INTERVIEW : STEEL PULSE
Interview & pictures : Sonia El Amri
on Sunday, July 10th 2005 - 16 085 views
An essential English band, Steel Pulse have not abandoned the militant streak that has driven them since their beginnings. It is therefore no surprise to find them at the Solidays festival, taking part in the fight against AIDS. Their historic leader, David Hinds, shares his feelings about this scourge. He also looks back over his thirty years of career. Still driven by the desire for peace and justice in Africa, he does not forget to voice his fears and hopes for that continent. An interview with a reggae ''road warrior''.
Reggaefrance / Your presence at Solidays marks your commitment and your fight against AIDS; can you tell us how you feel today about this pandemic?
Steel Pulse / David Hinds / Obviously I’m not indifferent to it, I’m tired, worn out by this situation and I worry about the consequences of this scourge. I can’t help thinking about the growing number of orphans who, overnight, are raised and educated by other people. What worries me most is the speed of the spread and the pandemic proportions this disease is taking.
In your view, what can a festival like Solidays bring? Do you think such an event can change things?
The international community has always lost interest in the situation in Africa. I get the impression that today people are paying more attention and are ready to make efforts, so it will change. As for Solidays, it’s good but it only lasts a day. This festival is a good initiative because it’s a way of informing and raising awareness, it took place last year and will take place again next year, but it’s still aimed at the same people. What we really need is continuous action, not one-off. Mobilisation is a very good thing but what’s missing today is a real work programme. And I repeat, we need continuous action which must be led as a matter of urgency by politicians. Because AIDS is an enormous wave that keeps wreaking havoc.
Do you think the presence of all the artists is completely disinterested?
It could be. Now you just need to observe who comes regularly and look at the fight each one wages outside the festival. Is access to the festival paid?
Yes, today it’s 30 euros (for the day of 10 July, ed.)
OK, what Solidays must do next is show people what they’ve done with those 30 euros and tell us ''we took this sum and here’s what we do with it''.
On ''African Holocaust'', Tiken Jah Fakoly appears on the title track; why did you choose to collaborate with this artist in particular?
Ah, Tiken Jah Fakoly! About two years before our collaboration (which took place in June 2004, shortly before the release of ''African Holocaust'', ed.), we did a show with him: I was really impressed by the cult following and admiration the audience had for him. So when I saw this enthusiasm around him, I told myself he’s the man I need. And I also really liked what I heard from him and his albums inspire great respect in me. We worked together in a studio in Paris and when he arrived with his manager, we had planned an hour of work. In the end, we spent four hours working on the track together.
What really pleased me was that every time I said ''no, I don’t like this part, let’s start again'', he started again with goodwill, until it sounded right. I have to say he is a pure and humble person. I was honoured to work with him, it was as if there was a spiritual connection for us to be in the same place at the same time.
There is Alpha Blondy too, who also comes from Côte d’Ivoire, and I hoped he wouldn’t be disappointed that I didn’t choose him for this collaboration. I have projects with him too because we adore him.
You’ve always said that you choose carefully the people you work with and that a collaboration with Lauryn Hill would appeal to you; do you have any plans with this artist?
We’ve wanted to work with her for a while, but she put her career aside for some time. I know she’s making a comeback at the moment. But she was unreachable when we were preparing the album on which we wanted her to collaborate. I really liked what she did on her earlier albums, especially with The Fugees. Since she’s making her return, we’ll call her to see if she too wants to work with us.
Some of your songs like Taxi driver or Ku Klux Klan leave no one indifferent; can you tell us how they came about?
These songs are quite simply drawn from our personal experience in which we were confronted with racism. Taxi Driver tells of an episode in my life when I was in the United States for the first time: I wanted to take a taxi back to the hotel but not a single taxi deigned to stop despite my many hand signals. And I know I wasn’t the only Black person living through this situation, many of my brethren were victims of it and this tendency targeted Rastas even more, of whom people are very wary. At that time, nobody paid us any attention. When we wrote this song, media like CNN News began to take an interest in the subject. It took an international turn, it was talked about in the United States and Europe. So we made a video, which only appeared a year after the release of the track.
