Cheb, I, Sabbah, Shri, Durga, free, mp3, download, Hindustani, ragas, Six, Degrees, Records

By J.C. Tripp

An attempt to reinvent an ancient and evolved art form that celebrates the Gods would be a daunting task even for a trained local musician. For an “outsider” to succeed in this project would be unlikely at best. Yet, Cheb i Sabbah has crafted a classic that is deceptively simple at first blush but underneath its skin has the skill and complexity characteristic of a true work of art. Krishna Lila has a fragile, fragrant beauty that lingers long after the disc has stopped playing. Like all his projects, Cheb i Sabbah has approached this one with reverence for the culture it represents and has taken no shortcuts.

The album has been in production for two years. Most of the musicians were recorded in Madras, Bombay and New Delhi, India, and others in New York and San Francisco. Sung in five different languages, it is strewn together like acoustic jewelry, the common thread being bhakti yoga (devotion) to Krishna. Lustrous, new gems are interspersed with uncut traditional pieces that echo timelessness not often heard on a CD. Krishna Lila is organized in two parts. The first five tracks recorded in South India are evocative of Krishna’s pastimes in the garden of Vrindavan. Dressed in garments of gold, and with an orange flower tucked behind his ear, he wanders through the garden playing his magic flute. The gopis (cowgirls) are entranced by the sweetness of the music. Some are bathing in the nearby pond. They emerge, still wet and askew. Others are breastfeeding their babies but cannot wait to set their eyes upon Krishna. They trip through the cool grass. Drunk on the melody of the flute they sway through the trees until they finally feast their eyes upon him and fall to the ground to kiss his feet. The next four tracks are recorded in North India and include vocals and some instrumentation in the distinctive thumri style.

During the making of Krishna Lila, as with his earlier Shri Durga, Cheb i Sabbah embarked on a two year odyssey. The results more than justify his considerable efforts as Krishna Lila’s reverential ambience is immediate and unforgettable, being nothing less than the timeless sound of India itself. A complex blend of cultural, technological and religious components informs Krishna Lila. Listeners will find themselves transported to a realm of celestial beauty, making occasional stops along the way at a dance club whose turntables spin ragas and electronica with equal grace. (Courtesy of Six Degrees)

Cheb i Sabbah was interviewed after the release of Shri Durga but his words are still pertinent and relevant to Krishna Lila.

MUNDOVIBES: Where did your relationship with Six Degrees come from?

Cheb i Sabbah: They are based in San Francisco. Somebody I knew that became a friend kept telling me that he found this job as an intern with a label called Six Degrees and they had come to shows I’ve done—live shows. And he kept saying, ‘you have to come meet them.’ Finally I went and I brought with me a DAT. Basically, I had started Shri Durga on my own with a credit card, so I brought it to them and they said ‘if you want to, we definitely want to put it out.’ It was very simple. At that time they were with Island Records. They were the same as Quango—a sub label of Island, like Axiom, like Mango. But then there was this big shakeout at Universal Records, so they (Island) got rid of everybody and Six Degrees was the last label they got rid of. There was this big shift, and Chris Blackwell left.

MUNDOVIBES: So, you were developing this project on your own. What was the inspiration to begin this trek?

C: Well, I had done a few remixes already and I met Ustad Salamat Ali Khan in San Francisco, because some of his children had moved to S.F. So that was a big blast for me. It started as mixing one song, but from there it grew into a whole record. We went to the studio and did like two sessions of really incredible material and the second night I took a mix, real rough. We also had a tabla and I had put a very simple pattern on a drum machine. So, I had this off-the-board mix and the next week I took it to a post-production studio, and the guy who did the recording was going to dump it onto a 24-track. I said ‘wait for me’ and when I got there he had already done it. In the process of dubbing it by himself he had totally lost the sessions. And what I had left was, you know, it sounded good but that drum machine was just in the way. Without the drum machine I could’ve managed something. The tracks were together, it was a mix off the board. So, that was the first attempt that didn’t work. There was nothing I could do, I had to accept it.

MUNDOVIBES: Did this force you to develop your ideas more?

C: Yeah. It was the beginning of it so it was only like three tracks.

MUNDOVIBES: Is this something you had previously experimented with—the relations between you and the other musicians?

C: Because I’m a DJ it was a way to formulate— there’s this great classical music, traditional music and I have to add enough so it could become danceable material but without sacrificing the tradition. Or create something so modern that the tradition is superficial or there’s very little of it.

MUNDOVIBES: It seems you’ve succeeded—every review I’ve read praises it for that.

C: Yeah, it seems that it worked. But, also if you look at jazz, that’s what it is also. It’s not as old, but there’s a tradition there and you can say, ‘I’m going to add some more to that.’ But the thing just plays and you can add to it. So, in a certain sense, it was like listening to Don (Cherry) a lot, spending a lot of time with him as a manager and friend before he passed away. We listened to a lot of Indian classical music.

MUNDOVIBES: How do you learn music?

C: I only have the ear. It doesn’t translate through hands or breath. But it seems that I have the ear, that’s what I work with.

Cover art for
Krishna Durga

MUNDOVIBES: You began before a lot of us were around, in the sixties (laughter). You’re basically talking the whole history of popular music.

C: It seems that way, or at least dance music with that kind of format; dance music you hear within a certain space, and somebody playing the music for you. That was the mid-sixties discotheque in Paris. Between then and now, besides raising a family and a few jobs, this has been the trajectory.

MUNDOVIBES: What have you wanted to do with this? Did it start as a hobby?

C: When I started DJing, it was right into the middle of professional spinning in clubs where you have 1,500 people on the dance floor. I grew up with a lot of music. During the day a friend and I worked as hair dressers. We dropped out, but my friend became a DJ just like that. And, so he brought me in. I didn’t pay any dues, I didn’t have to learn it or do this or that, it was right into it because I started to replace him and then right away I got my own gigs.

MUNDOVIBES: Do you think it was easier then? Were the standards that different?

C: There were not that many clubs you could work at. At that time, when you worked at a club in Paris it was like five or six nights a week plus afternoons. It’s every day. It’s not once a week, or a party once in a while. When you’re in, you’re in and some way or another you’ve got to deliver and the competition is fierce. But there weren’t that many clubs. There weren’t like now, where there are so many parties. It was also the beginning of it. You asked me what I wanted to do with DJing. The way I like to spin, the most pleasing way for me is like using theater, as far as doing a real show. Again, in Paris show business is a profession. What that means is you put on shows for people and there’s an art in them. What I see mostly in America is a club and a promoter without the art of theater.

MUNDOVIBES: It’s hype.

C: It’s hype and at the same time there’s no substance. There’s no profession there of putting on the show with details, dancers, a beginning, a middle and an end. Which, when I started to do theater that’s what it is—it’s very detailed and there is structure. That to me is what I like to do most, which I do when I put on live shows, because basically I direct the show in a certain way. If you are a person who pays to see the show, it begins from the first person you meet at the door. To me that’s when the show starts. And when you leave, it’s last person that greets you out—then the show is over. They’re here because they came for something and you have to deliver it, and you have to be very graceful and have class. But America is difficult. Maybe in Vegas it exists, but I don’t go there (laughs).

MUNDOVIBES: I’d like to talk about the music that you are immersed in. You’ve culled musics from all over the world into one theme. Are you inspired by everything and you just want to bring it in?

C: There’s things that I like but I don’t play. I try narrow it down to basically Asian, Arabic and African. I can do a six hour set of Afro-Cuban music, I have that kind of music. I have music from other parts of the world, or other styles, but I let other people do it. So, I narrow it down to those three continents and within that I play some traditional with some modern. I do play songs rather than non-lyrics.

MUNDOVIBES: Is that a strong feeling you have?

C: Yes, because you can tell the difference between Khaled and Nitin Sawhney, who will compose a song with a real singer. To me, that’s the kind of music I want to spin. There’s plenty of people that do the other music, which is not a song—it’s a groove. But sometimes it’s hard to tell which was the last groove and which was the next, which is done very well with beat matching. But I don’t do any of that; that’s not what I want to do. And since there is room for all of us, I have chosen to spin dance music that are songs.

