Twani’s all tuned up in new position
Audio Visual centre set for change says acting head
THE Eastern Cape Audio Visual Centre (ECAVC)’s new acting director Dr Zoliswa Twani is on a mission to remove the dark cloud hanging over the provincial music facility.
Twani, a former head of the music department at the University of Fort Hare, started in her new position last month, taking over from Sy Ntuli who left to focus on his music career.
She said with the support of the team, she was hoping to bring about some positive change at the centre.
“I know there has been a dark cloud over ECAVC with many artists saying a lot of things, but we hope to turn things around and restore hope in the community,” she said.
Twani, who was born in Duncan Village, said the centre would be hosting the first record label indaba in the province next month to help grow local musicians.
“We want to get a database of record labels in the province and see how we can work together. We want to establish where they are and what are they lacking in and also see how they can branch out nationally,” she said.
Twani said they would be bringing in a representative from Sony Music and Kalawa Jazmee Music.
“We want these guys to share their experiences and some of the lessons they have learned along the journey with the hope of inspiring our local guys.”
She said they would also be looking at various strategies that they could implement to ensure that the small labels could plug into the ECAVC records.
Twani also said they would be continuing with their relationships with the various districts in the province.
“We will be visiting them and encouraging artists to submit their demos to their district offices and we will then chose musicians that will work with the ECAVC,” she said.
Twani said the first group of artists they signed in 2014 would be releasing their second and last albums with the label this year. “We have musicians such as award-winning gospel singercomposer-producer Nqubeko Mbatha and Gabi le Roux, who produced Mandoza, producing the works of our artists. When the label first opened its doors it did not have a distribution deal, which meant that the music of their artists did not do as well as they had hoped.
“We are in the final stages of finalising a distribution deal, and ensuring that these projects are a success,” she said.
ECAVC operates on a R1.5-million budget from the department of sport, recreation, arts and culture. —