KLIKKERLAND RELEASES FOURTH DVD!
Mommies and Daddies
prepare yourselves for lots of fun and laughter as you watch your child fall in
love with the KLIKKERLAND gang!
Because Huppel Hoepel,
Boebel Babbel, Woepel Wappel, Rimmel Rammel, Tink Tinkie and Liela Loela are
here to stay! The Ghoema nominated (Best
Children’s Album or DVD) children’s series, KLIKKERLAND, with its
colourful characters and fun educational approach, has been conquering the hearts
of children since the release of its first volume in 2013. The fourth
instalment of this exciting programme has just been released and promises to
build on the quality musical entertainment, which made it famous and to attract
audiences of a broader demographic.
The latest
release covers a wide variety of modern and exciting topics, ranging from the
importance of insects to the magic of the imagination. It also contains playful
song and dance numbers, DIY-projects, food and fieldtrips, which immediately
resonates with audiences of all ages. “KLIKKERLAND has grown from three to six
characters. With each release, it gets easier to create and write episodes,
because we learn more about what works and about the needs of our audience. Our
music is fresh, upbeat, and easy to sing along to. The characters also have a lot of fun and viewers can look forward to
brand new pranks by Rimmel Rammel. The program now also boasts an English member
with fuller programmes and more features,” says Marinda Fourie, one of the founding
members of this project. “The new storylines are fun and the themes are modern. Parents will also
like our cleaning episode and children will enjoy making recycled items,” adds Carina Beukes, the second member of this
dynamic duo.
KLIKKERLAND was born in the heart of the
Garden Route when a group of likeminded artists, with a passion for children’s
theatre, met at the Oakhurst Insurance George
Arts Theatre and decided to create an educational series for children aged
between three and nine. Currently, the theatre is also home to the KLIKKERLAND
set. Songs were set, scripts were written
and colourful characters were developed. The characters were carefully planned
to represent various personality types. Even the character names were chosen to
help little tongues practice the pronunciation of difficult sounds, making it
relevant to non-Afrikaans viewers. Huppel Hoepel is very kind and will go
out her way to help others, while Boebel
Babbel is more mischievous and loves computer games. Woepel Wappel is obsessed with exercise and travelling and is
afraid of the dark, while Rimmel Rammel likes
playing pranks and is also the musician of the group. Tink Tinkie is the shy clever one who loves to read and educate and
Liela Loela speaks English and loves
cooking. With these cute characters in place, a lot of help and favours, the
first DVD of the series was recorded. “We wanted to ensure that the product would be
suitable for children in the intended age group and went to a lot of trouble to
test all aspects of the project with these kids. Even the name had to represent
an imaginary world where anything is possible and children could lose
themselves in an adventure and fall in love with the characters,” they share.
Volume 1, which mainly
focuses on pets and facing fears, was an instant hit. The second release
followed soon thereafter and took viewers on a fieldtrip to a dairy farm and
illustrated health from exercise. Each DVD consists of two thirty minute
stories as well as theme related educational music videos. After one of the
original creators of the show had to relocate and had to withdraw from the
production process, it was up to Carina and Marinda to regroup and complete the
rest of the series.
In the third release of the season new characters were introduced, while
Rimmel Rammel went swimming with the
sharks. This is also the series’ biggest success story as it was nominated for
a coveted Ghoema Award in 2017. “We
develop each episode ourselves, do research on each topic, address relevant
issues and also keep educational syllabus in mind. Every episode is brainstormed
and ideas are exchanged until everyone is satisfied. The themes are important,
because they address issues children deal with on a daily basis. It will therefore, also assist children in expanding and improving
their Afrikaans vocabulary and pronunciation. We want to entertain children,
make them move and put a smile on their faces.”
The KLIKKERLAND experience is
not limited to DVD’s, but can also be experienced as a stage production
allowing fans to meet their favourite cast member in person. The production has
also been featured at some of the biggest festivals in the country, such as The
Knysna
Oyster Festival, Woordfees, Bloeiselfees, George Show, New Castle Winter
Festival, Diaz Summer Festival, Afrikaans Gaan Klein, KKNK and Innibos. They
will also make an appearance at the Kierieklapper Arts Festival, East Rand Expo
and many other functions, later in the year. A CD, containing the music from
the first four DVD”S, was recently released, as well as a music video
compilation. The content of the first three DVD’s was divided into different
episodes that can be seen on kykNET daily as part of their children’s
programming.
THE WOMEN BEHIND
THE COLOURFUL CHARACTERS
Marinda Fourie has been in love with theatre, dance and music from a very young age.