MUNDOVIBES: Isn’t that amazing that that would be an anomaly?

C: I guess, because most club music is pretty music groove-oriented rather than song-oriented. One thing you have to realize is that a lot of the music that comes from certain areas, or countries; those people never go to clubs, but they always dance. And here it’s kind of the reverse; people don’t dance, but then they have to go to clubs to dance. There are so many cultures where singing and dancing is part of life. You grow up with it and the way you celebrate things in life are important; it’s always celebrated with singing and dancing. So, I’d rather play that kind of music than the music that’s specifically for clubs.

MUNDOVIBES: Is it what you came out of?

C: I came from a culture where singing and dancing was always there. And also because to me, I’d rather listen to a song than groove-oriented music. To me, after a while it kind of sounds the same. If you listen to different singers, different songs—not that I understand every song that I play either. A lot of times I have no idea what they’re singing about; that’s the chance I’m taking. At the same time you can tell if it’s a song from Algeria or a song from Pakistan because there’s somebody there with vocals and telling their story.

MUNDOVIBES: On that same idea, how about that of a remix? You’ve handed over your tracks to various recognized and respected artists, and some of them have come up with a whole deconstructed sound. Is that cool with you?

C: That’s cool with me. Personally I would never be a remixer artist, cause I have a different ear. But I think in this case the remixes to me are all very good and I really like them and the fact that they are deconstructed, yeah it’s OK. It’s like one experiment, I won’t make a career out of it personally. As far as an experiment I think it’s a successful one.

MUNDOVIBES: Is there ever a debate between you and a traditional musician over the fact that a lot of musicians have lost their jobs because of DJs.

C: I don’t agree with that, because if it weren’t for DJs nobody would hear music. Musicians would not exist without DJs, because DJs club wise or radio wise are the ones that play the music that comes out.

MUNDOVIBES: I’m thinking more of…for example, there was a New York club called Tramps and now it’s strictly DJs. So, that’s one less venue in New York that can feature a band. And the thing that’s disturbing is that it was done as a means of maximizing profits—not having to pay musicians.

C: Those changes are taking place and our lives are changing, whether we want it or not. It’s part of everything else. It’s the same thing for me, when somebody invites me to spin somewhere, it’s only one plane ticket, one hotel room and one fee. That’s cheaper than a band, but at the same time it’s a different function and people don’t come to clubs to see me do anything, they come to dance. You go see a band, you watch the band. Yes, you dance too but you also watch the musicians in action. With DJs, there’s not much to watch.

MUNDOVIBES: Some people actually do watch the DJ.

C: I know, and if you don’t have turntables you’re not a real DJ.

MUNDOVIBES: You have a wider perspective. I’m sure at some time it was another issue.

C: Yes, it’s always something. I don’t use turntables, so sometimes I get the look. You know, ‘CDs, that’s not a real DJ.’

MUNDOVIBES: Your materials are probably impossible to get on vinyl anyway.

C: Right. My point is, I’ve already done turntables (laughter). I just do CDs because it’s easier. Actually it’s not that easy, because you can’t see anything on a CD, so you have to know songs pretty well—you have to use the intros, the outros. There was a time when it was vinyl and cassettes, because CDs didn’t exist yet. If it wasn’t on vinyl then the only way to play the music from a lot of countries at that time, like 12 years ago was cassettes. So, I had two professional walkmans. And I would know where the song is, because I had it written down and I would have a search function and then I would play the song on the cassette. So, you can’t be stopped by ‘is it vinyl, is it this or that?’ because the song is there to be played, is doesn’t matter what the medium is.

MUNDOVIBES: That is such a barrier for a lot of people.

C: There’s definitely an art in spinning vinyl and beat matching. Absolutely. But that’s not what music is all about.

MUNDOVIBES: I shared some of these thought on an e-mail list I’m on. I just posted my thoughts on the whole idea with sound in a club: it’s this groove, this monotonous kind of groove that you get lost in. There’s no beginning or end, there’s no song. In New York it’s even more so. In San Francisco you could hear a lot of influences, in New York you’re either there for “2-step,” “deep house,” or “trance” and that’s all you’re going to hear all night.

C: It’s so bland. It’s like the blandness of society and if you look at food it’s pretty much the same. If you look at a lot of things it’s pretty much the same. It’s like a unified kind of a bland something that, to me, is scary.

MUNDOVIBES: Tell me about your involvement in theater? It seems your thoughts from theater really seep into your music.

C: And vice versa. In Paris, in ’65 I saw Living Theater perform there, because they were in exile from here because of the IRS. They were in exile in Europe and they became a legendary group there. So, I saw them perform and I was like ‘wow.’ They were a working company, touring. So I saw them perform there, and I had been in a small theater group that were doing things around rituals. And then there was May ’68 in Paris and all of the buildings were being taken over by the students, workers and anarchists. In June a friend of mine said, Ôlet’s go to Living Theater down south. They’re rehearsing in Avignon. They’re rehearsing “Paradise Now,” to open at this festival of Avignon.’ So, I went there and stayed for two months, living where they lived and rehearsed. And then they left from the festival as a support to May ’68 and said ‘fuck bourgeois culture, we’re leaving the festival.’ Then they came to the U.S. to do a tour and I was then in the U.S. for the first time, living in Oakland, California. So, I saw them there again and I wanted to join.

At the same time, at the end of the tour the group was splitting up into three groups. One stayed in Europe, one went to India, one went to Brazil. Living Theater went to Brazil with a group of people, working the favela, did plays, got busted—supposedly the police found a kilo of grass in New York. Went to jail, some people got tortured, benefits were done in America. A lot of intellectuals, artists, big names wrote letters to the Brazilian government. They came out of jail, came to New York and in 1971 I came to New York and joined the Living Theater. I stayed, I left, I came back two or three times.

Then in 1987 I went to San Francisco and started a group called Tribal Warning Theater. And that was the first time that I made soundtracks for the actual plays. One was called ‘Against (His)story’ and we played in clubs. We always had a sound system, and that’s when I started to blast soundtracks and at the same time, the soundtrack was all of the cues that were necessary to act with. So, that’s the theater and in between and I would go back and forth with DJing and also because I had two children, I had some jobs.

MUNDOVIBES: San Francisco is your home.

C: It’s been my home for fourteen years. I didn’t want to raise children in New York, I didn’t feel I had it. I went to San Francisco because it has more space, more open air.

MUNDOVIBES: Do you want to break out your sound? Do you think that people need to be educated?

C: I don’t believe that people need to be educated. I have no intention of educating anyone. But, if I’m invited I will go. It’s like in the theater—it doesn’t matter who you play for and where, you just do it. You don’t say, ‘oh, these people are cool, but these people are not cool.’ That way, I’m still the same. I will go anywhere I’m invited to, but on my own I don’t have a mission where I go somewhere and I have to reach anyone. I don’t think music can be forced, it’s not didactic like politics or causes. At the same time, one thing you know is that ‘yeah, a lot of times music works.’ The way people react to music, you know that music works. There’s no need for inspiration. So, in that context, yes you do go places sometimes where people are not expecting you and they go ‘wow, I didn’t know this music existed.’

On one hand, on the other hand if they’re really stuck and conditioned with house or techno or popular styles, then they’re kind of like ‘what is that?’ In the theater we used to say, ‘if you did one play and you could touch one person, then it’s a success.’ But what happens with the unconscious is that whatever you register will always come back and one goes ‘oh, that was that.’ That’s the way that theater works, so if you can do that with one person it’s successful.

MUNDOVIBES: Is the goddess Shri Durga something that is at the core of your beliefs?

C: Yes. On the mystical level of the feminine aspect, this rules everything. Biologically, without woman we wouldn’t be born. The different parts that make Shri Durga is definitely this journey and this offering to the feminine aspect. Which happens, in India, to have many names and many forms and Durga is one of them. But, she’s also that aspect of good over evil. And the times that we are living in are so uncertain that it seems that we need all the blessings we can to even go out on the street. So, it was definitely an offering and devotional act to the feminine goddess, which is Shri Durga. Some say, ‘Shri Durga. It sounds like the soundtrack for a movie, because there’s no stops and it goes places.’ That’s true, it’s more like a journey into the mystical approach to who we are, where do we come from and where do we go. To me, it’s important to know—what are we doing, who are we, what for?

