INTERVIEW : HARRISON STAFFORD
Interview by : Sébastien Jobart
Pictures by : Franck Blanquin
on Tuesday, May 31st 2011 - 39 906 views
Thirteen years after the beginnings of Groundation, its singer and leader Harrison Stafford is going solo. Deeply marked by his trip to Palestine, he decided to devote an album to it, outside the framework of Groundation.
He readily describes "Madness" as the opposite of Groundation: recorded in a few days, with Jamaican musicians among the heavyweights of the genre (Leroy Horsemouth Wallace, Flabba Holt). With them, he will perform three times in Europe this summer, including an appearance at Reggae Sun Ska in early August.
Reggaefrance / After 13 years and seven albums with Groundation, did you feel the need to record a solo album?
Groundation / No, I didn't feel the need. I always wanted to be part of a band, I never wanted to be a solo artist. In Groundation, everyone has the opportunity to take the lead, not only the singer. There was never a moment when I told myself I wanted to do my own thing, since Groundation is my thing, you know ? The album was born from my stay in Palestine, before that, I had never had the idea of a solo album. It's only that the project is so specific that it made no sense as a Groundation album.
What did you take away from that trip to Palestine?
My trip personally marked me deeply. I wanted to see hope, good things in that society, I wanted to meet young people, and see a light... But I saw neither light nor hope... I had all of that inside me when I came back. I didn't have a guitar, so I simply sang the melodies into my phone. Back home, while I was still in shock from my trip, I started writing on my computer, 40-50 pages, a sort of travel diary, of my encounters with poets, musicians, but also with ultra-Orthodox Jews, Christians... I had a few scares over there too... Anyway, I started writing all of that down, but I'm not a writer, I wasn't going to bring out a book! But I had the music, the songs. The idea came to me from this Palestinian poet, I had to do it with Rasta, with Jamaicans. I wanted to show this poet that Rasta is more than a Zionist vision. Rasta is Life as a whole. I thought the best way to do it was to bring in elder Rastas, Jamaican musicians to play this music.
How did the Jamaican musicians react when you told them the theme of the project?
They were very intrigued, very interested in the subject. They asked me questions about the lyrics. A funny anecdote: they were convinced that the word "Intifada" was Jamaican patois, they didn't understand its meaning: which father is it about? (in patois, "father" contracts to "fada", Ed.).
I know they learned a lot doing it. They respected me for doing it. For all these years, I've had a strong relationship with them, they're friends; I think that put them at ease to ask me questions and get involved in the project.
 C'était un tel casse-tête ! C'est la dernière fois que j'enregistre en analogique en Jamaïque. 
In the lyrics, one gets the feeling that you try to adopt a humanist stance, with some distance, without wanting to blame one side or the other...
I didn't even feel strong enough to hand out good and bad marks. Because that isn't the case... The truth is that most people who say they are pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian don't know what is going on over there. If you say you're pro-Israeli, then you're for the occupation? And if you say you're pro-Palestinian, then you're for the attacks? So what are you for? I try to sing about peace, and perhaps even about deeper subjects still, rather than inviting people to pick a side. I don't blame Israel for example, but I draw their attention to this: if what they're looking for is peace, then occupation and illegal imprisonment won't get them there. It won't lead to peaceful coexistence, so another way has to be found. I think the people who see this conflict in black and white are the most dangerous. They can blame Israel for building walls, but they build walls too! What's needed is a harmonious, educated mix of Jewish and Arab societies.
Like in the past.
Exactly, like in the past, before the second intifada, before the walls... I think we don't see the power of religion, which plays such a big role in that region. Their mindset isn't like yours: it rests on scriptures that are thousands of years old. Whether they're Jewish or Arab, they're ready to sacrifice themselves for them. For a book written by men, inspired by God... Me, I feel Jah, his energy, his spirit. Religion and politics play a role beyond reflection. I think Israel suffers from this too, because Israel tends towards the Western model, but it's a tribal religion. Even when they dismantle settlements, they build others, and settlers go off to live there. Because it's beyond them. It's like the proposal to go back to the pre-Six-Day-War borders (in 1967, Ed.), do you really think a politician will agree to give up the Temple Mount? or East Jerusalem? That will never happen.
Let's talk music: when you started the project in the studio, didn't you feel very alone?
Yes, but I liked it. I wanted to do something different, and when the opportunity came up, I had the music, I had the songs, I had the concept... So I wanted to do the opposite of Groundation's work: work quickly, with musicians who are already ready. Groundation is always ready too, but the arrangements, the complex composition of the pieces, take a lot of time.
With Groundation, you rewrite your improvisations so you can replay them and improve them. But here, the method differs...
I started from my phone recordings where there was just a tempo. Back in my house in St Ann's Bay, with my guitar I wrote out the chord charts, started singing and worked out the first arrangements. Then Horsemouth arrived (Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, Jamaican veteran drummer, Ed.), we played together, but without recording, just swapping ideas. We cemented the songs, then called in the other musicians.
You recorded on analogue...
Yes, we recorded on analogue, which is ridiculous today in Jamaica: you simply can't do it any more. I phoned all the studios, Tuff Gong, Mixing Labs, Anchor... they have the equipment, but it hasn't been used for so long, it's no longer aligned, and they all advised me against recording with it. I had to have a machine shipped to Harry J studio. Because if you don't touch that kind of machine for 10 years, it goes out of whack, you need a master engineer to realign it, clean it, and get it working properly. On top of that, spare parts are very hard to find, you have to have them shipped from the United Kingdom, which can take months! It was such a headache! That's the last time I record on analogue in Jamaica.
In terms of composition, the album is also the antithesis of Groundation.
Groundation has a unique vibe, shaped by the nine musicians. What would have been the point of having Ryan on bass on my project? He can play an identical bassline for three minutes, but that doesn't really show the extent of his talent. He needs complex construction and arrangements. With Horsemouth, Flabba, Obeah and Browne, it's a completely different sound, you hear it immediately, only they can do it. Horsemouth really has that sound, the only person he can be compared to is Carlton Barrett (brother of Familyman and drummer of the Upsetters then the Wailers, Ed.). Horsemouth really has an electric style of playing.
Even your way of singing has changed, the tone is calmer.
I think it has a lot to do with the fact that, when I was in Palestine, I was singing into my phone sitting on the pavement in the middle of the night. With Groundation, everyone's playing, the energy is there, I have to match it. On songs like Music is the most high, it starts in a calm tone, as you say, before building up. No Groundation song is easy to sing. On the new album, there's a track we played on stage in South America. At the end of the song, I was completely exhausted, I had no idea how hard it was! Because in the studio you're in a controlled environment, but on stage you realise you have very little time to catch your breath before a long phrase.
Groundation's new album is expected in the autumn, can you tell us more?
Yes, I think it will be October, we still have work to do. All the songs have been recorded by the nine musicians, we still have to record the guest artists, we'll do that after the tour.
And who will those guests be?
(Laughs) I can't say yet. All I can say is that people won't be expecting it. They're not reggae artists, but it will be something major, you could say legendary. It will sound like two things you wouldn't expect to see together, but which work perfectly. It's the best album we've ever made.
|
|
© 1999-2026
RSS
