Another day with Eno
Brian Eno, who spent six months in St. Petersburg in 1997, returns to the city for the live premiere of his latest collaboration with Algerian-born, Paris-based singer Rachid Taha. The British musician, producer and lecturer who contributed to Taha's 2004 album "Tékitoi?", has recently released an album with KING CRIMSON's Robert Fripp. Eno was also active in the British general election earlier this month and was in New York working with Paul Simon.
During his stay in St. Petersburg in 1997 Eno made two audio-visual installations, at Pavlovsk Palace and the State Russian Museum's Marble Palace, and wrote a monthly column about life in St. Petersburg for the British Sunday newspaper The Observer.
Interviewed by The St. Petersburg Times at his London studio, Eno spoke about his love for Arabic music, his new album of "proper" songs and his views on Russia.
Q: You spent a lot of time in Russia in the past, but you will be performing in Russia for the first time?
A: That's right, it's the first time that I've ever played in Russia. I don't perform much anywhere, so I'm not really a very active performer. I had some installations in Russia, though.
Q: What's your role in the upcoming Russian concerts? Do you see yourself as a member of Rachid Taha's band?
A: Yes, that's right. I'm using my various electronic devices to change the sound of some of the instruments, and I also have a synthesizer there. So I do play sometimes and I sing backing vocals.
Q: Is it true that you have developed some software specifically for the concerts?
A: I didn't develop it. It's some equipment that is available already, but I think I'm the first person to really use it in this way. So my use of it is original, I think.
Q: Can it be said that the Russian concerts will be the world premiere of your performing with Taha?
A: I did one other show with him in Paris [on April 1]. That was a sort of experimental show to make sure that everything worked. But yes, that's the only other experience of it.
Q: What do you find interesting about Taha?
A: First thing I like and have liked for a long time Arabic music. I've liked it for a very long time. I have a quite big collection of Arabic records. So I'm very open to that kind of music. Then what's interesting about Rachid is he's sort of made a new kind of music, halfway between Western rock and Arabic music, so Western rock and raï, actually it's the kind of music he comes from, which is Algerian popular music. And it's very, very, very exciting on stage. It's really one of the most exciting stage things I've ever seen, his performances. And so for me it was a way into Arabic music as a performer. As I said I've loved it for years, I have many, many, many records of Arabic musicians and singers, but I've never been able to perform it before.
Q: How did you meet him?
A: I met him because his manager also used to be a manager of Fela Kuti, and Fela Kuti is possibly my favorite musician in the last 50 years, I guess. When Fela died, I was asked by an English black music magazine to write an obituary about Fela. And his manager saw this and said he thought it was the best obituary that has been written about him. He asked me if he can quote that on the records of Fela's that he was going to re-release. They were just re-releasing all of his albums, which is a huge number. So I said, of course, you can. And then to say thank you he sent me all the albums when they came out again. And then we kept in touch and he said to me one day, "Oh, I have this guy coming over from Paris to play, you might like to check him out". And so I met Rachid. And actually one of the most interesting things that Rachid was playing in his set was this song which is one of my favorite Arabic songs. It was a hit for a singer called Farid al-Atrash, I think in the early 1970s or something like that, it's a classic song called "Habina". And they were very, very surprised that I knew this song. I know all the words of it, in fact. I don't know what they mean, but I can sing the song in Arabic.
Q: Taha also sings THE CLASH's "Rock The Casbah" (The 1982 song was inspired by the banning of rock music in Iran under Ayatollah Khomeini.) Do you find that he gives it a new meaning?
A: Oh yes, it's very funny for a start. There's something that's very funny about him turning the piece round and turning it back into an Arabic piece. I think actually it's extremely good, I think it's better than THE CLASH's version, actually. And I think THE CLASH like it as well.
Q: One article actually described Rachid Taha as "France's first punk rocker".
A: Really? It's funny because he is a strange person on stage. He's not really punk exactly. He's somewhere between a kind of cabaret nightclub performer and a punk. Something very peculiar about his stage persona. It's not so aggressive as the punk stance is. In fact, he's not aggressive. He sort of makes fun of himself, in a way, so it's not quite forceful as punk tends to be.
Q: Is there any language barrier (between you and him) as he sings in Arabic and French more than in English?
A: He hardly sings in English at all. And in fact he mostly sings in Arabic. There's a couple of songs where he sings a bit of French, but mostly it's Arabic. Well, that doesn't bother me at all; as I say, I've been listening to Arabic records for a long time, so I like the sound of the language a lot, even if I don't understand it. But I've never been so interested in the meaning of songs anyway, so to me it's fine if he sings in a foreign language.
Q: Why are the concerts in Russia, rather than in London, for instance?
A: Well, I have a feeling about Rachid. I think what Rachid is doing musically and politically is very, very important. And the two places I would really like him to be heard and accepted are Russia and America. This is because I think it would be good for both of those countries to embrace an Arabic artist, you know, somebody who is clearly from that culture and is proud of it. He's an interesting character, because his politics are not at all simple, he's not a kind of obvious Islamist, he's quite critical of the Arab world, but he's quite critical of the Western world as well. So his political position, which is very much a part of what he's doing, I think, is quite subtle. It's not an obvious position. But mostly, I think, you know, I would really love to see him being a big success in America. You know, America and Russia are two countries that both have a problem with Muslims. That would be good if they could get over that sooner or later.
Q: Do you follow the political situation in Russia? It looks like you have an interest.
A: Yes, I mean all I know about the political situation in Russia is really what I read in our newspapers and in The St. Petersburg Times, that's all I read. So I don't really know the internal Russian view of the situation, if you understand what I mean. But I see a real difficult situation going on for people. You know, there's [President Vladimir] Putin who undoubtedly in some respects has been very good for Russia, but it seems to me he's becoming more and more like an old-style Russian leader. He's becoming more and more authoritarian. So I think this is a problem, even though I can understand why people like him as well. He has pulled things together. But I hope he doesn't go down that road.
(...)
Brian Eno will perform with Rachid Taha at Manezh Kadetskogo Korpusa on Tuesday.
Sergey Chernov
"The St. Petersburg Times", Issue #1071 (37), Friday, May 20, 2005
