INTERVIEW
Interview by : Alexandre Tonus
Pictures by : Benoit COLLIN
on Monday, September 20th 2004 - 17 662 views
It was during the afternoon preceding his recent concert at the Elysée Montmartre that Gentleman agreed to answer our questions. A chance for us to take stock with him of his career and to shed a little more light on this young German artist, who now stands out as the number 1 player on the European reggae scene. The forward he receives each time he comes to visit us is proof of it.
Reggaefrance / So you have two albums, the first, "Troddin' On", and the next, "Journey To Jah". You've also released a double live album…
Gentleman / Yes, after "Journey To Jah", we travelled a lot, did a lot of concerts in Europe and all over the world… And it had been a dream of mine for a long time to make a live album, but a lot of record companies complained, claiming that a live album wouldn't work. So it was time for us to put one out. We also have a DVD, on which you can see how we live on tour. You can also see videos on it and there are even song lyrics on it.
Can you introduce yourself to the French public and tell us about your beginnings in music?
Well, you see, I'm just an ordinary man who fell in love with reggae. I'm in the middle of a European tour to promote the album "Journey To Jah", which is my latest album to date. I'm working on a third album at the moment, which will come out in September (this month, editor's note). Reggae is really going far now, I realise that. I've just come back from Spain, the album hadn't come out there, but people were singing the lyrics and the hall was full… Now, we have to give thanks for the things that are happening… What it's about is very simple: it's just travelling around the world, playing my music and sharing the vibe with people! And these things are so much bigger than us, I've realised that. And my name is Gentleman, since you asked me to introduce myself.
On your two albums, you did lots of combinations with yardie artists (Bounty Killer, Luciano, Mikey General, Richie Stephens, Junior Kelly, etc…). How was that possible?
It's something that came with the years, it wasn't me going to Jamaica saying: "My name is Gentleman. Bounty Killer, I want to do a song with you." That's not how it works. I'd been around for a long time and I started getting vibes with people, without ever rushing anything. Every step I climbed, I climbed calmly and I learned something from it. Every combination you hear with me is a real vibe between the two artists, it can't be something merely musical. You can't respect someone only for their music. Like, you hear a song and you say to yourself: "Yeah, I want to do a song with this guy!" You meet him and in the end the vibe isn't right: you can't make a song with him. That's really important. You can't make a good song if there isn't a good vibe, that's just how it is.
And what's your best memory of all these combinations?
You can't ask me that, because every combination has its own story and every combination is enjoyable in its own right. So I can't say which is my favourite combination, it changes all the time. I wake up on Monday and I love the tune with Bounty Killer, then on Tuesday I tell myself I like the one with Capleton even more, it always changes! But I love all these songs, that's why I wanted to release them.
In fact, you did 2 combinations with Capleton…
Yes, I did an EP… For my third single, Run Away, I did an EP and we put this song on it, as a bonus track, it was another combination with Capleton, called Live it up.
And was the vibe good?
It was great! He's full of energy. It's really stimulating to work with him, because he goes into the studio, records his part and gives you such energy that you surpass yourself too. It's really, really great working with Capleton.
You've also played in Jamaica, you've done shows there.
It's important for anyone who loves reggae or makes reggae to know how things work in Jamaica. It's the motherland of reggae, its foundation, the place where it all began. The biggest studios, the biggest productions, the biggest artists, it's all in Kingston. You can feel the musical vibes there, you have to stay a while and connect with it.
Were you well received every time in Jamaica?
You know, you've got good and bad everywhere in the world, but I've never had a problem in Jamaica. People can see that the young man I am makes his music with love and loves making it, and they can't judge me beyond that. I really loved that, people come up to you and say: "Gentleman, I enjoyed your lyrics, let's talk about them…" It's not: "Can I have an autograph on my belly?", like sometimes in Germany.
I'm not judging, but in Jamaica, the music is really more important than the artist himself. We're just instruments… It's not about us, we're just instruments and we move Jah's music forward, we spread the message.
You already played in France last year, at Jamaican Sunrise. I heard the vibe was terrible and people say it was the best show of the festival…
We keep that firmly in mind… As you say, "terrible". I remember, once, I was recording a song in Jamaica, I came out of the studio and asked how the song was and the guy answered: "Terrible!" I replied: "So I have to redo it then?" "No, terrible means good!" Back to Jamaican Sunrise… yeah, it was terrible, for real, it was really good! The people were full of vibes, full of energy, and they were singing the lyrics with me. Which really surprised me, because the album "Journey To Jah" wasn't really distributed in France, even if a few pirate copies were going around. It's really one of those shows you don't forget and for that, I have to say thank you to the French audience and to all of that Sunrise. Yeah, it was a big show, full of vibes!
Before that, I also saw you on stage with Beenie Man, in the very same venue where you're playing tonight…
Yes, it was something rather spontaneous: he was in Cologne, and that's where I live. So I went to his show and we sang together…
You seem to be good friends…
We get on really well and we've already had a lot of fun together. He's a real showman, Beenie Man, you can really have a good laugh with him. In Cologne, when we sang together, which was a spontaneous thing prompted by Kingstone, a sound system, Beenie Man said to me: "Come on tour with me. Come with me to France, come with me to England…" So I went on tour with him, I opened for him and I learned a lot from all of that. Musically, Beenie's band, Ruff Cut, was really, really good.
What about the reggae scene in Germany? Because you're one of the only artists there who sings in patois…
I'm not in Germany much these days, you know. But every week I receive demo tapes… A lot of them are rubbish but some are really terrible. There are loads of young people there, so there's huge potential. And I'm sure there are plenty of people who have the vibe for the music and who make their own productions on the side, without anyone noticing…
What's been happening in Germany over the last 5 years is that people are finally ready for the music, the media are paying more attention to reggae. Because they thought that, Bob Marley being dead, reggae was dead. Especially at the end of the 80s and in the 90s, it was running pretty slowly. Now it's really coming back and people know this music is still developing and is moving up a level again. There's really a good vibe in Germany now.
I remember, 10 years ago, I'd brought back a few records from Jamaica and played them with the Pow Pow sound system. When I played this music, people told me: "Come on, play us something else…" When I took the mic to MC, I was asked why I was talking between every song. Or when I pulled up a tune, I was asked: "What's up? Is there a problem with the turntables?" They weren't there yet. Now, they're ready. There are loads of sound clashes there, big festivals, like Summerjam, lots of Jamaican artists come to Germany. Something is bubbling.
What do you think of your compatriots in the group Seed?
They're good friends, and have been for a long time. We actually started at the same time. But they live in Berlin and I live in Cologne, it's a bit far… They really have a very, very good stage show, they're really crazy, full of vibes. And they're really big, they're on a European tour like me. They're moving forward well, notably in production, like that riddim on which Tanya Stephens has a tune, the Doctor's Darling. But it's really something international: Pierre made the riddim in France, then Seed remade the riddim in Germany and Tanya Stephens recorded her tune in London and the tune is number 1 in Trinidad. You see, it's something international.
I've seen you on stage before in Chemnitz, during the Splash festival, and I noticed that Seed and you were the only reggae artists playing on the hip-hop stage. Why is that, is it because it's the biggest?
I don't know, you'd have to ask the promoter. I don't know why… I think there should be one stage for everybody and that's it, and not set up another stage.
Yes, but in that case it would last 6 days…
That's true. But you see, it's crazy at that kind of festival, like at Summerjam 2 years ago, I was singing on my stage and Junior Kelly was singing on the other stage at the same time… So I told my band to turn it down, again and again, and then I could hear him, and I felt confused, because he could hear me and that's not good. You shouldn't book so many artists at the same show, Mr Promoter, just one big show and that's it. Don't overload it.
And how is your European tour going? You've travelled a lot, you've been to lots of places…
Some days I wake up and I don't even know where I am, so I ask the bus driver: "Do you know where we are?" And he answers: "It's Madrid!" or "It's Barcelona!" or "It's Stockholm!" The European tour is something we'd wanted to do for a long time. We've toured a lot in Germany, I don't mean I'm fed up with Germany, but I also wanted to see other places. So the European tour is going really well, people come to the concert, they sing the lyrics, even though the album isn't really distributed. That's surely the positive side of CD burning, because where people can't buy the CD, they burn it and so they can sing along with me, and that's great! And I'm sad that it's nearly over, I'm going to Switzerland tomorrow, then I'm going to Poland and the European tour is finished.
When will you go to the United States?
We have a show planned in California, in June, on the 17th, it's called the Right River Bash or something like that… No, it's the Sierra Nevada, the Sierra Nevada festival! But it won't be with the Far East Band, it'll be with a local band.
Tonight you're with the Far East Band. Are they definitively your only band?
Yes. I mean, I work with good musicians in any case, but this is a band that lives in Germany and I've been working with them for a long time now. I haven't dropped them and they haven't dropped me. But sometimes certain promoters, like in the Bahamas, in Jamaica or in the United States, can't cover 17 plane tickets and 17 hotel rooms, so it's hard to have my whole band everywhere in the world.
|
|
© 1999-2026
RSS
