It’s a cliché, of course; but I’m certain that inside every artist, musician or band is an aching desire to disappear from the rat race, find an isolated habitat and commune with nature for a while to rekindle and spark that surge of creativity again.
With most of us, the feeling manifests itself in a walk in the park – until you realise that you need to run to the shops to buy a chocolate bar and a loose cigarette. A more idyllic sojourn perhaps is in the heart of free living ala Earthdance or Rocking The Daisies, where like-minded people gather together for a long weekend of music, love and possibly some narcotics…until Monday morning, when they hustle back to real toilets, loo paper and shops that sell chocolate and loose cigarettes (at a reasonable price).
These are just some of the delights that even Radio One’s jock Pete Tong felt were the way to go to best capture the spirit of adventure, the golden sands of Thailand when he set about compiling the soundtrack album of Alex Garland’s acclaimed novel ‘The Beach’.
The point I’m making here is that no matter how successful, how popular an artist, band or musician is, there comes a time in their existence when they no longer feel a sense of complete pleasure with their art. Somehow the very ‘sound’ that catapulted them into a ‘mansion on the hills’ seems to turn into a creative straight-jacket. The flipside of the coin at the same time is that it all lies in giving up the ‘cash cow’ for an unverified creative muse and that adds to a shift from that all important safety net. To some this is the ultimate (bitter) pill to swallow. In my mind I’m inclined to think that these are the premises at which the old debate of music as an expression versus music as entertainment comes from. Yes, you are right it is a tired old argument (I hear you say) – but let me flip the script on this one; I say in the South African context it’s only now that the idea is becoming worn in. Let me try and illustrate this. South African House music (in its current form) has been referred to by a myriad of terms called Afro House, Deep Tribal, Ancestral, however it’s only now in recent years that it has culminated in a hybrid ensemble of indigenous sounds fused with international trends.
“It’s a funny state of affairs actually”, says [Cape Town DJ/Producer] Erefaan Pearce. “At first the South African sound was so pigeon-holed by what the media thinks people need to know about House music in South Africa. For a while the ‘French’ were showing us how to be African – Yellow Productions bringing out all the hits like the ‘Africanism’ series of records.” Now, the tables have turned. Young producers and musicians with deft local and international nuances create sounds that not only the international scene has sponged from but has remained authentically theirs. Artist like Spoek Mathambo among others have introduced these new vibes to new territories.
The thing that is fascinating with this is the openness of the game, and in my books it has a potential to create a seductive and timeless subculture that’ll see many other artists latch onto it purely because they [guys like Gervase Gordon - SA born member of the London based trio LV, who blend Kwaito elements into their interpretation of funky House music] didn’t sit on their laurels and waited for somebody/trend to dictate to them how they need to craft what is ultimately theirs.
It’s a somewhat forward thinking interpretation of typical House music expressions blended with the underground vibrancy borne I believe out of a rampant self-satisfaction of an artist or musician’s creative journey and no artist it seems is big or even important enough to contain this.
Besides, where else will you find such a glorious assortment of languages, regional heritage and cultural dialects that when harnessed the right way only distinct South African music characteristics emerge and can ‘only’ be derived in this country?
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