Monthly Archives: January 2013

Creative Doing

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220px-David_Byrne_2006 David Byrne begins his new book “How Music Works” with an insight that has dawned on him slowly during his glittering career: “context largely determines what is written, painted, sculpted, sung, or performed.” While ideas, personality and passion are very much at the heart of the making, for something to feel and be recognized as creative depends as much on external factors – the space, the performance, the audience, the feedback, the size, the shape, the mood and so on. Furthermore, so much depends on the internal and external being connected – where creators (be they musicians, artists, chefs, choreographers and so on) and their audiences (collectors, buyers, fans, readers, etc.) are intermeshed in terms of their influence on each other and the creative ideas they generate, share and mold. This seems ever more so, now that social media and the internet have become the glue that binds them; where tweets, blogs, reviews, likes, thumbs up or, if you get unlucky, thumbs down, are the pervasive currency of influence. The flipside of all this online activity is that there are more opportunities for public recognition – which could also mean there are more chances for all of us to get our creative acts acknowledged and appreciated. Well maybe.

creative2 Creativity is very much an aspiration we all have and want more of – whether it is at work or in our dreams. But we can’t all be the next Pablo Picasso, Michel Roux, Vaslav Nijinsky or Albert Einstein. A few of us will succeed in becoming famous but most of us will remain on the sidelines.
bark

So what does it take to be more creative – especially for those who have had it beaten out of them at school and any vestige stifled at work? It is hard being creative when pouring over a spreadsheet, unless that is, you are into creative accounting. And therein lies the rub. You have to contravene rules and norms, think the non-obvious and dare to cross boundaries – which many of us find difficult to do.

To help break free from convention one can look to the wisdom of others. There is a plethora of self-help books on creativity vying for our attention on Amazon and piled high in secondhand bookshops. Many are uplifting, positive and easy to read. One I just skimmed through, claimed that it could “help you become an everyday creative person” and in doing so “help you instinctively solve problems more easily, see the world as a richer place and enjoy life more” (Maisel, 2000). Moreover, through unleashing your hidden creativity you will be able to write more deeply and more frequently. “Whatever you do, creativity helps you do it better.” No wonder we crave for more. Just imagine…

But how? Deep and more seem to be at the heart of this pop psychology wisdom. We need to start being deeper, more mindful, connecting more with our inner and outer selves, being more ambitious and letting our guard down more often. Some even go so far as saying loving yourself more will help release the creative juices. I’ve always been deeply suspicious of these kinds of pearls of wisdom. They are a little cheesy and rather huggy-Californian – especially for those of us who are a tad reticent or introverted in feeling.

creative Maybe the secret is in the doing, not in the feeling or the knowing, and then in the selecting, embellishing and regaling. And maybe we can just be a little more creative – not through having to be deeper or trying harder – but through observing and trying out new ways of engaging with the world and people – such as being a little impish at times. And maybe one does not have to think that being creative is about accomplishing that big thing you’ve always wanted – like writing a great novel, starting to paint again or learning to play an instrument but one can be creative in conversation, in friendship and in deciding what to eat, wear and try out each day. Instead of asking someone what ‘they do’ on first meeting try asking them something unexpected such as what was the funniest/embarrassing/craziest thing they have done that they dare to share with you. That becomes the conversation turner and you never know where it might lead.

David Byrne (2012) How Music Works
Eric Maisel (2000) The Creativity Book

Body-Defying Performers

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I am always in awe of gymnasts, dancers, trapeze artists, acrobats and the like who perform great feats that defy our sense of gravity and being-ness. How can someone high jump twice their size, walk on a sliver of a tight rope, or do a triple back flip somersault when hanging from a pair of rings? Last summer, when R and I went to see Zippos circus at Hove Lawns we sat on the edge of our ringside seats, gobsmacked as the final act unfolded: three guys on their motorbikes whizzing round and round like flies, upside down and inside out at incredible speed – all in synchrony – in a metal spherical cage called the Globe of Death. One small slip and all three could turn into an inferno. Split-second precision in the face of high risk is everything.

david kramer

I also love to watch and listen to musicians who turn tradition on its head; inventing novel ways of playing their instruments to create unique sounds. Last night I went to see David Kramer’s Kalahari Karoo Blues at the local Arts Theatre, the Baxter, in Cape Town. The charismatic ageless compere moved around the stage effortlessly in shiny red shoes. While making a documentary about traditional guitar players in southern Africa over ten years ago, he came across some extraordinary ‘other’ musicians on his journey. And so began another journey for him, tracking down some of the most creative musicians to come out of the Kalahari and Karoo. With the help of YouTube he was able to find the most talented ‘hot dry desert’ performers – where it is not precision that counts, but the mastering of quirky instruments in music-defying ways – often home-made, for example making sweet African sounds emanate from tin cans, petrol cans, and coffee-tins.

