FYI (if you wish to understand what goes into our AG preparations & yes this was Khayas response as way to engage our patrons) Yoh! Ma Avant Gardists, thank you all for the feedback. Very much appreciated. Allow me to be honest and please read disclaimer below; China played a Super Magondoviya set, if my opinion matters. All the recorded sets will be available on the next session provided you bring a clean memory stick, you can make your own judgement. Katz seemed unprepared to me; but the music was great. His friend on the other hand; has an ear for good music but not to co-ordinate the night; mara such happens. I believe that’s what initially messed up the ambience. Anyways it’s another perfect example of things beyond our control. It’s our duty to give others a chance; hence you won’t see us pulling a spinner of the stage. It happens to each and every one of us; we need to have an allowance for such otherwise we wouldn’t be sticking to the ideals of Avant Garde. When doing things out of the ordinary; there’s bound to be a section of people that we’ll despise your ways. As KsK, I am where I am today because somebody gave me a chance and tolerated my ways. Lastly on the venue issue, I have observed a significant decline in Soweto peeps on the past 4/5 sessions(I could be wrong). That to me, means something has changed which triggered my status above. I could be over analytical, mara it’s not in my nature to see something I and few others perceive as “wrong” and simply neglect it. As they say, one can’t be doing same thing over and over again and expect different results. Anyways enough opinions, let’s deal with the facts. This is what happens when we book spinners: - As Avant Garde Troupe we discuss, between the three of us which slots are available for our guests. i.e. o 08-10(Lounge; Jazz; Hiphop or all of em at once); o 10-11(Disco; Up Tempo Hip Hop , Mellow Nu-Jazz or All of em); o 11-01(Up Tempo Nu-Jazz, Mellow Broken Beats); o 01-02(Up-Tempo Brakes; Avant Garde House). - We scratch our heads for days; looking spinners that could fulfil these slots. It’s a challenge to get hold of these spinners since we’re limited by our budget. There’s still talent out there mara a few are either not keen on playing earlier slots or just want to rock-up and play without assessing the vibe. - Anyways we then shortlist the candidates based our budget for that month; their track records; taste and more importantly awareness of how we co-ordinate the ambience at AGVL. - We brief them on what’s expected and how we want the night to flow. - Unfortunately this is rarely guaranteed. What often happened during Feb, March and April, o Spinners were booked 3/4 weeks prior, then on “thee” day of the event change their time slots. This obviously throws us of the tanget... o There was a trusted spinner that played a legendary set at a wrong time (Too Uptempo, early in the night); which messed it up for the following spinner who had prepared a moderate tempo set as we asked him to. This reflected bad on the mid tempo spinner because the masses, assumed he deliberately dropped the tempo. o Now unfortunately we haven’t a found a solution to circumvent such; we have a back-up plan for absence or drastic scenarios when a spinner under or over performs. That’s where our playmaker aka “Trev The Japanese” comes in, since he understands the ambience necessary and is diverse enough to fulfil any of the above mentioned slots with ease. I do once again appreciate the suggestions summed up below; they will be key notes on our next Avant Garde meeting. Suggestions: - Try an alternative venue and alternate between the two; Pretoria perhaps. JHB or Midrand. Should alleviate the fatigue risk. - Mishap possibly caused by clustered and consecutive events during March and April. No break between AG March, AG Festival, AG Cape Town, AG April. - Dj Slots not allocated properly. - AG:VL hasn’t been the same. - Same Spinners returning on the line-up. - Take the movement outdoors. - Refrain from this Tag a friend Trend; Katz and his friend. - More Live performances - Line-up dominated by House deejays. - Deejays to pre-plan sets to have better progression on the night. - Venue is part of tradition. - Leaders need to get back on the drawing board. Thanks,VVNB!!! If you feel there’s spinners we’re missing please let us know through inbox and follow up with a hardcopy of the mixtape. I for one do not have data leverage, so I don’t follow the links to mixtapes. Kind Regards KsK Disclaimer Notice (These are the opinions of KsK and not of Avant Garde)
Posted on: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 17:58:42 +0000
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