INTERVIEW
Interview by : Alexandre Tonus
Pictures by : Karl Joseph
on Monday, October 04th 2004 - 19 900 views
Discovered by the producer Philip Fattis Burrell, Turbulence is a young singjay who was long seen as the possible successor to Sizzla at the Xterminator label. As the latter was far from finished with success, Turbulence had to work at distinguishing himself from him, and he worked hard to do so. Since his devastating first singles, Think of peace and My way to Zion, this young singer's fame has not stopped growing, notably in Europe; this has allowed him to release many albums, in collaboration with labels from all over, and above all to found his own label, Higher Trod, which seems to be his main concern today.
Reggaefrance / Hello Turbulence….
Turbulence / First of all, I'd like to thank you for being here and I'd like to greet Paris and the people in the name of His Holy and Almighty Imperial Majesty, the Emperor Haile Selassie I, Jah, Rastafari. And Reggaefrance, I'd like to say thank you to you, thank you for being here.
The first time we talked together, you confided that you wanted to become a Bobo Shanti... Has that happened today? You weren't a Bobo yet last time…
What I've realised is that Bobo Shanti… I was already a Bobo Shanti. Because the more you live, the more you learn, Bobo Shanti is just Rasta. Bobo, Binghi, Orthodox, Twelve Tribes: it's all one thing. His Majesty says: "One heart, one aim, one destiny". So it means nothing when you see some Bobos wearing the turban; it's just that they keep their distance from corruption, like all the women who wear dresses to cover their thighs. They cover their hair with a turban because it's a crown. This thing that covers their heads is a crown, because we are all kings on earth and Ethiopia awaits her creator, and we are all from Ethiopia. Ethiopia is the cradle of civilisation, so we all originate from Ethiopia. And that's why I'm a Bobo Shanti, I'm a Binghi, I'm an Orthodox, I'm a Twelve Tribes. We are all Rastas, no denomination, no religious conceptions, because religion is division. I pray to Emperor Haile Selassie I, they pray to Jesus, some pray to Allah, some pray to Buddha... separation. We don't need separation, come all together, no racism. So, I was already a Bobo Shanti.
Since your first album, “Turbulence” on Xterminator in 2000, you've worked a lot, first with your album “Rising” on VP in 2001 and then in 2003, with no fewer than 5 albums: in order, “Different Things”, “The Future”, “Join Us”, “The Truth”, “Hail To The King”, but why did you choose so many different labels?
I chose so many different labels in so many different places because I want the message to go everywhere, and I can sing, I can DJ and sing, and make songs out of anything. Reggaefrance, I see Reggaefrance on your T-shirt, I'll sing for that, it's an inspiration to me. It's not because I love money, fame and fortune that I made so many songs, it's because reggae uplifts the soul and I sing to uplift people's souls. There's a message on the CD, no joke. There's a message on the CD, listen to it for yourself, it's bad, mad, crazy, sick, a crazy love, a huge love. It's not because I want money and all that, it's because I want to spread the message through the crowd. Different labels, from different companies, different people, different places… On “Join Us”, they come from Jamaica, Germans came in on “Different Things”. We come to touch them all, we want to spread the message everywhere, so that it explodes. But this year, I'm working on an album, and it's our album, ours, the Higher Trod Family: “Turbulence And The Higher Trod Family”. It's my album for the moment, the personal project I'm working on, this album for next year. So, an enormous fire, an enormous pleasure, an enormous joy!
So you're satisfied with each of these albums?
I'm satisfied, I'm really satisfied, because you've come to talk about it in your articles, you know it, I'm satisfied, because if you didn't know, I wouldn't be satisfied. And the songs - I can tell you, because they're my songs - they're good songs, played by great instrumentalists: Sly and Robbie, Axe Man, Danny Bassie, George, Fire House.
Why don't songs that made your name, like Think of peace or My way to Zion, appear on any of these albums?