The eclectic bunch that played at the Baxter included a folksinger from Vredendal – Mary Kriel – who strummed her shiny coffee-tin while whaling melodies from deep within; an 80 plus-year-old – Babsi Barolong – who plays the fenjoro, a handmade tin-violin; and a 30 something-year-old – Oteng Piet – who pretended to have a conversation with his girlfriend when playing a one-stringed segaba that ‘answered’ back life-like replies to his lonesome burblings. The one that stole the show, however, was an energetic 69-year-old – Hannes Coetzee – who jiggled, jerked and danced all through the night, writhing and twisting his body at every opportunity. His piece de-la-resistance was to play slide-guitar using a teaspoon in his mouth while using both hands to play chords and strum, respectively. It was astonishing to watch and wonder how he could get such control and passion from a piece of cutlery. Understandably, Hannes, has become the darling of internet viral fame. Not surprisingly, he has had millions of viewers watch his YouTube videos over the years and many imitators trying to play his unique style of spoon-guitar.

But the performer who really stood out for me was Ronnie from Botswana. A reticent young man who hid in the shadows for most of the evening, but shone like a beacon when it was his moment to play. Instead of making chords by placing his hand below the guitar neck and moving his fingers along the frets, he placed his hand above the guitar neck and moved his fingers, as if he was playing a piano, while strumming with his other hand. The technique is known as upside-down knyp-en-pluk. And the guitar is tuned to the key he likes to play – rather than the more common ‘Eddie Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddie’.

The effect was to create a rich, warm, eerie multi-layered sound, that when coupled with his powerful voice, was sublime. Occasionally, he used his elbows to slide up and down the frets; and at one point lifted his guitar behind his head and carried on playing without looking. It was a remarkable spectacle. Even more extraordinary, is this fine young man had never been out of Botswana (until this performance), does not speak a word of English and yet has had over 2 million views on YouTube, featuring on the Bokete7 channel. While he lacks the infectious stage presence of Hannes Cooetz – he is just as mesmerizing, watching his fingers, elbows and voice do the talking.

The viral fame of these remarkable African musicians from the Karoo reminded me of the PSY phenomenon that occurred before Christmas last year when the then unknown Korean rose to stardom with his compulsive viewing, YouTube video, Gangnam Style. Over the festive period he reached a staggering billion views. One thousand million people from all over the globe watched him jiggle around and pretend to dance like a two-legged horse. Extraordinary.

Why are we drawn to these performers? Part of their attraction is how different they are from the rest of us – they create something unique by breaking away from the mold into a new space, that is ever more dangerous, daring, unusual, quirky, body-defying, and truly amazing…

Inspiring Otherness

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I flew back to Cape Town at the beginning of 2013 for the second stint of my dream fellowship. South Africa left such an enormous impression on me last year that I craved for more of its beauty, intrigue and mystery.

First port of call was a magical place called Stanford – a mountainous coastal village near Hermanus. Good friends from Cape Town had invited me to stay with them in their house in the bush; a tranquil remote spot on the water’s edge. During the days we were treated to fish eagles and mole snakes. During the evenings we sat round a roaring campfire staring at the night sky and admiring the inky darkness encrusted with milky ways, shooting stars, a very bright Venus and satellites mysteriously circling the earth above. And periodically we experienced the doppelganger mating call of the African Platanna frogs in the lagoon like the sudden onset of a steel band in full flow.

Technology simply slipped from our thoughts as nature filled our imagination.

Over dinner one night, the topic of conversation moved onto uniform rules in South African schools and how strict in detail they were a generation ago. The legacy of obedience and punishment for deviating – even ever so slightly – remains today although the rules are a little more lenient so as not to be too out of step with modern fashion. A boy’s hair has to be cut above his ears and shirt collar. A girl’s hair has to be tied back and her skirt has to be 7 inches above the knee. Boys not allowed earings. Girls only allowed one stud in each lobe. And so on. All exactly specified. Every week each child’s hair is checked and their attire measured.

I wondered how this regime impacted on their impressionable minds. What purpose does it serve that socks have to be of a certain colour, have the right stripe and be worn with cuffs at the ankles? And for those who dared to have an extra piercing in the upper part of their ear or a streak of colour added to their hair – would such peccadillo-inspired defiance, with potentially grave consequences, lead them to be different in later life?

The conversation then moved onto which teachers the kids liked at their school, which they disliked, who was good, bad and who was just plain weird. The 14-year old daughter, F, piped in about her maths teacher, whom she claimed not to like but admitted to being good because she made them work hard, fear and respect her. And whats more F’s grade went up by 15% last year. It turned out that F’s maths teacher stood out from the rest: riding a Harley Davidson, having short hair, wearing men’s clothing and taking part in cage-fighting (cage-fighting is predominantly a male sport where competitors try to force each other to submit by attacking each other in a cage with punches, kicks, knees and elbows and choking). Moreover, she even has a large baseball bat at the side of her desk that she threatens the kids with – if needs be. The antitype for school children brought up on a strict diet of female and male roles and rules. Maybe she was one of the few who broke away when she was a school child in an even harsher regime and now imposes her own self-styled code of conduct. Paradoxically, it appears as another form of severity but with an alternative twist.

The 11-year old son, F, then chirped in about his art teacher who was, “like, 600 (sic) years old, a hippy, with long grey hair and wore strange clothes.” He also was held in high regard, being thought of as a good teacher who made them see the world differently.

There was magic and mischievousness in the kid’s eyes as they talked fondly about their teachers who dared to be different. Thank goodness the school does not lay down the law for what the teachers can wear, say or do. Children so need to value divergence in a uniform world of orderliness and, importantly, be inspired to otherness, themselves.