MUNDOVIBES: With the music you’re spinning that’s a theme of yours. Do you try to take people outside themselves.

C: It’s not me, it’s the music, it’s certain prayers, mantra. Those things, I didn’t invent them, they are already there and I think that when they are put together obviously it’s inspiring. It inspires me, because when I listen to Shri Durga, I’m still practicing the raga. See, I don’t listen to Shri Durga like ‘it’s my record and I’m singing my song.’ I don’t want to make records like that. To me the prayers or the raga that I hear on Shri Durga is something that I’m still growing with. It’s not, ‘yeah, I wrote that song, I did this, I did that.’ It’s not that kind of music—the purpose of that music is different than most music offered. This kind of music is to inspire you, to awake some kind of devotional respect for the fact that we are here breathing and are part of this madness. It brings in more of the metaphysical questions, which might not necessarily have answers. But the main thing is really the inspiration, which is what ragas are based on—devotional music. So, to find that perfect tuning is to be closer to perfection. And the way we see the world, we don’t have to look too hard, because there’s a lot of negative things going on in the world.

MUNDOVIBES: Sometimes it’s the simplest things that are the clearest things. Why put out more aggressive, hard energy?

C: At the same time, simplicity is the hardest thing to achieve.

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Cheb i Sabbah
“Toura Toura: The Medina Remix” (mp3)
from “La Ghriba: La Kahena Remixed”
(Six Degrees Travel Series)

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More On This Album

Alison Crockett decided early on, that a career in music was to be the path she would travel. Piano was her first love. However after winning several vocal showcases, it became clear that her voice was a rare gift. Studying jazz voice at at Temple University in Philadelphia she happened upon the city’s nascent neo-soul movement of the 90s, meeting DJ/Producer King Britt who gave her the moniker “Diva Blue” . Crockett recorded a number of songs with Britt including the now classic, “Season’s Change” for the ground breaking Sylk 130 recording, ““When the Funk Hits the Fan.”

After touring with Sylk 130 and moving to Brooklyn she sang in the prestigious Thelonius Monk Institute Jazz Colony in Aspen, CO, where she appeared on the same stage with jazz luminaries Nnenna Freelon and Herbie Hancock. There she was discovered by Us3’s Geoff Wilkenson and went on to acclaim as the lead vocalist for the UK based acid jazz outfit, writing and singing on the album “An Ordinary Day in an Unusual Place” and touring extensively in Japan and Europe with the group.

Throughout her time on the road with Us3, and back in New York, Alison continued to write, perform and work on a number of interesting musical projects — always trying to grow, while bringing her unique sound and soulfulness to each new musical venture. Her debut solo recording “On Becoming a Woman” was a global success, furthering Crockett’s reputation as a leading soul diva. Nowshe is back as ““Diva Blue”with remixes of “On Becoming…” by some of today’s most innovative talent including DJ Spinna, Mark de Clive-Lowe and Yam Who?

MundoVibes caught up with Alison Crockett just as she was about to leave for a Japanese tour.

MundoVibes: “Return of Diva Blue” is fantastic. The remixes add a whole new flavor to “On Becoming a Woman” . So, tell us about “The Return of Diva Blue” .

Alison Crockett: We thought about doing “Return of Diva Blue” because I started off kind of in dance music as my first recording opportunity and so I decided ‘ well, this would be an interesting way of re-introducing this moniker that King Britt had given me on my first record. And doing it with this kind of dramatic side of me. This place where I can kind of be a little different, you know? Alison Crockett is mostly a soul singer and singer-songwriter but Diva Blue can be a little funny. Diva Blue is my alter-ego, not like Super Man but more like Cat Girl or something like that.

MV: I can tell by the cover shot on the CD, there’s an alter-ego going on with the martini glass and you’re kicking back.

AC: (laughing) It’s having fun with ourselves. That’s where it came out of and we had an opportunity of having some really, really interesting remixers that I’m sure you’ve heard of. But, it’s just a little bit different. Especially doing it live, it’s a blast because it’s reall been quite different from the show that I have done before. So, it’s a lot more dramatic and, I don’t know if it’s more sexy, but she’s a lot more dramatic. A lot more like a little opera or like a video on a low budget (laughs).

MV: Well, you’ve got Yam Who?, Spinna, Mark de Clive-Lowe. A who’s who of the “soul underground” .

AC: Yeah, they’ve been really strong supporters of mine in the past and spinning my stuff. Spinna lives down the street (Brooklyn) from me actually. Yam Who? Was introduced to me by Simon and Dom Servini over at Wah Wah 45’s. I’ve just been very fortunate that I’ve had supporters and people in my musical career that have just been really helpful and really interested in wanting to work with me. So I’m just blessed and it turned out really great.

MV: Well, it goes along with having talent too. You came out of Philly and the whole scene there. How was that coming up there?

AC: Well, that was interesting I fell into it. I started off going to college and doing gigs and singing jazz, you know? Why I hooked with up King (Britt) is basically, John Wicks who was working with King at the time just saw me singing with somebody doing one of those kind of acid jazz shows. We hung out and they were like ‘ do you want to sing this song?’ And that’s how I entered the whole thing, I didn’t seek it, it just happened that I fell into that whole crew of people.

MV: I guess it was quite fateful?

AC: Yeah, it just happened. And it also just happened that almost everybody that I worked with went onto bigger and better things.

MV: You’ve maintained your faith to more of the underground scene or to the left-field, neo-soul movement. Is that where you feel best expressing yourself?

AC: I feel best expressing myself where people want to hear me sing. So, if the neo-soul movement would like to categorize me as neo-soul, great! If jazz would like to categorize me, great! Really, I’m more than happy as long as I’m doing what I do and not changing it then people can label it whatever they want, they can come for whatever type of show they want. It just so happens that a lot of the people doing the same kind of music or similar music to what I’m doing are called ‘ neo-soul’, ‘ nu jazz’, ‘ progressive soul’, whatever. People have just tried labeling it for a marketing tool and they’re welcome to it, ‘ cause we all gotta make money.

MV: Well, it’s certainly become a pretty significant element.

AC: Yeah, it has but I mean the interesting thing is that there’s this whole group of people that are really, really talented that radio is frankly ignoring and record companies are ignoring. And in my opinion there’s a very large group of people who people just don’t know how to market to, who are listening to it. And it’s just the American market but there’s a lot of people who are really interested in hearing music that is interesting, that is not completely just pop but that has different aspects and elements of different styles of music in it. That challenges them mentally and physically and musically. And sometimes doesn’t challenge them at all (laughter). But, there’s a lot of stuff out there. I was just talking to Angela Johnson and she’s great, Heavy’s great, there’s Julie Depp, Rebirth. There’s just so much talent out there and it’s just unfortunate for everybody that some of this talent is not getting wider recognition, that’s just why it’s called ‘ underground’. Where not out there shaking our bottoms in very small little tacky things or we’re not talking about ‘ bling bling’, we’re not all talking about the same stuff.

MV: Let’s talk about your material. A lot of your songs are personal, dealing with relationships in an introspective way.

AC: The record “On Becoming a Woman” was basically the process of me becoming a woman. Generally when I write music I deal in 30 second snippets of time or those snap shots. So, I don’t necessarily want to tell you about the beginning or the end. I just want people to get a chance to see what’s going on right here. The song ‘ What We Do Now’ is like that. We don’t know how these people met, we really don’t know what happened. It’s intimated but we really don’t know. And, I personally have never cheated on my husband, but I certainly have been attracted to somebody. So, I can speculate. And on the same edge, ‘ You Are’ is about my husband completely. I wrote it after hearing a Brandy song and I said ‘ oh, I can write something about that’. I think it’s the song ‘ He Is’ so I wrote ‘ You Are’ (laughter). That was kind of my version of that Brandy song. And ‘ Like Rain’, you know we’ve all had that experience where ‘ it’s not you, its me’. You don’t really want that, you don’t really want to break up badly but you don’t really know how to say ‘ it’s time for us to stop. I know you meant well but that’s it’.

