Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1981)
Page 8 Portland Observer January 22. 1981 entertainment HAPPENINGS AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW W ITH TAJ M A H A L Exclusive - Ry Lom ia Duke / Grassroots News. N .W . - When one thinks o f the Blues, names like B.8. K ing, M uddy W aters, B illie H o lid a y and T a j M ahal comes to m ind. The latter o f this group. Taj Mahal, was in Portland fo r a one-night concert, and Grassrool News was there for an exclusive interview. Taj gave this rundown ENTERTAINMENT Duke: H ow do you fe e l at a concert when you 're pe rfo rm in g a subsection o f Black culture to an audience th a t‘s m o stly white? Taj: Hey, it ’ s going to be that way. First o f all, because they inherited the business. A lso, the basis o f Black Am erican music is so strong in pop that you can’ t get away fro m it. Once they d id n ’ t want to lks to listen to jungle music, thus creating a heavy hand on the American rock trip ; only allow ing certain things to get through w hich made way fo r people like the R o llin g Stones and the Beatles and all those English people who were listening to what they thought was Am erican music. A nd then you must remember that the English were one o f the largest colonizers o f Black a n d .T h ird W o rld people, so right away they w ould know the real tra d itio n a l sound because they colonized so many people from so many parts o f the w orld. o f his background in music. Taj: My music background started out by being raised during the 20s, 30s, and 40s era by tw o separate cultures. M y m other’ s influence was the rural BOB M A R LE Y OBSERVES LOCAL C U S T O M S - Reggae superstar Bob M a rle y pauses w h ile reading his daily paper to pass through Danish C ustom s on his recent sold-out European tour. M arley s troup o f ''d r e a d s ” (J a m a ic a n s w ith th e ir h a ir fix e d in th e tr a d itio n a l Rastafarian "d read lo cks") d rew attention w h erever they w e n t, not only because of th eir unique appearance, but because M arley's fam e seeded to have preceded him at every border. M a rle y s European to u r, by th e w a y . b ro ke records established by th e B eatles, th e Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. M arley's current LP is Uprising. American south, and my lather’ s was West Indian. Duke: Blues, like a ll Black music, seems to get a lo t fro m the sou! o f the Black church. D id the Black church influence yo u r music in any way? Taj: Quite a bit. M y father was into a form o f metaphysics and my mother was in to the Baptist church. A lth o u g h my father d id n ’ t go to church on a regular basis, we went whenever my m other sung. As a result, we went to various types o f churches and ended up where the singing was good. Being a part o f the culture I was never told I couldn’ t, so I absorbed everything. D uke: The way the m usic in d u s try works is to label an a rtis t and then market their product. H ow would you label yourself? T a j: I t ’ s very d iffic u lt to do th a t. P ersonally I feel m yse lf as a Black (503) 287-4029 (Ö) Charta« I H o tw i 1008 H C B-oadway Portland O ap o n 97Z32 Classic Studios For Funeral Insurance Inform ation Call C. Don Vann at 281-2836 t^H U M O R O U S n -H E /V to 0 TAJ M A H A L T h a t’ s why when Blues and Jazz was happening in the U .S ., it wasn’ t hap pening anywhere else in the w orld. It became something new to the English. Their whole society had lost all o f its colonies and they needed something to give them some excitement. For Black people i t ’ s drained down that there is no one left to learn anything from . Duke: H hat advice could you give o u r readers? Taj: Study your history, and it ’ s not going to come easy. I t ’ s not out there on a silver platter. I d o n 't know why we d o n 't keep tabs on our music. You ca n ’ t take it fo r granted th a t i t ’ s going to be there. It seems lik e when everybody went out o f the ghetto they never came home again. ‘S izwe Ba ns i is Dead an outstanding 91 Oregon Shakespearian Festival