I initially wanted to write this piece in a narrative form,but decided against it because I think you guys deserve all these as it is. There's really not much I could add, or wanted to. Enjoy this read.
As an all round creative is the question " Which one do you prefer the most" an unfair question or you do indeed have a "favorite child"?
I do a lot of stuff but the most prominent of my work at this point of my career is music (in a form of performance art) and visual art and the two worlds allow me to communicate my thoughts and feelings well based on which issues I'm addressing and to which audience, and most of the time I'm the audience and my life experience is not unique from that of other people and communities so it's hard to favor one medium over the other, there isn't "the ultimate medium of communication," I just use what's effective for a specific situation.
Looking back on your journey thus far, are you happy with yourself?
At this point I don't know what happy means you know.
I think happiness is just a side effect and something momentary. I am excited about pursuing a life full of meaning and taking up responsibility for myself, my family and my immediate community in Winterveldt and that's what it's all about. When I did the red wine paintings to address alcoholism in my community and just trying to understand my father that's exactly what went through my mind, just trying to forget too much about my "rights" and just trying to take up as much responsibility as I can because my rights are here so that I can exercise my responsibilities.
Not a lot of artists I see around me are trying to do that. I'm just glad that Tshepo DD Maponyane 'adopted' me to be his apprentice at age 9 and no one could give me better perspective on the kind of responsibility an artist should take for their community. Dude practically fathered me for more than a decade for no pay... I aspire to be like that on a larger scale.
What's the arts scene like in Winterveld?
There isn't much of a scene back home, the youth is frustrated because there is immense talent but no platforms to showcase their work, but I'm working on changing that. It's really changing.
We know and have heard of pencil art and oil painting, how did you decide to use wine and how challenging is it (if at all)
I think my second answer touches a bit on why I went for red wine as a medium. I wanted to address the issues of alcoholism, and the ideas came about to me at a point where I wanted to do something that could resonate with the general public. Art, especially paintings, is made out to be stuff for the rich people you know.
I wanted to communicate about a rampant issue in my community in a way that's not complex. But now that my father passed on a few weeks ago I realise that my message came from a very premature and self-righteous point, I realise that there are a lot of things I do not understand about life and these issues are way too complex for me to just have an opinion and say whatever you know.
I have to be careful about my messaging and the issues I tackle, a lot of thought has to be put into what I do before I just publish an artwork or come to a certain conclusion about stuff.
What inspires your creativity?
I'm just lucky to have been born and raised in Pretoria which is where Elon Musk is from. There isn't a city in South Africa that's as culturally diverse as Pretoria, you're guaranteed to have some dope art.
A lot of people are hyped about Johannesburg but that's because that's where the well developed infrastructure is and a lot of artists in Joburg are not from Joburg. If you'd explore the language that's used in Pretoria for example, it's the most beautiful and complex thing in our culture right now.
You have evolved over the years, but staying within the arts confinement, do you believe that is your calling?
I don't understand what a calling is... I just think I've been blessed enough to be patient with myself to a point where my art could materialise in such a way that it is sustainable.
Your music has taken you to places and areas you had never been to before, which places have made an impact on you?
A friend of mine, Albert Craftsman took me to Mozambique early this year and it was intense. The way of life there, the music.
In Winterveldt I could count the number of guitarists on my four limbs (although that's changing rapidly because of how I've been given an opportunity to change that with the impact I'm making now and in the future) but in Mozambique ,Mafalala every second person is a guitarist, and super good even.
I was astonished by that and when I learnt about the history of Marabenta Music when Ivan from a travel and tourism company called Iverca took us on a tour I finally knew what my purpose was in life, especially for Winterveld.
What advice do you have for emerging creatives , (be it musicians, writers, artists, designers)?
Don't be an artist, it's a very complicated world:
The real true artist will understand this piece of advice.
If you could ask the minister of Arts and Culture one question,or pose a statement to him, what would you say?
I would not ask them anything because I don't believe in those politics. Percy Maimela is doing more for the arts and artists in Winterveld than the department of arts and culture is, at this point.
Are you still a recording artist or has state/live performance taken over?
I'm constantly evolving. It's one big loop, started off as a computer musician then transformed to being a live performer, I think I'm headed to a point where I can bridge the gap between the two worlds. I'm super excited about my drummer Moshe Matseke from Mamelodi, we're mixing live and digital sounds... Working on some cool projects.
What would you like to see change in the local music scene?
I think musicians should aspire to make nice music you know, there isn't support because more than half of the music is trash and not relatable. And the musicians are not even trying make the kind of music that they themselves like.
Also, there are no standards whatsoever, the hyriachy is slowly developing though, that's the only way to have a proper value system in the market. You sometimes have musicians who don't take their craft seriously performing on the same stage with really good musicians and that needs to stop.
Also, the pricing has to be regulated, there has to be a way that we know who can charge how much for a performance locally.
What's next for Thabiso Thabethe?
The most recent thing is that; in partnership with the KZNSA Gallery ,AfriKultcha seeks to design and manage short to long-term artists-in- residence programs, which are custom designed to meet the needs and vision of the Mazisi Kunene Manuscript Museum and I will be the first ever artist to be inducted into Mazisi Kunene Museum's artist residency programme which will take place from the 21st to the 28th of September 2018.
I'm just excited to share my story with the people in Durban and hopefully reach more people through the foundation's resources, I just wanna make a difference.
@thabiso_thabethe
I hope you enjoyed that. Learned, got inspired and took something from it. Till the next feature, remember to be as authentic as you can be.
