DO NOT MARRY THAT WOMAN
‘LADIES and gentlemen, please put your hands together and welcome Mr Taliep Petersen!”
Electric and bass guitars simulate a drum roll, then the band begin to play before they segue into an intro for Elvis’ Can’t Help Falling in Love.
Suddenly Taliep is there. With a surprisingly youthful, supple voice, a broad smile at its edges, he sings, “Wise men say, only fools rush in. But I can’t help falling in love with you.”
In their bedroom in Bonteheuwel, Cape Town, bass guitarist Howard Links and his wife, Patricia, are playing me a recording of the concert held at the Mother City’s famous Luxurama Theatre. Howard’s best guess at dating when this show took place is 1987 – he was on stage with Taliep so often it’s hard to remember.
This seems far too early to me.
What they’ve just shared with me was a benefit concert in aid, no less, of one of Najwa Dirk’s relatives. At the end of the show, during which Taliep went on to sing Frank Sinatra’s My Way, Nat King Cole’s Mona Lisa and a handful of ghoemaliedjies, he called Najwa on stage to present her with a cheque.
“We’re the only guys who can give them the R25 000,” Howard explains. “We packed that Luxurama, my dear.”
Even those with only superficial knowledge of Taliep generally know that Najwa Dirk was his second wife and the person who masterminded his murder.
As we leave the room, one of the last snatches my Dictaphone picks up is Taliep singing, “And now the end is near and
