Kyle Brinkmann, alias Das Kapital, has hit the headllines with his breast cancer campaign. Photo courtesy of Sisu Music Management & Publishing.
28 May 2014
Cape Town’s Kyle Brinkmann, who goes by the stage name Das Kapital, has been featured at most of SA’s biggest music festivals. But it was when he entered a competition to win breast augmentation surgery that he really got everyone’s attention.
This producer/DJ, audio engineer and bona-fide-party-starter produced the movie trailer track for Hollywood’s 21 Jump Street and SA’s Harlinn, and he can now count himself as a member of the eccentric 5FM family.
“This has been a very public year for me,” says Das Kapital, “I’ve played a lot of shows - 41 gigs in 90 days - and seen my fair share of press in the first quarter of 2014.”
Brinkmann has now become a regular in the line-up for Rocking the Daisies, Rezonance, Ramfest, Synergy Live, Plett Rage, Oppikopi, SONAR Cape Town and the UK’s Secret Garden.
In March Das Kapital entered national nightclub chain Tiger Tiger’s R30,000 boob job giveaway in a bid to aid cancer survivors and transgender women in need. Although he didn’t win the competition his efforts reverberated throughout the music industry and the amount of support he received from industry professionals encouraged him to create a similar project of his own: The Kyle Brinkmann National Cleavage Day Breast Cancer Survivors Project, which donates breast implant surgeries to breast cancer survivors who have undergone a single or double mastectomy.
“I’ve had a close personal history with breast cancer - recently my stepmother went through the physically and emotionally taxing treatment, including a double mastectomy. I was angry at the concept of giving away a boob job for the fun of it, and at the nightclub for using their resources to promote a culture of self-doubt and body dysmorphia through urging young girls to scrutinise their own bodies. The fact that boyfriends, fathers and husbands could enter the competition for them was also disturbing. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have your boyfriend or father say ‘Hey baby, I won you bigger boobs because you know, you need them.’
“I tried to urge the nightclub to give the prize to someone that would benefit from the life-changing surgery, but that was unsuccessful. I eventually entered the competition in an attempt to make my idea a reality,” says Brinkmann.
“The nightclub then changed the rules of the competition (which was technically illegal, as lawyers pointed out to me) and made it so that you had to buy particular drinks on particular nights within the franchise in order to stand a chance of winning. I was encouraged to create my own project because I realised that despite the public outcry and international press coverage, the nightclub chain continued undeterred. I set up my project in order to raise funds that would go to The Pink Drive, for breast cancer survivors who were unable to afford reconstructive surgery. We’ve raised about R50,000, which is wonderful.
“Every few months I’ll be doing charity shows to keep the process going,” he adds.
Das Kapital is now officially a member of the 5FM family with a weekly Thursday night show titled In Das We Trust.
“Every week people can expect an insight into the global dance community and listen to upcoming and exclusive music. I’ll be playing more music from new and upcoming producers as the show develops. I’m a big supporter of new talent and I want my show to simultaneously introduce casual dance listeners to what’s really big and going on in clubs all over the world. I want to introduce the big guys in music to talent that’s somewhat under the radar,” he adds.
This will be the second radio slot that Brinkmann is heading up. He currently has a Wednesday night show on Cape Town’s Assembly Radio station, The Das Kapital Radio Show, which has become a great success on the Cape Town circuit.