There was this !dutch violinist/ orchestra director who became famous worldwide, by having these "informal" classical music concerts/shows, where peeps in the audience would dance in the aisles, or even the musicians or André himself would walk down the aisles themselves, while celebrating famous classical music.
This was considered radical for Boomers, who found the dour and sour and uptight classical music conformity of Europe to be to too stifling. People like my parents were pretty excited to watch his shows and performances on DSTV, which had become more common in Safrica, and appreciated his musical acumen, whilst having much more lighthearted tones in his shows.
Here's a bull attacking a woman!!
He also looks like an eccentric mad-scientist nutjob with his hair!
In 2010 he had a tour in
https://www.andrerieu.com/en/about-andre/my-biography/2010
Unfortunately his weak !dutch genes were no match for the filth and garbage of Safrica, and he got a debilitating ear infection mid tour.
DRAMA!
Drama had however occurred over time in the 2010s when André Rieu obtained the notable quirk, in that he REFUSED
to speak the Colonizer language of Afrikaans!!!!
This caused a lot of seeth for Boers, who ironically made the lionshare of his fandom in the country, even beyond the large Bonglish CD-buyers in Cape Town. This social media drama has been largely purged by time and linkrot (omg this like 15 years ago
) But it was pretty big drama.
In his tours of 2010 & 2012, he had repeated numerous times that he had been disappointed in the demographics makeup of his shows, which as can be predicted, were always overwhelmingly
He was especially disappointed to find Safrican black peeps didn't really give a shit, despite his massive catering towards them in all his Safrican tours, whether in Cape Town or Suncity. Especially in his "My African Dream" shows, which he tailored to include lots of black opera singers, local black dancers, and it was still 99% mayo
https://www.news24.com/life/andre-rieu-refuses-to-speak-afrikaans-20110318
=====(from news24)
André Rieu, King of the waltz and musical hero to many South Africans, still refuses to speak a word of Afrikaans or even Dutch onstage.
Last year already many of his fans asked why Rieu did not speak a word of Afrikaans or Dutch on stage.
He has toured across the globe, always making an effort to speak at least a word of the language of the country in which he is touring.
Rieu is aware that many of his fans in South Africa are Afrikaans speaking and that they are able to understand the Dutch heard on the DVDs.
Country's demographic
When Volksblad asked Rieu in an official enquiry why he does not speak Afrikaans or Dutch onstage in South Africa, he said: "No comment."
"He wanted to make it easier for his fans to travel to the show, because not everyone will be able to travel all the way to Sun City. He also hopes to then see an audience that is a better representation of the country's demographic."
Rieu has said that he would like to see an audience that is 50% black and 50% white. Last year, he asked the Bloemfontein Children's choir to perform with him in his hometown of Maastricht in the Netherlands. His condition that the choir should consist of 50% black members, was heavily criticised.
====(end quote)
Watch Andre Rieu talk about his South African tour in 2012, with a lead black singer to a white-only audience, and why everyone was in tears. https://t.co/ZNosC0yEvK
— Seema Chishti (@seemay) December 26, 2020
I tried really hard to find old twitter
about drama when André Rieu stated in front of his 99% mayo audience how sad and disappointed he was that so few black peeps had come to his Cape Town and Suncity shows, and with many people stating how full of shit he was, because if he wanted a primary black audience, he should have hosted a show in Soweto stadiums (he didn't cuz it was unsafe
)
Like holy hells there was scores of drama - you guys don't appreciate how linkrot has culled so much drama of our forebears
Like I remember newspaper articles about the drama and events but that shit is now banished to the shadowrealm i literally cannot find anything on the face of the internet to prove what I'm recounting to you guys, it's information just gone into the ether
RANDOM BONUS DRAMA: Reddit thread about André Rieu's detractors
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how many black
people like European
classical music
in general
lol what was he expecting?
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All of them, if only they'd had the opportunity to hear it instead of being sung nursery grime
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