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
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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