MV: And these are maybe relationships you’ve had prior to being married then?

AC: Yeah, I mean some of them are completely made up, out of my head, some of them are experiences that I’ve had, some of them are partial experiences that I’ve postulated what could possibly happen after that. ‘ Oil and Water’ is just an argument between me and my husband but I made it into an argument between two people about how they’re going to stick together and make it work. My husband and I are still together, but it could be that these people may or may not end up together. So, that’s where I come from when I write. Sometimes people have asked me asked me about writing political statements and I can do that and sometimes I do. But I tend to write about people and relationships and places and feelings and weird stuff. So, that’s the way I handle it.

MV: I think all of your songs are ones that you can relate to, it draws you in.

AC: Well, I’m glad. I’m still waiting to do this song which is basically a crazy woman’s song. You know Sting’s ‘ Every Breath You Take’? I have something like that, the woman’s just nuts though. I like kind of strange things where people are just nuts.

MV: And that’ll be on a future recording?

AC: Maybe (laughs).

MV: You work a lot with your brother Teddy. Do you keep it as a family affair, with friends and family?

AC: Well, in terms of the music it just so happens that worked with Teddy and that was a really, really great experience and we will continue to work together. There’s a lot of talented people out there but certainly it’s easy because we have the same musical background. So, there’s things that we don’t have to say quite so clearly. As well as my brother is a stern task master – ‘ do it again!’ – so that helps in terms of artistically pushing me in certain directions that I may not have moved in before. So, that’s always a rewarding thing to be around. But I’m certainly interested and open to working with a wide variety of people.

MV: I know you have an academic musical background. You studied piano originally?

AC: I originally started off as a pianist, I studied piano for about 12 years. I played classical piano and then I became deathly afraid of it and I didn’t want to do it anymore because I couldn’t be perfect. And then that’s when my brother comes in again, he kind of kicked me into it: ‘ play now!’. That’s how I got back into it and then I studied voice for several years and then I went to college and got a bachelor’s and masters in Jazz Voice.

MV: Do you feel that the academics is essential to who you are as a vocalist?

AC: I don’t know if it’s essential to me as who I am as a vocalist. I know that there are things about it that have been really, really helpful. And I really learned a lot. But sometimes academics can limit you in certain respects, in terms of the way you hear things. Sometimes you have to fight against some of these limits that are unintentionally placed upon you. And I have had to kind of work through that, I had to re-learn how to write music in a different way once I left school. And that took a couple of years of just writing and writing and writing and you will probably never hear those songs. But it’s just trying to write through a lot of these things. All-in-all it was a good experience, but there’s the good and the bad things. I wouldn’t trade either of them. They were good experiences, regardless of what difficulties I had.

MV: Apart from your career as a vocalist, you are also involved in the community.

AC: Yeah, well I decided that once I got all of these degrees that if I couldn’t make money through music I wasn’t going to do it. So, I do a lot of teaching and I found that I really enjoy it. I do a lot of writing for Highbridge Voice, (a New York-based community children’s chorus founded in 1997 – Ed.) I’m using all of my arranging skills, I’m not stagnant, I’m not doing an office job or something like that. And I get a chance to reach out to the community. I have been a member of a family that always reaches out to the community. That’s something that comes somewhat naturally to me in terms of using my skills to uplife the community if I can. And it’s been fortunate that I get paid for it and I enjoy it at the same time.

MV: That’s an ideal situation. Finally, let’s get into your tour which you’re preparing for now. You’re heading to Japan?

AC: Yeah, we’re going to do a couple dates there and I’m going to do some recording there with some producers. It’s my second time in Japan, the last time I was there with US3 and I got sick and I had to perform still. But this time I feel healthy.

MV: That’s really exciting.

AC: Yes, it’ll be nice. And the last tour, like I said, with “The Return of Diva Blue” we had a great time. It was grueling but we had a really great time and the audiences were really appreciative. We did not expect the graciousness with which audiences received us. I really didn’t expect it and it was just really overwhelming.

Alison Crockett MySpace

Swiss producer and DJ Alex Attias, aka Mustang, Beatless interviewed by Rose Parfitt.
Alex Attias most recent project is ‘The Sunny EP’ on Cadenza Lab and the popular track ‘Caipirinha’

Alex Attias is in the bath warming up after a weekend in the beautiful mountains of his native Switzerland. It’s been seven years since he lived permanently in Lausanne and you can tell it’s nice being home. “Of course I was dying to go to London,” he says, looking back on his years in the Big Smoke crafting dancemusic’s most significant development since Goldie swallowed his first E in Stoke-on-Trent. “London was fantastic – hooking up with the musicians I like, DJing all over the world, making albums, producing stuff. But I can do all that here now, and I’m two miles from the lake, an hour away from the mountains if I want to ski…”

Maybe this craggy and glistening habitat is responsible for the thread that runs, production-wise at least, through Alex Attias presents Mustang – long awaited solo album from the artist formerly known as Beatless, Freedom Sounds, Bel Air Project, Funkanova, Catalyst, Plutonia and River Plate. Some tracks are for dancing; others are for listening. But all the way through the tom-toms and the timpanis, the layered choruses, classical samples and hints of blues reflect in your mind’s eye a night-time forest of huge, shiny leaves, hidden animals with big ears and insects rattling under a spherical moon. A soundtrack, perhaps, for Moomin-papa and all the little Moomins, frolicking in the silver dusk. “Mustang is more cinematic, more dark jazz, a little bit moodier,” Alex explains. “I wanted to do an album that made sense from A to Z. Every track is kind of different – one track is more bluesy, one track is more influenced by drum & bass, one track is more like Detroit house, one track more hip hop – but it’s not house and it’s not hip hop. You get the impression of that, but there’s a line in the sound – the soundscape – because I use the same kinds of classical string sounds and samples.”In a way, a soundtrack is exactly what this album is. “Cinematic breaks” is the name Alex gives to the Mustang sound, and some of the inspiration behind it came from his work last year on the soundtrack for Anomalies Passageres, a French TV film directed by Nadia Fares. “Working with images was an absolutely magical experience,” he says. “And in the film I used the same kinds of sounds; it gave me the idea of doing this album in the same vibe.”

This other virtual-visual dimension is partly what makes Mustang such an unexpected offering from the producer who, being Swiss, always made it difficult to substitute the term “West London sound” for “broken beat”. Alex, after all, was part of this scene before he even arrived in London. Early releases like “Dark Jazzor” and “Jazz with Altitude” from the Bel Air Project – his first, Switzerland-based production outfit – became cult classics when they crossed the Channel, championed by the founding fathers of the broken sound including Dego (4Hero), Phil Asher (Restless Soul) and IG Culture (Bugz in the Attic). “Once I came to London just to visit, and I went to [That’s How It Is at] Bar Rhumba and [Gilles] Peterson was playing my track, “Jazz with Altitude” and people were going nuts!” remembers Alex, laughing. “I was shocked! Because in Switzerland, nobody would play this track – nobody even knew it.”With the break-up of the Bel Air Project in 1997, Alex pitched up in London bang on time. Main Squeeze, 2000Black, Bugz and other groundbreaking labels and collectives were just hatching into the open thanks to clubs like Inspiration Information, That’s How It Is and, soon, Co-op. Visions Inc., Alex’s own label, wasn’t far behind. Soon he was collaborating left, right and centre, giving – in the true “broken” spirit – a new name to each project and leaving in his wake a trail of floorfillers which made mincemeat of generic terms like hip hop, house, soul, boogie and death metal. “I arrived just at the beginning of this kind of West London crew. I was just there at the right time so it was great for me, but it was great for everybody else as well because everyone was getting tired of what they were doing in their own separate scenes.”The rest is history, and curiosity – the reason the whole thing keeps getting stronger.

