The council’s closure of Mega Music is a severe blow to musicians and has left Johannesburg looking even more like a ghost town at night, writes Peter Makurube
The Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council has finally unleashed the axe on Mega Music Trust, the body that runs Mega Music warehouse, an epicentre for musical happenings in downtown Johannesburg. Due to a dispute over rentals the only place in the city where musicians could get together and rehearse has now been shut down for almost three weeks.
This turn of events has left the music fraternity perplexed and angry. Top musician and club owner, Sipho Mabuse, expressed his shock at the closure: “I feel as if the whole Market Precinct’s soul has been destroyed. I do not know the dynamics but I feel the authorities have again shown insensitivity towards cultural development. Mega should be funded by the National Arts Council, just like the Market Theatre and the performing arts councils.”
Mabuse’s club, Kippies Jazz International, is one of many in the city that relies on Mega for “subsidised, below commercial rates” (for sound equipment).
Mabuse’s sentiments were echoed by those of Brad Holmes, proprietor of the legendary jazz den The Bassline in Melville. “The closure of Mega is a real blow to clubs and musicians because sound equipment rentals are exhorbitant. If musicians have to rent from somewhere else they’ll go home with no money in their pockets.”
The council’s actions are allegedly a response to a huge rent back log – an amount in excess of R1-million. But, says administrator and founder of Mega, Des Wooldridge, “They never billed us, ever. We had an agreement that whatever changes we made would be considered when our dealings were formalised. So we went ahead and built studios, installed lighting and all other necessary adjustments.”
The two sides were in fact “in negotiations”, when the council closed the venue’s doors. Mega’s sound equipment was also impounded in the process. The council has not been available for comment in spite of repeated attempts to get hold of spokesperson Raymond Cardosa.
It seems that the problem can be traced back to the early Nineties when the council opened the new Mega Music facility and an ill-defined “deal” with Mega Music Trust was put into place. Grey areas in the agreement were left unattended for a long time. Mega went ahead with its plans while the council kept quiet about the mounting rent backlog.
Although the trust is now required to pay up, Wooldridge argues that the council has also made use of the facilities. He has suggested the council deduct all the expenses incurred over the years and consider charging a reduced monthly rental of R15 000 (a “reasonable commercial rate approved by independent property valuers”) as opposed to the R32 000 a month demanded by the council.
Meanwhile the stalemate enters its second week with no sign of abating. Mega employees, all 25 of them, are now without jobs and musicians without the technical support they need for their upcoming shows. Mega has set up a fund for its employees because, as Wooldridge says, “I’m concerned about my staff. Most are the only breadwinners in their families.”
Wooldridge started Mega about 15 years ago when he rented an old warehouse in Pim Street behind the Market Theatre. This facility quickly became a home for mostly black musicians and the few white musicians who dared cross the musical racial divide.
The last group of musicians to have something similar found it in the famed Dorkay House, also once a great institution where the champions met and beginners grew wiser. Thanks to apartheid, the best left the country or faded into obscurity, disillusioned by the grinding yoke of the system. Dorkay is still around, but a shadow of its former glory days.
Mega had a certain feel about it. The Wooldridge brothers were on an even keel with the artists. Along the way, Mega served as a training ground for many people from black society who would otherwise have had to wait for Nelson Mandela to be released. Sound engineering, for example, was never a job for blacks and Mega provided on-the-job training in this field as well as access to sound equipment. Many musicians relied heavily on Mega for both instruments and amplifiers whenever they could scrounge a gig somewhere. The dawn of a new era brought exiles back home and they too have been regulars at Mega rehearsal rooms. Indeed many have performed at the main venue over the years, even if Mega’s sound quality attracted criticism.
The Wooldridge brothers may not be beyond criticism, but the fact that they have kept the warehouse running for so long puts them in a special category. And judging by Wooldridge’s battered vehicle, self-interest doesn’t seem to have been one of his central motivations.
Johannesburg has never quite shaken off its rough settler town mentality. Things of historical value are rarely nurtured. When it comes to culture it’s a cruel and harsh place. The closure of Mega Music leaves the city looking even more like a ghost town come sunset.
With the shutting of Mega’s doors music has once again been dealt a big blow and, without Mega, Jo’burg is like one of its many cemeteries.