As for Ku Klux Klan, when I was around 14, I used to read the local Black press and I remember reading there that the KKK leadership intended to come to England to hold a summit bringing together all the members of that racist party. The big subject on the agenda at this meeting was how to get rid of Black people. That news had such an impact on me that I couldn’t help imagining them arriving to lynch my community. Everything I read or saw on TV about this international racism marked me and pushed me to write this track.
How do you feel about the many recent cancellations in France, and this pressure around reggae?
I understand the circumstances since there was a campaign waged against the lyrics of certain artists. It’s sad to get to that point. Behind all this there is still a form of racism and injustice when concerts end up being cancelled: because there are other artists who aren’t reggae, who aren’t Black, who the day before made violent remarks against homosexuals, and the day after allow themselves to sing with gay artists. Those artists haven’t had a single date cancelled simply because there is a big record company behind them.
As far as we’re concerned, we have other fish to fry. Rather than talking about homosexuality, Steel Pulse has other, more interesting subjects to deal with, like the situation in Africa, racism…
Homosexuals don’t bother me, quite the opposite, it’s good that there are some because there are more women for guys like me. So I have no problem with them (laughs). That’s what I think.
You have always campaigned for reggae to rediscover and return to its social and political roots. Can you tell us how reggae has evolved over these 30 years, in your view?
I believe reggae has progressed very, very slowly. For one thing, the music industry is to blame. Sometimes I feel we have been driven from our borders as Moses and his companions were. And I can’t help comparing Marley to Moses receiving the Tablets of the Law and ordering his followers to apply the rules strictly. After Marley, there was a big void to fill when it comes to roots reggae.
Then dancehall didn’t help reggae evolve; sex and guns aren’t the only themes to tackle, and there aren’t only bad boys in this scene. I mean dancehall created a sort of void in reggae because themes like awareness of the situation of Black people in the world were forgotten. The way dancehall used certain lyrics and the fact that the music industry accepted this as part of reggae have largely slowed reggae’s progress. Apart from Luciano, who has a positive spirit, I have very little hope for this scene. As for the evolution of reggae, there is one notable change: this music is no longer exclusively Jamaican, it is also African or Caribbean. Reggae no longer comes from the same corner, new influences are altering its look and I believe that is a very positive point, especially as regards African reggae, which is gradually becoming unavoidable.
One last word on all these initiatives taken in favour of Africa, such as the British prime minister’s recent announcement of debt cancellation for certain countries, or Live 8?
As for the commitments made by politicians, I say to myself: My God, what more will they strip, what more will they steal from Africa? Because behind any aid, however small, something is expected in return. Rather than giving fish, why not teach people to fish? Because fish will feed you for a day, whereas if you know how to fish, you will eat all your life.
For me Live 8 is nothing but Jive 8 (jive meaning waffle, a joke in English, ed.). It’s absurd: Africans would like their artists to represent them. Over the last 20 years many reggae groups have never stopped talking about the exploitation and famine decimating Africa.
And when it comes to talking about Africa at festivals like Live 8, not a single reggae band, as far as England is concerned, was invited. It’s all just smoke and mirrors, there is a lot of talk but very little action. And as for Bob Geldof (the artist behind Live 8, ed.), I don’t believe he is as generous in his words towards Africa as he is in his choice of the artists present to represent that continent. In 1985, when the same festival took place, Margaret Thatcher (at that time political leader in England, ed.) imposed taxes on the revenue generated by CD sales. Nobody in Africa saw any of that money.
There is also the G8, which makes me sick and worried, because behind all these good intentions lie desires for economic profit; when you see big multinationals entering the African mobile phone market, you tell yourself something isn’t right. Who benefits from all this? So I tell myself that all these initiatives won’t help Africa, on the contrary, it’s a way of stealing even more.
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