Curiosity about other techniques, styles and rhythms means something new is always being invented or discovered or learned. That’s why there’s no need to worry about whether New Sector Movements destroy Busted live on Top of the Pops or what. “I see the future as people doing a lot more production for other artists,” says Alex. “The state of music in general is quite poor, but I think the quality of the producers in this scene is better than in other scenes for one reason: because they’ve all touched and they know different styles of music. You can ask anybody in this scene about hip hop or house or techno and they know a little bit about it, they’re interested in it. I don’t know if you could ask a producer in the hip hop scene if he knows the Carl Craig mix of Beanfield, you know what I mean? There’s more knowledge because of the experience we all have. Phil Asher producing Nathan Haines, a jazz musician, for example, and then a soul singer and then doing some house music. After that you’re ready to do stuff for anybody. Even rock!”The cast of Mustang is studded with stars from the Hollywood of future soul, including the pianist-composer extraordinaire Jessica Lauren, singer-producer Bembe Segue and vocalists Colonel Red and Vanessa Freeman. “Everybody was really good to work with because I’ve known them for a long time and they almost all know each other,” says Alex. “It’s kind of a little family.”

And, whether it’s to be an ongoing project with a strong character of its own or the start of a whole new “cinematic” sub-genre, this first Mustang project is unlike anything that has come before. Continuing to outwit the genre-spotters whilst re-engaging with the name on his birth certificate, Alex has opened up a whole new avenue in a scene already bristling with ideas and energy. As with your first taste of toast and Marmite, this is a gamble that could change your life. So hand over the vouchers.

Rose Parfitt: Is Mustang another pseudonym, alongside Beatless, Freedom Sounds and all the others, or is it a project you see continuing into the future? How come it’s “Alex Attias presents Mustang”?
Alex Attias: To avoid confusion, basically. It’s too complicated to have many names; plus, as a DJ I’ve always used my name so people are really confused. Some of them know my name but they don’t know that I’m doing Mustang or Beatless or Freedom Sounds. So from now on it’s just going to be “Alex Attias presents…” and this is the Mustang project. Mustang is more cinematic or dark or whatever you call it. I don’t consider myself as an artist with one name and one sound. I’m more a DJ-artist-producer; it’s a mix of all that for me.

How do all your different projects and project names relate to one another and what’s happening with them all the moment?
Before I left Switzerland to go to London 10 years ago I had just one name, I was doing stuff under Bel Air Project. And then when I arrived in London I hooked up with a lot of people I really admired and respected, so I’d start a project with Dego [4Hero – the project which became Plutonia] and then another project with Paul Martin [Beatless] and then suddenly I ended up having like three or four names…
And then in London because of the many influences you do a project because you think it’s more techno or more funky or whatever, and you just change names. Which in a way was kind of cool in the underground to do that [at that time], but now I think it’s too confusing. So now I’m doing Mustang which is more my baby, lets say, more film music – my interpretation of music mixed with dance, and blues as well. And Freedom Sounds is more my funky and let’s say housey and broken beatey answer to the music. So I’ll just keep these two now.

With Mustang the album seems to fit very well together as a whole; there’s a lot of tribal rhythms and it’s very densely orchestrated. What’s the idea that links it all together?
I wanted to do something a bit more – not intellectual, don’t get it wrong – a bit more of a concept thing. So I’ve used the same drum kit, some orchestral sounds as well timpanis and some orchestral percussion. And for the drums I used brush drums but they’re processed so they sound a little bit fatter so you can dance to it, not like jazz drums. I needed a kind of a kit that I could use on every single track.

I didn’t change the concept on previous albums; I used to do one funk track, one house track. So that’s why I wanted to do a concept album using the same drums and the same sound throughout the album, but then every track is kind of different. That’s my interpretation. It’s more personal this time.

How was it made? Which parts of it are live – did you have whole orchestras and stuff in the studio and big choirs?
Absolutely not [laughing]. No, no – it’s all synths, it’s all samples, it’s all CDs, classical CDs that I took bits from, and then some of it is replayed on top so it’s a mix of samples replayed with synths. There’s one track where you have live strings and live percussion, the track “Back Home” – those are real violins and real percussion. The rest is all programmed and played with synths and samples.

Who was fun to work with?
Jessica [Lauren], she’s a person I’ve been working with long time so it’s always a laugh working with her. She she’s not like session keyboardists, she’s a real musician so when I would say: “look I’ve done this demo and I want you to replay some stuff”, she will never only do what I say. She’ll do what I’m asking but then she will add loads of things and have loads of ideas so she’s great because she’s bringing a lot, she’s giving a lot. But then, if I’m talking about Colonel Red – we have a lot in common and we’ve been working together for a long time. Vanessa [Freeman] is the same; the track with her actually is an old, old track actually. And Bembe Segue is really fun to work with; she’s a really funny character. I would say almost everybody is really, really good to work with because I’ve known them for a long time and they almost all know each other, so it’s kind of a little family. The only person that I didn’t know was Del the rapper, but with him it was done within an hour. Because when I send the tracks I really try to find people who are on the same wavelength.

What aspect of music really fascinates you? It seems to me that it must be rhythm…
Well it was more rhythm than anything before, seven years ago when I arrived in London I was just all about rhythm. I couldn’t really think of making tracks with singers and start building melodies. But I’m fascinated not only with drum tracks anymore, more like the whole concept of working with musicians and singers and building some tracks to make people sing along if possible and dance. (Although we’re not making pop music!) But I’m fascinated with the fact that you can explore different kinds of music and find people on the same wavelength and then build something really basic and go to other fields, if that makes sense. Take for example a singer like Colonel Red, he’s a real soul singer but I bring him in and then he adapts himself to my music which is a bit crazy and not really soul, but then he brought soul to it and I brought my madness to it so we mixed together. So that’s what I really like about music is that you can mix stuff together and bring something to it that is really personal. It’s not only about drums; it’s about being able to make music that sounds more…worldwide.

Is it a very different scene between London and Lausanne?
Very, very different; it’s two different worlds. Lausanne is 100,000 inhabitants – London is probably 11 million! So there’s no comparison – Lausanne you’ve got the lakes, you’ve got the mountains, the air is fresh, you don’t have the same stress. Okay, you’ve got a lot of clubs, loads of bars and stuff but the culture is so different. Here people listen to commercial dance music or rock. For the funky side of things like soul and ragga and all the stuff that you get on the radio in London, or like Patrick [Forge]’s music or Gilles [Peterson] or Norman Jay, you know the funky side of it, or jazzy – you don’t get that here. So people are less black music orientated, if I can say that.
The thing that’s not different – it’s probably the same all over the world –in every city in the world you always have like-minded people. So when I was making music or DJing I was playing similar music to Phil Asher or Dego or Patrick Forge or IG [Culture]. That’s why when I came to London we hooked up – because we were the same people, you know. We’d been playing the same records but we didn’t grow up together.

So when you came to London did you already know people like Dego, Phil Asher and so on – did you know you’d be able to go straight into that scene or was it a leap of faith?
Well the advantage I had was that when I was doing my stuff here on the Bel Air Project I had a couple of titles out were doing well in clubs. Dego knew my music, Gilles knew my music very well, Phil knew my music. Dego contacted me when I was living in Switzerland because there were a couple of tracks [“Dark Jazzor” and “Jazz with Altitude”] that he really championed and really liked and he said to me: “Man, I really like your music, maybe we should do something together one day.” So when I arrived London I contacted him and he said: “Well, I just want you to do something straight away on my label [2000Black, just starting at that time].” And then Dego said to IG [Culture]: “IG, you have to ask Alex to do a track on your label [Main Squeeze, also just starting up].” So he called me and said: “I know your music and I want to do something with you.” He hooked me up with Mike [Slocombe] at Goya [Music] – and it so happened that Mike was an old friend of my wife! So it was kind of crazy.

I arrived at Goya because I was looking for a studio and they were building studios at the same time. Mike showed me the places and he said to me: “Well, in two or three months there’s a studio available for you if you want it.” So I arrived there and found IG already there, and I got to know Orin and then Daz [I-Kue] and Seiji and then Domu, and I knew a little bit Phil [Asher], and Phil and his wife and my wife we got friends together so Phil invited me to the club [Information Inspiration]. And I knew Patrick Forge from back in the days because I used to invite a lot of DJs over to Switzerland and I’d invited him over three times. So everybody knew each other. And then I started my label [Visions] just four of five releases later than the others. And then Co-op started and a year after I was there.

