fR312 PAGES 35-36-37 28/4/09 23:49 Page 3
37 f
amaron de la Isla: I never met him but I saw
“C
him in concert one time. I was crying! I have
the deep feeling when I was young and he was
really good medicine [to listen to], like a friend.
Gulabi Sapera, well, in the early 1980s I was
playing with Hameed Khan, a great tabla player from Rajasthan
who lives in France. He is playing on the first album I recorded in
1983 and through him I met a lot of Rajasthani musicians. At the
same time, Gulabi appeared in Rajasthan as a dancer and she
made such an impact. She is from the snake charmer tribe and a
great dancer. I hear the Rajasthan musicians talk of her and then
one of them gives her a cassette of my music so she hears of me.
In 1993 I was given carte blanche to invite artists to a music festi-
val in France so I ask for her and we get on so well we start to
tour together – Japan, Africa, Middle East, everywhere! To be
able to share music and dance with audiences across the world, it
was a great thing to do. With Gulabi, first there is the human
connection. We did not connect as France-India but as two peo-
ple who make music. Then there was the Gypsy connection. Her
tribe is the same as those who left India for Europe, the nomads,
and while I do not have Gypsy blood, I was brought up and edu-
cated in the Gypsy culture.”
Robin performed with Macedonian Gypsy Queen Esma
Redzepova on her fine 2007 album Mon Histoire (Accords Croisés).
“Her record company asked me to join her on the sessions and as I
had bought one of her albums on vinyl when Yugoslavia still exist-
ed I said yes. We had a meeting and it was very easy so we per-
formed together several times. I hope to do something with Gulabi
and Esma for they have the same status. In the Balkans the rhythms
are different but we choose some common rhythms and, just as the
Mediterranean blends Arab and Gypsy, so the Balkans blend Turk-
ish and European. The meeting is similar. With Esma and Gulabi I
bring something special with my guitar as they do not employ it in
their culture. We come together and we share. It’s like we are from
the same family and we live afar. We come together and eat and
make music. I love women, strong women, artistic women.”
Thus your celebration of Oumou? “Yes! I have invited her on
stage with me several times and she has invited me to join her on
stage in Paris. We have even performed Swing Wassoulou together.”
A male musical hero of his is Iraqi oud master Munir Bachir. “I
met the man. He was a very big influence and some people had
sent my CDs to him. One time I was playing in Oman and he attend-
ed the concert. Now, when I was playing I did not know he was
there, he was seated with his family. When the performance finish-
es he comes up on stage and introduces himself and this was like a
dream come true. I say to him he is a great artist, larger than just a
great Iraqi musician, and how his music makes me feel that he is a
big brother to me when I was small – he plays so intimately I always
felt him very close. He starts to cry and kiss me. It’s true what I said,
he is an artist first and an Iraqi second. In world music people often
talk about the area first and the artist second but for me it is the
other way around. With Munir, he’s been a great influence, espe-
cially the silences. When he stops to play, the air changes – it’s like
he is painting with silence. You must be a great artist to do this.”
iti’s skill on oud and bouzouki has seen him play across
T
Turkey, Greece and the Middle East but he insists that
he does not imitate the local musical masters. “I don’t
play bouzouki in the Greek style or oud in the Arabic
style, I play my own style. Why do they invite me to
the Middle East many times? Because I play my own way, a special
perfume is my sound, and I have something to share with them. I
don’t play flamenco but I play some music near to flamenco.
When I am with a flamenco singer I play with my bouzouki and
we get something special, something from my life, not an imita-
tion. It is important for me that the music speaks of life, not just
of music. Dreams, success, failure: like a painter you have to find
a form to express yourself!”
“What I play is only my composition. All my career this is true.
All my CDs are not separate – it’s like I’m a painter working on a
masterpiece and each CD is a part of that masterpiece. Maybe a
long time after I’m dead people will understand what I was doing.
It’s all the same journey.”
Titi will be back in the UK later in the year at Cadogan Hall,
London (29th Sept); St George’s, Bristol (1st Oct); with more dates
to be confirmed.
For further info, see:
www.myspace.com/thierrytitirobin F
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