Mitchell's Plain Youth create DIY Klopse band, capture TikTok's attention
Cape Town - A group of children from Mitchell’s Plain has created their own klopse band utilising paint canisters to bottle tops, which has reached the attention of TikTok content creators.
They call themselves “Warriors of Worth Junior,” and are from Lentegeur, Mitchell’s Plain.
The youngest is just five-years-old and they have cleverly crafted musical instruments such as drums and shakers using paint drums, wood, bottle tops to rods of iron.
They were inspired by resident, Shireen Jacobs of Juvie Boys Entertainers (JBE), who helped to train the boys on how to perform songs and dance moves.
JBE was crowned the section 2 winner of the 2025 Hollywoodbets and Kaapse Klopse Karnival Association (KKKA) at the competition held at Athlone Stadium.
“These children are all inspired by JBE,” she said.
“They wanted to be in the troupe and they began creating their own instruments, shackles, drums.
“This is our houte (wood) band, they used paint drums and sticks which they had carved. There are more children but we do not have equipment to accommodate them.
“One girl made her own shakers out of bottle tops.
“Another one picked up the parts of the jingles which fell on the ground at a Klopse competition and created their own.
“They began practising more than a year in the street. I could not afford to take them with me to JBE and it was when Adiela Fortune saw them.
“Lentegeur is a crime area, which is why we created this initiative. However, when crime occurs, I tell the children to go inside.”
They were seen by former radio presenter, Fortune, a content creator on TikTok called, “Matters of the Heart,” and were sponsored with ear pods and T-shirts from AR Wholesalers and Soundtech, to encourage them to continue.
“I was driving down the road, I saw them with their broken drums and I thought they needed to be promoted and exposed,” she said.