 July 2013