FAN CLUB - GAZELLE INTERVIEW
Post date Tue 22 Sep 2009 1:30 PM
GAZELLE INTERVIEW
I WOULD SAY THAT MY FAVOURITE SOUTH AFRICAN ARTIST IS XANDER FERREIRA, GAZELLE. FINE ARTIST, PHOTOGRAPHER, CROONER, CRITICAL AESTHECIST, STYLIST, DANCER, PARTY STARTER, LIVE WIRE...BUT MOSTLY, JUST A HUGE INSPIRATION BECAUSE HE DOES EVERYTHING WITH SO MUCH HEART, ENERGY, FINESSE AND NICENESS...AND I HAVE BEEN LUCKY ENOUGH TO SEE XANDER WORK A COUPLE OF TIMES...AS A FAN AND COLLABORATOR. HE STYLED THE SHAWN MORTENSEN (RIP) SHOOT AND WE'VE DONE MOLEKE MBEMBE TUNES TOGETHER WITH RICHARD THE THIRD....WE DID EUROPEAN SHOWS TOGETHER AS AZANIA3000. I'VE SEEN HIM STAGE/CONDUCT A PARADE AROUND CAPE TOWN, SURROUNDED BY SECURITY IN WHITE NAVY UNIFORMS AND A TROUPE OF MARCHING DANCING KIDS. I WAS HOPING HE'D TELL YOU THE STORY OF HOW HIS ROAD IN ART STARTED WITH A COMPETITION IN ROOIROOS.
SPOEK: YOU HAVE MY FAVOURITE BACKSTORY OF HOW YOU GOT INTO MUSIC THAT I HAVE EVER HEARD FIRST HAND...GIVE IT TO THE INTERNET MENSE!!
GAZELLE: Well Im from a farm in the Limpopo province of South Africa, there I grew up in the bush in a kind of seclusion from trends and the hip city life, being inspired only by a few different influences. A lot of traditional music that I heard from the people that worked on the farm and tied to the back of my other mother Aysa that brought me up. I remember lying nights awake and hearing beating drums the whole night through, with various ceremonies that was held. It was a time of storytelling, dreaming and alot of mysticism in my childhood. Then there was sitting on the lounge floor with massive earphones listening to my parents disco albums, Boney M, Beegees and Goombaye Dance Band. A weird balance of influence.
So I figure a combination of both is what inspired me to come up with an act like Gazelle. I always played around on different instruments since I was a kid and growing up through different genres, I tried playing in bands from Rock to hip hop. Coming to a point where I started performing as a reggae artist with some of my biggest South African inspirations like Teba and Black Dillinger I realised that there was so much power in the influence through music. Today I don't want to limit myself to the genre of music so I collaborate on various projects, from working with people like the Bloody Beetroots to someone like meneer Spoek Mathambo himself.... But I have to admit it was a pleasure finding a project like Gazelle that felt like I was onto something fresh, new and authentic. So Im sure I have a long road to walk with my partner Nick Matthews. After releasing our first album Chic Afrique weve played countless gigs in countless cities all over the globe......so weve been working on a very special second album that will launch early next year. A collaboration with various traditional musicians from all over South Africa, something like a turbo Graceland album, Paul Simon on Acid, or the African version of The Buena Vista Social Club meets Fela Kuti in an electro sound.
SPOEK: YOU BRING SUCH A RICH SENSE OF STYLE AND CRAFTING TO YOUR SCHITT...WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT THINGS YOU ARE SAYING WITH THE "LOOKS"
GAZELLE: I believe theres no show without theatrics. It is vital to transform whatever is going on in a performance and create another world around it. It is authenticity that we aim for, using different influences to inspire us to find our own authentic identity and represent it. Craftmenship is put into every small detail and element. Therefore we created our own album through doing everything ourselves, the design, photography, styling and art direction.
SPOEK: WHAT WAS WHITE LION...AND WHAT HAPPENED WITH THAT?
GAZELLE: The White Lion was the name of myself as a reggae artist, it was a time that I relaly learnt to sing and express and use music as a tool to really say things. But it became too serious for me. I had to for a while follow a less serious road and use simpler ways of saying what I want. But maybe when Im seventy with a big beard and grey dreadlocks Ill pick it up again and pop out a few reggae albums....who knows when I walk into the winds of change again.
SPOEK: CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR EXHIBITION FROM THE BEGINING OF THE YEAR...THE STATUS OF GREATNESS? WHERE HAVE YOU SHOWN THE WORKS?
GAZELLE:The Status of Greatness was a body of work of art that I did in 2008 and exhbited in 2009 at What if The World Gallery in Cape Town and Art Basel in Switzerland. It is a humoristic look into the process that political and public figures use and have used to iconify themselves though the use of over publication of a character that they built. Focussing on people like Idi Amin and Mobuto Sese Seko, I mimicked their process and used the same strategy to popularise and iconify my character through using the media and other sources to publicise an image, world or vision. My mission being to exploit the strategy they use by creating a false sense of trust within people through repetition of imagery and by over familiarising them with the character.
