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Of Musicians and Poverty
Yet another of our South African musicians, this time Zayn Adam, has died an ignominious death. He joins a long list of SA artists meeting their end in poverty stricken conditions. This occurs with sickening frequency, always amidst a sudden flurry of tired old platitudes of how great he/she was and how much they brought to and enriched our cultural landscape etc. etc. Yet while they are alive, national radio refuses to broadcast their product because it doesn't fit the American mould of what is acceptable. They are prejudiced against by banks and find it impossible to get credit because of the self-employed mantle, almost like something to be ashamed of, and a normal thing like buying a house is a pipe-dream for most.
When they fail, fingers are pointed at them as if to say, you should have managed yourself more effectively. I'll only say this once, musicians make music. Most are not gifted with a great business sense and many, due to an ever-growing sense of despair and hopelessness, fall to the temptations of alcohol and drugs and are stripped to the bone by unscrupulous managers who leech off their creativity.
Our music industry and the avarice of the minds that control it are terminally colonised by the USA and will never, as far as I can tell, change. The industry cares about money above all else and if an artist dares to be different he or she will be on the thin edge of the wedge and will struggle throughout life to be heard through the din of crass commercialism.
I and many of my contemporaries live on that thin edge daily. Many of us have won awards for work that nobody knows because we cannot get it broadcast. The one hand of the industry hands you a shiny award for brilliant job well done and the other hand says sorry man, we just cannot play this stuff because it doesn't fit our format. And there lies the rub. You can't sell your cds if no-one can hear them.
As long as there are South African musicians who do not conform to a pretty pop-format in order to 'make it', there will be many more lost geniuses out there who will slowly fade away and be buried in pauper's graves.
