Singer, songwriter, director, creative…David Kramer…famous also for his pork pie hats & red *veldskoen shoes. I took this as he was being interviewed about his upcoming new show, Kalahari Karoo Blues, at the Baxter Theatre next month.
* Veldskoen (pronounced “FELL-skoons”) are Southern African walking shoes made from veg tanned leather or soft rawhide uppers attached to a leather footbed and rubber sole without tacks or nails. The name comes from Afrikaans vel (“skin”) (later assimilated to veld (“field”)) and skoen (“shoe”),n and their design is believed to be based on the traditional Khoisan footwear observed by the first Dutch settlers in South Africa. The footwear was later enculturated into the Afrikaans psyche when the velskoen was used as the footwear of the Great Trek. Easy to make, lightweight and extremely tough wearing the vellie could withstand the harsh conditions of the great migration north.