So it all started together and it was a really good time, it was great.

How did you come to move into production?
The production came just because I was DJing here and buying tons of records. There was the guy I knew who he went to England to study sound engineering and when he came back he said: “I’m just starting to make some beats, come and bring some samples,” and we just started. For me it was just for fun. We did one track and played it to a small label here, and they loved it and they we were licensed straight away to a compilation in France. And we thought: “Hhmmm, strange… we should do another one!” And then we did “Jazz with Altitude” and people went crazy for it and then the third one [“Dark Jazzor” – all three released as the Bel Air Project on Corn Flex] people went mad, so I thought I’d better learn how to use a computer because I was just DJing and giving ideas and samples and producing, but I couldn’t touch the machines. And then in ‘97 when I decided to come to London and spit with this guy to stop doing Bel Air project I learned how to do the programming bought a computer and then started.

This music, call it broken beat, West London sound, whatever, is all in some way or other jazz-influenced dance music. Has straight jazz, be-bop and free jazz and all that, been a big influence for you? Do you listen to a lot of it?
Of course I do. I used to do more – I don’t listen to it much now. Funnily enough maybe, I’ve been listening some classical music – maybe you can hear that in the album. I’ve been listening to some blues and to some other stuff. But yeah, I’ve been always really influenced by jazz, I cannot hide this, this is really my thing; it’s always been my thing.

But is it “Future Jazz” as you call one of the Mustang tracks? How do you see the relationship between what you’re doing and straight jazz?
There’s no direct link saying you can call my music jazz. Particularly in London and in England when you do this kind of music you call it jazz. For some reason. But for me it’s influenced by jazz music and by other music. Maybe more by jazz music because of the sounds I’m using, and sometimes because of the structure and sometimes the singer, the way I make them sing. It’s more jazz than it would be rock, for example, and sometimes it’s more jazz than soul. But in this album particularly I’ve done a little bit of blues singing and a little bit of soul and a little bit of jazz.

Personally I’ve always been influenced by jazz, for example I’ve used jazz samples and jazz drums. But this is just the influence at the beginning, when I started making music. Now it’s kind of open. Because jazz for me is an evolving art. So is jazz wasn’t dead – I mean it isn’t dead but in a way it is with the big jazz musicians – if Miles Davis or people like that, really pioneering jazz musicians were alive, I’m sure they would do futuristic music now. Like Herbie [Hancock] did. But unfortunately the people who are really into jazz like Jazz FM, they think jazz is for granddaddies. Which is a shame because some of the music is for everybody, not just for granddaddies.

When you sit down to do a remix, what’s the creative process?
First of all it depends on the track. Recently I had some vocal remixes so basically I work on the vocal first and just see what bits I’m going to use. The last remix I did was actually a remix of my own track [“Help Me” from Mustang], which was really the hardest thing to do; I’ve never done that before. So I did it electronic and broken beat, two remixes on one – it starts slow and then goes a bit faster. I did a remix for a new French label, a vocal broken beat tune with Marilyn David. I didn’t really feel like doing a Mustang remix so I did a Freedom Sounds remix which sounds a little bit more let’s say house, but not house – house with breaks, lets say more in the vein of Kenny Dope. I worked on some drums and then took a few sounds from the original. I know some people they only use the vocal, for example, but me I also always use sounds from the original. So, a few sounds like the Fender Rhodes and then I just tweaked that in my own way and adapted the sounds to my style so people can recognise that it’s me who did the remix, because that’s what they asked for.

Is there any anyone you’d really like to do a remix for or to produce for?
Yes of course, I would love to work for Jill Scott, or Björk, or even for Stevie Wonder. There’s too many people to say, the list is really, really long. I’d like to work with Shirley Bassey, Erykah Badu – these kind of people. So many others it’s impossible.

Is there anything coming up in the future that you’re really excited about?
I am planning to work on some Freedom Sounds tracks – I’ve got a few tracks and I’m wondering if I’m going to do an album with it or if I’m just put up some twelves – it’s a little bit more dancefloor orientated. And slowly starting to do some demos for the next Mustang. But I’m not taking too much work because I’m committed to doing some new language lessons. I’ve done some cooking courses as well so I’m just going to do more of that. And I want to do more sports. So it’s difficult to do everything. Plus I’m going off to do a lot of promotion and DJing when the Mustang album comes out. I don’t like to overload and I’m not the person who likes to take all the remixes I can. I just want to take the good things and be honest with me and with the people and work on the stuff I can really do, and not just do it quickly because there’s some cash behind it.

When you are promoting the album, where are you going to be DJing?
I’m going to Italy on a beach near Bologna in a couple of weeks, then I’m I’ve got a gig in Moscow, and then the next thing I’m playing Root Down, in Freiburg – Rainer Trüby’s club. And I’m sure, because the album’s coming out in Japan, that I’ll go back to Japan again, and to America.

Is there anywhere you haven’t played that you’d love to?
I’d love to go to South America and I’ve never been to Africa. I’ve never been to China. But it’s nice to have loads of new countries you’ve never been to because it’s all new stuff to discover.

You did the soundtrack for a TV film [Anomalies Passageres, a French TV film directed by Nadia Fares]. Was that a completely new way of working?
Yeah, completely – it was great. The only thing was (laughing) I had only a very old computer and I didn’t have the programme that allowed me to play the film at the same time as I was making the music. I had to bring a telly and a video and try to synchronise both – it was really like working in ancient times, if I can say that! But it was great because first of all it wasn’t really a big film so I had no pressure. Plus it was great to work with images and build the music with the images, because you don’t have the structure that you have to do to make people dance. You’re just completely free to do whatever you want as long as it makes sense and doesn’t take the whole space. When you do the music on a film you have to be careful that the music is not taking over the scenes. Because it was a small film we didn’t have much time or much budget but it was really a new experience.

What’s happening with Visions?
Visions was on hold because of moving from one country to another, so it took a few months to settle down and I didn’t want to rush anything. And also I want to start Visions with a new sound. Not in the sense of musical sound but a good quality sound. Because in London I had my own studio and the mixing sound wasn’t that good. Now I’ve got access to a massive studio here with a really, really good sound engineer and everything, so my album actually sounds really good, I’m really pleased with it. So on Visions I didn’t want to rush and mix it myself – that’s what I used to do and I’m not a really good sound engineer. I want to give Visions a new life, let’s say. I was just waiting a bit to finished Mustang stuff, not only the album but a lot of promotion. So now I’m ready to start Visions again, I’ve got a few releases planned.

What kind of stuff are you going to be releasing on Visions?
Well it’s not going to be the Mustang stuff, that’s for sure. I don’t want to consider Visions as a proper label, which means that you pay people to do stuff for you, because I don’t have the time to administrate all this stuff, it’s a proper job and you have to take the artists seriously. So I’m going to do more stuff for myself, more simple stuff, stuff for the dancefloor, more funky stuff. I’ve got some new musicians here that I’m working with and I’m planning to do some live stuff as well. Loads of new ideas.

Who in terms of producers and musicians are you really excited about? What should we be looking out for?
What I heard that is really, really good, it’s a soundtrack as well, “Legends of the Underground”. It’s music for a dance project that Mark de Clive Lowe did with Seiji and Domu and Bembe Segue. So it’s half an hour of musical madness going through broken beat and cinematic stuff. I haven’t heard much, you know. Since I moved back here I’m a little bit disconnected. I’m sure there’s some really exciting things happening.

What does the future hold? Where do you think the scene will be in five years time?
I see the future as people are doing a lot more production for other artists. I think it’s going to be good, it’s going to be very exciting. Even if it’s really hard, and it is really hard at the moment. But it’s hard for everybody. It doesn’t mean that you have to stop or it’s going to be even worse. I think it can be good. You know, underground music is doing alright compared to the big record companies.

