“I stood there and I started crying! GRACE JONES!”
Nominated for the Mercury Prize for her debut album this year, Zimbabwean-born Eska has been collaborating with other musicians for most of her life. Why then, has it taken so long for her to create and release her own songs? What was it like working with Grace Jones and Matthew Herbert? How is she coping with being on tour and having a one year old daughter? I asked her these and other questions ahead of her gig at Norwich Arts Centre this month.
Was there a particular moment when you realised you had a special voice? Ha! Tat hasn’t come yet! I don’t think I have a particularly exceptional voice. I’m always quite critical of it and am only just getting used to hearing my voice on records. It’s not out of modesty, I’m aware of technical prowess but I still feel I have to work on my tone and other things. I realised other people were picking up on my voice when I was still in school, about 14, and it was when the school gave me a scholarship to take classical voice lessons; I was the youngest person to be awarded it. I thought the music teacher was just being nice as I was the only person who bothered doing their music homework! So when they gave me solos I thought they were just being nice but then I began to realise they saw something there. It really is down to keeping on doing it really. How has it been combining becoming a mother for the first time and releasing your debut album in the same year? I’ve never had a work/life balance! I’ve never had a manager, but if ever I’ve needed one it would be now; I guess the right people come along at the right time. Until then, Wonder and myself continue to muddle it out together. She’s incredibly good to me, and generous, and she likes getting on with things on her own; currently she’s disassembling a little kitchen unit! I take her whenever I can; we went off on tour together round the UK earlier this year, and I’m looking forward to taking her more and further
10 / November 2015/
outlineonline.co.uk
afield. I’m very fortunate that she’s a very easy-going kid. Your first EP came out in 2013, after you’d been singing with other people for years and years. Were you nervous of what reaction there might be? I wasn’t remotely nervous, I was more excited to finally make a statement that I was proud enough to put my name on. I was excited to see who would connect with me afterwards. People had heard me before in different contexts like hip hop or jazz, and I was interested to see what people made of what I had created. I was excited to make an artistic statement that was as honest and true that it could be. No matter what the response, it was a huge achievement and there’s a sense of pride there. So I was just super excited to say you might think I’m this or that, from past collaborations, but actually here I am. So how come it took you so long to release your own music rather than starting out doing that? Well I didn’t really set out to take this amount of time. I got a lot out of collaborating with other people, and did it because I wanted to learn about different music genres and find out about what I wanted. Tese invitations just kept coming and I never said no. I went down a particular path for too long, and it got to the point where there were more ideas in my head than I could put on someone else’s project, as ultimately it was someone else’s project! Tere were lots of reasons why it took me some time to
release my own music, but part of it was not feeling worthy enough as an artist; I didn’t know if anyone would listen to me or pay any attention to what I was doing. I couldn’t find anyone else who looked like me or sound like me to use as an example. Finally, I have to ask what is was like working with Grace Jones? Well I first met her in a London apartment and she was feeling me out and seeing if it would work. It’s funny, I guess because I didn’t SEE her as GRACE JONES THE STAR, it just felt very normal. But then six months into writing with her, the producer suggested I go and watch her perform live, which I had never done before. She happened to be playing at Hyde Park. I remember standing in the middle of the crowd and she came on and it suddenly dawned on me who I was working with! I kid you not! I stood there and I started crying! GRACE JONES! I cannot believe it! As an artist and a performer, consummate. She becomes a different, otherworldly animal on stage and I’ve tried to learn as much as I can on and off stage from her.
Lizz Page
INFORMATION Eska plays at the Norwich Arts Centre on 28th November. Tickets available from
ueaticketbookings.co.uk Read the full interview with Eska online at
outlineonline.co.uk.
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