Crack

People with aptitude are energising. The friends we know with overriding passions for their subject matter and vocation are often massive inspirations and fonts of knowledge.

If your inspiration is music, it’s hard not be inspired by Gilles Peterson and the music he pushes to the fore. Peterson is a club DJ, a record producer, and since 1998, host of Radio 1’s ‘Worldwide’ show, in which he has premiered and pushed countless artists from all over the planet.

A quarter of a century since he first played in Bristol, Peterson is back at new venue Tunnels playing his signature blend of Latin infused jazz, hip-hop and house music. Playing as part of a series of gigs put together by Havana Club and the man himself, Peterson is showcasing some of the music he has had the pleasure of being exposed to during his recent time in Cuba.

The eclectic mix on tonight’s bill features Kumar – with his Cuban hip-hop, as well as the Havana Cultura Band – a live act assembled and curated by Peterson during his time in Cuba. It’s an eclectic and raw evening of music. The project, started 18 months ago, has seen Peterson travel to and from the iconic Caribbean isle unearthing the finest talent in order to compile a record of new and contemporary Cuban music.

Released in 2009, Gilles Peterson presents Havana Cultura, is a snapshot of Cuban music in its modern essence. Taking the history of Buena Vista Social Club and building a new chapter in Cuba’s musical heritage was the challenge Peterson set himself 18 months ago. On the eve of his gig in Bristol, he was on hand to talk to Crack about the next chapter in the Havana Cultura series, the British attitude to world music and the state of British clubbing.

Peterson explains the origins of the project: “It was quite a good opportunity for me to work with a brand that wanted to do something interesting and it was great they were going to help me attempt a project that would have been uncomfortable to approach on my own. It was a great idea, because it immediately took me out of my comfort zone.

“Initially I only knew about the heritage of Cuban music and how it had affected other music I like. I went out to Havana 18 months ago to see if there was anything I could tap into that I liked. I was out there for a few days and managed to meet a few people who were into reggaeton as well as traditional jazz musicians and salsa musicians. I also met quite a lot of young up and coming people who were making hip-hop, which is quite interesting because of communist Cuba being what it is, and hip-hop being very much an American cultural expression.

“The brand then wanted me to do a compilation of the music I discovered out there and record some of those I’d met. The first volume of the project came out in 2009. It was recorded in four days in a studio called Egram, which is the studio where they recorded Buena Vista Social Club.

“We decided to get the record out quickly and give a base to all these new musicians. In those four days we made a record, I did a documentary for the BBC and I did a photo shoot. It was really well received when we put it out and it generated some really good exposure for the people involved. As a result there was a lot of interest in us touring it live. So I went over there last week (May 9th) to rehearse the band and I also made another record with a singer called Donay, who sings on the first volume of the compilation. She’s set for great things.”

Peterson’s ability to harness these musical forces is as much a testament to his personable character as his passion for music. Cool, eloquent and smart, Peterson’s demeanour is one of assured confidence minus the arrogance of one who has been in the game as long as he has. His knowledgeable rhetoric does all his talking for him. This is no more visible than the Havana Cultura project and how he intends to develop a second record. If the first record Peterson created was about showing the abundance of talent in Cuba, the second wave of the project, which Peterson is planning at the moment, is going to be quite a different listen altogether.

Peterson explains: "I’m basically bringing in a lot of contemporary producers to work with a lot of the hip-hop and reggaeton scene. So basically I’m going to get people like Diplo, Toddla-T and Benga, who are your beat makers, and throw them together with some of the authentic Cuban musicians.

“There are some really expansive producers at the moment and dubstep has really opened the door to a lot of original production. So you’ve got people like Ramdanman, Untold and Scuba really pushing it. A lot of these people are incredibly talented in the studio, so getting someone like Scuba to go in with a bunch of reggaeton freaks from Havana will be amazing.”

Peterson is especially keen on the likes of Diplo and Switch who managed to harness a whole host of dancehall influences on their recent Major Lazer project. He is hopeful something similar will take place with the second installment of the project.

Peterson explains: “Diplo and Switch were recently in Cuba for a Calle 13 show. Calle 13 are from Puerto Rico and are very pro Puerto Rican independence. They want to get away from the USA, so whenever they go to Cuba they are regarded as superheroes. They performed in Havana to 200,000 people and Diplo was there for that show. There is a real energy for that kind of music and reggaeton could do with a little bit of outside interest, particularly from the Europeans, as much of their influence is from Miami and their style of hip-hop. If you could throw them in with a Clipse, a Benga or a Toddla-T it’s going to be fascinating.

“Because everything is quite restricted in Cuba, people don’t have anything to do. They don’t have TV. That’s why everyone is having sex or drinking rum. So when it comes to music, a lot of people are making the same music because they are all absorbing the same influences and they aren’t necessarily getting the opportunity to do things independently without being watched over. There is an awful lot of talent, but not a great deal of originality, so that’s what I’m trying to bring into the next project.