DJ Alex Attias Mix: Cadenza Podcast

Alex Attias Myspace

INTERVIEWED BY VELANCHE STEWART FOR MUNDOVIBE

BY VELANCHE STEWART

Sometime in 2001, I was given a CD-R that featured a track from Microfish meets Stereotyp (it was eventually released through Sonar Kollektiv). While I was quite familiar with Viennese artist Stereotyp (his album “My Sound” was quite a different take on dub at the time), I knew nothing about Microfish. Apparently, I needed a bit of an education…especially after MCC (aka Christian from Microfish & Al-Haca) alerted me that an album from an outfit known as the Al-Haca Soundsystem was forthcoming.

In October 2003, I received a promo copy of Al-Haca’s long-playing debut for Different Drummer called “Inevitable.” After listening to the whole album from the get-go, it reminded me of the time Stereotyp impressed me with cut-up bass, dubby sounds, intense toasting, and an overall production quality that made me realize that these guys had done their homework. Of course, I wanted to find out more about Al-Haca, so I’ve asked Christian to appease to my curiosity. He (and co-horts Arnd & Alex) gladly obliged.

And as for Microfish, well…let’s just say they are in hibernation for the moment.

How did the Al-Haca form?

Christian: Well, the whole thing started in 1993, when Alex and, back then, 2 other dudes, got together as a loose soundsystem formation. Reggae and dub was always a focus for them, besides other alternative musical influences like punk, even disco, electro or whatever. Dub, and the use of dub effects, was used as a connecting link. The rise of UK dub (The Disciples, Rootsman, etc.) was always quite important for the Al-Haca crew. Regular nights at the club called “Cafe Quarks“ were organized by Al-Haca, but back then nobody thought of producing music under the name Al-Haca.

Can you brief us on the members of Al-Haca?

Christian: Nowadays Al-Haca is formed by Alex Pehlemann, Oliver Weisse, Arnd Wollmann and me, Christian Schwanz. Alex and Oli are the main soundsystem DJs. Arnd and me are the producing part behind it. We started producing music together about 4 years ago.

The group is apparently renowned for its dub parties. Can you share for us outsiders who haven’t been to an Al-Haca gig was it’s like?

Christian: It’s great of course.(I had to say that…) Most of the time, we come bring one of our featured MCs (RQM, Ras T-Weed or Farda P). It’s important for us to create a solid connection with the audience. We love to do full stops in between to see how the crowd is lovin’ it. The MC is the entertaining guide through the night, guiding the crowd and the DJ. His comments might change the vibe from a certain spot to a completely different style. If our MC feels like hip-hop, he can order some…if you know what I mean. The link is between the crowd and the soundsystem. Besides that, we love effects like reverbs, long echos, little samples, pushy delays or dub sirens. Our own productions are always embedded within the DJ mix. We wanna have fun at the shows, so we use the soundsystem idea to choose the most fun or characteristic instrument for a certain song; this will either be played by Arnd or me. So its not like a full concert, but also not like a plain DJ set. It’s in between…it’s alive.

What are your impressions of the dub scene in general?

Alex: As far as I see it, there are quite different dub or dubby scenes out there. There´s no dub scene as such. Dub as technique, and spiritual sound feeling nowadays, is used by almost all modern (electronic) styles of music. There´s dub house, as well as pretty conventional (but still bass-kickin’) UK dub, or post-techno reggae as produced by Rhythm & Sound… or open minded freestyles as on Different Drummer.

When & how did you join Al-Haca?

Christian: I joined Al-Haca about 5 years ago. I was controlling the effect section and I did some toasting and little MCing.

Arnd: I produced the Microfish thing with Christian before, and we found Al-Haca the perfect frame for the deeeep bass thing.

Alex: I´m the last original member…

The album “Inevitable” seems to take the best that dub has to offer. The sounds of bass are in the right places, the dub influences are there, and the toasters are top-notch. Give us a little backround, if you would, about the making of the album.

Arnd: The album was planned to cover a wide range of sounds that we´re into right now. The next album might sound totally different. It should work on the dancefloor as well as back home in your hi-fi stereo. So we tried to give it the flavour of one “orchestral“ piece with several parts; the songs, you shouldn´t see it as a list of tracks but a fully arranged composition. That´s why we work with preludes and interludes.

Christian: Oh, yes, indeed, it’s fun time.

What’s been the reaction to the album so far?

Christian: All reaction I got so far from friends and related musicans were very good. There is also some good promotion going on. I don’t really know anything about sales so far, but the reactions from my close people are more important anyways. I always want my people to give me some critical opinions on this release, and I’m all glad to have such a close relation to people who actually listen to the album quite alot. I didn’t expect such feedback…I love it.

You are part of an outfit known as Microfish. Can you tell us about that one?

Christian: I started releasin’ music under this name 3 years ago on Jazzanova’s Sonar Kollektiv [label]. I got to know Alex from Jazzanova about 4 years ago. We booked him for our club back then. You need to know that we come from a very small town called Greifswald, close to the Baltic Sea all the way up in Northeastern Germany, close to Poland. Luckily, there is a little university in our town and about 9,000 students live here. Still, if you don’t organize parties yourself it’s not gonna happen. There is no scene. You have to create the scene. So we had this little club thing going on. I gave Alex a demo CD of Microfish, and two weeks later he called me up. Soon after, we released our first 12“ on Sonar Kollektiv. Because of Daniel Best from Sonar Kollektiv, I got to know Stereotyp and we got this great remix from him, which was released on our first 12“. I also sent a demo to Richard from Different Drummer and he loved the Microfish sound, but Alex was quicker. Later, I figured it would be great to use Al-Haca also for productional output, and I offered Richard a first 12“ and now we finally did the album on DD [Different Drummer].

I know that Microfish has previously collaborated with Stefan Morth, aka Stereotyp. Now Al-Haca is teaming up with him on a new album. Sounds like a wicked mix!

Christian: You gotta love it! The first 12“ using the name “Stereotyp meets Al-Haca“ will be released on Klein Records (Vienna) in January and the new album is also scheduled, but I shouldn’t say too much about that. Our focus will be the dancefloor…dancehall meets club, if you want. It’s big fun for sure! The first 12“ is featuring Lady Saw, Alley Cat, Hawkeye and this great Viennese guy called Shagon. It’s a bomb.

Asides from the project above, what’s next for you?

Christian: We have to finish a few radio sets, remixes and a track for Pressure Drop’s One Eye Records. [At the] end of November and December, we will be touring ([locations will include] Germany, Switzerland, Austria and a gig in Budapest, Hungary). Besides that, we will continue building up our little promotion, artist pool and booking thing called Ostudio. This will keep us busy for a while. Of course, more Al-Haca stuff for DD will also come soon.

Arnd: Boom!

Al Haca Soundsystem website

Al Haca Soundsystem Myspace

Cultural exchange under attack. MundoVibes speaks with Robert H. Browning of the World Music Institute.

There´s a vast cultural chill across the United States that is laying waste to the very values the nation was built upon. Using the Orwellian “War on Terror” as its guise, the Bush administration has declared war on virtually everything that makes America America. As citizens are distracted by economic woes, the war in Iraq and terror threats, its civil liberties and rights are being systematically and cunningly dismantled. Under the Bush con, America has become a dark place and the world has every reason to be concerned: fascism has once again reared its ugly head.

For those attuned to cultural exchange and artistic expression, the administration´s policies are having an enormously damaging effect. Whereas the United States has gained the respect of the world for its openness, today under Bush it is known for its restrictive and racist policies.

To those who value the right to experience other cultures, now is a particularly perilous time. Under its new visa policies, the United States is a forbidden land for many musicians, dancers and performers from those nations deemed a terror threat. In May, President Bush signed the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Reform Act, which requires extra background checks on people from countries deemed to be ”state sponsors of terrorism.” This includes citizens of Cuba, middle Eastern nations, France and anyone with a political perspective contrary to the Bush cons right-wing views.

Cultural exchange is truly at risk in the United States and many arts organizations are feeling the brunt of visa policies that make planning a performance or tour nearly impossible. The current policies for entrance into the U.S. by an artist require months of planning and hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for fees. The list of artists who have been unable to perform in the U.S. is long and growing, and includes DJs like France´s Laurent Garnier, Cuban artists like Chucho Valdés and the Afro-Cuban Allstars and Middle-Eastern artists such as Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami.

