PROFESSIONAL CAREER

While with PACT she worked with directors such as Alwyn Swart, Billy Egan, Dieter Reible and Peter Terry in productions such as Dom Dinges met die Groen broek, Poppehuis, Macbeth and for PACT Playwork, she played the role of Lady Macbeth and Lyndall in an adaptation of the famous Olive Schreiner novel “The Story of an African Farm”.

In 1986 when she went freelance, she was cast in the Duchess Turomel in Stephan Bouwer’s TV adaptation of Pavel Cahout’s Arme Moordenaar featuring among others Cobus Rossouw, Elize Cawood,Greta Fox and Brumhilde van Rensburg.

Helena then formed the group Triple Fair with Evan Schoombie and Lizanne Barnard (now of Marimba fame) doing cabaret, especially Piaf, Brel and the musicals.

In 1990, she worked with a group of actors, known as EPAC under the direction of Anthony Wilson playing the role of Gertrude in Hamlet and the female lead in the play, Of Mice and Men. The production was presented at schools to give insight into set works. In 1992, Helena played Ruth in several episodes for a Sotho/English drama series, In the Name of Love, screened on CCV and directed by Noko Ramabula.

In the course of her career as a cabaret artist she has performed in theatres and venues throughout South Africaas well as major festivals throughout the country such as the Grahamstown Festival and Hermanus Whale of a Festival, Aardklop Potchefstroom, Karoo Festival in Oudtshoorn, the Kalahari Kuierfees Upington, Gariepfees Kimberley, Stokkiesdraaifees, Wellington and the Woordfees Stellenbosch.

During the Democratic Elections in 1994, she wrote and sang a satirical election song commissioned by the SABC, about all the parties involved in the election. A video was also made which appeared on 6 on 1and on Grab television. At this time she also sange Hera on the CD, Helen of Troy – the rock opera.

In 1995, Helena formed the band, Golden Fleece made up of Alwyn van Heerden (piano), Lindsay Liebenberg (bass guitar and harmonies) and Hennie van Jaarsveld (acoustic guitar). Golden Fleece performed Helena’s original music at open-air concerts, venues and festivals countrywide. Music videos of Helena’s songs A Touch of Green and Fool’s Gold, performed by her band Golden Fleece and produced by the SABC, were screened on GMSA. A highlight that year was performing at the South African Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe.

In 1996 she also performed at the Il Frigo Festival in Bologna, Italy and in 1997 for World Aids Day in London.

In 1989 she was part of Anton Goosen’s Afrikaans alternative band, Die Kommissie van Ondersoek with Lucas Mare and Karlien van Niekerk. A highlight of this period was performing at the first Houtstok festival and touring the Cape with Anton. Helena’s solo number on the album Winde van Verandering was ‘n Stadige Hand, now available on CD, a decade later and on her sixth CD “Divided Heart.

Among the highlights of her career are two solo performances with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra with the music of Piaf and Brel in French and English in 1992 and 1993, and also in 1992, writing and singing the lyrics for the theme tune for the TV series, Sonkring which was broadcast in 26 episodes as well as taking part in Laurika Rauch’s production Neem Kennis with Illse Roos and Danie Niehaus in the State Theatre.

From 1986 to 1992, productions include: PACT’s “Pirates of Penzance” (Jhb Civic Theatre), “Victorian Songbook” (The Barn, Opera House, Port Elizabeth and Windybrow, Johannesburg), “Sunrise City (Market Theatre), “For Folks Sake” with the Silver Creek Mountain Band (State Theatre, Pretoria), and several Kerslig, Vers en Melodie events as main artist (Rendezvous State Theatre) and the late Mario Schiess production Kindertotenlieder on the life of the composer, Gustav Mahler (Roodepoort Civic) in which she played Alma Mahler opposite Jonathan Rands and with Jana Cilliers.

CABARET PERFORMANCES

Helena has put together many one-woman cabarets, the first being “Free Spirits” for PACT’s first Pot Pourri Festival and then “Colours of Life” which put her on the road to becoming one of South Africa’s acclaimed cabaret artists, then “Introspectives” which featured only her own music and was taken to the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown and PACT’s “Pot Pourri Festival” (90), “Dream Scream Carousel” (91) (National Arts Festival, Grahamstown and Eastern Cape Tour), “Piaf, Brel and Just a Little Me” which was performed hundreds of times from 1993 onwards at venues countrywide as well as in Botswana, Harare (Zimbabwe) and at the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown and at the Whale of a Festival in Hermanus, and with her cabaret, “Journeyman” (96) which toured the Cape and was well-received in London in 1997, and “From Classics to Jazz” which was on the boards in 1998 and 1999.

In 2000 Helena appeared on the Main Festival of KKNK in Oudtshoorn featuring her pianist, Alwyn van Heerden’s choir, Die Magaliesberg Kinderkoor, with “Van Europa tot Afrika”. In 2001 and 2002 her show, "The Bridge". was performed to critical acclaim at the KKNK and other festivals. “Skadudans” has been performed since July 2002 - among others at the Sterrewag (Bloemfontein), the Kalahari Kuierfees (Upington) and the Centurion Theatre, Pretoria as well as other festivals and venues countrywide. From 2003 to 2005, Helena also performed her show “Divided Heart” to critical acclaim at festivals and venues countrywide. In July 2005, Helena had the début of the show “Divas Divine at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. A CD of this show was released later that year. In 2007, with the release of her double album “Spirit of Piaf and other French Legends”, she performed this show countrywide and at the Aula (University of Pretoria) in 2007 and 2008.  Another highlight in 2008 was her performance for the Italian Cultural Institute with the Cape Town Opera School in a Tribute to Albinoni and Pavarotti under the baton of Maestro Angelo Gobatto.

