ZiaZine July 2008 : 34
music new tunes in stores this month Joseph Arthur and Jules Shear, internationally beloved and inspired vocalist Natacha Atlas (not to mention co-producers and performers Gabriel, Wallinger and Hague) and a global who’s who of world music purvey- ors, it’s clear that Big Blue Ball will appeal to a broadly diverse cross section of music fans, likely spearheaded by Gabriel’s legion of faithful followers. To narrow the focus slightly, Gabriel and his co- producers concentrated on one particular aspect of the Recording Weeks, namely the parts they were most directly involved in overseeing. “is particular record comes more from the stuff that we were doing in our room,” emphasizes Gabriel. “Karl Wallinger and I were trying to steer the creative process that was happening. Poets were there, as well as musicians from all over and various sorts of percussion- ists, so there was a fantastic sort of palette of players and sounds.” e spontaneity of the event extended into the actual guest list of those who were invited to take part in the Recording Weeks. Gabriel notes that there was little forethought given to the eventual sonic output of the assembled attendees, merely an attempt to attract as diverse a crowd as possible. “Some of it was those that had spent a bit of time coming to the festival, some were just people we knew that we thought might be interested or sympathetic,” he says. Gabriel also points out that the idea of assembling talent in this blind collaborative manner has been ap- plied in various other disciplines. Miles Copeland has hosted several songwriting weeks that are very similar, and former Take at vocalist/songwriter Gary Barlow organized a group of professional tunesmiths to come up with the score for a new British television program this fall. “It’s that thing of having to work very fast and with what you’ve got available,” says Gabriel. “And with great musicians around, it’s a great vibe.” Big Blue Ball was obviously created in an atmosphere of independence—from label and commercial expecta- tions, and even from the artists’ preconceived manner of crafting their own work—and Gabriel sees the new digital age reinforcing that kind of freedom. He envi- sions an altered economy of scale, where even very small artists can attract a substantial enough audience to sustain their creative efforts. By the same token, he [ 34 + monitorTHIS! + JULY 2008 ] feels as though indie record stores, while experiencing a serious slump at present, will bounce back with a similar focus on serving a smaller but equally passion- ate customer base. “ey are struggling for sure, at the moment,” says Gabriel of indie record outlets in his home country. “However, those that are good at supplying added value, where someone can come in and get a good recommendation, I think have a much better chance of survival than a store that just hands over the record. I remember when I was growing up we used to go down to a store where they would know what I liked and offer suggestions. It was a really valuable service.” When the question of highlights arises, Gabriel has plenty of favorite moments from which to choose across the entire three-weeks-in-three-years project. By the time he’s gone through his hit list of top memories of the process, he’s namechecked just about the entirety of Big Blue Ball. “e track ‘Habibe,’ which was with Natacha Atlas, Hassam Ramzy and Neil Sparkes, I think that was one of my favorites,” recalls Gabriel. “e Egyptian string players that she had on it were improvising, so there was a lead player who was composing on the spot, as it were, and the three other guys with their ears trying to copy him but a little behind, so it has this lovely slow- ing delay that’s built in, but it’s very much man-made and not an external effect. It’s a sort of serpent-like weaving of the strings and I loved that. Papa Wemba singing ‘Shadow;’ he and Juan Canizares, the flamenco player, did some beautiful work on that track. e Deep Forest track [‘Altus Silva’] with Joseph Arthur singing. And the Holmes Brothers singing on ‘Burn You Up, Burn You Down’; you can just hear the history in their voices, and Billy Cobham doing some tracks and Arona N’diaye doing some percussion. And Vernon Reid and [Hungarian vocalist] Marta Sebestyen [on ‘Rivers’], that was all improvising. And the ‘Big Blue Ball’ track, that’s much more Karl’s. Sinead’s ‘Everything Comes From You’ is another nice one. ere were many, many good moments.” And what does the future portend for a Big Blue Ball ? “Well, we’ve still got the festival going on, so we’re going from strength to strength,” says Gabriel. “ere’s still a ready supply of musicians from around the world and I’m sure there are songwriters who’d be interested in having a go at it.”
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