Her parents used to take her to plays and ballets and she dreamt of also being
on stage one day. After school, she studied Corporate Communications at the North-West
University in Potchefstroom, specializing in Audio-visual Communications. During
her student years, she gained experience as television presenter of the campus
actuality program, Sê Dit, radio
presenter on Radio PUK and production assistant on the movie, Marico with Mainframe Productions. She
was also part of the drama group, Shakainah, who performed across the country. A
six week drama course with Brümilda van Rensburg, dancing lessons and an
internship at Tswelopele Productions (Pasella
and Top Billing) later, her career
officially took off. In 2005 she started her own production company, Blue
Orange, and gained experience in various fields, ranging from program
management, to video editing and production. KLIKKERLAND is a dream
come true. “This project makes a
difference in the lives of children, but took a lot of courage and
determination to create. The characters have a very special place in my heart
and I enjoy giving them life in each new program. To develop their
personalities on paper and create new music, is a privilege and passion,” she
shares, enthusiastically.
She is very proud of her role as co-creator,
cameraman and editor of the series and lists Boebel Babbel and Rimmel Rammel as
her favourite characters to work with.
Because she has such a versatile job, she really
cannot thing of anything else she would rather want to do, but enjoys helping
out as a CrossFit instructor at her husband’s company every now and again. When asked to choose between camera and
stage, she explains: “I have more camera
experience and feel comfortable in front and behind of the camera. But I also
love being on stage, because I love to experience the children’s energy and
reaction.” Her favourite quote is from the comic, Tintin, and says that when you care about something you should be
willing to fight for it and never allow failure to defeat you, and that is also
how they approach each aspect of this project. “Carina has a lot of perseverance. Once she has set her mind on
something, nothing will change it. We have been through a lot of difficult
times and had to create something out of nothing. But she never gave up. I also
appreciate the fact that we can disagree on something, work through it and
continue without any issues,” she says about her partner.
Carina Beukes is impulsive, loyal, enthusiastic and
crazy about the theatre. She has been working in the entertainment
industry for many years and starred in various stage productions like 42nd Street, Anything Goes and Orphan Annie, to name but a few. She has also very successfully converted
books into plays, and was the writer and producer of two very successful Disney
Tribute Shows. Furthermore, she is also the owner of Creative Capture Photography
and handles all the graphic design, photographic, social media, media relations
and business aspects of the partnership. She is also actively involved in the
scripting, and music creation of each program. “Marinda and I
complement each other very well. She is great at what
she does and an inexhaustible source of ideas. The best part of our
partnership, is that I can rely on her in any situation,” she says. Carina is the mother of a boy (12) and girl (9) and children’s theatre
has always been something she been interested in. “KLIKKERLAND gave me the
opportunity to explore this avenue. The characters, stories and songs are very
special to me and I am so proud to be a part of it. My own children have been
involved in the project since the very start and we often use them as guinea
pigs to test new story ideas and ask their opinions about new songs and lyrics.
It makes me proud to think that we are leaving a legacy for our descendants in
our mother tongue. I hope my children will learn that anything is possible if
you are willing to work hard.” If she had to choose a different career, she
would have loved to be a travel journalist and admits that she loves watching
teen programs on Disney XD and
animation films with her children. She credits her role as Lina Lamont in Singin in the Rain as one of the
highlights of her career so far and says that she loves acting on stage as she
enjoys the feedback from the crowd. Currently, she is facilitating two schools’
preparation for the Shakespeare Festival and will be directing the stage
production of the South African animation movie, Khumba, which will be on stage at the George Arts Theatre in
December 2017. She is a very detailed producer and works out lighting plans,
character profiles and costume plots for every production she is responsible
for. This talented artist truly believes that nothing is impossible and her
successful career is testament to that.
The KLIKKERLAND GANG has a
lot of plans and goals for the future, including the release of DVD 5 and 6 of
the series. “The new material will follow
the usual recipe of music, crafts, pranks, stories, jokes and now also
experiments and viewers can also look forward to brand new upbeat rhythms. We
want to introduce KLIKKERLAND to the
South African public and spread the positive message of each character. We want
to enable children to play, dance and learn to be comfortable in their own skin.”
The duo would also like to share the stage with Elvis Blue and Carike
Keuzenkamp one day and tackle a charity project with Bobby and Karlien van
Jaarsveld.
KLIKKERLAND’s educational DVD’s are
available from selected music outlets, such as Musica and are distributed by
WOW Music Distribution.
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Twitter: @klikkerland
Instagram: @klikkerland!
Web: www.klikkerland.co.za
ENQUIRIES
E-mail:
info@klikkerland.co.za
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