37 f “So what does that entail?”
I suddenly dimly remember something about the use of rum. There isn’t any, so my mind, hopeful, turns to the wine in the fridge...
“It’s a respect for nature, respect for the universe. Universal energy is in all our hearts. I understood that we are at one with the universe and part of everything. Nothing is fixed. Anything can change. We are all interconnected. It’s realising what’s inside all of us.”
“Yes, but don’t you channel spirits?” “You channel good energy in the cere-
mony. You open your heart. The energy is wherever you are. It’s positive energy.” She says people think that Voodoo is about black magic, because that’s how it was advertised by the Christian churches. She explains: “Voodoo is about positive energy and showing we are all part of it. It’s about universal respect. I want to give to people to show we’re all one. There is no need for division. I want to make peo- ple realise that love is most important.” She smiles. “Love is the best religion for everybody”.
I think this might be like having a con- versation with Lennon in 1967.
“OK. But the initiation... how long does that take?”
“The experience is an ongoing thing.
It’s respect for nature. How you learn to use nature and energy is an ongoing pro- cess in the accumulation of wisdom. You know when it’s the right time to under- take initiation.”
“I see. But, well, do you have to make an appointment, for example?”
She laughs. “No. It’s not planned. Ini- tiation is prompted through dreams and intuitions. You suddenly get a feeling you have to give to others. You go back…” (to Haiti, as she did in 2011 – and it seems that once you’ve made a decision, every- thing falls into place). “You meet some-
one. My friend, the one I knew from when I was working with Max Aubain introduced me. Then the initiation pro- cess is twenty days.”
She doesn’t go into detail but says it helped her acknowledge who she is. It helped her “take in more, to be open and embracing and say ‘Ca. C’est moi!’” It’s about understanding self, and under- standing others – and that spirituality is the most important thing. Voodoo is a way of staying positive. “Negativity is a state of mind and hinders you. It creates fear. Posi- tive energy is us and is everywhere.”
because of using the melodies and rhythms used in the ceremonies, but “because music is vibration. It takes you over. It’s a way of being human in the world and to understand that this vibra- tion is us and everything around us.”
T
Bloque thinks “She’s always been in the process of initiation. There were sever- al steps, minor changes, so there was no great change after her ceremony in 2011.” Except that “Before her initiation I saw what happens when a spirit visits you. It takes control. I saw it twice. She was visit- ed. Her body language changes: her voice is not hers and she doesn’t recognise you. Since she’s been initiated she’s been stronger.” They can’t just turn up.
In the thirteen years since he’s been
managing her, Bloque says Benjamin has always gone with the flow. “She is never stressed, she knows what she wants. I have worked with many female singers and they are usually stressed and not so self-com- posed. She takes things like they happen and is really easy for me to work with.”
The sentiment is echoed by Noel,
who’s nodded and occasionally chipped in in agreement for most of our conversa-
he initiation process helped her in learning to connect with and feel the interconnection of everything. She says that it’s impacted on her music, not just
tion. This, and the news that Siltane is the first in a planned trilogy, augurs well for the future. The next album is planned for the end of 2019. In the meantime there are gigs in the US planned for next April, at Oxford University, and festivals throughout the UK and Europe.
Going forward, judging by the bril-
liance of Siltane, further confusion between Tahiti and Haiti is unlikely. And now that Voodoo is officially recognised, it must help Benjamin in her mission to demolish the walls that divide us. For the music that it has in part inspired her to cre- ate is so easily accessible, outward looking and exhilarating it’s impossible not to feel its inclusive embrace. And I realise that in talking to Benjamin, experiencing her good humour, warmth, empathy, compas- sion and calm self-possession, I’ve had that practical demonstration after all.
We’re winding up. Benjamin sees a postcard lying on the kitchen table. It’s of a late-Victorian woman dressed in a black high-necked dress. Though Benjamin’s is of a different cut, from an earlier time, I can see a connection in the composure of the figure and the anachronism.
The card is a picture of our Editor’s great-grandmother. He sent it in the package with Benjamin’s CD. She’s very taken with it. “Have it”, I say, explaining how it arrived. “It’s yours. By the way, the clothes you’re wearing, is that to do with being a priestess?” “No,” she says. (I dis- cover later that ceremonial garb is white). “This is just normal for me.” It turns out this has something to do with a past life. Excellent. I feel another line of enquiry opening up. But she’s having none of it. That really is a step too far.
Please note that this interview has avoided saying, “And so as the song goes, ‘There may be trouble ahead/ But while there's music and Moonlight/ and love and romance/ Let's face the music and dance’.”
moonlightbenjamin.com F
Photo: Pixybynot
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