Production J a n u a r y 24 a n d 25, 1981 7:oo P.M. BUCKLEY CENTER AUDITORIUM UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND Tickets A vailable: M eier & Frank downtown ticket office H.C. Plummer and Co. Peal Estate, 317 S'. F. K il/ings worth and at Door Sponsored by Black Colleges Conference Committei f or Scholarship Fund TAJ MAHAL historian using music as a vehicle to keep alive the energy o f the past and give [ourselves something to move into the future. I keep myself up w ith w hat’ s happening. People seem to th in k that i f y o u 're in to blues that you d o n 't know w hat’ s up; are you kidding me? Music is dependent upon the pop in dustry to define, so that you could get over, but once they did that you no longer got over, they got over! Duke: The sentiments that are reflected in the Blues certainly hit home in the Black community, yet when it comes to supporting Blues as a music fo rm , the com m unity doesn’I do it. Why is that? Taj: I th in k the Blues has borne the weight o f bad times. Since we have been w ithout history o f whai Blues players were doing, we lost contact with what their message Was. The main thing that happened was that the Blues was a popular form o f Black music, not handled by Black people. When it was thought to have run it gambit, it was taken o f f the market fo r your pop music type. A ll the grapevine energy was taken out by folks when they signed record contracts. It was no longer handled by us and became an industry, and the music got further and further away. ACT-SO ORIENTATION KICK-OFF REGGAE STAR BOB MARLEY IN SPIRES STREET TALK Playing a string of sold-out dates through G erm any recently to support his new album Uprising, superstar Bob M arie w as the talk of every to w n he visited. But such fam e didn't stop M arley from chatting w ith a G er man local as he prepared to board his tour bus for the trip to yet another concert. It's not know n just w h a t M arley and guitarist Junior M arvin discussed w ith the gentlem an, but w herever M arley goes, he remains close to the people of the street. MAKING IT HAPPEN Jazz Ensemble Concert: Sunday, February 22, 1981, Mago H unt Center recital hall, University o f Portland, 5000 N. W illam ette Blvd. Free and open to the public. P & J'sT IP P IN INN Tavern NOW OPEN 838 N. K illingsw orth L Come in and enjoy the Super bowl game on January 25th. b ACT-SO, the Afro-Academ ic C ultural Technological Scientific Olympics w ill be holding its annual scholarship orientation lunch eon, Saturday, January 24, 1981 at the M a tt Dishm an C o m m u n ity C e n te r fro m noon u n til 3 p .m . T h is is an o p p o rtu n ity fo r all high school students, parents, teachers and counselors to become inform ed about the A C T -S O program . Special guest speaker w ill be Mr lames Oc Priest, new conductor o f the Oregon S ym phony. The A C T -S O program is p a rtia lly funded by a $3,000 United States National Bank challenge grant. ! w . 283-2221 Open 9 am till... Parking in rear. Y-'-ì Falstaff Beer 35< a GLASS M iller Beer 45 C a G lA S S S O U LL P /. The W hispers Imagination 2. Bobby "Blue" Bland Sweet Vibration* i SA i v Skyyport 4 Stevie Wonder Hotter Than July 5. Shalamar Three For Love 6 Wilton Felder Inherit The Wind 7. herra City Night* 8 Con hunk Shun ■ Touch 9 Cap Band III 10. James Brown Soul Syndrome SOUL 46 /. Heartbreak Hotel - The Jackson* 2. Full o f hire Shalamar 3. Too Tight - Con Funk Shun 4. break to Freak Sweat Band 5. Make The World Stand Still- Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson 6. Boogie Body l and Barkey* 7. Burn Rubber Gap Band 8. Inhert Wind Wilton Felder 9 Full o f Fire Shalamar 10 8th Wonder The Sugar Hill Gang GOSPELLP / Walter Hawkins The Hawkin* Family 2. Inez Andrews The Remarkable J. Rance Allen Croup I feel like going on 4 James Cleveland Presents Henry Jackson 5. Tramaine Hawkins - Tramaine 6. Kristie I Can't Let Go 7. i )ngmal Soul Stirrers Nobody ’s Child 8 James Cleveland Smgs with the greatest choir* 9 At Green The Lord Will Make A Way 10 Billv Preston Universal Love