“We’ll also push a number of artists from the first record, most notably Donay. I think she’s a superstar in the making. She’s going to be coming to Europe for the Havana Cultura band shows we are doing at the Barbican and other places. For me it’s about being able to find people who are incredibly talented and get them heard outside of Cuba.”

While Peterson can take much of the credit for fronting the project, he has been supported at every turn by Havana Club rum. This has given the project an authentic Cuban feel and kept the heritage of the project firmly in tact.

Peterson explains: “Havana Club are really behind the music and have a real relationship with the Cuban Government as it's made in Cuba. As part of their relationship they put something back into Cuban culture.”

Havana Club have bankrolled the project and this has meant Peterson has felt support at every level, not least because the brand involved are authentically Cuban and have associated the project with a high-calibre of personnel from the off.

“I’ve done a few things like this before and they’ve been disastrous. I genuinely pull out of these things when I realise they aren’t quite right. With Havana Club it’s been brilliant. The guy that was fronting the project, a French chap called Francois, is a massive fan of Cuban music and is very hip to where it all fits in. He is also a massive music fanatic and he thought I’d be the perfect person to guide people to the Havana Cultura website through the project.

“The other thing, is a lot of the people who worked on this project are from France, and France is a much more culturally aware place than England. Those who have grown up there have so many more world music influences on their everyday lives and are much hipper to it, whereas in England it’s still a bit WOMAD and a bit Andy Kershaw.
They have a radio station in Paris called Radio Nova, which is probably the most exciting and interesting radio station in the world because it has huge listening figures, but will play LCD Soundsystem alongside something like Young Marble Giants. It’s an approach to music you’d never get over here.”

It’s the dynamism of the approach that galvanises Peterson as much as the music itself. In other countries where media output is less controlled by commercial forces, it often results in a much greater expression of cultural ideas and therefore a much richer variation in available music. This is something that clearly riles Peterson especially when it comes to British club culture.

“The shocking thing about clubs in the UK is there are so few good sound systems. Sub Club in Glasgow and Plastic People in London are both really good. Then you’ve got clubs like Fabric and Ministry of Sound that have been hijacked by different audiences on different nights, which means you can’t get in there and inject your own spirit. They have absolutely banging sound, but they have no subtlety and they are probably two of the best. So in London it’s basically a disaster.”

“There are clubs that get it really right. For example in New York there is Cielo, a club called the The Block in Tel-Aviv, and there are a number of clubs in Tokyo that do the same thing. These are clubs that aren’t owned by people who want to sell drinks. These are clubs run by people who are really passionate about DJ culture and the heritage of it, so they understand the line between Studio 54 and today. These are clubs where you play vinyl and it sounds better than any form of digitised record. In most places in the UK you can’t even play vinyl, because no one knows how to set up a turntable. It is ironic that in England, which is such a great place for sound system and dance culture, there isn’t a club, where everyone behind the club appreciate the heritage involved.”

“No is prepared to spend £300,000 – £400,000 on a sound system and then be very strict on the door, because you always end up with people in there you wouldn’t want. You want music lovers, not fashion heads. Unfortunately fashion is more popular in the UK than music at the moment. Hopefully that’s all set to change in the next few years."

Peterson is definitely born from the old school, where the movement in music is as important as the music itself and the way the music is presented matters as much as the record. As the popularity of the DJ rises and the technology means anyone can have a go, Peterson is complimentary about those who harness the spirit he is talking about.

“The kind of DJ's I’m talking about are the classic house DJs like Louie Vega or Joe Claussell, or nowadays Giles Smith and the Detroit people like Theo Parrish. Some of the South American DJ’s like Luciano or Ricardo Vilalobos have this same spirit too.

“The drum and bass boys, even the good ones like Clipse, rock up to the club, do their thing for 60 minutes or 90 minute sets. No one goes to those nights and plays for six hours in the UK, because there isn’t a club for guys like that to go and play for that long. In Japan your set starts at midnight and it finishes at midday.

“The short opening times here are annoying too, coupled with the fact there are too many drugs. I think the drug thing has eventually had a huge negative effect on the culture of clubbing. Most people want to get wasted, so it’s very rare that you go to places in the UK where it is pure people and music. I’m not anti-drugs, but the extent of it has become depressing really. There are some clubs in the UK that have great management and great people who put together great line-ups, but I don’t think the crowd going there now will be there in 10 years time. These are clubs that represent a period in your life, not the duration of your life.

“One club we really miss in London is The End, because the people who ran it were music fans. They understood where techno began, where house ended and who to have on different nights.”

Peterson’s passion is infectious and his opinions are made from someone who has been on the inside of music for years. His relationship with the record, the medium and the music is ingrained to a level where many never venture during their life. His work with Cuban musicians is another chapter in this man’s remarkable relationship with music in its broadest terms.



To listen to Gilles Peterson’s Havan Cultura compilation check out www.havana-cultura.com

http://www.gillespetersonworldwide.com

http://www.havana-cultura.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4CYsEzBzbo

Photo: Youri Lenquette

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