‘Searching For Sugar Man’
View(s):Review
Fans of Sixto Rodriguez were still ‘Searching for Sugarman’ at the Oscars last week. The fact-is-stranger-than-fiction, story of the American folk musician from Detroit won the Academy Award for the Best Documentary Feature, a mere two weeks after it had already claimed the BAFTA in the same category. At the Oscars, Rodriguez didn’t get up on stage though to accept the award with the filmmakers, having previously said he didn’t want to detract from their night.
The documentary has turned the spotlight once more on an artist whose unconventional history had fans once suspecting he was dead – the legend was that he had shot himself on stage after a bad performance (reportedly, he had sung the lines ‘But thanks for your time/ Then you can thank me for mine/ And after that’s said, forget it,’ and reached under his chair for the gun.) Another version still ended in suicide, only this time it was by immolation.
Forget about being dead, that he had fans at all would have been a surprise to Rodriguez – despite rhapsodising producers and repeated comparisons to Bob Dylan, the owner of his old label estimated that he sold all of six records in the U.S. Elsewhere though, the singer with the sunglasses and the long hair had won himself legions of admirers; particularly, in South Africa where he became the unlikely voice of a generation of white anti-apartheid activists.
The documentary follows the determined efforts of two Cape Town fans, Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman and Craig Bartholomew Strydom to track down Rodriguez, to find out if he was really dead and if so how he died, and then introduces us to the man himself – someone who had no idea just how famous he was and how much his music had meant to an entire country. The almost fairy tale like plot aside, ‘Searching for Sugarman’ is beautifully made. Set to the soundtrack of Rodriguez’s music, viewers will remember it for the atmospheric visuals of lights cutting through the Detroit fog and for long sweeping panaromic views of South Africa’s coastline.
5 Things You Should Know About Sixto Rodriguez
= Rodriguez produced two albums ‘Cold Fact’ (1970) and ‘Coming From Reality’ (1971) but made ends meet as a manual labourer working on restoring houses and demolition work.
= Rodriguez holds a Bachelor of Philosophy and once ran for Mayor of Detroit.
Though never famous in the U.S, Rodriguez had many fans in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
= It was his daughter who first contacted his South African fans when she left a comment on a website dedicated to finding Rodriguez.
= As of 2013 Rodriguez is in talks with producer Steve Rowland – the singer has 30 new songs waiting to be considered for a new album.
Follow @timesonlinelk
comments powered by Disqus