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As
seen in the
Sule Greg Wlson... had
the pleasure of a long, satisfying conversation with Taj Mahal.
Excerpts from his 1995 telephone
interview (never before published) are included here:
"I've been listening
to Taj Mahal's music-
a blend of country and
city blues, rock reggae, highlife, jump up, slack key and so
much more-- for over thirty years. As many folk-based masters,
Taj Mahal has yet to receive widespread notoriety, or music
industry accolades. He is merely a master at what he does--a
maker heartfelt music, and an artist who continually grows,
whatever the cost." [A musician who plays banjo, bass,
guitar, harmonica, mandolin, and piano, Taj Mahal has been
on the scene since before his
days of the Rising Sons, with Ry Cooder. His rootsy, folk-based "world
music" has been a huge inspiration to what, how and why
this writer plays music. We were privileged to speak with him
over the course of two days in June 1995, by telephone. From
a hotel room in Los Angeles, where he was the opening act for
a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers tour, we spoke of career,
honesty, brand names and setting up.]
---------------------
BNL: What was the evolution of your playing: Chicago to Delta
blues? Piedmont to banjo to harp to piano, or....
T: Jazz, gospel and classical and West Indian music to here.
In a family where Mom was a singer and both sheand my father
played piano, I didn't even have no idea that there was anything
unique going on. They just made clear announcements about
where and what they were and who they came from and what
was going
on. My stepfather is from Jamaica; my mother's from Cheraw,
S.C.
S: So, when you were at Amherst, what were you doing? What
does that have to do with what you are doing now?
T: Well, a lot in some ways. I went to the Stockbridge school
of Agriculture; I majored in animal husbandry. I started
out with vocational agriculture, taking college preparatory
courses
when I was in high school… I spent about ten years, from
when I was16 'til I started playing music, focussed on agriculture….
I knew I loved music, and I knew I loved agriculture. The
two were really related, as it came down, and the way things
went
with me: you needed to know how to raise your own food. I
would have the best knowledge that the universities could
supply,
to deal with self-sufficiency, what the whole West Indian
side [of my family] always drove to me.
You know, musically,
that's why I went for the [career as a] solo artist, because
the solo artist was a self-sufficient
individual, you know, generally within an agricultural
community. The musician provided the news, and had the
mobility to provide
the news and bring new ideas from other places into the
area he lived in and to other areas. So, that was what
was going
on, what was my idea.
But anyway, one of the things they
[the '60s generation] had stumbled on was earlier African
American forms of music,
and
they were doing--as far as I was concerned--some pretty
poor jobs of replicating it. And they also--we're not
talking about any particular ethnic group, I'm just talking
about
the hippies
in general--didn't have any idea of what the real music
sounded
like…
and I, I came through that. It was like: "You're talking
about my Grandpapa, now! You know, Granma, too! My Auntie
and Uncle Earl. Mah kuzzin! So...Excuse me! You can't tell
me I
can't get in here! 'Cause this is Family". You know,
I'm certain that if your family came down I couldn't
just come
in and steal your uncle's song from him and you would
just stand there and allow me to do that.
So, I'm figuring
it [the music career] from those kind
of angles.
But my interest--my father's interest, as
a Garveyite--was self-sufficiency, and also spending
time with being
connected to Africa and making that statement that
I was from that.
Since he [my Dad] and them** were all involved in
that, it was no
big jump. I didn't have to wait until 1960-whatever
rolled around and have to say I was there! That's
the way we
grew up, knowing that [Africa] was a part of it.
Fortunately for me I got a chance to get that--you know--fulfill
that
dream
for me in 1979 when I spend about three, three and
a half, four months there, traveling around with
a
group
of musicians
[that included bluesmen Buddy Guy and Junior Wells]
on a State Department tour...
You know, it was really
nice to get over there and really have, to be judged
by my peers. 'Cause clearly
these
people here
[in the States] had been brainwashed to believe
that this music wasn't of any importance, and I didn't
buy that.
--------------
S: History of banjo: Two things made us stop: the
racist thing and..
T: Guitars took over! Guitars took over.
S: And the versatility of guitar.
