Jack-Flash-Jr
Did anyone really think they would be elevated to supreme rock stars of the universe? None of the artists I know but that's not quite the point of the article:
SABC's World Cup talent search embarrassing
By Therese Owen
Twenty 10, schmenty 10. Everyone in the South African music industry thought the World Cup would elevate them to supreme rock stars of the entire universe.
Well, here's some news - you have more chance of releasing your video on YouTube and getting a million hits a la Die Antwoord.
The reason? Well, in case you haven't noticed, the World Cup is not about South Africa. Fifa is just renting our country.
So the headline acts for the opening and closing ceremonies will be big international artists who will overshadow our artists.
Sony headquarters in New York are deciding who those artists are going to be, as Sony is one of the official sponsors on the night. Sony SA can only make suggestions, and yeah, right, the Americans living in New York are gonna take notice. Puh!
Option 1 - Closed.
The fan parks are one way South African artists can earn extra cash from the World Cup. But, with some local governments claiming they don't have budget for fan parks, that option seems to be fading. Also, no one has been booked to perform at these fan(tom) parks yet.
Option 2 - Closing.
Another option was to have your song used as an anthem for the World Cup. That way you could get your name out there internationally and make some money for the rights to the song.
And this is where the SABC, the official broadcaster of the World Cup, steps in. It is "on a quest to find a song in support of Bafana Bafana".
So it has invited South Africans to write a song in support of Bafana Bafana - "a song that could become the anthem of a nation on the brink of greatness".
The campaign begins with a radio promo to direct listeners to SMS the word Bafana to 34022. A return message will provide details of how to enter the competition. The press release goes on to say that "all entries will be evaluated by a credible panel of music compilers and music managers from different SABC radio stations to narrow down the entries to five finalists".
Hmm, let's, for the sake of idealism, believe that the payola system has been rooted from the SABC and that the words "credible music compilers" actually exists.
Why in heaven's name would the SABC go to all this trouble to unearth new talent when we have so much established talent anyway?
Yes, yes, it still has the "Vuka Sizwe" empowering-the-nation mantra that its former godfather, Dali Mpofu left it, but really!
We have established artists who can write beautiful songs, producers who are world-class. What of The Parlotones, Jozi, TKZee, Lira, Goldfish, Tira, Thandiswa Mazwai? These artists have proved that they are talented, professional and have stood the test of time. Why should they have to stand by for some baby artist who has yet to prove themselves, who has not yet gone through the difficult times that the industry throws at you, just because SABC has jumped on the Reality bandwagon?
Oh, and please, SABC, don't say that the competition is also open to these artists. That's just embarrassing.
Option 3 - closed.
Anyway, here's hoping that our ever inventive music industry players will find other options to promote their artists in this all-important world event.
Published on the web by Tonight on March 10, 2010. © Tonight 2010. All rights reserved.
AlanRatcliffe
Aye - we're staying away from Town as much as possible. We have a Granny flat with double bed, and a spare bedroom inside the house, so if you and the brood need to escape to the Overberg for a few days sometime, let me know.
[deleted]
Alan, I think you just posted that on a public forum... Wait, lemme check...yes you did! I'm picturing scenes from Contact...
singemonkey
I had dreams of fleeing to a football free nation - so that's North America and New Zealand and... no, that's it. But no cash and the flights are all insane.
You think any football fans will be dying to see Neu Bethesda? Might just hole up there. Not too many tvs there.