In 2009, Helena appeared with Thean Kotze as part of the Huisgenoot Skouspel at Sun City’s Superbowl for the Senwes Centenary singing “My Land”  and aired on SABC 2 in the course of 2009.

In 2010, Helena released her first DVD, Helena Hettema Alive to critical acclaim.

TV PROGRAMMES

She has featured in TV programmes on numerous occasions starting with Muzik a la Carte”, Klub ‘88, After Eight, sang the theme song for the TV series Dot en Kie and wrote the lyrics and sang the theme song for “Die Sonkring” (a 24 episode) TV series and appeared on programmes such as Tekkies, Zut, Blasé, Potpourri, Six on One and GMSA in the ‘90s.

Since 2000 she has appeared on programmes such as Kyknet Top 10, Pasella, Kwela, Stoute Boude, Geraas, Lirieke Raai and Dit is Hoe Dit is and as main artist on Draadloos and appeared on Belboks and Kunskafee.

DVDs

Helena has appeared in various DVD’s through the years: In 1992 the Sonkring theme song which she wrote and of which a DVD was made by Jan Scholtz during the run of the TV series; in 1994, she wrote and sang a satirical election song commissioned by the SABC for the elections and a music  was made; in 1995 DVDs were made of her songs Fool’s Gold (title of her first CD released in 1995) and Touch of Green (a multilingual song featuring English, Afrikaans, SeSotho and IsiZulu) by GMSA (TV2). In 1998 a music DVD was made by Geraas (TV2) of Skadudans, Helena’s own song from the CD Helena Hettema Highlights. In 2000, Geraas also made a DVD of the Antjie Krog poem Mama featured on her CD Dreaming In 2002, a DVD was made by “Geraas” of Helena’s own composition “Wasted Wounded” featured on The Bridge CD.

In 2004 a DVD was made of Divided Heart, the title track of the CD regularly being aired on the Kyknet music channel and SABC2. It was also released as part of a compilation DVD titled Musiek met Feel.

In 2009, a DVD was made of the song “My Land”  for the Senwes Centenary also featuring Thean Kotze.

In 2010, she released her first DVD, Helena Hettema Alive to critical acclaim and was nominated for a SAMA in 2011 (See CDs).

OVERSEAS PERFORMANCES

Helena has performed overseas several times. In 1996, she was invited to perform at the Il Frigo Festival in Bologna, Italy and in 1997, over a period of six months, at several venues in London including South Africa House and for World Aids Day. In October 2001, Helena and her pianist, Alwyn van Heerden were invited to London by Maryna Blomerus as part of the Ukkasie Festival, and to Holland to perform in Ede and in Gent, Belgium by the ZA Vlaamsche Instituut.

In 2005, Helena was invited to perform in New Zealand by the radio station Afspraak Afrikaans to sing at a festival in Napier as well as performances in Christchurch and Hamilton.

In 2010, Helena sang in Bodrum, Turkey at the invitation of the former Turkish Ambassador to South Africa. In June 2011, Helena performed in the Cadogan Hall, London with pianists Elna van der Merwe and Zorada Temmingh.

CD RELEASES

She has released ten CDs and a DVD to date: in 1993 on demand, a cassette of her critically acclaimed show “Piaf Brel and Just a Little Me”, performed at venues countrywide.,

In 1995 her first CD, “Fool’s Gold” received five stars in Press reviews  featuring her band Golden Fleece with 9 out of 15 tracks being her own compositions in English and Afrikaans as well as some Brel, Piaf and some other songs in French;

In 1997, the second CD, “Jasmine Lament”, (title track written in Italy in 1996) featuring her own songs on 13 of the 16 tracks.

In 1998, her third CD, “Helena Hettema Highlights” which featuredthe best of the first two and was nominated for a SAMA (South African Music Awards)

In 2000 her popular fourth CD, “Dreaming”, was released and chosen by the Beeld newspaper as Fourth Best CD of the year, including popular Afrikaans numbers by artists such as Koos du Plessis and Anton Goosen and featuring the Magaliesberg Children’s Choir. The CD also has tracks of Brel, Handel, Amanda McBroom, Frida Boccara, Nana Mousskouri reflecting some of Helena’s favourites;

In February 2002, "The Bridge"., her fifth, a CD of her KKNK Festival live show, was released which features the music of Janis Joplin, Liza Minelli, Elvis, Piaf, Leonard Cohen, Marianne Faithful and some of Helena’s originals among others, and is available countrywide;

Her 8th and 9th CD, a double album, “Spirit of Piaf and other French Legends” was released in June 2007 to critical acclaim soon to be among the ten top sellers countrywide and among top three on Kalahari.net (read more under CDs).