INTERVIEW : SHERKHAN
Interview by : Aurore Mahieu
Pictures by : DR
on Sunday, July 01st 2007 - 14 614 views
Sherkhan lives in Kingston, where he has set up his studio and his label Tiger Records. A self-taught musician, bassist and turntable lover, he got a taste for reggae with his band Zebra Experience. A world separates his beginnings in reggae in Brittany (Morbihan) from Kingston Harbour. Yet, listening to him, this evolution seems perfectly natural, just like the hardships, the music, his new life in the ghetto of August Town… With a touch of humour he retraces his journey: from the first Lutan Fyah recordings in his bathroom, in the middle of the Blue Mountains, to squatted houses in Liguanea. Armed with 340 riddims on his hard drive, it is now in a "real" studio in Mona that Sherkhan intends to make his name.
Reggaefrance / What is your daily life as a Jamaican resident?
Sherkhan / The studio with my best friend, "Pro Tools"! The recording sessions, composing riddims, mixing... I spend most of my time in the studio, on average 14 to 16 hours a day. Otherwise, the street dances of course!
When you arrived, how did you manage to meet the artists and convince them to voice your riddims?
When I arrived I had no contacts, just my laptop. I spent a lot of time waiting for artists. I think the worst was the waiting at Judgement Yard, in the beginning. I went there hundreds of times! It took hours and days of waiting to be able to see Sizzla. It was by living through that that the idea of living in Jamaica became clearer. By living here, I could afford it; it was no longer like coming for two weeks' holiday where your time is counted. It is a long-term project, a life project even! Relationships form, people become my friends. Producing in JA is not an upstart's game; experience showed me that it often comes to nothing: I saw a load of producers yesterday that I don't see today. My story takes time, but without skipping steps. I prefer to know three good artists than ten bad ones. As for "convincing", I just let them hear my work. And apparently, it works.
You work as much with well-known artists as with young talents. How do the encounters happen?
The "Tiger Camp" includes: Assailant from the Alliance (Bounty Killer), Zeno (who used to work for Computer Paul), Diana Rutherford, a really great voice, Juvenile, a kid from the street whom I took under my musical wing, Jah Trouble, the "gangsta youth" who already impresses big artists with his talent. The deejay and singer Blessed, and Teflon, who is already causing havoc on the Jamaican airwaves... Then Perfect, Norris Man, Lutan Fyah, Tanya Stephens, with whom I collaborate or have collaborated, are close to me but already established, and they give me strength. Tanya and Andrew (her producer) saw talent in me when I met them. The first tracks I worked on ended up on "Gangsta Blues" and then on the second one, "Rebelution". My musical work on the island has often been about something other than money; it is more of an exchange.
Do you see yourself as a producer, a talent scout, a musician, a manager, a composer?
A musician first and foremost, then a producer.
Do you write with particular people in mind? How do the riddim exchanges with the artists work?
Actually I compose and then I imagine which artist would suit the riddim. When I arrived in Jamaica, I swapped riddims for voices. It helped me fit in; it broke the usual pattern of "give me your cash and I'll give you my voice". It was music first! I have to say it worked quite well. I don't do it any more now, or only with Sizzla (Kalonji Records).
You have been living in Kingston for almost five years now. Did you think you would stay this long when you arrived?
No, I came for a month and I'm still here! Jamaica is the Mecca of music; it seems my pilgrimage isn't over yet.
What was your initial project?
Well, that's true... Originally I created a project called "Les Nuits Emeraude", a project of travelling to other countries with a laptop and a microphone. Depending on the encounters, recording local artists, well known and less well known. After a first opus in Morocco, "Un hiver au Maroc", with hip-hop, raï, reggae and gnawa styles, I thought of Jamaica. I wanted to get deejays singing on hip-hop, jazzy, world instrumentals, whatever, then dash off to New York to do the opposite with rappers. Imagining I could make the "Jamaica" opus in a month was a bit ambitious... I am nevertheless developing the concept, because while Hit Dem with Perfect is the only one of its kind heard to date, Sizzla has already sung on my jazzy riddims. With hindsight, I remember the danger of Jamaica. The danger of staying there because of its artistic wealth... I wasn't wrong! As soon as I get the chance, "Les Nuits Emeraude" will wake up again. Buju Banton on a hip-hop beat with Malian choirs, sitars recorded in India and the whole thing mixed on a Neve in NYC... That is the kind of project I envisage in the long term.
Have you kept that initial approach in the way you work today?
In a way, yes, because my studio isn't much bigger than in the days of "Un hiver au Maroc" (laughs). But it has evolved in the sense that I am now able to produce a track, whereas before I simply recorded an artist on a riddim.
Do you think Jamaican artists are ready to push the boundaries of the genre?
Actually, when I arrived in JA, to blend into the music business without making too many waves, I decided to make "pure and hard" Jamaican music, so one drop. If I had made instrumentals that were too hip-hop, rock, R&B or electro, they would have looked at me as a "freak" (laughs). But for a while now, I have been preparing some good sound bombs that push the artists' musical limits.
Is it easy to carve out a place in the Jamaican musical and cultural landscape?
I won't lie to you, no, it isn't easy. First, "foreigner", second, "White", and third, "no big budget behind me"... Ouch! But in the end it's like everywhere: you have to prove yourself through your work and your ability to adapt.
What have been the decisive steps in your integration?
The quality of my music, and above all the positive feedback from the other artists. I think that without that, I would have gone back to France a few years ago. When Sizzla tells me: "Sherkhan you have it lock!" When one of Capleton's youths tells me that the "Prophet" listens to my riddims in his car to write... That pushes me to keep going.
You have lived for two years in August Town, a few metres from Judgement Yard, whereas some would have taken refuge uptown. Was the choice deliberate?
No, it's more a matter of circumstance; my finances don't allow me to live uptown! But I imagine that on top of that there is the taste for discovery, for risk too perhaps. And then respect as well. You are closer to people if you live like them; not falling into the cliché of the White man who lives among the rich protects me and earns the respect of certain people. It isn't necessarily easy, especially in wartime! Political, I mean. You get home at five in the morning and the streets are deserted, only the dogs and goats emptying the bins. When I moved into August Town, I went to see Sizzla to tell him we were neighbours, and he answered "Welcome to the Family".
The dancehall productions arriving in Europe show a radicalisation of the lyrics. Is that what the Jamaican public likes?
At the moment Jamaica is swamped by the "Gangsta" segment (Movado, Busy, Aidonia, the "Gangsta Ras" Munga). It is the ultra-violent lyrics that the crowd responds to instantly. It is not unusual to go to the dances and see people react only to Movado and Munga tunes. Then, when you talk about the radicalisation of the lyrics, I imagine you are alluding to homophobia. It is a delicate subject, which harms the Jamaican music scene and business.
Do you see changes in the record industry in Jamaica? Is the single industry and serial production in decline, in favour of an American-European hold on producers' albums? In your view, how is the business doing?
The business is doing badly, it's true. Peer-to-peer, downloads and pirate copying have dealt the market a nasty blow over the last 5-10 years. The single is in decline too, but I think it will last longer than the CD thanks to collectors and purists who play reggae the old-school way... But it remains a tiny part of the market. In my opinion, the business will restructure itself within a few years. I don't yet know quite how, but one thing is sure: producers, artists and promoters must be paid. Making music costs money. The equation is lopsided, it has to change!
What do Jamaican artists think of the French and European scene?
They like France. Europe is a big source of income for reggae: albums, tours, dubplates... The European scene is mainly made up of older artists, whom we would call "old hits artists" in Jamaica, the artists the older Jamaican generation likes. At the moment in Jamaica, the scene is controlled by Movado, Munga Honorable, Vybz Kartel, Bounty Killer, Busy Signal, Erup, Elephant Man, Aidonia... Those are the ones young Jamaicans want to hear. It is as if in France someone told you "I love Aznavour and Maurice Chevalier" when you listen to Booba or some other hardcore rap group; there is a gap. "Roots" reggae, as it is called in France, serves more as a "warm up" here. Of course there are reggae acts that tear it up, like Jah Cure, Sizzla, Capleton (whom we see appearing more and more on dancehall riddims), Lutan Fyah, Gyptian and so on...
What is your latest musical news?
I am working on a reggae riddim: the "Ol' Sitt'n", which should be out very soon. It sounds like a 1970s riddim with modern artists such as Perfect, Norris Man, Diana Rutherford, Teflon, Junior X... a real "butchery"! Then a dancehall riddim, the "Dead u Dead", with Busy Signal, Norris Man, Teflon, Spectacular, Tornado and many others... I am also producing Norris Man's new album "Much more to life", strictly reggae! Honestly, it is the kind of album I would have bought back when I was selecting. I also have albums in preparation for Teflon, Diana Rutherford and Blessed. I am also looking for distribution for various projects. And then I have tracks here and there on different albums. Notably the track "Plus de Love" on Daddy Mory's album "Reality"; we met when he came to mix his tracks in Kingston.
To check out Sherkhan's Myspace: www.myspace.com/khansher
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