I'd like to say that Think of peace was my first single, and it was a good single for me, because it secured me recognition, from Yard to abroad. And why isn't it on any album? It's because the album's producer decided not to put it on. It was already such a single that he decided not to include it. And it's not on any album. Everybody knew My way to Zion and everybody knew it was me singing it, everybody knew Think of peace and everybody knew it was me singing it. So, they wanted to hear what else I had in my bag and so we didn't use it. Nobody said to me: "Oh! I want to hear My way to Zion!" No, so we put on a large number of new songs. Still, he's a good producer, Philip Fattis Burrell is a great man! He produced Sizzla, Capleton, Luciano, Anthony B., Beres Hammond, Cocoa Tea, Jah Mason, Junior Kelly, Bushman…so many people, you can't imagine… I would have liked them to appear on an album, but it wasn't my decision at that time. At that time, we were young and small artists, trying to be heard and make a name. In fact, Philip knew how to make an album, I knew nothing about music, I just knew how to sing, and he's the one who produced the album, so we don't know why he made that choice.
At the same time, you keep making singles on all the latest reggae and dancehall riddims. Are you sure dancehall is really a good way to get across the message you want to get across?
Dancehall has become big in Jamaica, and everywhere in the world. Elephant Man and all those people, Sean Paul…for my part, I'm happy for them, because reggae and dancehall come from Jamaica, our country, and everyone is proud of them. So, I can't put that down just because they don't sing what I sing. I'm positive, they only talk about dancing and all that nonsense in their songs. But it's still dancehall, and if I take a dancehall riddim, I'm going to sing on it, but with my message, just like Sizzla and Capleton. Taking a ghetto dancehall and singing on it is nothing, it's music all the same, the message gets through anyway. If I could get the message across on country or western music, on French music… If I could speak French well, I would sing in French… If I knew how to do hip-hop, I'd do hip-hop and get the same message across. And the message is: love for all.
Did you know that Tony Rebel recently covered a song in French, which a Frenchman translated for him... the song Jah is by my side?
In Spanish too, no? Good for him. I'm trying too, I'm going to work on it… Because I already tried to learn Italian, so I'll learn French and I'll learn Spanish and then I'm going to boom up the place!
This hyper-productivity means many people see you as the worthy successor to Sizzla. Do you agree with that and are you proud of it?
Sizzla is a great man, I have to say. And a good DJ, a good singer, a good lyricist… So I can't fight people; if people want to say that, it pleases me. But I intend to become bigger than Bob Marley! I'm not going to stop there. When you come to France for example, I was in a shop, buying clothes, and some people said to me: "Where are you from?" I said: "Jamaica", "What are you doing here in France, in Paris?", "I'm here for the reggae", "Oh, reggae, Bob Marley!" They don't know, they only know Bob Marley. I want people to say: "Oh, why are you here?", "Oh, Turbulence!" So, I'm trying to reach the top and you guys too, you're trying to reach the top… Never, ever, ever give up.
In the meantime, you've gained a certain independence, you've made lots of albums, you're on a European tour, do you still belong to the Xterminator Crew?
I'm part of the Xterminator Crew, yes!
But I've heard, and you've talked about it, that you have a project called Higher Trod Music: can you tell us more about it?
Higher Trod is my group. It's a bouquet of talented artists whom producers don't let sing on their riddims, because they're not big. They're not like me, or Sizzla, or Jah Mason, so they don't want to record them, they don't want them to sing. So I found them, I brought them together and here they are. Then, I'm creating my own label, so they'll be able to sing on my album, on my own project. Then they'll get their recognition. They're very talented, they're bad! Most of the artists you hear here are impostors compared to these artists, they're the boom! They're going to make Jamaica cry, nobody knows them, nobody knows these guys, and they're going to mash up Jamaica.
And will they sing with you on stage?
