Artists and African Time

THE term African time has become common in our everyday lives. Showing up for appointments 10 or 15 minutes later than expected has become the norm. Apart from the African time epidemic, some of our local artists have also adopted the ‘fashionably late’ trend.

Now without insulting anyone’s knowledge of the phrase, I need to know whether our artists really know what it means to be fashionably late? Do they know the difference between being fashionably late, being delayed, being just plain late and being disgustingly late? There are times an artist will show up two hours late and apologise to the audience, saying they were delayed. They advertise a show starting at 19h00, make us listen to the opening acts and the ‘many mores’ and then show up at 23h00, while the programme said they would hit the stage at 21h00!

A classic example is the album launch I had to attend over the weekend. In an attempt to better my time management skills, I decided that being at least five minutes early for any event, function or engagement is my way of getting rid of this problem. I decided that this year I will make a point of being punctual for anything and everything, even that 17h30 Law of Evidence class on a Friday evening.

With that principle in mind, I arrived at the venue for the launch just a few seconds shy of 18h52, I checked the time to the last second because I am determined to stay true to my punctuality principle. When I got there, nothing was happening. Because I am also working on my anger management skills, I decided not to get upset and gave them the benefit of African time.

Returning two hours later I found a man selling tickets at the door. I paid for mine only to be met by five to eight faces, including the bartenders. No ‘many mores’, no opening acts – nothing. It could only be one of two things, either I was horribly late or these people were messing with my new, fragile relationship with punctuality. It turned out to be the latter. An hour rolled over and still there were no ‘many mores’ or opening acts. Attempts to ascertain what time the event would start, if it in fact would, proved futile as my telephone calls and text messages went unanswered.

Very angry and counting to 10, I decided to leave with a N$50 tag decorating my arm.

Just for the record, someone is considered fashionably late when they are 10 to 15 minutes late for a meeting or 45 minutes late for a party, show or performance. This ‘little’ lateness makes it seem like they are very busy and very important. Making your fans wait an hour can be considered a delayed arrival. Two hours can be considered late but showing up three hours late is nothing but a disgusting disregard of the next person’s time and a display of disrespect. It shows a lack of consideration and intentional disrespect towards fellow human beings. Not only that, it also shows a lack of discipline and carelessness, two elements that may be detrimental to the advancement of anyone’s career.

As much as it has become OK and normal to be late, artists really need to start respecting and honouring the time they themselves set for their shows, press conferences and interviews.

In the entertainment industry, one’s reputation is key to success. Talent, creativity and the best production will ensure you a good product but at the end of the day, this product needs to be appreciated by a third person and no one would want the consideration of their product to be clouded by a reputation of unpunctuality, ill-discipline or disrespect. I, for one, will think ten times over about attending any show by an artist if they made me wait three hours before, unless of course I am duty bound to attend in my official capacity.

It is just advisable to have the entire package, not just your art. Talent and creativity will get you a listener while the entire package – art, discipline and respect for the consumers of your product – will get you a fan, a loyal fan.