adminUrban Beats with Nkosilathi Sibanda
MUSICAL influence extends beyond the stage. It goes far to reach out on the subtle, yet maintaining a universal appeal. We all have been shaped by the music we listen to at some point. In this placement we have picked on debates around fashion, behaviour and all aspects related to music and society.
There is a high society that has links to some genres of music. In this society we find the confused and often misunderstood artistes.
Most have rare abilities and are very good at placing fingers on brushes. These are the visual artists of our time.
Their works are not for the ordinary eye to appreciate and neither do they sell to the common man. It is no surprise to find that tourists and the well-off in our midst frequent the national gallery in Bulawayo.
Celebrities, especially many of our musicians, mill around that place. It is where they buy lunch and relax. After all, the surrounding is serene and good for a thinking man.
There is a wall that caught my eye on the front of the gallery. Even if the graffiti has been there for some time, I got to ask anew, how did they do it and where was the inspiration?
The priced grand old architectural building is hardly a place where one can expect to see graffiti. This art form has long been associated with gangsters and was meant to be the voice of revolution to some communities. Throughout history, whenever repressive system shut down on music, poetry and other art genres, graffiti was used to communicate the truth.
Hip hop is closely pinned to the growth of the graffiti artist. In the era of hip hop invasion into Africa, city walls were ‘littered’ with all kinds of graffiti. Yes, it looked like dirt because the art had no structure, to the least, nothing different from a Grade One pupil’s writing.
But, there were others that communicated the message well. You could marvel at the work of the spray paint, knowing that the owner of the wall is not pleased.
Underground and the wannabe musician emalokitshini will incur the ire of the neighbourhood by spraying their names on supermarket walls.
Some names would have weird spellings but we knew it was one of the ‘brothers’ from the hood who sings in our community shows on Saturday. The idea was to look and behave like “Niggas With Attitude.” If New York has graffiti let us have ours too.
We called our neighbourhood the east and the west side because musicians from Los Angeles and New York call themselves as such.
It was the graffiti artists who would write at the centre of the road, marking territory. Within hip hop culture, graffiti has evolved alongside hip hop music, b-boying, and other elements.
Graffiti is often seen as having become intertwined with hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from the west.
The fastest and brainy search engines I could find have it that at its most subversive level graffiti involves the illegal painting of buildings and trains.
As the term implies, graffiti is as a tool to defile structures from their original state to an unrecognizable state. The art-from was thus used as a swipe to authority, as graffiti artistes would brave arrest just to bomb the most heavily guarded or populated places.
Artists by the gallery brought this to the public domain, away from the perception of violence. In our thoughts of graffiti as only found in the ghetto and supported by crazy musicians, we missed to think that this is a culture.
Stone Age paintings have depictions of a dancing community, men drumming by the fire place. This was the start of graffiti, if there is an earlier invention I am bound for correction there. The musical world took over and spread the art wider. In Bulawayo it took the brevity and creativity of visual artists to revive graffiti, in a legal way, in the gallery.
Put in a city epitomised as a cultural melting pot, the art-piece has taken a beauty of its own, exploding on the gallery’s walls in colour and youthful exuberance.
Although on the outside of the gallery, like an unwanted stepchild, the art-piece, done by Leroy “Spinx” Brittain is now an attraction on its own, lending youthful zest to the sometimes old fashioned look and feel of the art gallery.
The decision by the authorities to embrace graffiti is symbolic of the shift that has taken place between graffiti and a world that used to view it as a subversive art.
However in recent times graffiti has been like a tamed animal. Once wild and reviled by authorities everywhere, graffiti has been domesticated to suit the needs of the corporate world. Although the illegal and subversive part of graffiti still remains at its core, now graffiti is used mostly in advertising.
Music has embraced the art in CD sleeves and most displayed in outdoor concerts. Some graffiti artistes view the marriage between business and their art as selling out. The same mentality that comes with young musicians, who think they are exploited by the big guns in the industry.
It is fear of the unknown and to a greater extent ignorance. Many graffiti artists see legal advertising as no more than “paid for and legalised graffiti” and have risen against mainstream adverts.
Musicians now print T shirts using the graffiti style. We have seen this in album promotions. The influence has extended to the fashion designers. Using the art of spray paint is the ‘in-thing’. Hairdos are moving from the traditional blonde, brown and brunette. Our sisters are graffiti (ing) their hair like Rihanna and Lady Gaga.
That’s a classic example of art taken too far by musicians. As I look at the wall by the gallery, I cannot resist but ask a stranger to take a photo while I pose. I am not the only one.
I doubt it will hurt anyone to have as many walls with that kind of art. The challenge (not the Ndolwane super ones) is to the artists and musicians.
Synergies can be built to restore old age art in the most beautiful and legally accepted way. Music and graffiti owe each an existence. It is a culture that cannot be left to the dust of history books and newspapers.
For those who are yet to grasp the interrelation of music and graffiti, revisit the ghetto and watch 1980s to 90s music videos. In the while, I had a whirling thought about musicians that change style of music.
R Kelly made it look simple to sing about sex and switched easily to gospel. Few can do this and get the public nod. Artiste’s attempts to re-invent themselves may not be embraced by their fans. One dismal failure and fans may disappear as quickly as they appeared.
A case in point locally is Macheso’s career. He is not the only one in this partying passage, lest I be vilified by his fans. After eight albums Extra Basso had fans eating off the palms of his hands, ravenously consuming any music that he chose to dish out-the Pied Piper of sungura leading multitudes to the calm waters of musical enlightenment.
However, Cheso power felt the pinch when he introduced a new style. When the taps of musical genius have run dry, fans are always keen to look for another undiluted and unpolluted source to quench their thirst.
Legendary American folk artiste Bob Dylan incurred the ire of fans in 1967 when he suddenly changed from acoustic to electric guitar.
The road towards a change of style for any artiste is one paved with hazards, least of all the possibility of being abandoned by one’s fans.
Conversely, fans’ reluctance to accept new styles that artistes adopt may be to their own downfall.
When artistes take a dip in unknown waters it is a high possibility that they may fish out musical gems that no one thought existed.
Tribal house artiste Trust Gumpo believes a change of style or genre does not affect the output of a competent artiste.
Instead, he said a switch of style complments the style of the artiste.
“Fans may be standing in the way of artistic progress by voicing their discontent. We have prominent artistes on the local scene who have managed to successfully switch their style or genre without the fans losing out in the process.”
Even sungura artiste Obediah Matulana is on record saying he sees no problem with a musician switching style.
“I have been experimenting a lot, looking for a different sungura sound. People should not despair at the switch in genre as other artistes like Solomon Skuza have also made songs in reggae that have gone on to become hugely popular. However as artistes we are always looking for new things and fans should give us room to do that,” he said.
Well, that was some thought for the season. If you find your favourite muso has changed the guitar, do not fret. Nothing remains the same.
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Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu