March 2016 – Swiss Vibes Archive

De l’Afrique à la Suisse en chantant

Pour une vieille peau comme moi, à l’esprit farci de préjugés, un projet pédagogique d’échanges artistiques et de médiation francophone en Afrique qui s’intitule « Une chanson pour l’Education » fait frémir. Je crains d’emblée de retrouver ce bon vieil esprit paternaliste que beaucoup de Français ont si bien su développer à l’égard de leurs ex-colonies. Qu’elle ne fut donc pas ma surprise, lorsque, en ce dimanche 20 mars, je découvre au Festival Voix de Fête de Genève un nombre impressionnant d’artistes burkinabés aussi créatifs que stimulants et engagés : Patrick Kabré dans la cour, Maï Lingani, Dicko Fils et Alif Naaba sur la petit scène du théâtre. Depuis que Victor Démé a ouvert la voie, il semble que la scène burkinabé soit en passe d’imploser.

Du Konkistenga à la Cité de Calvin

Patrick Kabré dans la cour du Théâtre Pitoëff ©Laureen Pasche

« C’est un phénomène assez récente, explique dans les loges le chanteur Alif Naaba, également appelé le prince du Konkistenga en raison de ses nobles origines. Elle existe depuis une dizaine d’années et manifeste d’une génération qui veut oser et expérimenter des choses nouvelles. La base de notre musique est traditionnelle, mais elle utilise des codes universels pour ne pas rester enfermée dans une sorte de ghetto artistique ». Quant aux écoliers romands, ils sont venus déclamer des citations de leur crû avec un bel aplomb. Un petit air de révolution et une énergie impressionnante flotte à tous les étages du théâtre Pitoëff. Impressionnant et réjouissant.

Quand coopération rime avec inspiration

Et cela ne fait que commencer : à 20 :00 le plateau de “Une chanson pour l’Education” investit pour de bon la scène du théâtre Pitoëff. “Une chanson pour l’Education” c’est un projet de coopération initié par l’association Enfants du Monde et réalisé en partenariat avec la Compagnie Zappar dont Yannick Cochand est le directeur artistique. Il s’agit d’une part de sensibiliser de manière ludique des jeunes francophones au fait que des millions d’enfants dans la monde n’ont toujours pas accès à l’école. Les parrains, tous des artistes confirmés, ont eu pour mission d’accompagner les enfants dans la création de textes et des chansons sur le thème du droit à l’éducation. Mais il s’agit aussi de faire des opérations de sensibilisation artistiques dans les régions concernées par les problèmes d’éducation (cette année le Sénégal et le Burkina Faso) et en Suisse romande via une série de concerts (Gland, Neuchâtel et Monthey) qui se terminait au Festival Voix de Fête à Genève.

La crème de la chanson romande

Patrick Kabré et Zedrus ©Laureen Pasche

A Genève, une heure durant les parrains et marraines défilent sur scène ensemble ou séparément. Alif Naaba réapparaît pour un dialogue avec la chanteuse congolaise Gasandji et un autre duo avec Sébastien Peiry sur le thème du climat. La jeune Valaisanne Sylvie Bourban chante, quant à elle, les réfugiés – en bambara – avec Dicko Fils. Zedrus et Patrick Kabré interprètent un titre écrit après le tremblement de terre en Häiti, Pascal Rinaldi chante sa « Race Humaine », Fraissinet nous fait rire avec ses phobies d’avion …. « Un bouillon de culture incroyable » résume Yannick Cochand qui court dans tous les sens sur scène, le sourire vissé aux lèvres.

Le ventre blanc

Dicko Fils et Sylvie Bourban ©Laureen Pasche

Du côté suisse, Sylvie Bourban impressionne par sa voix aux accents jazz, sa présence lumineuse et évidemment sa capacité à chanter dans autant de langues différentes. « C’est un peu mon fonds de commerce, s’exclame en riant la chanteuse le lendemain au bout du fil. Depuis mes études à Berklee, j’ai chanté dans beaucoup de langues différentes : du patois valaisan à l’anglais en passant par l’arabe ou l’espagnol. Avec Alif Naala, j’ai chanté en bambara, avec Maï Lingani en français en onomatopée. J’aime les langues pour leur mise en bouche, pour leur sonorités. Cela dit je me considère comme une chanteuse à texte et je comprends chaque mot que je chante. »

Une autre dimension

« Avant de partir en Afrique, j’avais peur d’être condescendante, mais en fait on a tout de suite basculé dans l’émotion. Dans les villages on était accueilli par des dizaines d’enfants qui couraient à notre rencontre. J’avais en permanence des enfants dans mes bras ou qui me tenaient la main, même quand je chantais ! Les Burkinabés me disaient tout le temps que j’avais le « ventre blanc » et que les enfants le sentaient. Je ne comprenais pas. « Avoir le ventre blanc » est une expression de là-bas qui indique la bonté d’une personne. Cette expérience m’a vraiment ouvert une porte sur une autre dimension.»

Pour mieux vous imprégner des sensations de cette expérience unique en son genre, consultez le blog de Sylvie Bourban, où elle posté ses impressions.

Take Four Musicians (part 1)

This is the first of two articles; sketches of musicians that took part in Take Five Switzerland & South Africa.

Manuel Troller
“How do we make a classic guitar-bass-drum trio sound like something else?”

I’m re-naming Schnellertollermeier as Nitric Acid (hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen). They are not a trio, but a chemical reaction. Seeing them perform at a Lume event in London I felt the room may combust into flames during the title track of their album, X. The sustained tension of Manuel Troller’s Telecaster plucks, Meier’s afro-beat-punk drums and Schnellmann’s distorted, demanding bass, pin you into a tight corner, forever, it seems. A sudden breakdown into nothingness releases the hold before industrial drones and a poetic, distant guitar change the mood. It’s psychotic and clever – throwing Mr Hyde at you first and, much later, the sane Dr Jeckyll.

Schnellertollermeier_Lume — Schnellertollermeier play London’s Lume night

Guitarist Troller admitted, “That was a huge job. How do we make a classic guitar-bass-drum trio sound like something else? Like one compact organism; with different elements, different functions, but all going for the same thing.” When it comes together, the sound is seismic; the gig was a whirl of grunge, classical, jazz, blues, rap and rave. Troller is cat-like, darting around the ‘dry and heavy’ bass, at other times he is obsessive, a strumming nutter. I’m as thrilled as they are that X was in the Wall Street Journal’s best music of 2015 (alongside artists like Björk). It’s rare to have such an album picked up by the mainstream.

“I’m really happy at the moment,” says Troller who has good things ahead. He’s an associated artist at Lucerne’s Südpol with the trio playing unfinished music to audiences to give insight into the composing process, then he’ll be in Chicago for an autumn residency and US tour. He’s developing solo material and performing with author Michael Fehr. I first saw him play with Nik Bärtsch’s Rhythm Clan at the EFG London Jazz Festival and solos from him and Sha were highlights.

“I’m more interested in people like Marc Ribot”

“Some of the elder generation in Switzerland used to tell me, ‘Man you have to decide what you really want to do.’ For me it’s not the right way. I’m more interested in people like Marc Ribot who are working in different fields but have their own language, their own personality that they bring to all sorts of music.” Manuel has also played with Sophie Hunger and senses such artists are helping to sketch a profile of Swiss musicians for countries like the UK. “I also feel there is a self-confidence growing which is necessary.”

Julie Campiche
“There is something in me that needs to learn to accept the compliment”

JulieCampiche_LaurentML — Photo: Laurent ML

Confidence was a theme in my conversation with Julie Campiche. “I’m happy and confident,” she tells me, “and I wasn’t like that two months ago, I was much more afraid.” Julie is part of the quartet, Orioxy, who are dis-banding and she describes the build-up to this split as ‘a crisis’. It’s clearly a difficult time for any band and although she began a trio project she felt too unsettled to make it work. The Take Five programme – and interactions with other professionals helped, but Julie realised she faced a common Swiss issue – being comfortable with her worth.

After gigs she often had people praise her playing, but made excuses – they don’t know the harp, they were just impressed by the instrument, not my playing. “There is something in me that needs to learn to accept the compliment…I have built some tricks to seem like I’m accepting it, but with all the crisis stuff, I was confronted by that…I laughed at myself because I realised I had escaped as long as I could and now I had to face it. Good luck Julie!” She feels the revered Malcolm Braff whom she plays with in Jibcae has found a good balance, “…knowing you’re good, accepting it, being comfortable with that and knowing it’s not about you, it’s what you are able to do, what you enjoy doing…the priority is so clear with him – it’s music.”

“I love to go into the world of the music atmosphere for someone else”

Julie isn’t scared of the business side of music and is organised, but wants to stay active whilst stepping away from planning too much, just, “play with people, find the people to work with on my project,” and explore being a side woman. “I love to go into the world of the music atmosphere for someone else. What can I bring into that? What can I serve in his or her music?” It’s an exciting time being in a place of ‘not-knowing’, having space to truly explore and Julie deserves to relax and enjoy the freedom that can bring.

Christoph Irniger
“My way of thinking about jazz is based in the American way”

I find saxophonist Christoph Irniger a little impenetrable, guarded, but he comes alive when working through an explanation of his music. He excitedly refers to Theolonius Monk: “When he’s soloing you always hear the song – and that’s what I’m for, that’s my approach to music, in that kind of tradition.” That’s clear when you listen to recordings of his projects: his trio, the quintet Pilgrim, quartet Counterpoint or the more electronic project, Cowboys From Hell, there is a sense of respect and nostalgia for be-bop. “My way of thinking about jazz is based in the American way and it’s connected with melody. I always try to play melody even if I’m playing avant-garde music.”

Over the years, Christoph has forged a relationship with New York (his ‘musical home’ alongside Zurich) and cherishes the chance to be part of the scene there where the propulsion to simply ‘play’ supersedes thinking or planning. Bonds with the New York based drummers, Ziv Ravitz and Nasheet Waits mean a lot to him and his stays ‘over the pond’ give an alternative lifestyle and viewpoint for composing.

“… the way to work on music is to play gigs”

Pilgrim_Erwin Van Rillaer — Pilgrim photo: Erwin Van Rillaer

Pilgrim’s new album, Big Wheel [Live] is out in the autumn (Christoph’s third release on Intakt Records) and they’ve been picked to showcase at jazzahead! the renowned trade fair in Bremen. But he’d like more gigs and larger venues. “The main thing is to play music…to go further, to search for new ways…it’s like a scientist, and the way to work on music is to play gigs, the live situation.” And the bigger the audience the more you get reflected back, “It’s like a mirror, it’s the best way to develop your music.” I’m sure more gigs will follow but as Christoph knows, “There are no shortcuts.”

Nils Fischer
“I also like playing different styles, it gives me a lot of energy”

Although Wayne Shorter is still the most important influence for saxophonist Nils Fischer, he is coming at music from a spectrum of points. “I often have periods where I listen to one or two albums all the time, it’s not something I do consciously but I love it. I’m listening to Warpaint, an incredibly good female band from the States. I love the album of Kendrick Lamar. I like listening to different things and I also like playing different styles, it gives me a lot of energy.” His main project, quartet The Great Harry Hillman, describe their music as ‘jazz of today’ and I find it spacious and engaging. Last year they won the ZKB jazz prize at Moods in Zurich and played at London’s Match&Fuse festival.

Starting drums at six Nils moved to sax aged eight, after seeing one in the gospel choir his mother sings with. His dad is an organist and his sister is going into musical theatre, but he questioned playing professionally. “It was a hard decision…it came naturally, I wasn’t forced to do it, but when I decided to do it, I really said yes to it.” A chance encounter at a workshop led him to leave his native Germany to study in Lucerne where he met his band. “It’s almost too romantic to say it, but we really had our first lesson together and from then on that was it.” When GHH played London their musical chemistry and friendship was clear, “We have a lot of fun always when we are together,” and I witnessed that…

“Our sound is pretty detailed”

The other side of Nils is he is pro-active and organised, dealing with the bands’ bookings. “I like talking to people, making relations, that’s fun,” he says. That’s the sort of band member you want to hold on to. He is planning GHH’s tour with the Austrian trio, Edi Nulz and something new in November – a heavily produced EP with layers of tracks. “Our sound is pretty detailed…it’s a step further to really make it structured on the record so it’s different from the live thing…we will clearly separate it – give something different on the EP from the live feel of an album.” I’m very keen to hear what they come up with.

Rootwords – “Inappropriate Behaviour” (EP) part. III

Chaque mois, Swissvibes vous présente un nouveau titre extrait de “Inappropriate Behaviour”, le nouvel EP de Rootwords.

ScreenShot-Voodoo-Clip

Incontournable de la scène musicale suisse, Rootwords puise la source de ses créations dans la culture hiphop. Loin de se contenter de recréer l’actuel ou le passé, le rappeur genevois d’origine américaine et zambienne allie des influences éclectiques à son style de prédilection. Le résultat ? Des univers hétéroclites, entre tendances et old school, guidés par le verbe consciencieusement aiguisé de Rootwords, qui mènent l’auditeur dans un voyage musical aux multiples facettes.

Après avoir présenté son premier album, “The Rush” (en 2014), et les EPs de ses débuts sur les scènes suisses, françaises, italiennes, allemandes ou encore chinoises de renom, Rootwords aborde 2016 avec un nouvel EP au concept peu commun. Composé de six titres qui sortiront au compte-gouttes tout les 25 du mois, “Inappropriate Behaviour” oscille entre titres solo et collaborations avec des artistes des quatre coins du monde, encrant ainsi Rootwords un peu plus dans la lignée des artistes citoyens du monde. Chaque mois, nous découvrirons un nouveau chapitre de cet EP avec l’impression de Rootwords sur ce dernier.

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Pour succéder aux basses prenantes de « Move (feat. Muthoni The Drummer Queen) » et à la mélancolie de « She », Rootwords s’allie à Blitz The Ambassador et s’offre un voyage dans des contrées musicales teintées d’Afrique. Rien d’étonnant quand on prête une oreille à l’univers musical de l’invité du titre. Originaire du Ghana et des USA, Blitz The Ambassador s’illustre dans un hip-hop aux racines afro-beat et au résultat saisissant. Pour cette collaboration, les deux rappeurs mettent le verbe sur les relations interculturelles et sur les injustices que les personnes de couleur vivent encore de nos jours. L’image, quant à elle, est mise en forme par Idal (membre des Murmures Barbares), et portée par l’excellent breakdancer Bad Liks (qui fait parti du Warriorz Crew de Genève). Ton sobre et point de fioritures, les mots de Rootwords et Blitz The Ambassador raisonnent dans les gestes précis et percutants de Bad Liks. Le message du texte est porté avec pertinence et reflète la volonté de Rootwords :

« Non, je ne suis pas parano. Les regards, les insultes, les incivilités, les moqueries, les crachats, les coups d’épaule… c’est une réalité. Et ça arrive régulièrement lorsque tu as la peau colorée comme moi. C’est comme ça depuis que je suis tout petit. Ma mère m’a raconté que, lorsque j’avais trois ans et que nous vivions aux Etats-Unis, elle m’a récupéré à la crèche et j’étais en train de pleurer. Elle m’a demandé pourquoi et je lui ai répondu qu’un « copain » m’avait dit qu’il ne pouvait pas jouer avec moi parce que j’étais noir.

On est en 2016 et je vois toujours des affiches dans la rue avec des « retournez d’où vous venez, rentrez chez vous ». Où que j’aille, c’est toujours la même rengaine, le même problème. Ca me pousse à croire que je suis maudit, qu’il existe des forces obscures qui « nous écrasent », comme le dit si bien Blitz The Ambassador sur cette instru hypnotique de Tismé, tout en décrivant notre situation en tant qu’être humain à part entière sur cette planète.

Quoiqu’il arrive, mes yeux sont ouverts, et j’ai depuis bien longtemps conscience des choses qui se passent autour de moi.»

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpvFYQA7okI&w=560&h=315]

Rootwords – “Voodoo” (feat.Blitz The Ambassador) est disponible en téléchargement gratuit sur Soundcloud.

RepreZent Awards consacre le meilleur du hiphop romand

Pour sa 6ème édition, les RepreZent Awards ont mis les petits plats dans les grands pour offrir une expérience inédite à son public.

La scène musicale suisse recèle de talents – cachés ou dévoilés. Là où d’autres entités s’attèlent à dévoiler les perles rock ou pop de nos contrées, le site web RepreZent.ch a pris le pari de lever le rideau sur les artistes s’illustrant avec brio sur les planches du hiphop suisse romand. Tout au long de l’année, les meilleures créations des rappeurs, performers et beatmakers sont mises en avant par le biais de chroniques et d’interviews.

Une fois par année, RepreZent organise les RepreZent Awards pour récompenser les acteurs les plus talentueux du hiphop romand. Pour cette 6ème édition, la cérémonie a élu domicile dans les locaux de Couleur3 pour offrir une expérience unique et inédite en son genre. Retransmise dans une émission spéciale de Downtown Boogie, vous pourrez faire connaissance des intervenants en écoutant des extraits de leurs projets, des interviews, mais aussi et surtout en les voyant à l’œuvre dans le cadre d’un cypher (exercice de style propre au hiphop dans lequel les rappeurs s’affrontent tour à tour au micro) qui a, pour la première fois de l’histoire de la radio, été filmé en 360 degrés. Ainsi, en cliquant dans les différents recoins de la vidéo, vous pourrez découvrir le moment sous de nouveaux angles. Voyez plutôt :

Composé cette année de Geos (mc, journaliste et animateur sur couleur3), de dj Ronfa, de Redstar (mc) et de Mr Seavers (dj, journaliste et rédacteur en chef du site repreZent.ch), le jury avait pour lourde tâche de juger de la qualité des projets sélectionnés.

Jonas, dont on vous présentait le travail il y a peu, est reparti avec le prix de meilleur album pour « Oxymore ». Les acolytes de Jonas, Noé Cauderay, Fred de Haro et Jérémie Bacher, ont été récompensés pour le clip « Petit Carré ».

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MCYpsGFv_s]

Le prix venant saluer ceux qui oeuvrent dans l’ombre, à savoir les beatmakers, s’en ira du côté de Berne cette année, puisque c’est le duo de compositeur The Soundbrothers qui l’a remporté, saluant ainsi une année très prolifique pour eux qui ont non seulement produit pour des artistes romands tels que Karolyn mais seront certainement très rapidement certifiés diamant pour leur collaboration avec Maître Gims. La révélation 2015 revient à Slim K, jeune mc tout autant talentueux que prometteur qui a su convaincre le jury tant par sa polyvalence que l’état d’esprit et l’atmosphère qu’il crée dans chacun de ses morceaux.

L’artiste de l’année, seul prix remis après un vote du public, est Makala qui a su occuper tous les terrains en publiant de nombreux clips de qualité, des mixtapes mais aussi et surtout en prenant sa place sur les scènes romandes

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl_-AMDxl78]
Encore une fois, les RepreZent Awards ont su mettre en avant avec brio le travail de qualité produit par la scène hiphop suisse romand, permettant ainsi à ses artistes une exposition qualitative méritée.

Bad Bonn @ Cafe Oto

The day after the successful launch event at Rough Trade East, the celebration of the publication of the“The Bad Bonn Song Book” continues. Bad Bonn crew moved North to Dalston for a celebratory Kilbi night at the legendary avant-garde/jazz/folk venue Cafe Oto. Another sizeable and appreciative crowd was served a diverse programme of Swiss artists that showed off Bad Bonn´s sense of adventure to good effect.

First off was Strotter Inst., aka Christoph Hess. Operating in a border area between noise and conventional music with a pair of “treated” old record players and a series of similarly adapted vinyl records, Strotter Inst produced a minimalist and yet richly textured drone that somehow pulsated with rhythm and held the audience´s attention with remarkable ease.

Next came percussionist Julian Sartorius who, judging by the conversations afterwards, was perhaps the biggest success of the evening. Playful and yet precise, subtle and yet powerful, his uninterrupted half-hour performance was a master class of innovative and controlled solo percussion. In sharp musical contrast, the synth duo Papiro reconnected the audience with early Krautrock history with their slowly shape-shifting take on dreamy Ash Ra-Temple-type sounds.

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The evening was rounded off sweatily by Camilla Sparksss, Barbara Lehnhoff’s fiery electro outfit, consisting of just herself and a dancer. Combining punky vocals with minimalist electro rhythms and melodies, her short, sharp bursts of high-octane songs were completely different from everything else that had been heard before then, and all the better for it.

Contributing greatly to the success of the night were the DJs Andy Votel and Doug Shipton whose selection of records was perfectly in tune with the spirit of Bad Bonn. In short – the two Bad Bonn nights in London turned out to be an unqualified success.

Bad Bonn @ Rough Trade East

Bad Bonn venue in Düdingen celebrates its 25th anniversary this year with – amongst other things – the publication of a unique book: over the past few years, bands appearing at this idyllic location in the rolling green hills near Fribourg have been asked to donate one song each for the project. Some sent sheet music, others sent drawings, poems, chord sequences and collages. “The Bad Bonn Song Book” collects 140 of these in a splendidly glittery coffee table book published by Edition Patrick Frey in Zurich.

A unique collective work

The impressive and diverse list of participants ranges from Flaming Lips and Bonnie “Prince” Billy to Goat, Jandek, Sebadoh, Sleaford Mods and Suzanne Vega. To launch the book, Bad Bonn came to the legendary Rough Trade East shop off London’s Brick Lane. The choice of venue made sense: Most of the lyrics in the book are in English, many of the artists involved are from the UK, and the shop carries one of the most comprehensive selections of music-related books anywhere. The two-pronged event attracted an excellent crowd of around 150 people.

A panel and a solo concert

Hanspeter Kuenzler, Tom Relleen, Luke Turner,Christophe Schenk, Daniel Fontana

The first part consisted of a panel discussion, “Can a Live Music Venue Change a Small Town?” with the participants, Tom Relleen (musician with Tomago and The Oscillation, concert agent with the Julie Tippex Agency), Luke Turner (writer, founder of the Queitus web-zine), Christophe Schenk (Swiss television), and Düx aka Daniel Fontana (founder, Bad Bonn). A lively exchange was peppered with excellent anecdotes, including Relleen´s story that many a band he had booked for the venue called him up in desperation, fearing the GPS had misdirected them when they found themselves driving past freshly tilled fields and manure

silos instead. Following the discussion – the conclusion: of course it would! -, Richard Dawson, a highly original singer/songwriter from Newcastle and a happy regular at Bad Bonn, gave a breathtaking solo performance, sometimes with his battered guitar, sometimes acapella.

The Bad Bonn Song Book, Edition Patrick Frey.

Take Five Switzerland: Edition II

With musicians Yilian Cañizares, Christoph Irniger, Yael Miller, Mandla Mlengeni, Manuel Troller, Julie Campiche, Nils Fischer and Joel Graf.

I’ve just visited the second edition of Take Five Switzerland, an invite-only, professional development course for musicians. There are sessions on everything from legal affairs to communication skills, and time to network with a selection of European promotors and experts. Run by Serious, the UK’s most standout organisation in jazz, it’s an intense week, softened by the setting of a beautiful, organic farm in the ‘garden of England’ (Kent).

“… great to meet someone from every aspect to build a career” Yilian Cañizares
Edition 1 of Take Five Switzerland in 2013 was my personal introduction to the creative intelligence and ambition of Swiss artists and honestly, my love of music was re-invigorated by them. Their feedback maybe shaped Edition II and the latest group were unanimous in their appreciation of the week. “There is a lot of information that I need to digest,” said Yilian Cañizares, “but it’s been really great to meet someone from every aspect to build a career and in my case that’s what I’m looking for: how to meet the right people to push me, help me with skills to get to the next step.” The experienced Christoph Irniger agreed, “Nothing is really new but when you hear it enough, it becomes clear: there are no shortcuts, you have to be really patient and it’s all about personal connections.”