They're not here tonight. He's the one who represents Higher Trod. He's manager for Higher Trod. I asked him to be manager. He's not a DJ, but the manager, and my road manager at the moment, he looks after me on the road. But Prince Jahved, Natty Paul, Sunny Terrible, High Star, these guys are really gifted in music. If you listen to the album “Join Us”, track 7, they sing on it, they also sing on the album “The Future”, they say: "We are, we are the Higher Trod, dutty Babylon". It's them singing that, they're bad! Listen, they're terrible! No joking with them!
And why have you never, ever done a duet with Sizzla, on stage or on an album?
Everything takes time. There's no…we're friends, we're good friends, we're not enemies, if that's what some people think. But we're just taking our time, we're currently working on a duet. So, when I get back to Jamaica, you might hear a Sizzla and Turbulence duet. The problem is there could be one every week, so we're talking about it. Music takes time.
Is taking all that time a form of respect?
Not really… But I'm busy doing my projects with my companions, he's busy with his projects with Judgement Yard. On tour, we meet up; in Jamaica, we don't really cross paths, because we each have our own things to do, but we are brothers. So, when we meet, it creates earthquakes, lightning and thunder. Big up Sizzla Kalonji! Turbulence is here. Sizzla Kalonji really had a great influence on me when I was growing up. Even when I was going to school, I'd hear Sizzla on the radio and I'd say: "What? This guy sounds good, too good!" And at school, people said I sounded like Sizzla. But when I was at school, nobody talked to me about that… And to my great surprise, when I joined Xterminator - I didn't know Sizzla was part of Xterminator - I was singing in the studio, singing and singing again, and Sizzla came in and looked at me. Then he said: "This guy sounds like me, man! And he sounds good!" He came over and said to me: "I don't know what you need, but you're bad! You have to come on tour with me, open the shows for me!" And so, touring with Sizzla, I learned a lot. I watched him and saw how he behaved with people, and I learned from him. Everybody needs someone to learn from. You can't just get up and call yourself a journalist, someone taught you how to become a journalist. Someone has to teach how to teach... So, I learned from Sizzla, enough to represent myself on my own. And now I sing, I sing more than I DJ, I sing, I really sing. I sing songs now; whereas I used to sing only the chorus and DJ the verses. Now I sing everything, because I realised that singing touched people more than DJing.
And how has the audience been since the start of your European tour?
They're crazy! I've never seen people so mad. Europe is the craziest place I've seen. People love reggae like mad, madly well. They love Turbulence, they adore Turbulence. In Jamaica, they love Turbulence, but they're not as mad as you guys over here. People support us, every date is sold out. It started in Switzerland, then we went to Germany, from Germany to Italy, we came back through France, to go back to Germany, then Italy again, and finally home to Jamaica. Perfect!
Apart from Higher Trod, do you have any plans for the future or a big up to give?
More singles! More singles, more prosperity, and just more fire.
Thank you very much.
Thank you Reggaefrance, for giving me your time, for giving me the pleasure of speaking for your website. So, I'd like you to write that George Bush must stop the war, stop being such a diabolical person, because he has to stop with his nuclear bombs, while people lack food. If you took the money for the nuclear bombs and bought food, how good you'd be! Billions of dollars for one nuclear bomb… Take the billions and buy food for the people who suffer, because I come from Jamaica and I know what it is to suffer. My neighbourhood is called Hungry Town. In Hungry Town people suffer. In France, people suffer, but they eat. They eat and they say they suffer: "Ohhh, I suffer every day!", and they eat once a day. Where I was born, people don't eat for weeks, and that's real suffering, it's the worst I've ever seen. The Ethiopians are in a bad way, they suffer a lot. Tell George Bush to take the money for the nuclear bombs and put it into food if he's a head of government, if he's a king of a man. Queen Elizabeth, Pope John Paul, all those people, let them take the money and feed the poor, and the nation will do better. Because if you have food on one side and a gun on the other, what do you think people will choose? Food! Because they can't eat the gun, why would they have a gun? Then they see the gun and they say to themselves: "Oh! The gun can bring me food.", so they go and rob someone. George Bush is an idiot, let fire fall on him. Blaaaze!
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