'Amuzed' - 15/01/98

High-Low,

Got the mid-January Cape blues. The one good thing about having visitors over the holidays is that they keep reminding us about what a great place we live in. Then when it's time for them to pack up their cars and begin the long drive back north, we get this lovely, warm feeling that, hey! we don't have to go back -- we get to stay here all year! The final few days of leave drift by and then suddenly it's back to work while the rest of the city seems to still be on holiday. Crawling out into Greenmarket Square for a bit of lunch and natural light and we just get dazzled by the sun and colours and gorgeous women in bright and skimpy outfits buying more of the same at the market. A whole year of work stretches before you like the Karoo that our upstate cousins have to endure on their trips back.

1998. Mmm, I wonder what it has in store for us rainbow nationalists. Fortunately I'm not the designated politics, business or economics scribe; if I were I would either be hiding under the bed or pulling in at each and every fortune teller I could find. No, I get to keep a finger on SA's musical pulse and that future's looking very rosy. It seems as though all the sectors of the SA music industry have suddenly clicked together like a massive Lego set. The record companies have finally realised that there's gold in them local artists and that there are dozens of indie outfits springing up every day, like Tripping Daisy and Tea Time Music. Nothing like some competition to wake up the monoliths. There is new stuff being produced in all the wide and wonderful genres of SA music. The retail chains have also realised that they need larger and regularly updated SA music sections in their plethora of stores as there is a huge demand for albums by SA artists as diverse as M'du, Bongo Maffin, Chiskop, Trompies, Sugardrive, Jimmy Dludlu, Winston Mankunku, Paul Hanmer, Boom Shaka, Amashitshi Amhlope, Valiant Swart, Dennis Mpale and Arthur. The radio stations have arrived at the party too and are playing more than the required percentage of "local" content. So, if all these players can get their collective acts together, 1998 could be a massive year for SA music. But it still depends on you, the person with the disposable "brass in pocket", to stop taping, go out and catch as many live gigs as possible and buy this music. Without your financial participation the companies and stores and stations are going to give up and go back to Chris de Burgh, Laurika Rauch (clip) and Celine Dion.

This week we have a Review of the new Sugardrive album alongside the Cheikh Lo album and the 'African Jazz Men' compilation. All the SA music mentioned above as well as tons more are available with a flick of the mouse and a swish of the credit card at OneWorld, the best SA CD store on the (pla)Net. Ever wondered what Sixto (not Jesus) Rodriguez actually looks like these days? You could wait for his highly anticipated SA tour during 1998 or you could pop over to The Great Rodriguez Website where you can see him and send him an email via the web-board. As always, the Gig Guide keeps you in touch with Cape gig news which will soon become nationwide gig news. As always I welcome all and any info, feedback, opinions and queries concerning SA music news, bands, artists, gossip, albums, and new releases. If you feel the urge, please email me at Sugar@cd.co.za

Stephen 'Sugar' Segerman

by stephen 'Sugar' Segerman