My 'boetabal'.

Sorry if this seems like a rude word, but it’s really not. J The word ‘boetabal’ means brother (in my language) and it is pronounced, boet-a-bal. So yes, this post is about my brother.

Why am I writing about him? He is one of the biggest influences in my life and at the same time, he is a really amazing guy who I have learnt so much from while growing up. I still learn a lot from him and love spending time with him.

So ‘boetabal’ is a full-time musician – he plays the drums for two bands at the moment. Boeta started off playing the drum with packets, chopsticks and my mom’s pots and pans at the age of about 15/16 years old. At that time, I was only 11/12 years old and I often thought to myself, boy what are you doing? You’re making one hell of a noise! Sometimes I would sit with him and he would teach me how to play the ‘packet-pan-chopstick’ drums while he played the guitar and we would sing songs and have a good time together. This is all boeta wanted to do – play music.

Of course my parents wanted him to finish school and couldn’t understand how all he wanted to do was play music. This constant battle with my parents and boeta went on for years. He never enjoyed school, never ever done homework, skipped classes, he done everything my parents did not want him to do. Me on the other hand always stood on the sideline and watched and listened to how my parents would tell him what he should be doing.

The most important lesson I learnt from him is that no matter how much people put you down about what you want to do in your life, if it is your passion – go for it! He faced many challenges, very hard challenges that most of us will probably never face, but still he kept on pursuing his dream.  

Today my brother is one of the most remarkable musicians ever and although he is still properly establishing himself, he does pretty well for himself and I am extremely proud of him! My parents grew to understand that this is who he is as well and they respect him for it. He is truly someone I look up to and is definitely the best brother in the world to me!

For anybody who wants to pursue their dreams –don’t lose hope and don’t give up. Keep faith just like my boeta did and you will get far!