| Valiant Swart | |
| Origin: | South Africa |
| Genre: | Alternative rock |
| Years Active: | 1990–present |
| Label: | Rhythm |
Valiant Swart (born Pierre Nolte, 25 November 1965), is a South African musician, Afrikaans folk rock singer-songwriter, and actor from Wellington.
Born in Wellington, he resided in Stellenbosch. In 1977, at 11 years old, Valiant was given a guitar by his father and taught himself to play songs from artists like George Baker and Joe Dolan. Two years later he owned his first electric guitar. He writes and sings in both English and Afrikaans. The work that was begun by artists like Anton Goosen and, later, Koos Kombuis was continued by Swart.
He has released a great number of albums debuting in 1996 with the album Die Mystic Boer. In 2014, he released a collaboration with the South African rapper Jack Parow called Tema van jou lied.[1]
He is most famous for his song "Sonvanger" (meaning sun catcher) from his 2002 album Maanhare. He wrote the song after the suicide of a young Afrikaans musician from Stellenbosch. Swart wrote it with the musician's mother in mind, longing for her lost son.[2] [3]
He adds in an interview: "The song has since taken on a life of its own; it seems to have brought comfort to a lot of bereaved people, which, to be honest, makes me feel real good."
The song has been covered multiple times notably by Corlea Botha, Jurie Els, Laurika Rauch, Karen Zoid, Theuns Jordaan and Refentse.