The ‘personal touch’ was a key theme. It can be used to build a fan base and to address promotors when looking for gigs. The saxophonists, Nils Fischer of the Great Harry Hillman, Joel Graf of pommelHORSE and Christoph, were all keen to think more deeply about what venues might like their sound and target them as part of developing a strategy. Christoph said he would, “Check out who might programme my music and go for that…The spam is what makes the business so hard.”

“…choose clubs that fit our music” Nils Fischer
Jan Ole Otnaes of Nasjonal Jazzscene confirmed this and advised putting thought into targeting venues and writing personal emails to promotors. This came out in useful Q&A sessions that were in relaxed settings (literally around the fireplace) encouraging open dialogue. Nils heard the message clearly, “Now we know to focus on specific countries with the booking, really using personal contact, and choose clubs that fit our music.”

“You sharpen your consciousness about things” Manuel Troller
The Sony consultant Wulf Muller was another expert happy to hang out with the musicians and harpist Julie Campiche recognised it was a privilege to have quality time with such experience, especially at a time of uncertainty. “You know, as an artist you feel something – I want to go in a direction, but am I right or am I wrong? Is it my fear speaking or is this good intuition?” Her conversations at Take Five were, “a confirmation that I’m on the right path.” Manuel Troller, a guitarist to watch out for, intelligently observed, “You sharpen your consciousness about things – if someone speaks about something that you completely disagree with then you feel even more strongly about it, or if you agree, it helps you develop new ideas.”

“To have…something that helps you artistically and personally was great” Joel Graf
Yael Miller noticed that one expert said Facebook ‘likes’ were vital, whilst another promotor ignores them. Yilian felt the best advice was to forget Facebook ‘goals’ and, “Look at your audience as ‘friends’, you are building friendships – people you communicate with through music that have common values and ways of seeing life.” In order to do this artists need to learn how to speak openly. “The work with Mary McCusker [a communication coach] was fantastic,” said Joel Graf, “…to have all this information on the course, but also something that helps you artistically and personally was great.” They made short videos simply talking about their music and although Joel wasn’t sure of their usefulness, having to think of concise phrases to describe themselves and their creative work was helpful.

“It made me define what I want to do next, better” Yael Miller
When I arrived at Take Five I discovered that the band Orioxy were splitting up to allow Yael Miller and Julie Campiche to follow new creative ideas. Both were unsure whether to attend the course because everything was changing for them. However the promotors said they loved discovering artists who were transforming and it forced both of them to verbalise their ideas. Yael said, “So then I started talking about it and being open about it. It made me define what I want to do next, better.” Yael added of Take Five, “It was the thing I needed at this time because I’m in a transition period.”

There are some lessons that can’t be learned in Take Five. How do you face moving on from a band and deal with the consequences? These are situations that can be mis-handled but what spoke volumes to me was that Julie and Yael both turned up on the course. It takes balls to deal with changes and to face something like Take Five in a state of uncertainty. Yael’s concerns about taking a new direction were calmed, “One of them told me, ‘This is artist development.’ And it’s true, you have to take time to think about what you want, to be true to yourself…it was really reassuring.”

BorePlace_gardenFeb16 — **Charming gardens of Bore Place**

“For me, healing myself…was through making music” Mandla Mlangeni
The last word goes to Mandla Mlangeni, a trumpeter from Soweto invited onto Take Five. When he was just four years old his activist father was murdered by a bomb sent to his home. Mandla explained, “For me, healing myself and all the pain that lingered in me, was through making music.” Ultimately all these musicians at one point or another felt this power of music and the professional side of things is there to support that. Mandla added, “Take Five has opened my eyes to a whole new world of opportunity and made me think about my career in ways I never have before particularly when it comes to making contacts.” So, if it helps such people, the future generations of this music, get their work out there, then it’s doing its job.

Take Five