African house

R

routes

we can delay.ay.ay...
anyone heard the new album by 'Black Coffee'? alot of people were talking like they expected him to be the first BIG South African dance music thing. he's played in America a few times with the masters at work people i think.
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
no but this is now available on itunes :)

SAHOUSE_EP_front.jpg

SAHOUSE_EP_back.jpg


what do you all think about the full length album cover shown here on the back of the EP? honestly? what do you think when you see it? would you buy it in a shop?

me and the label like it, but the South Africans kinda hate it because it's a ghetto-ish street and they like the bling.
 
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M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
zhao said:
what do you all think about the full length album cover shown here on the back of the EP? honestly? what do you think when you see it? would you buy it in a shop?

me and the label like it, but the South Africans kinda hate it because it's a ghetto-ish street and they like the bling.
Click to expand...

I like it, it's vibrant. You just - and I guess you and the label did - kinda explain that it means different things over here, and especially in Germany etc. Tell 'em to come up with what they'd like and post it :)
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
mistersloane said:
I like it, it's vibrant. You just - and I guess you and the label did - kinda explain that it means different things over here, and especially in Germany etc. Tell 'em to come up with what they'd like and post it :)
Click to expand...

SA peeps don't understand it at all, they think it is showing SA to be ghetto and not the polished modern that they want to portray. i think the house scene there is very different from the Kwaito scene, and how they choose to depict themselves. we are pretty clear on what they would like: glossy stylish photography of guys in suits and girls in heels, standard photoshop mood...

you know, i looked at this photo carefully before using it... there is that woman with the Rasta-ish hat, the young girl walking, the man carrying groceries... a variety of different characters which make up a scene of working class simplicity, i think not especially poor looking. in other parts of Africa it might look much more "3rd world" - which is the fear, that it plays into the "poor Africans" stereotype.

to me there is a powerful contrast between this photo and the modern typography / music, and it tells a powerful, intriguing, and very human story: that this incredible forward thinking electronic music comes from this kind of everyday reality.

i think we have a unique chance to tell a different story here, and a different approach to depicting music - one that is opposed to how mainstream American hiphop has done things... the label is leaning toward this also.

but a city-scape would be safer, and not dissapoint anyone...
 
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grizzleb

grizzleb

Well-known member
You're basically taking the power of how certain people wish to be portrayed and showing them as you imagine them to really be. I think it smacks of objectification and romanticisation.
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
grizzleb said:
You're basically taking the power of how certain people wish to be portrayed and showing them as you imagine them to really be. I think it smacks of objectification and romanticisation.
Click to expand...

that photo was taken just outside the house of one of the artists on the CD.

please clarify why using it as the cover "smacks of objectification and romanticisation".
 
grizzleb

grizzleb

Well-known member
Just put 'made by poor cunts' on it. That'll sell. And it's accurate.

Surely you would agree that it's important to follow whatever image people have of their own products. What's wrong with being aspirational? And why force people assume a certain image (the one of the global ghettomusic fetishism) when they don't identify with it?
 
R

routes

we can delay.ay.ay...
also, just spotted this. i'm pretty sure that's Joburg's Nelson Mandela bridge in the background of the Black Coffee front cover...

mandela-bridge.jpg
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
there is another issue to consider: the finer shades of demographic differences within dance music communities in Europe as well as SA, and how it translates.

1. house music is mainstream in SA. there is a ton of what most people here would consider very cheesy deep house with trance pads and whatever, and this aspect of SA house is indeed all about the bling.

2. and then there is the more underground and left field stuff, of which Mujava is an example. the video for Township Funk was most definitely NOT blinged out, and neither is the Casablanca video that people here are going crazy for -- both videos show real people in real life (who look either normal or on the poor side) dancing, with hand held cameras and no professional lighting.

the kind of SA house we are interested in promoting and selling in Europe is the second type, which is not extremely popular at home: Township funk was not a hit in SA. the demographic in Europe and America we are going for is the electronic music heads, the kind of people who are on Dissensus, and NOT the Ibiza mainstream dance crowd -- and its safe to say they do not respond well to bling.

so regardless of what a few producers in SA would rather see (and i was just informed that not all of them dislike the street scene, only a couple or a few), i think this kind of realism is both right for the specific kind of SA house music we are dealing with, as well as for its audience in Europe and the US.
 
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M

mms

sometimes
zhao said:
there is another issue to consider: the finer shades of demographic differences within dance music communities in Europe as well as SA, and how it translates.

1. house music is mainstream in SA. there is a ton of what most people here would consider very cheesy deep house with trance pads and whatever, and this aspect of SA house is indeed all about the bling.

2. and then there is the more underground and left field stuff, of which Mujava is an example. the video for Township Funk was most definitely NOT blinged out, and neither is the Casablanca video that people here are going crazy for -- both videos show real people in real life (who look either normal or on the poor side) dancing, with hand held cameras and no professional lighting.

the kind of SA house we are interested in promoting and selling in Europe is the second type, which is not extremely popular at home: Township funk was not a hit in SA. the demographic in Europe and America we are going for is the electronic music heads, the kind of people who are on Dissensus, and NOT the Ibiza mainstream dance crowd -- and its safe to say they do not respond well to bling.

so regardless of what a few producers in SA would rather see (and i was just informed that not all of them dislike the street scene, only a couple or a few), i think this kind of realism is both right for the specific kind of SA house music we are dealing with, as well as for its audience in Europe and the US.
Click to expand...


township funk and casablanca are about 5 - 7 years old too, when kwaito was the vogue more, which was more 'real' township funk is set up video, there is that whole scene with the drunk guy with the funny wig on getting kicked about, and actually mujava was quite famous in south africa, but had some problems for about 3 years after his series of mix albums came out and didn't release anything.
did you licence these recordings then?
 
Z

zhao

there are no accidents
well i didn't personally. the label went down there didn't they.

latest email from SA: the people that objected in the beginning, have after reconsideration, decided that they do like this photo after all. so it's settled.
 
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