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Ray Lema interview
The African Star Goes Back to His Roots with the Gnaouas
02/08/1999 -
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Ray, you've been involved with a whole range of different projects lately. You've worked with les Voix Bulgares, Johnny Clegg and, most recently, a Swedish symphony orchestra. And now we find you branching out in a totally new direction, performing at the "Nuits Atypiques" festival in Langon, France, with a Moroccan group - the Tyour Gnaouas from Essaouira. What have you gained from this new musical experience?
Ray Lema : Well, I'd recently finished one musical project where, for the first time in my career, I was responsible for getting a symphony up and running. And now I feel that this new collaboration with the Gnaouas is a bit like coming full circle. It's maybe something to do with "the Eternal". My work with the symphony orchestra taught me to listen to music in a completely different way. For instance, I had to take the timbre of each individual instrument into account when I was writing the score. The art of symphonic arrangement involves creating special effects by playing with the clash, the radical contrast between the instruments' different timbres.
For me, working with the Gnaouas has been a bit like going back to my roots. You know, in the early days of my career, when I was director of the National Ballet in Zaire, I worked with a lot of traditional musicians. And I find that same feeling in the Gnaouas' work - they play authentic traditional African music. The Gnaouas' music philosophy is totally removed from the concept of "show-biz". For the Gnaouas, music is an integral part of their life, a primordial need. And that's the essence of traditional music where I come from. It must be fairly easy, though, playing traditional modal music after having worked on complicated symphonic arrangements?
Ray Lema : No, it's not easy at all! In fact, it's quite the opposite. Playing this music is a real challenge. I certainly wouldn't want to make the same mistake as certain famous jazz musicians - without naming any names - who have gone about collaborating with the Gnaouas in the wrong way. These musicians make the mistake of launching into an improvisation, just basing themselves on the rhythm of the "guimbri" - that's the big bass lute which is so typical of the Gnaouas' sound. But this kind of improvisation doesn't take into account the song lines which are absolutely essential in the Gnaouas' music.
Being an African musician, I'm not so overawed by the rhythm. And what I've tried to bring out on the album I'm working on with the Tyour Gnaouas from Essaouira is their amazing vocals. The melodies of their songs sound typically African and I've made a real effort to keep in the background and work as a simple accompanist to their singing. I'm not one of those fancy guys who comes who comes along and gets off on improvising over the Gnaouas' sound, using this rich musical carpet which has been woven over centuries and centuries of culture as a simple background to show off my own skills. Judging by the attitudes of some musicians I've seen at the Essaouira festival, you'd think everybody had just been waiting for them to come along and play all these years!
How did you end up meeting the Tyour Gnaouas from Essaouira?
Ray Lema : Well, the Mairie de Paris (Paris City Hall) wanted to organise a musical event as part of this year's special Moroccan celebrations ('le Temps du Maroc'). And they contacted me and asked me if I was interested in collaborating on a project with the Gnaouas. The way I see it, before you can collaborate on a musical level, there has to be a real meeting of minds on a human level. So I went off to Essaouira - that's the Gnaouas' capital in Morocco - and I met Malem Abdesselam, the leader of the Tyour Gnaouas. We hit it off right from the word go. His group of five musicians and dancers are one of the most renowned ensembles in Morocco and they've toured extensively round the world. What kind of album are you currently working on with the Tyour Gnaouas?
Ray Lema : Well, I really want to keep a "live" feel on the album but at the same time I'd like to move away from the "Ocora". It's not that easy, because there's a major disequilibrium between the sound power of the "karkabou" - the big metallic castanets - and the "guimbri" - the lute. You have to juggle around with the musicians' original sound and all the little production tricks in the studio. For example, we had to end up getting this special "guimbri" made with tuning keys so that it would sound right with the piano. But what I really focussed on most was the vocals. I sing the traditional Gnaoua melodies myself, singing lyrics in Lingala which were directly inspired by the original Moroccan texts.
