My parents named me Rouvanne Brand van den Berg (the Brand being my South African ancestry, and the v.d. Berg my fathers Dutch genes), but I find I cause enough consternation by just using my first name, Rouvanne (Roo-vaan). I am a father of 2 wonderful boys, & have been happily married to Lenny for 11 years – just as long as we have had our Music & Entertainment booking agency, Peak Performances.

My mothers family arrived in the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, in 1679 (my father followed 290 years later) so I was born and raised is this wonderful part of Africa. I did spend time living in the Netherlands, and travelled back and forth as a young man – making me pretty well travelled by the age of 18 – when I became a professional street performer and followed the sunny seasons for my work, I would spend summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and then dash across to the Northern Hemisphere for theirs. I performed professionally on the streets, and at corporate events and festivals, for 15 years.

After our agency was up and running for a few years, I decided to ‘hang up my hat’ and concentrate on marketing and promoting the wonderfully talented musicians that come from the many different cultures of Southern Africa. And that entailed becoming a bit of a computer geek to work on our website, which eventually led to becoming a blogger!


Halil: How old is your blog and why did you start it?

Rouvanne: I started blogging early in 2006, but I found it hard to get started and to write about issues that I felt inspired about, almost like writers block. But now it seems that I feel confident about the way I look at things and so find it easier to write about those things that keep me pre occupied.

I started blogging because there was only so much I could do with a static website, and because it is also not a space to provide your personal views. We work according to the African philosophy of ubuntu – I am because we are – and I knew that I had to give a place to the artists that we love so much, to be able to be seen and heard and maybe even get discovered, apart from the basic corporate presentation.

We spend a lot of time with these artist too, so most of my experience is personal, and there is no better way of learning about music, the people who were apart of it, than from the horses mouth so to speak. So, my blog is the ideal outlet for this information – there is so much to share!

I started a non-profit organisation a few years ago, the African Music Collective, to promote and provide a free platform to these artists, some of whom can’t read or write, but are the carries of their cultures history and so national treasures, but the arts don’t take precedence over the important financial needs of HIV/Aids, Malaria and development issues – so we haven’t been able to secure sponsorship to cover the expensive hosting costs, as yet, but its always a dream of ours. It’s just been put on hold as I explore the huge possibilities through blogging.

When I discovered Blogger, and other awesome internet services like MySpace.com, YouTube.com, MyVideo.co.za & Zoopy.com – where I could write as much as I wanted, put all the video I wanted and show the pictures that I felt people needed to see, it was like hitting the jackpot! I am fortunate to work in a world I am passionate about, and so I like to share that.


Halil: Would you like to share your first post with us? URL please.

Rouvanne: First posts here - here are the first three posts – I got straight into it – I just didn’t know how to add video at that stage… I now have some 120 vids on YouTube, 40 of MyVideo, and 60 on Google Video – I learn while having fun!


Halil: What kind of people read your blog and who should read it?

Rouvanne: At this stage a very wide variety. I held off from promoting it around the net till about December last year, wanting to build up on content before I got the hairy-eyeball from other bloggers and web-surfers, so we mainly directed our clients to posts to give them more insight into the artists they were interested in.

Now, having been awarded 3rd place in the Best Music Blog at the 2007 SA Blog Awards, I think that I am attracting a far more diverse audience. The SA blogsphere is still small, but I think that most of my readers are interested in music, world music and interesting fusion in particular.

I come into contact with artists that aren’t listed, or of whom only a little is known, as we are connected to the most amazing record label in South Africa – MELT 2000. Robert Trunz, who is my music guru, has recorded the most extensive collection of indigenous and traditional music in this country, and the way he fuses it with electronica (Juno Reactor) and jazz (Pops Mohamed), some of the material is unique – so if you’re a music lover – you need to keep an eye on Peak People!

Halil: How are their reactions?

Rouvanne: I have had loads of positive reactions, and many people thank us for posting the material we do. Some commentors are expatriots living overseas, and when they find my blog they see and hear a piece of home, and so they are gratefull for that.

Its when one posts something controversial that you will get reactions across the board, but I try to avoid too much of that as I am presenting other peoples material, and I would not like my views to be associated to my artists.

Is there anything you ever wanted to post but didn´t post for some reason.

Politics… I am a passionate about African politics and could have much to say about what happens on this continent, but that is not my area of expertise, and I believe that creativity makes borders non-existent in any case, so I won’t… But having had a President in the family (1864 – 1888), I pull my ‘soap-box’ out at home and perform to my family and friends instead!


Halil: Are there any topics you wouldn´t write about?

Rouvanne: Religion.


Halil: What do you like most on blogging? Communication, participation on different projects, ...

Rouvanne: You think you know all about something, until you actually do research into it – that’s when the world starts getting so much bigger and you discover a whole world of new leads and interesting points. Even reading an interesting point on another bloggers site will send me off to learn more about it, and then I might participate – but I won’t comment if I feel I am in the dark about a subject.


Halil: How many blogs do you have currently in your reader?

Rouvanne: I have 15 blogs listed in my Live Bookmarks listing that I can check the headlines of during the day, but I actively browse about 30 blogs a day – I am behind my computer on average about 12 hours a day!


Halil: What do you think is the difference between bloggers and journalists?

Rouvanne: On a Sunday I buy 3 papers, but for the rest I’ll only go to the regular news sites if I am searching for something, or if I have received Breaking News emails.

I much prefer reading the news through the eyes of people that I respect, and whose opinion I value, than reading a story that has been filtered through various editors who are just out to satisfy their advertisers in the first place. In any case, being online, and this being the age of information, I get the news far quicker than it takes for the ink to dry!

Bloggers have personality, much like the columnists in the papers, except, once again, we don’t have editors who censor us!


Halil: If you could choose one blogger who writes about you who would it be?

Rouvanne: Maximillan Kaisen who is the the Hunter of Genius– she uses so many big words, that I might finally be able to get my profile to look impressive!


Halil: Do you use any toolbars? Which ones and why?

Rouvanne: No. Mozilla Firefox gives me all I need, where I make use of the live Toolbar – I am exploring a site called netvibes.com where you can create your own profile home page with all the info you require together, but that’s in my spare time!


Halil: Do you want to say something to other blogger?
 
Rouvanne: If you are starting out – figure out what you want to write about, and stick to it. But don’t just go out there looking for hits by replicating all the celebrity rubbish sites who show tits & ass and which add no value to your day… There are enough of those already!

Write what you feel. Be who you are, or who you want to be, but just stick to it! Once readers know that they can expect more of the same from you, they will keep coming back. That’s the way to build a solid readership base!


Rouvanne´s pages: Blog: http://www.insidepeakperformances.blogspot.com (we’re expecting a change at the end of the month with our newly designed site! Btu you will be redirected…) Website: http://www.peakperformances.co.za