「砂糖男」の死 - Living, Loving, Thinking, Again

Benjamin Lee “Searching for Sugar Man singer Rodriguez dies at 81” https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/09/searching-for-sugar-man-singer-rodriguez-dies

８月９日、シクスト・ロドリゲス*1というシンガー・ソングライターが亡くなった。享年81歳*2。
彼は1970年代に米国でプロとしてレコード・デビューしたものの、なかなか売れず、音楽から足を洗って肉体労働に従事していた。しかし、知らないうちに、南アフリカでは”Sigar Man”を初めとする彼の曲がブレイクしていた。彼がそのことに気づいたのは20世紀も押し詰まった頃であった；

The Michigan-born musician had struggled to sell many copies of his first two albums in the US in the 1970s and so quit to take on manual work. But his music gained popularity elsewhere in places such as Botswana, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
His cult popularity in Australia led to a 1979 tour of the continent while in South Africa, a compilation album went platinum as a rumour started that he had killed himself.
It wasn’t until 1997 that he discovered his fame in South Africa after his daughter found information online. He then went on tour in the country. Further fame followed when his song Sugar Man was covered by Paolo Nutini and South African band Just Jinger. The original song was also sampled by Nas.
His life became the subject of the 2012 documentary Searching for Sugar Man, which premiered at the Sundance film festival to acclaim. It won the Oscar for best documentary in the following year.
Directed by Swedish film-maker Malik Bendjelloul, it charts his life and the search for him. After its success, Rodriguez’s albums entered the US charts for the first time.