Rian Malan, poet and songwriter, debuts at The Alma Cafe! We have been chasing him for years, and finally, the eagle has landed…

Tickets R200 (show only)
18h30 for 19h00 (kitchen orders close at 19h00)
Live Music starts when dinner service is completed
Dinner, dessert and drinks available
Fully licensed, BYOB not permitted
Card/cash payment
15% service fee charged

WAS DAAR with RIAN MALAN: About
Did you hear the one about the author, the dancer, and the photographer who crossed the desert in dusty bakkies before stumbling into the bar at the end of the universe, where they fell in love and decided to form a band? Okay, just kidding. But aspects of this yarn are true.

Guy Tillim’s photographs are found in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Modern in London. Hannah Lowenthal is a grand master of the 5Rhythms school of dance and movement, a teacher whose classes are oversubscribed in locations as diverse as Oslo, New York, and Vermaaklikheid.

Vermaaklikheid? It’s a remote village where Guy and Hannah once baked and sold sourdough bread, hence the band’s original name, Vermaaklikheid Bakery Orchestra or VBO. Sadly, the bakery was killed by COVID lockdowns, whereupon the band became known as Was Daar, which is also the title of a faux swing tune by Rian Malan, the third member of this trio.

Rian was once an author of note, best known for his My Traitor’s Heart. Malan lives in the lonely settlement of Van Wyksdorp, where the streets have no names and tarred roads are unknown. Van Wyksdorp has one restaurant only; in Vermaaklikheid, there’s no nightlife at all. So when the sun sets, our subjects drive enormous distances on bad roads for the pleasure of drinking, eating, and playing obscure folk music together – American country western, Argentinian tango, local vastrap, and JewGypsy tunes from long ago and far away.

Was Daar recently completed a pre-world tour of Barrydale, Stilbaai, and even Merweville. They feel they are now ready for even greater things, including weddings, bar mitzvahs, and diplomatic cocktail parties.

The magic of Rian’s songs from his album Alien Inboorling (Shifty Records) lies mostly in the words, so they play at a volume where words are audible. Ideally, they like to play for audiences that listen, making them absolutely ideal for Alma Cafe.

Was Daar Band entertains their audience with an array of folk music from around the world built around Rian Malan’s original English and Afrikaans songs – between them, some 7.5 million plays on YouTube via Radio Kalahari Orkes.

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