vr 10 sep

Chris Chameleon wil met Boo! de tand des tijds doorstaan

Knobsticker

De Zuid-Afrikaan Chris Chameleon liet een paar jaar geleden zijn ska-band Boo! voor wat het was om solo zijn geluk te beproeven. En met succes! De eigenzinnige frontman gaf een memorabel optreden op Mundial vorig jaar en deed succesvolle clubshows door heel het land. Oude liefde roest niet en dit jaar was de hereniging met feestband Boo! een feit. Dat brengt de band op vrijdag 10 september naar de Kleine Zaal. Spotlicht interviewster Michelle Vleugels had een interview met de zanger over muziek, Zuid-Afrika, zijn solo-albums en natuurlijk Boo!. Om Chameleon in zijn eigen woorden te laten spreken, hebben we besloten het interview in het Engels te laten.

Music from South- Africa is hot (like Die Antwoord). How do you think this has happened?
"We have a very unique situation in South Africa, and situations are what breed the arts of a particular region. Thus it stands to reason that the music from South Africa will be different from what you can find elsewhere, because it comes from an entirely different place. The world is always looking for new stuff, something different, and our turn has come. However, nothing stays in vogue forever on purely a novelty basis, so our music ultimately will have to provide the quality required to make it stand the test of time."

Your first solo-album is based on poems from Ingrid Jonker. Why was that?
"Although her work was sometimes very dark (donker!) ; ) It started out that way because i was asked by a television series in South Africa to compose a poem of any South African, Afrikaans poet. The previous year i saw a documentary on Ingrid Jonker whilst on tour in the Netherlands with Boo!. The documentary made a huge impression on me and when they came with that request, she was foremost in my mind. I found i very easy going (the compositions) and just kept doing it because of the joy i got from it, two weeks later i had an album's worth of compositions and thought 'why the hell not make an album?' The rest is history."

Your sound on your solo-album is so different from your albums with Boo! How did this happen?
"As humans we are very diverse creatures. We are fathers, husbands, employers, employees, football fans and churchgoers. For some reason we tend to be much more limited in our art than in life, which is ridiculous, as art is an interpretation of life and it's experience. If anything, because of the great scope of fantasy in art, our art should be even more diverse than the reality of our lives. Why then is it that artists commit to one particular genre for their entire life? That is narrow minded and ridiculous! I suspect the reason for that, lamentably so, is economics, and not art. But I have never felt like committing to one form of expression for the sake of anything and the diversity in my work is part of that tendency."

You play a lot in The Netherlands. Has this country a special meaning for you?
"Of course there is the historic, cultural connection with me being an Afrikaans speaking, Dutch descendant. But of the 19 countries i have performed in, the Dutch have been very accepting and have made it easier and more sensible to come back to than some other territories."

Do you want to work with Dutch bands?
"I'm not a fan of collaborations. I don't get much joy from it, it always feels like work and less so like fun. I don't like negotiating my art and the creative process is a rather personal process for me - I've never been able to create in front of somebody. In my work you'll also not find any traces of a tendency towards any particular sound or artist. That is because i have never tried to emulate anybody. I am an untrained musician and i can't play other people's music, and, quite frankly, am not interested in doing so either."

What’s the greatest moment from your career?
"I have no such thing. I always refer to last night's performance as 'another day at the office'. To allow yourself the highs, means creating room for the lows. I have enough of that stuff in my personal emotional life to allow for it in my career as ell. Also, there is the danger that you will disregard the importance of a 100 man gig relative to a 1000 man gig if you go about it that way. I like looking at it all in the same way and not distinguishing."

Interview door Michelle Vleugels

• Aanvang 20:30 | Kleine Zaal | € 12,50 | Tickets