SPOEK: WHAT'S THE COPPENHAGEN PROJECT YOUA RE WORKING ON??
GAZELLE:It has to do with international Aid organisations and is still a bit under the cover....A collaboration that will be done between an art group from Copenhagen and myself...A next body of work for exhbition. Looking at the business behind foreign aid organisations and what the long term effect of it is.
Basically it started with a manifesto that I wrote....
~ Aid is a selfish temporary solution that is fueled by pity and guilt. Help is a honest permanent solution that is driven by respect and pride. ~
I mean if there is no more poverty in Africa it means simply that many people in europe will lose their jobs and it makes you think.
SPOEK: TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR COUSIN WEEEEEZ...THAT'S SUCH AN INTERESTING CHARACTER TO ME...LIKE A SUPER STRONG RAPPER...KINDA LIKE MR T!
GAZELLE: Yup hes the real deal. I mean theres so many posers and then theres only a few dancers. Hes one of them a rapper that can back what he say...
He is a super talented person and wanted to be a hardcore rapper since he was a kid. I remember listening to Cypress Hill with him and to our suprise last year he had to get the opportunity to record a track with BReal....I still believe he should move to the states, cause he got that vibes man...he will be big. Hehehe, he already got his reputation after taking out Sylvester Stallones bodyguard in a rustle at a LA nightclub. So dont mess with this man...hehe...but as big as his muscles is his mind, heart and ambission.
He is a super talented person and wanted to be a hardcore rapper since he was a kid. I remember listening to Cypress Hill with him and to our suprise last year he had to get the opportunity to record a track with BReal....I still believe he should move to the states, cause he got that vibes man...he will be big. Hehehe, he already got his reputation after taking out Sylvester Stallones bodyguard in a rustle at a LA nightclub. So dont mess with this man...hehe...but as big as his muscles is his mind, heart and ambission.
SPOEK: YOUR A CLOSE PERSONAL FRIEEND OF MR T/BA BARACUS...TELL ME MORE ABOUT MEETING AND HANGING OUT WITH HIM?GAZELLE: He is such a cool cat...the sweetest person..hehe....It was an amazing honor to meet one of my childhood heroes... and getting to know him a bit better...
Amazing life story from being a bouncer at a chicago club that got picked up by a diamond dealer to work as bodyguard. Later before his career as an actor and personality, or simply superstar, he was working as bodyguard for several professional boxers including Mohammed Ali. A legend...then of course there was Rocky.....hehe...where he had to kick Stallone's ass.....small world that it all comes back to Stallone...hehehe.. maybe will do a song or action movie with him in the near future..hehe...
Amazing life story from being a bouncer at a chicago club that got picked up by a diamond dealer to work as bodyguard. Later before his career as an actor and personality, or simply superstar, he was working as bodyguard for several professional boxers including Mohammed Ali. A legend...then of course there was Rocky.....hehe...where he had to kick Stallone's ass.....small world that it all comes back to Stallone...hehehe.. maybe will do a song or action movie with him in the near future..hehe...
SPOEK: WHAT IS DICOCO
GAZELLE: Dicoco is a new project that started out as a nu disco deep house dj set with old school mic hype that me and Nick Matthews put together and developed into a much bigger concept. Basically a platform for the long awaited often misrepresented African Renaissance to take shape, be celebrated and manifested. A movement that is being born. It is starting off as a monthly event where creatives, artisans and socialites alike can meet and interact in a social nightlife environment. A type of open members club where new ideas can form, people can inpspire an be inspired, a playground for collaboration. It will also act as an online base to speak about African artists alongside international talent in an unlimited array of mediums. A brand we are building surrounding many elements without limitation for future creations, delving into the aesthetics of the source of mystisicm, the occult and creativity.
SPOEK: 2010...WHAT'S THE GAMEPLAN?]
GAZELLE: Well after being selected for the Bafana Bafana squad i guess its all high rolling big pimping for me...hehehehe....
Im not sure what it holds...Im just gonna continue doing my stuff, make more art, make more music, make more pictures and whom knows maybe I walk into the worlds of fashion, acting or wherever else opportunities might lead me....hollywood here I come..
In January 2010 we will be doing another European tour called Kalahari Safari, at the moment we have mostly dates in Switzerland, so if theres some promoters out there that want us to bring some African Disco spectacular with Gazelle to their town hit me up.....
Then when we back in Africa it is the launch of the new album, where we are planning a big international tour aiming to go beyond europe to the US and Asia..
Lets see if we can bring the dream to life..
Then there is some other music projects in the pipeline that is pretty exciting..but lets leave it up to fate to decide where this boy is going..
Well Im out to make my mark on the world.....
VISIT GAZELLE'S MYSPACE
**BONUS CUTS!!
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