T: Exactly! And guitar was more accepted, more
of a "sophisticated" instrument.
S: So, should more people be doing the banjo?
T: Yeah!
S: How come?
T: It started with us, so I mean, we should continue
to develop the instrument all through the changes
[of time
and culture
and history].
--------------
.... I mean, really, what turned me on to the banjo...I
really did not like that instrument, because it
all had "Way
Down Up On Dee S-wah-Nee Ribber" goin' for
it.
S: All the connotations.
T: Yeah, it had all kinds of bad connotations,
but I learned that the instrument had a different
type
of background,
as I got around I kept saying "What?" The instrument
keeps scraping on the inside of my soul when I heard it: "Why
do I hear it so clearly inside?" Well, it's in the DNA,
because it was developed---it comes from an instrument called
the Halam, you know---and from that development in Mali and
Senegal we get what we got today, you know, in terms of the
banjo.
----
How many banjos do you have?
T: I have three banjos. I have an old Muse long-neck,
and then I have a sorta no-name looks like
a Vega Whyte Layde.
And a
Baldwin, old Baldwin. That's the one I like
to play on the most, it's got you like to get it
to cluck.
It clucked
right
away.
S: Does it look like the one you got on "De Old Folks
at Home"?
T: Yeah; that's the one!
S: What's the set-up for your banjo: what kinda
strings do you use, how tight do you like the
head?
T: I like the head pretty tight, so that that
bridge don't sink down in there, and put something
on
it so it doesn't,
you know, bite into the head. And, I like a
solid bridge that won't bow in the center.
'Cause,
after a while,
some of 'em,
with the pressure of the banjo strings on 'em
all the time, will set. A lot of times, a smart
thing
to do,
is really
to tune them damn things down, when you ain't
playing 'em, so
you don't keep the tension on them all the
time. And mark the bridge real good so you
got a place
that it's
at so
your intonation
is correct: Black Diamond, Ernie Bell or LaBella.
Most of the time I stick pretty much to La
Bella strings.
I don't
like
to be floppy to the touch, I like that sucker
to be right there. You hit 'er and she goes
right back to
where she
belongs, ya
know. I like 'em to cluck! When you pull off
on
'em and they are both a percussive. You know,
that sorta
kinda
cluckin',
percussive sound.
S: Do me a big favor. Make me a banjo record.
T: Pro'ly I will do something like that, for,
as a side project. [I'd do it] Just to make
sure that
the
stuff's
put in there.
What I need to do is probably go through and
collect all the stuff that I've done with the
banjo. I've
done stuff
with the
symphony, we did "Tom and Sally Drake" with the fifty-seven-piece
Oakland Pop Symphony Orchestra. Me playin' banjo in front and
them cats throwing down in the back. It was like, serious.
It was the most amazing I've played was the one time I played
with the symphony; and that was like... I loved that. It was
outrageous. We did Concerto for guitar and symphony, and Concerto
for banjo and symphony, using "Tom and Sally Drake" and
the other one we used "Freight Train". Then we did "Mail
Box Blues", "Slave Driver", "Ain't Gonna
Whistle "Dixie", and a couple other tunes with the
symphony. Full orchestra.
------------------------
Hawaii:
Why am I in Hawaii? I'm in Hawaii, first of
all, because there's a huge musical scene.
It's as
densely populated
with musicians
as Jamaica is. You can't go a second without
running into another musician. Aside from that,
I was making
a good
investment and
was actually not even living there for a long
time, about three years. It occurred to me
one day, "What the hell am I
fighting these hoodlums over here? I can go someplace that
I can check out a place that I've always been interested in
the music, the people, and wondered why there were some similarities,
basically, we've got a lot of similarities: came from tribes,
got given the Christian book, now, we're on a course that's
gonna meet up with one another. So, it's a lot of good things.
A lot stuff crossed back. They have a very interesting music
style; part of my family is from the Caribbean. The Caribbean,
basically, has been to' up. There's a few different places
that you don't hear about that are real nice: .Benquia, up
on the other side of Trinidad and Tobago; up like …
Contact
Sule Greg Wilson for more information.
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