YourzInHipHop
@TaniaMsTan
@Tan89Media
I do a lot of stuff but the most prominent of my work at this point of my career is music (in a form of performance art) and visual art and the two worlds allow me to communicate my thoughts and feelings well based on which issues I'm addressing and to which audience, and most of the time I'm the audience and my life experience is not unique from that of other people and communities so it's hard to favor one medium over the other, there isn't "the ultimate medium of communication," I just use what's effective for a specific situation.
Looking back on your journey thus far, are you happy with yourself?
At this point I don't know what happy means you know.
I think happiness is just a side effect and something momentary. I am excited about pursuing a life full of meaning and taking up responsibility for myself, my family and my immediate community in Winterveldt and that's what it's all about. When I did the red wine paintings to address alcoholism in my community and just trying to understand my father that's exactly what went through my mind, just trying to forget too much about my "rights" and just trying to take up as much responsibility as I can because my rights are here so that I can exercise my responsibilities.
Not a lot of artists I see around me are trying to do that. I'm just glad that Tshepo DD Maponyane 'adopted' me to be his apprentice at age 9 and no one could give me better perspective on the kind of responsibility an artist should take for their community. Dude practically fathered me for more than a decade for no pay... I aspire to be like that on a larger scale.
What's the arts scene like in Winterveld?
There isn't much of a scene back home, the youth is frustrated because there is immense talent but no platforms to showcase their work, but I'm working on changing that. It's really changing.
We know and have heard of pencil art and oil painting, how did you decide to use wine and how challenging is it (if at all)
I think my second answer touches a bit on why I went for red wine as a medium. I wanted to address the issues of alcoholism, and the ideas came about to me at a point where I wanted to do something that could resonate with the general public. Art, especially paintings, is made out to be stuff for the rich people you know.
I wanted to communicate about a rampant issue in my community in a way that's not complex. But now that my father passed on a few weeks ago I realise that my message came from a very premature and self-righteous point, I realise that there are a lot of things I do not understand about life and these issues are way too complex for me to just have an opinion and say whatever you know.
I have to be careful about my messaging and the issues I tackle, a lot of thought has to be put into what I do before I just publish an artwork or come to a certain conclusion about stuff.
 |
| Wine painting done by Thabiso |
 |
| Art by Thabiso |
I'm just lucky to have been born and raised in Pretoria which is where Elon Musk is from. There isn't a city in South Africa that's as culturally diverse as Pretoria, you're guaranteed to have some dope art.
A lot of people are hyped about Johannesburg but that's because that's where the well developed infrastructure is and a lot of artists in Joburg are not from Joburg. If you'd explore the language that's used in Pretoria for example, it's the most beautiful and complex thing in our culture right now.
You have evolved over the years, but staying within the arts confinement, do you believe that is your calling?
I don't understand what a calling is... I just think I've been blessed enough to be patient with myself to a point where my art could materialise in such a way that it is sustainable.
A friend of mine, Albert Craftsman took me to Mozambique early this year and it was intense. The way of life there, the music.
In Winterveldt I could count the number of guitarists on my four limbs (although that's changing rapidly because of how I've been given an opportunity to change that with the impact I'm making now and in the future) but in Mozambique ,Mafalala every second person is a guitarist, and super good even.
I was astonished by that and when I learnt about the history of Marabenta Music when Ivan from a travel and tourism company called Iverca took us on a tour I finally knew what my purpose was in life, especially for Winterveld.
What advice do you have for emerging creatives , (be it musicians, writers, artists, designers)?
Don't be an artist, it's a very complicated world:
The real true artist will understand this piece of advice.
I would not ask them anything because I don't believe in those politics. Percy Maimela is doing more for the arts and artists in Winterveld than the department of arts and culture is, at this point.
Are you still a recording artist or has state/live performance taken over?
I'm constantly evolving. It's one big loop, started off as a computer musician then transformed to being a live performer, I think I'm headed to a point where I can bridge the gap between the two worlds. I'm super excited about my drummer Moshe Matseke from Mamelodi, we're mixing live and digital sounds... Working on some cool projects.
What would you like to see change in the local music scene?
I think musicians should aspire to make nice music you know, there isn't support because more than half of the music is trash and not relatable. And the musicians are not even trying make the kind of music that they themselves like.
Also, there are no standards whatsoever, the hyriachy is slowly developing though, that's the only way to have a proper value system in the market. You sometimes have musicians who don't take their craft seriously performing on the same stage with really good musicians and that needs to stop.
Also, the pricing has to be regulated, there has to be a way that we know who can charge how much for a performance locally.
The most recent thing is that; in partnership with the KZNSA Gallery ,AfriKultcha seeks to design and manage short to long-term artists-in- residence programs, which are custom designed to meet the needs and vision of the Mazisi Kunene Manuscript Museum and I will be the first ever artist to be inducted into Mazisi Kunene Museum's artist residency programme which will take place from the 21st to the 28th of September 2018.
I'm just excited to share my story with the people in Durban and hopefully reach more people through the foundation's resources, I just wanna make a difference.
@thabiso_thabethe
I hope you enjoyed that. Learned, got inspired and took something from it. Till the next feature, remember to be as authentic as you can be.
YourzInHipHop
@TaniaMsTan
@Tan89Media
Great interview, really enlightening. Good job
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for reading and the feedback. Appreciated 👍
DeleteGreat interview, really enlightening. Good job
ReplyDelete