An organization that has served New York City and the U.S. with its mission of cultural exchange is the World Music Institute. As one of the largest promoters of world music, WMI has dealth extensively with the government´s visa policies and felt the chilling effect it is having on culture. Mundovibes spoke recently with its Executive & Artistic Director Robert H. Browning on cultural exchange in this most surreal time.

MundoVibes: How severely impacted have you been in your program by our current administration’s policies?

Robert H. Browning: It’s been tough although not quite as bad as some other people have had. We just had a recent problem with Orquestra Aragon, which is a Cuban band. And we just got them in time two days before the concert. We weren’t actually getting the visas for this—the tour managers were — but it was just phone calls back and forth to our lawyer in L.A. and to various congress people here. And finally it came through, but the biggest problem is that you don’t get any word back from the powers that be. For the most part it seems to be the FBI that’s the biggest problem from what I hear.

MV: And that would come from the top then?

RB: Well this is from our lawyer: the problem is that groups coming from the seven designated “evil axis” countries, so to speak, which includes Cuba have to go through God knows how many different agencies to be passed—literally a dozen agencies for it to pass through security. So, if one of them holds it up for a time, the whole thing gets held up. I mean, they applied for their visas four months ago, got the approval notice three months ago, then went in for their interviews about two months ago and were held up ever since then.

MV: So one never knows? Even at the last minute there can be a cancellation.

RB: Oh, absolutely. We had already sold like 800 tickets.

MV: I lived in Miami and it always seemed like it was very difficult for them to enter this country.

RB: Well, in Miami you unfortunately have the Cuban political lobby, which doesn’t even allow them to go to Miami even when they have been to the rest of the country. That’s more of a problem there.

MV: Did you notice a considerable obstacle that suddenly came up since September 11?

RB: To begin with, the biggest problem was artists canceling because they didn’t want to come at that time, right after September 11. There was already a problem put in place some months before then when the INS decided that they could not longer handle all of the visa requirements in the time allotted. So, we were usually turning around visa approval notices within about 10 to 15 days. And they then told us that from now on it would be 60 days, but within a couple of days they said 90 days and then shortly after that they said indeterminable time. Unless one pays $1,000 additional premium processing fee, and for an organization like us we just can’t afford not to pay the premium processing fee. For smaller groups, like small dance ensembles and music ensembles bringing in artists from abroad, it was kind of impossible for them with a limited budget. But for us it became imperative so we started doing it anyway. But then, of course, last July it became the whole issue of security arrangements where if you came from any one of about 32 countries they would have to go for a check after the approval notice comes and that check could take three months. And in actual fact it’s been taking longer in many cases. We had another cancellation just a few weeks ago with the Beijing Opera, that was meant to be touring all of the U.S. That was cancelled because they were refused their visas by the U.S. consul in Shin Yang. So, the consuls still have a lot of power in determining whether they think people are going to come back to their country or not or whether they think they form some kind of threat.

MV: Would you say that this whole terrorist threat is being used as a political tool.

RB: Well, I think it definitely was in the Cuba situation. It happened that all of these problems arose because of the very recent executions by Castro of the three guys that commandeered the ferry and the jailing of 75 dissidents. I’m quite sure this had an effect. Otherwise, I don’t know if it´s political so much as just plain incompetence. Just beaurocracies that are completely out of hand that just don’t know how to deal with this kind of situation.

MV: In the case of artists from the middle east, are they being singled out.

RB: Oh yeah, there have been a lot of problems. That can take up to three to six months even to get visas for them. And there´s a catch 22 situation because you cannot apply for a visa more than six months in advance.

MV: Do you think that overall impact is just a chilling effect on how you program?

RB: Well, the biggest chilling effect is basically if we bring in someone from abroad, normally you need to get a couple of other gigs to make it worthwhile bringing them in. And what’s happening across the country is people no longer trust booking artists, especially from the middle east, but from many other countries as well in asia. So, I think we’re going to see in the next year or two a lot less people coming from abroad to perform music, theater, in all of the performing arts really. I would say it’ll probably be down by at least 50%.

MV: That’s incredible. So, you would say there’s a tremendous cultural void that’s coming up.

RB: There will be. And that doesn’t apply just for world music, it’s applying to opera and international theater.

MV: Can you site any specific examples, apart from Orchestra Aragon, of just something that is almost ridiculous in terms of great anticipation of a tour and then for some reason it was cancelled.

RB: Well, the Chinese tour—there was no reason for that. That probably was a political thing as well because this is one of three major Beijing opera groups that regularly tour to Europe and other parts of Asia. And, for the consul general to hold it up for so long for a start, and then for him to say ‘these people have not proven that they have anything to come back to’ like family and what not is ridiculous. These are young people mostly, and as the director of one of the Chinatown associations said to me, ‘what do they want? Only young people can do this. Do they want to put me on stage at the age of 58?’ So, it’s really pretty ridiculous. OK, I know there have been defections in the past. But they’re pretty minimal.

And then the other thing that’s happening is that some artists are beginning now to boycott this country because of all the problems. Last year we had an Israeli singer coming in with five artists who were accompanying him who were of Arab descent and they all lived in Paris. And two of them had Moroccan passports and they US consul there insisted that they leave their passports with them for 30 days, which was totally ludicrous. They wouldn’t be able to leave Paris and go to say Germany or Holland or somewhere like that. So, they refused and finally the French artists came over on tourist visas, which is illegal. But it forces people into that kind of situation.

MV: You are a large organization and I’m sure it has an impact on your bottom line.

RB: Well, I think all of the problems involved this year have cost us at least another $30,000, either in increased fees or having to get lawyers or losses incurred by advertising for things that are cancelled. Or renting theaters because we don’t have our own theater. With Orquestra Aragon we would have lost another $25,000 if it hadn’t occurred.

MV: And for a smaller organization that would be…

RB: That would be impossible for smaller organizations. We’re kind of mid-sized in our budget, which is about $2.5 million, so we can just about handle this thing at this time and that’s only because we’ve had a few emergency grants from major foundations here to help us along in these difficult tim es.

MV: Just in general do you sense that the United States is getting increasingly xenophobic with exchange.

RB: Well, it certainly seems like that on the surface. It’s difficult to really know because the media has been so one-sided in this whole thing. In terms of pushing forward the agenda of the government, basically. And the fear factor of anyone being allowed to criticize. The democratic party has just capitulated to the status quo. And it just seems rather ridiculous—the second world war was one thing where obviously there was an absolute threat to the United States. But there was no real threat to the United States per se from Iraq. OK, there´s a terrorist threat but nobody yet has proven that there was any collaboration between the Iraqi government and the al queda or any of the other terrorist networks out there.

MV: And why should the artists have to suffer?

RB: Right. I always have said that one of the worst things that Jimmy Carter ever did during the cold war was to break off cultural relations with the Soviet Union. Because it was one of the few ways that there was some dialogue at least. I just think that at least we have some openings through culture and the problem is not just with artists but there are many scientists being held up, there are many research graduates in medical universities that are being held up. So, it’s not just the arts, a lot of medical research is being threatened.

MV: Do you have actual concert goers that give inflammatory comments on your programs?

RB: People are very tolerant. Right after 9/11 we did a number of concerts including that concert with the Israeli musician and Arab musicians together. A concert of the following day of a Lebanese composer where the audience was about 90% palestinian and lebanese. We have a very tolerant audience and a very supportive audience. And I know that when I’ve asked people to write to their congressman or their senator to try to help ease situations, that many of them have. And right now we feel we need to make a concerted effort because if we don’t things are just going to go merrily along and people will get more and more angry about what’s going on.

MV: It almost seems without the cultural platform or that feedback, if becomes more self-referential and plain ugly.

RB: Organizations such as ourselves are relied upon to bring over artists and to expose Americans. What is happening here is that Americans are being denied their right to see foreign artists and different cultural media. ‘We have a right, this is still a democracy. And I think we all want to maintain an open society here, where not only do we have free speech but we are able to indulge in it and question things and listen to other people’s point of view.

MV: What would you advise any concerned person to do.

RB: I really advise people to get in touch with their congressperson. And really hammer it home that it is important that we speed up the ability for people to get work visas over here. Because without that we’re going to just continue to have these problems.