fR314 PAGES 51-52-53 1/7/09 15:02 Page 2
f52
Gary Lucas in the early ‘80s with Captain Beefheart (left)
L
ucas picks up the story: “I had admired Najma as a singer
for a long time and been thinking about working with
some American-based Asian musicians, so when the call
came through about working with Najma I jumped at it.
I invited her on stage at The Luminaire, completely unre-
hearsed, just let her improvise. She was brilliant. We both knew
we had to work together then.”
Najma admits that the process was a challenge. “Gary has so
many influences going on in his music, sometimes it was so busy
that I couldn’t see where my voice fitted in. But I stuck with the
tracks I liked – I made it clear that I wouldn’t do any exotic wailing
that is so expected of Asian singers. It was important for me that
Indian people could understand what I was singing about – I want-
ed a lyrical album, not an exotica album. The format is sometimes
different: Gary writes verse-chorus and I was not used to the
bridge leading to the chorus but Gary would say, ‘Hey Najma, this
is where the bridge is’ and I came to understand. Indian classical
music has a very different way of making music.”
“I love distinctive voices,” says Lucas, “and love collaborating
with singers with a strong style. I worked with Najma in the same
way I did with Jeff Buckley – I’d provide a finished instrumental
guitar piece and leave her to find a melody and create lyrics. What
she came back with surpassed my wildest expectations. I gave her
some of my most dramatic stuff – I have a stockpile and I gave her
good stuff I’d been hoarding and she rose to the occasion.”
The album’s bluest moment is a radical interpretation of Skip
James’ Special Rider Blues. Najma sings in English as Lucas bleeds
washes of electricity around her. The performance is emboldened
by an eerie intensity, both artists channelling the weird beauty
that always shadows James’ compositions. Here the duo recall
Led Zeppelin at their most inspired – no wonder Plant & Page
chose Najma!
“I listened to the original,” says Najma, “and it was so beau-
tifully sung by Skip I thought ‘How do I interpret this?’. Gary
suggested it as he thought it was the perfect song for my voice –
when I came to do it I wasn’t at all confident and the first time
we recorded it I didn’t feel that I got it right. I was despondent
and then Gary Nesbitt said ‘Forget Skip’s version and just do
you’. I thought ‘Right, I’ll push myself and be more me’ and
that’s how it went.”
“Skip James is my favourite of all the country blues guys,” says
Lucas. “I consider Skip a wandering spirit, an archetype, and the
greatest guitarist of that era. He developed this guitar style where
he tuned to a minor chord and created this plaintive, yearning
sound. That’s influenced a lot of my playing and Najma picked up
on this. And with her voice she slurs the melodic line, a similar
sound to that in the blues. The bent note – it’s in blues, Indian
music, Celtic, gospel – that wailing sound, it’s in so many cultures.”
While Najma was learning about western song structure, Lucas
got to experience the discipline demanded in Indian music. “Once
Najma and I had sent things back and forth until we both agreed
we had something good, we got together in New York and record-
ed very quickly in a little studio. We worked with a couple of tabla
players and I really had to make intense eye contact with these
guys because their timing is very different to a western drummer.
We essentially cut the album live in the studio, kept it fresh and
stripped down. While we composed by MP3 I still believe that hav-
ing the musicians in a room is the best way to record music.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100