Ray, you've been involved with a whole range of different projects lately. You've worked with les Voix Bulgares, Johnny Clegg and, most recently, a Swedish symphony orchestra. And now we find you branching out in a totally new direction, performing at the "Nuits Atypiques" festival in Langon, France, with a Moroccan group - the Tyour Gnaouas from Essaouira. What have you gained from this new musical experience? Ray Lema : Well, I'd recently finished one musical project where, for the first time in my career, I was responsible for getting a symphony up and running. And now I feel that this new collaboration with the Gnaouas is a bit like coming full circle. It's maybe something to do with "the Eternal". My work with the symphony orchestra taught me to listen to music in a completely different way. For instance, I had to take the timbre of each individual instrument into account when I was writing the score. The art of symphonic arrangement involves creating special effects by playing with the clash, the radical contrast between the instruments' different timbres.
For me, working with the Gnaouas has been a bit like going back to my roots. You know, in the early days of my career, when I was director of the National Ballet in Zaire, I worked with a lot of traditional musicians. And I find that same feeling in the Gnaouas' work - they play authentic traditional African music. The Gnaouas' music philosophy is totally removed from the concept of "show-biz". For the Gnaouas, music is an integral part of their life, a primordial need. And that's the essence of traditional music where I come from. It must be fairly easy, though, playing traditional modal music after having worked on complicated symphonic arrangements?
Ray Lema : No, it's not easy at all! In fact, it's quite the opposite. Playing this music is a real challenge. I certainly wouldn't want to make the same mistake as certain famous jazz musicians - without naming any names - who have gone about collaborating with the Gnaouas in the wrong way. These musicians make the mistake of launching into an improvisation, just basing themselves on the rhythm of the "guimbri" - that's the big bass lute which is so typical of the Gnaouas' sound. But this kind of improvisation doesn't take into account the song lines which are absolutely essential in the Gnaouas' music.
Being an African musician, I'm not so overawed by the rhythm. And what I've tried to bring out on the album I'm working on with the Tyour Gnaouas from Essaouira is their amazing vocals. The melodies of their songs sound typically African and I've made a real effort to keep in the background and work as a simple accompanist to their singing. I'm not one of those fancy guys who comes who comes along and gets off on improvising over the Gnaouas' sound, using this rich musical carpet which has been woven over centuries and centuries of culture as a simple background to show off my own skills. Judging by the attitudes of some musicians I've seen at the Essaouira festival, you'd think everybody had just been waiting for them to come along and play all these years!
How did you end up meeting the Tyour Gnaouas from Essaouira?
Ray Lema : Well, the Mairie de Paris (Paris City Hall) wanted to organise a musical event as part of this year's special Moroccan celebrations ('le Temps du Maroc'). And they contacted me and asked me if I was interested in collaborating on a project with the Gnaouas. The way I see it, before you can collaborate on a musical level, there has to be a real meeting of minds on a human level. So I went off to Essaouira - that's the Gnaouas' capital in Morocco - and I met Malem Abdesselam, the leader of the Tyour Gnaouas. We hit it off right from the word go. His group of five musicians and dancers are one of the most renowned ensembles in Morocco and they've toured extensively round the world. What kind of album are you currently working on with the Tyour Gnaouas?
Ray Lema : Well, I really want to keep a "live" feel on the album but at the same time I'd like to move away from the "Ocora". It's not that easy, because there's a major disequilibrium between the sound power of the "karkabou" - the big metallic castanets - and the "guimbri" - the lute. You have to juggle around with the musicians' original sound and all the little production tricks in the studio. For example, we had to end up getting this special "guimbri" made with tuning keys so that it would sound right with the piano. But what I really focussed on most was the vocals. I sing the traditional Gnaoua melodies myself, singing lyrics in Lingala which were directly inspired by the original Moroccan texts.
The Gnaouas' music generally has a specific ritual or spiritual function. Doesn't that pose a problem when it comes to turning it into entertainment?
Ray Lema : Well, I obviously didn't want to go messing around on stage, making a complete travesty of spiritual music. So I asked the Tyour Gnaouas to compose several pieces. On our forthcoming album there'll be a whole mix of things - there'll be the traditional music which is played at the Gnaouas' "lilas" or ceremonies. Then there'll be a new composition by the Tyour Gnaouas back to back with a track I've written. And you'll be amazed to hear what the Gnaouas have done on this track - it's really quite extraordinary, quite unlike anything I'd ever imagined. You'll hear it when the album comes out - it's really unique!
François Bensignor
Translation : Julie Street
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