Wupperthal (sometimes also spelt Wuppertal ) is a small town in the Cederberg mountains in the Western Cape province of South Africa . It was founded in 1830 by two German missionaries of the Rhenish Missionary Society (Rheinische Mission), Theobald von Wurmb and Johann Gottlieb Leipoldt, grandfather of C. Louis Leipoldt – some 100 years before the city of Wuppertal was formally established in Germany. In 1965, after the Rhenish Mission had gradually scaled down their activities in Southern Africa over a period of 40 years, a decision was taken that Wupperthal in future should become part of the Moravian Church , which by that stage had already made the transition from a mission to an autonomous church in South Africa. The town remains a Moravian mission station to this day.
24-567: The village remains isolated, and is accessible by a gravel road from Clanwilliam over the Pakhuis Pass . Community facilities include the Moravian Church, a shop, a tea room, a post office, a school with two hostels and a community hall. Most families in the community are dependent on small-scale agriculture or livestock farming for their livelihood. The most important cash crop is rooibos tea . The mountainous areas surrounding
48-454: A wildfire swept through the village and surrounding area causing widespread devastation. The fire destroyed a majority of the buildings in the town, burning down 53 homes, a community hall, clinic, a restaurant and the historic Moravian Mission Station, leaving only the town's church and a few other buildings remaining. One woman was badly burnt in the fire and later succumbed to her injuries. Jackie Valentyn, aged 57, died at Tygerberg Hospital
72-440: A blank page with "Maintenance Mode" in their titles, as well the continuation of a prolonged absence from social media platforms. After leaving DragonForce, Theart founded his own band, I Am I , in which he sings lead vocals. The band has so far released one studio album, Event Horizon , which has been released on a USB format and CD. Before DragonForce, Theart was also briefly involved with hard rock band Easy Voodoo. During
96-528: A degree in Cape Town. In 1930, District Surgeon and botanist Dr Pieter Le Fras Nortier, a former Rhodes scholar , began conducting experiments with the cultivation of the rooibos plant. Dr Nortier also saw the vast commercial potential the tea held for the region. Dr Nortier cultivated the first plants at Clanwilliam on his farm Eastside and on the farm Klein Kliphuis. Since 2001, Clanwilliam has been
120-466: A demo in 1999 but shortly after its release, Theart left the band. In the early 2000s Theart worked as a shuttle bus driver for Edexcel, between Stewart House and Blundell Street. In late 1999, Theart began to put out advertisements at Thin Ice Studios, which were eventually responded to by former Demoniac guitarists Herman Li and Sam Totman . Together, they formed a band called DragonHeart, but
144-662: A month after the fire. Telecommunications infrastructure was also damaged in the fire, causing difficulty in communication. The fire left 200 residents homeless. Clanwilliam, Western Cape Clanwilliam is a town in the Olifants River valley in the Western Cape , South Africa , about 200 kilometres (120 mi) north of Cape Town . It is located in, and the seat of, the Cederberg Local Municipality . As of 2011 Clanwilliam had
168-555: A pointe ente Gules charged with a cluster of three cones of the Clanwilliam cedar Or . In layman's terms : a golden shield displaying two oranges on either side of a blue wavy vertical stripe bearing four narrow white wavy lines, at the bottom of the shield three golden Clanwilliam cedar cones on a red triangle. The crest was a bunch of grapes between two elephant trunks, and the motto Fide labora . ZP Theart ZP Theart (born ZP De Villiers Theart , 27 May 1975)
192-661: A population of 7,674. John Cradock , the Governor of the Cape Colony (1811–1814), named the town after his father-in-law, The 1st Earl of Clanwilliam , an Anglo-Irish nobleman. Clanwilliam is situated at an elevation of 100 metres (330 ft), between the western slopes of the Cederberg mountains and the east bank of the Olifants River , which is impounded there by the Clanwilliam Dam . It lies just off
216-411: A trefoil Vert; a bordure embattled Ermine. In layman's terms : a golden shield with a blue wavy stripe across the centre and a narrower white wavy stripe on top of that, in the upper half of the shield is an elephant's head with the trunk hanging over the wavy stripes, and at the bottom of the shield is green trefoil, the whole design surrounded by an ermine border with an embattled edge. The crest
240-399: A year of touring, on 14 January 2017, he was announced as their official lead vocalist. However, on 23 March 2022, the band announced they had parted ways with the singer and named a replacement without giving many details about the separation. Following his departure from Skid Row, Theart entered an apparent hiatus, with both his personal website and the website of his band, I Am I, displaying
264-580: Is a South African singer, songwriter and the former lead vocalist for the British power metal band DragonForce and American rock band Skid Row . Theart was also hired by Riot Games for the voice of Karthus in the songs "Deathfire Grasp" and "Last Whisper" by the metal band Pentakill . ZP Theart was born on 27 May 1975 in Clanwilliam, Western Cape , South Africa, and he grew up in Hazyview in
