What bamboozles me

Ray

Just been watching this Andre Rieu cat on the television. I suppose it's pretty much like the Parlatones of classical but nonetheless, a darned talented bunch of people. Now, to get to what bamboozles me. This oke and others like him, come to South Africa and sell out the house night after night. And people are in a frenzy to get to see the show and perform when they cant get tickets. And just the other day, our local philharmonic shut down. No money and not enough interest and support. Well, I used to go a lot. But the last few years since the work started on the N12 and I do believe will be a permanent state of affairs, I havent been going. But even when I did go, I remember going to the Linder and the front rows would have people in and the rest of the auditorium - nothing. To see a bunch of musicians who have put years of work into their craft and putting on a performance of world standard playing to an empty house. Can make you weep.

It's a shame and I must wear the badge I suppose. Just google it. You'll read accounts of people not getting paid for months but still working because it's what they do.

vic

Jaaa...sad state of affairs. The SA classical music and theatre scene is not well at all. One would expect just a little more support for these art forms. Dunno what the reason is why we do not seem to support quality classical live music.

Bob-Dubery

It's not a South African problem.

See http://www.bdlive.co.za/life/entertainment/2012/11/07/jazz-countering-the-malaise-of-classical-ensembles
" In the past 20 years, more than a dozen US symphony orchestras have declared bankruptcy. Classical music recordings make up less than 4% of world record sales, with that percentage declining at an even more rapid rate than for physical products in other genres."

And then Gwen Ansell hits the nail on the head: "The classical music industry has been trying to sell the same product in the same way to the same people for far too long."

Which is not nice, but is valid.

What Andre Rieu does is to put a spin on classical music. to add value to that staid old product. I think he dumbs things down, and I'm not sure the audience goes there for the music, or just for the music. They want entertainment, they want an event, they want a party with a bit of pretence to culture and sophistication.

Bob-Dubery

People not getting paid? A bloke I work with auditioned for the JPO a few years ago. He passed the audition but didn't take up a seat in the orchestra because he had to bring in a certain amount of money per month to have a seat in the first place. He had to pay the orchestra for playing with them, or find a sponsor to to pay for him. The JPO wasn't going to give him a bean for rehearsals and performances, they weren't going to give him petrol money or anything else.

Ja, some folks get paid, and there are non-performing positions like maintaining a library of scores, but in many case it costs you money to play for an orchestra. A true labour of love.

Bob-Dubery

Could this happen in musical spheres other than classical music? Any music form has to stay vital and attract a new audience and have new product. You can survive on retro credit for a while, but at some point you need to morph or in some other way show that the pulse is still beating and you're not just peddling the same old same old.

Ray

I think you are right. My wife teaches ballet and Spanish dancing and there to, the interest is dwindling. Well, it's effin disappearing quick. And she's just not a bok to start teaching hiphop right now. While I was thinking about the classical musicians something occurred to me. And I may be wrong but I thought it anyway. With the likes of Metallica and so on coming to SA, could it not be that they arent pulling the people overseas so much anymore. And now come to territory where there hasnt been too much live show activity. Well superstar stuff and all. And quite possibly wrong but I thought it anyway.

DaFiz

I enjoy serious music but to me Andre Rieu does to violin what Michael Boltman does to the blues vocals.
What Yanni does for piano, what Kenny G does for sax. It seems to appeal to the masses but I'm not buying it. ☹

psyx

I used to sing in a regional youth choir back in school... And even they are having a hard time these days!

Bob-Dubery

Ray wrote And I may be wrong but I thought it anyway. With the likes of Metallica and so on coming to SA, could it not be that they arent pulling the people overseas so much anymore. And now come to territory where there hasnt been too much live show activity. Well superstar stuff and all. And quite possibly wrong but I thought it anyway.

I don't want to generalise, but I think that's why SOME acts come here. And everybody who does come here expects to be paid enough to make it worth their while. Lady Gaga is pretty happening right now. She's not coming here because it's the only way she can play to big audiences. But...

In September Mrs X-rated and I were in the UK. We'd been to see Martin Simpson play near Sevenoaks. There were less than 90 people in the audience (maybe just over 90 if you count the sound guy, the people running the bar etc). Now I know he's not exactly U2, but still... this seemed like a small turnout. So the next day we were on the way to Bath and we stopped in the town of Frome. And the posters were up: Wishbone Ash were coming to Frome in a couple of days soon. Now Frome is not what you'd call a bustling metropolis. That evening I met a friend of mine, Paul, in Bath. Paul has some involvement in live music, mostly in the South West, but not professionally. He has a proper job. He does sound and lights at quite a lot of gigs - on an unpaid basis. He runs a stage at Glastonbury (on the years in which that festival happens) and has to get there at his expense and take time off work. He does get meal vouchers and free camping.

Anyhoo... we got talking about money and crowds and he said that 90 odd for Simpson on a week night in small town Kent was probably par for the course, and that Wishbone Ash would do well to pull 350 at that venue in Frome. This is beyond any debate as to how good or happening or whatever anybody is, these are the facts of life. I mentioned to him that Wishbone Ash had been out in SA playing big venues as part of a package tour, and he said that probably it's a good pay day for them, even though it'll cost them more they'll play to bigger crowds, stay in better hotels and make more money. So yes... I think that's part of it for some acts that come here (which doesn't mean that they're phoning it in, I'm sure they give it the beans).

Bob-Dubery

Things come and go. Sometimes they come back. Shakespeare was actually forgotten for long periods of time, and was really rediscovered in Victorian times (too late for him personally, but the art lives on). Folk music, by definition really, deals in old music. It's not big (though there are signs that it's on the up in the UK) but it keeps on going. But it can.... Martin Carthy can make a decent living playing solo in pubs up and down the UK. Orchestras can't do that. They have to have a certain complement of players, lots of instruments to cart around, conductors... they play pieces that are scored for a certain number of instruments.

It's possible that Spanish dancing and classical music might enjoy a revival at some time in the future.