The following is extracted from Volume III of the 1986 edition of South African Music Encyclopedia (J.P. Malan, ISBN 0 19 570363 4)
JACOBUS JOHANNES (JACO) VAN DER MERWE, baritone, born 7 July 1922 near Britstown, died 24 January 2004.
Jaco van der Merwe studied under various teachers including Arnold Fulton and obtained the ATCL. Since 1958 he has given frequent performances in operas, concerts and on radio. His participation in opera includes the title role in the first South African radio broadcast of Silas Marner (John Joubert). He was a founder member of the Operavereniging van Suid-Afrika, the Johannesburg Afrikaanse Musiekkomitee and the South African Concert Artists' Association. For five years he acted as music critic for Die Transvaler and for three years he contributed to the Afrikaans-Nederlands Maandblad on "Die Afrikaner en sy Musiekkultuur".