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#1732783450117288-405: Is a favorite of Theart's. "I loved the way he pronounced the words and the way he wrote", he said in an interview. He then began to discover other favorite bands such as Mötley Crüe , Def Leppard , Iron Maiden , Metallica , and Skid Row . He stated that his two favorites were Bon Jovi and Skid Row. During his teen years, Theart fronted and played in many bands. Not all of them are known but one
312-548: Is still in existence today, but operates on a much smaller scale. Tourism is a growing industry for Wupperthal, particularly during the Namaqualand flower season in August and September, when the seemingly barren mountain slopes become covered in flowers for a few weeks. A community tourism project offers self-catering chalets and a camping site. Activities include hiking, 4x4 trails and donkey cart rides. On 31 December 2018
336-575: The N7 national road , which runs from Cape Town to the Namibian border, and on the R364 road , which runs from Lamberts Bay to Calvinia . Clanwilliam is 230 kilometres (140 mi) from Cape Town by road. The Dutch Reform Church has been a scheduled national monument since 1973. The mission there used to run a school where Harold Cressy once taught whilst studying to become the first coloured man to gain
360-545: The American hard rock band, Skid Row . Municipality — The municipal council assumed a coat of arms on 13 February 1964 and registered them with the Cape Provincial Administration in August 1964. The arms, designed by Cornelis Pama , were : Or, a fess wavy Azure charged with a bar wavy Argent between in chief an elephant's head caboshed the trunk surmounting the fess proper and in base
384-836: The Eastern Transvaal (now the Mpumalanga province), on a banana and Lychee farm, and was raised there by his mother. His older brother lived with him as well. He has stated that according to his mother, at the age of three years, he began to hold a tablespoon up to his mouth, pretending that it was a microphone, and singing to whatever was on the radio. He has stated that in his early childhood, he listened to artists such as Gé Korsten , Carika Keuzenkamp and Rina Hugo, but his older brother began to introduce him to other music cassette tapes that he had gotten from high school, some of them being A-ha , Alphaville , Depeche Mode and then one day, Bon Jovi 's Slippery When Wet , which
408-463: The band, Ultra Beatdown , was released, and in 2009, another world tour followed. In 2010, Valley of the Damned and Sonic Firestorm were re-released with bonus DVDs, featuring live footage, interviews, and other things. Later that year, Theart left the band due to "insurmountable differences of musical opinion". He has since stated that he does not regret his decision to leave. Theart served as
432-427: The first few years since DragonForce's inception, Theart and his bandmate Sam Totman recorded a demo under the name Shadow Warriors, and Theart recorded the vocals for the 2001 two track Power Quest demo album. On September 13th, 2024 ZP returned to music for the first time since 2022 being chosen to collaborate with original Iron Maiden vocalist Paul Di'Anno for a new version of "Wrathchild" featured on "The Book of
456-424: The name was later changed to DragonForce . The band recorded a demo in 2000 and the album Valley of the Damned in 2003 on Noise Records . The following year, another album Sonic Firestorm was released on the same label and a world tour followed. In 2005, Dragonforce signed to Roadrunner Records , and Inhuman Rampage was released in 2006, eventually going gold. In 2008, Theart's fourth and final album with
480-479: The site of the Clanwilliam Arts Festival , run by Cape Town-based Magnet Theatre . During the annual one-week arts festival, workshops in fine arts, dance, music, theatre, and performance are offered to children and youth from Clanwilliam. Clanwilliam is the birthplace of ZP Theart , former lead vocalist, and founding member of the British power metal band DragonForce , and lead vocalist of
504-411: The touring vocalist for Tank in 2013, becoming an official member the following year. His only studio project with the band was Valley of Tears in 2015, being replaced with David Readman shortly after due to his transition into Skid Row . On 13 February 2016 Theart premiered as the touring vocalist for Skid Row . The band continued to tour throughout 2016 with Theart as their frontman. Following
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#1732783450117528-401: The village provide grazing for goats. In its heyday the shoe factory, founded by Johann Leipoldt himself, provided work for many skilled craftsmen. The Wupperthal handsewn veldskoen (traditional soft suede shoes) were for nearly a century famous across South Africa for their comfort and good craftsmanship. A tannery and a glove factory were also in operation for many years. The shoe factory
552-432: Was a Pretoria -based band called Santaria which was active during the late eighties and early nineties. Some of the members were the current drummer of Cold Hand Chemistry, Robert Fick, ex-Strider guitarist Pierre Goosen, and Stefan Steyn. After Theart graduated high school, he moved away to London , England, seeking global popularity. In the late 1990s, Theart fronted a garage/hard rock band called Easy Voodoo. They released
576-619: Was an orange tree, and the motto Toujours pret ("always prepared"). Both the motto and the ermine on the shield were derived from the Earl of Clanwilliam's arms. Divisional council — The Clanwilliam divisional council (the local authority for the rural areas outside the town) registered a coat of arms at the Bureau of Heraldry in May 1976. The arms were : Or, on a pale wavy Azure, between two oranges stalked proper, four wavy endorses Argent;
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