“The content of our artists’ work and the means by which their captive audience consume (and could consume) socially are important to us.” —Sandrine Herbert Razafinjato & Lisa Aissaoui.
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A few months ago I spent time with a small crew of producers, production crew, stage set makers and an event manager, along with performers and artists, a few hours prior to one of Open The Gate’s gigs at The Passing Clouds.
The room’s response was palpable as each performer took to the stage in front of an intimate audience. It felt like a house party with a raw graffiti-house aesthetic. I thought this is not an, accident or, expression of a lone visionary. It probably involves a team of people deliberately orchestrating this theatre like experience. For some reason it seemed like a scene about to be streamed for sharing on social media and on TV.
A similar approach seemed to define the street market feel of Africa on The Square commissioned by the Mayor of London’s Office, sponsored by Air France, Lebara, The Voice and programmed by Open The Gate.
In order to imagine the graft involved in days and hours leading up to these types of moments when performers, makers, entrepreneurs finally step into the spotlight I spoke with Lisa Aissaoui (LA) and Sandrine Herbert-Razafinjato (SHR) of Open The Gate. Lisa and Sandrine are part of the team behind the production and curatorial process, working to unite diverse sets of creative talent and entrepreneurs towards the construction of meaningful cultural moments.
What challenges are you having to overcome, in order to take these pop-up markets, festivals and art shows to the next level?
(SHR) Supporting new and unseen talents like Jally Kebba Susso, Anna Mudeka, Tony Dudu, Siemy Di and more are inspiring examples of why we are here. Enabling artists in our network to be listened to, and seen at the right time, in the right space is an enduring and worthwhile challenge.
Siemy Di’s performance on Sunday (November 30 2014) at the Rich Mix is a culmination of putting out his multiple genre several times, at different venues, over a long period. We are bringing to the mainstream Africa’s contemporary story through the arts, music and design. Beyond what we are doing there is an African cultural wave, we are surfing it.
Who are the unsung heroes working behind the curtain?
(SHR) I organise events within Paris’s art scene with talented individuals such as Eric Pomarico. He is a DJ which means he brings with him a network of artists from his work into spaces where we curate gigs. LA joined us as a volunteer, she is now our events and PR manager. We have interns from Italy and Finland. We also have informal support from students at SOAS who volunteer as part of their training and academic programme.
Who back-stage did the artists we saw at The Passing Clouds rely upon for an intimate audience engaging show?
(SHR & LA) Batch Gueye Band from Senegal who played earlier this year at the WOMAD Festival, Nogabe from Madagascar and Sierra Leonean story teller Usifu Jalloh (also known as The Cowfoot Prince) and Passing Clouds have a long relationship with Open The Gate. Most of the artists have few things in common: they are independent from traditional institutions that support artists commercially, they gather their supporting artists at location (across UK and internationally) or home base to form gig-specific bands, for locational improvisation as well as impromptu collaboration. These commonalities are inspired by personal drive for cross-cultural social engagement with their varied audience mix. In a way the culturally-mixed audience are the ‘back-stage’ that the artists at The Passing Clouds relied on to put on a flawless show.
Their repertoire varies. Variations range from griot narratives , references to oral traditions arranged instruments and music genres such as Usifu Jalloh’s talking drums and Batch Gueye’s Senegalese M’balakh respectively, to express ideas about cultural tolerance. At The Passing Clouds this arrangements were specific enough to elicit physically demanding dance steps both in informal group choreography and individual solos from members of a culturally diverse audience.
It is a signature scene which also defined parts of the audience experience at Africa on the Square. On Africa on the Square programme we had acts such as Anna Mudeka Band (distinctive Mbira music from Zimbabwe and South Africa), Aar Maanta (Somali music), Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Experience (Afrobeat music from Nigeria, Dele was a keyboard player with Fela Kuti’s ensemble), Gnawa Griot (a very innovative music project by Gambian Griot Jally Kebba Susso and Moroccan Gnawa musician Simo Lagnawi).
Who ensures that every concert by an artist is a success? How do you measure success?
(SHR) Success has different aspects, from planning by Eric looking out for sound management, managing artists’ ability to perform with systems in place around stage sets. There is audience attendance — how many people felt the music, street market theatre and enjoyed both memorably? With Africa on The Square it took us two months to prepare once the Mayor of London’s office gave us a Green light. The feedback is on video, available to view at YouTube and Vimeo. Africa on the square had so many aspects to it as we curated the whole programme: live music, African Market, food stalls, kids & family workshops and a fashion show. As a consequence of that gig people are contacting us to help with exposure.
Planning, organizing, paying attention to detail, and dedication is one aspect of working towards the success of an event. However we view promotional activities as a critical function. In fact, with Lisa, we have created a professional public relations & marketing department, working both on-line and on the ground to promote our programme of shows and activities. So much so that we have now opened up our promotional services to other promoters of African related events.
What does a regular day — putting the day and night together — look like?
(SHR & LA) Emails, replying to calls, checking promotions lists, nurturing relationships with journalists. We have a booking agency arm that is central to how we programme future shows. We like to think of what we do as inviting people — musicians, artists, entrepreneurs plus people who are drawn to their aesthetic and vice versa — to our home. It is about people. This is the background to keeping ‘Open The Gate’ plugged primarily into places seeding African or Africa inspired performers, makers and artists who are in emergent or experimental mode. We walk with our minds re-imagining possibilities, for audiences, across boundaries of live music, workshops, performance and screenings across stages alongside stalls area for interaction between people, artists’ and indie merchandisers.
(SHR) London is a big city, with so much going on. We are listening to feedback, which we are taking on board. We would like to develop creative partnerships, for broader audience impact, with cultural institutions such as the Victoria & Albert Museum. One of our aims is to continue rethinking performance situations where artists engage with their audience.
Any plans to enhance media adoption with innovative broadcasting ideas and initiatives?
(SHR & LA) Over the last ten years, from Gambia through France to the UK we have met and worked with variety of artists of African heritage whose boundaries cross multiple genres. The content of our artists’ work and the means by which their captive audience consumes (and could consume) socially are important to us. As a result we keep our feelers out for trends driving the world music space, as well as trends in other culture dissemination, sharing and social consumption spaces.
