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Showing what we cannes do
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February 3, 2010
By Therese Owen
Attending Midem is like experiencing an LSD trip. From the moment one arrives at the Palais de Festival in Cannes, there is a constant bombardment of information, a total sensory overload. People gather to discover new artists, sign new artists, sell new artists.
They attend seminars and panel discussion which have experts from around the globe (well mainly the US and Western Europe) passing on the latest information and cutting-edge trends in music. This year, digital was the hot topic on the programme.
In between, there are cocktail parties hosted by various organisations and countries like Poland, Iceland, Japan and China. These cocktail parties are a way of showcasing new artists in the hope that some bigwig will take notice. And besides all of that, the Palais is so vast that a lot, like a lot! of walking is done. And all this for four days.
As has been well documented by now, South Africa was the country of honour - which meant that our musicians were in the world spotlight.
Cannes is just down the road from Nice. On arriving in the famous Cote d'Azur holiday town, I was surprised at how tatty it was. After all, don't the likes of Brangelina and TomKat all hang out here once a year for that famous film festival?
I couldn't think of any member of that overindulgent bunch sleeping in my modest quarters, which seemed more appropriate for Point Road, Durban than the south of France.
But it was only the next day, when the festival started at the Palais des Festivals, that I saw the opulence that is Cannes. It is situated in a very small strip with boutiques by all the top French designers like Yves Saint Laurent and Jean Paul Gaultier. In between, are upmarket restaurants serving the best fish I had ever laid eyes on. And as for the harbour: well, those aren't yachts, they're like the Starship Enterprise. They're so big and space age.
The first day consisted of our esteemed Minister of Arts and Culture, Lulu Xingwana opening the South African stand with much ululating and traditional dancing. The stand even had a verandah a few metres from the calm Mediterranean Sea. Here, many deals were negotiated while the moored yachts remained still on the very calm water, providing a romantic back drop.
After a whirlwind non-stop action day, I left with a new found friend. Laura Putti is an Italian who had relocated to Paris. She was writing a story on South African music for the Italian newspaper, La Repubblica and had been a music journalist for 32 years. She regaled me with adventurous stories of my heroes like Iggy Pop, the Rolling Stones and Talking Heads' David Byrne.
The South African opening party was held at the Martinez, which is Cannes' most famous hotel. You haven't made it in Hollywood until you've stayed at this five star hotel. Wow, talk about walking in the footsteps of giants. Here a shot of tequila is twenty euros for some awful tasting silver stuff. Yuk, that was a first and a last.
When the doors to the venues finally opened (you know South Africans and timing), a large crowd had gathered to watch our artists. As reported last week, there was a great reception for Wouter Kellerman, Tidal Waves and Lira. The Parlotones went down well, while Jozi received a positive response from the Brazilians.
"I was beginning to worry that we had wasted our time!" grinned Ghetto Ruff's CEO Lance Stehr after his meeting with them.
Subsequent to Jozi performing, they were negotiating for the release of their albums and videos in Brazil and the Scandinavian countries.
Meanwhile, another hip hop artist who enjoyed success was Zuluboy and his label, Native Rhythm Records. Said CEO Veliwe Sithole: "This was Native Rhythm's second Midem and our participation this time was to build on the relationships we have already created. We have set up our international side and will begin to tour our artists extensively throughout Europe, where we have also negotiated distribution deals. We have also identified international artists to collaborate with."
The following day, it was more of the same thing: negotiations, conferences, speeches, music, music, music. That night, the French Department of Arts and Culture held a tribute to Miriam Makeba, which was a black tie dinner. At first, I was dubious about this decision as people were there to sign new artists, not artists who had enjoyed a successful international career and had already passed away.
However, it turned out to be a beautiful evening held at another famous Cannes hotel, The Carlton. The menu consisted of a French take on South African cuisine and until the day I die, I shall never forget the lamb dish with apricot jus.
But it was not only the food that was an unforgettable experience. Themba Mkhize and his band did an excellent job re-interpreting Ms Makeba's music. He also invited Angelique Kidjo, Thandiswa Mazwai and Vusi Mahlasela to participate. From the first song, the crowd was up and dancing - something, according to a French dignitary, that had never happened in the history of these cultural dinners. Only South Africa, I proudly grinned to myself.
Then, a historic moment. Jonas Gwangwa, Letta Mbulu and Caiphus Semenya joined the stage. And there it was: three friends with three great African musicians, paying tribute to a truly great African woman. It brought tears to our eyes.
After that, we went to the bar where the night was spent partying away with other delegates and drinking Cannes shots at euro prices.
The following day, I was able to sneak out for more explorations of the beautiful buildings and designer clothes before leaving Midem and Cannes and the frenetic energy that is the world music industry.
An enthusiastic Antos Stella, who was the project manager for Midem, summed it up: "What a way to kick off 2010, to show the people from the rest of the world what we can offer from a cultural perspective. Nearly every artist got deals, whether from a live or digital perspective and from a publicity point of view, it was also good. No one complained on the trip, not even Lance Stehr, which is rare.
"The return of the investment for our artists and the DAC is all there because the response to our music was phenomenal."
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