As tributes continue to pour in for rock legend David Bowie, South African artists take some time out to remember music’s ultimate chameleon.
“Histories like ancient ruins are the fictions of empires. While everything forgotten hangs in dark dreams of the past, ever threatening to return.” This opening line to Todd Haynes’ 1998 film Velvet Goldmine, loosely based on the 1970s glam rock era, is hauntingly poignant today as masses around the world mourn and celebrate the life and times of iconic pop idol David Bowie.
The movie itself remains a very significant part of my life because in a twisted blurring of real life and fiction, it introduced me to David Bowie. He would probably shrug at this because he never gave the film his blessing but I must’ve been around 12-years old when I first saw it and allowed it to leave an indelible mark on me and make me obsessed with Bowie’s historical offerings. Up until that point, I too, was a lonely child constantly wondering why I had developed the way I had. Unlike other boys, I had no interest in cars, guns, action figures or any miniature toys or games that other boys played. Instead I loved art, film, theatre, fashion and music with limited means of accessing these living in a township in East Rand.
I loved to dance and perform, put on my mother’s make-up with a jersey on my head and sing pop hits. I was a clichéd queer boy, who, up until that point, was stunted in the ways of expression. Yes, I had a collection of paper dolls, male and female, each with their stories and unique fashion point of views, books about exotic fictional characters that would transport me to other worlds but nothing quite like seeing the moving image of Bowie in a music video or on stage, or rather Jonathan Rhys Meyers playing fictional character Brian Slade whose alter ego, Maxwell Demon, was loosely based on Ziggy Stardust in Velvet Goldmine.
Although my understanding of this world was limited, there was a sense of freedom in knowing that somewhere out there, there were others like me, who had musical gifts to share and brush strokes of rainbow colours to paint on the world. David Bowie was one such gift to the world. Undoubtedly a genius, him and other icons like Michael Jackson, Freddie Mercury, Brenda Fassie, Miriam Makeba, among others, had the mark of greatness. To me, they were bonafide legends with a special imprint that no one could decode but the older I got, I realised that they were empty canvases that coloured outside the lines, rewriting the musical histories with every song, every image and influencing a whole new generation of artists who would never measure up to their genius.
When I began to introduce myself as musical artist Umlilo, the delinquent love child of the artist previously known as Siya Is Your Anarchist, I was beginning to put years of admiration and note-taking to task. Using Bowie’s recipe of meaningful lyrical content, a pinch of charisma, a hint of humble pie manifested through a chameleon-like character that could change face from song to song, I began to understand glimpses of what it meant to be a star. To be able to write lyrics that could transcend space and time, to re-invent oneself and never get stuck in one form of expression. To be a star, one has to always be willing to stand alone, to look strange, to be laughed at, misunderstood and to always look at the future, the universe beyond the stars.
Oscar Wilde once said: “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” This is what Bowie excelled at, perhaps even the source of his genius was his ability to always look forward without much compromise or nostalgia. He was ahead of his time and gave birth to many others who dare to look beyond the stars. I look myself and see Bowie, I look at Lady Gaga and see him, I look at FKA Twigs or Bjork or Prince and his influence, whether conscious or not, is there. There is a Bowie in all of us who aspire to take risks with our art and lives, push it to the limits whether there’s a critical acclaim or not at the end of the rainbow.
We live in a world where our true iconic geniuses are dropping like flies, waving goodbye one by one leaving us with a big question mark about who will replace them. It is impossible to replace any of them, their decades of work and dedication to pushing the culture forward is done. Now, there is you and me, mere mortals, carrying little hints of the past that always threatens to return. They live through us. ” – Umlilo
Bowie Remembered: South African musicians – Mpumelelo Mcata, Tamara Dey, Nakhane Toure and Kahn Morbee – reminisce over Bowie’s influence
For full report by UMLILO, MPUMELELO MCATA, TAMARA DEY, NAKHANE TOURE AND KAHN MORBEE, see Mail & Guardian
