Josef Marais

Who was Josef Marais?

Josef Marais was a folk-singer from South Africa.

Marais left South Africa in the 1920s to study violin and viola in Europe, finally settling in London. He toured as a concert violinist for several years and when he heard that His Master's Voice was eager to record songs in Afrikaans for the South African market, he offered his services. The very successful recordings were heard by the BBC who approached Marais with the request that he translate and perform the songs for British audiences. These broadcasts were heard by the British representative of NBC and Marais was invited to New York in 1939 to do a radio show for NBC. In 1945, he met Rosa de Miranda, a Dutch immigrant, and they teamed up, performing for more than 30 years as Marais and Miranda, recording many South African traditional folk ballads and original songs such as "Zulu Warrior".