Music Monument Taj Mahal: Taj Brings Country Blues, Hawaiian Slide, and African Griot Sounds to Interlochen

June 23, 2004

A legend walking, Taj Mahal is a student of American music from the time when nothing much separated jazz and blues. His music is rooted in the spirit of humanity, sharing the beauty of being human. Mahal is a blues musician who hasn’t lost his soul, guts or grit; he’s one who sees the bigger world picture in everything. Taj Mahal brings his Hula Blues to Interlochen for the first time on Monday June 28.
Mahal has influenced everyone in the present-day blues realm from new bohemians Corey Harris and Alvin Youngblood Hart to pop blues tunesmith Keb Mo. “He’s a renegade who was never afraid to step outside the blues idiom to express himself,” Mo says.
Most renegades encounter some opposition; Mahal is no stranger to the wrath of the ‘blues Nazis,’ those die-hard blues supporters who can’t see past 1930s blues music, but at the same time embrace youngsters Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Jonny Lang.

LESS CENTRALIZED
“I’m a product of different regional music styles. I’ve been watching trends in music since the ‘40s,” Mahal says. “I feel fortunate to have grown up in a time when music was less centralized.”
He recalls the time he was on an elevator in Poland expecting to hear a tune from just down the block and hears Sir-Mix-A-Lot. “It’s interesting how music moves,” Mahal says. “A lot of U.S. artists don’t know how their music is heard around the world.”
Noting that most music lovers are fair-weather fans and that many domestic artists make most of their living outside the country -- including the likes of the Sugar Hill Gang or Chuck D -- Mahal claims membership to that group also. He points out that, “It’s the record industry talking when you hear ‘one hit wonder.’”
Taj Mahal is one of the original world beat artists. Mahal’s foray into world sounds predates Paul Simon, Sting and Peter Gabriel by a country mile. It’s safe to say that Taj made the way easier for these guys to at least act like they weren’t ripping anyone off.
Mahal has his own recording company, Kandu Records, enabling a self-determined career that spans 40 years. He credits his independent streak to the influence of his parents, a Jamaican immigrant father and a South Carolina teacher who sang gospel.
Mahal’s most recent release is “Hanapepe Dream” -- sort of Tin Pan Alley meets Don Ho. The eight-piece Hula Blues -- featuring three ukuleles, a Hawaiian steel guitarist and sax player -- got off to an informal start during weekend cookouts Hawaii where Taj moved to provide a solid environment for his children to grow.
“My ears have always been open and there is always something different to hear,” Majal says. “I had to find out what was interesting as part of a developing culture that came from Africa who had to reconstruct ourselves here. What form of music was always made here? What different influences were involved? World music was mixed somewhere before it arrived here.”
Majal says to remind Northern Michigan concert goers that “the listeners are more than welcome to dance. Get ready to party.”

BIO:
Taj Mahal is a man who has closely studied and preserved the roots music of African Americans since he began playing the Boston folk scene in the 1960s. He studied the history and formulas of Caribbean, West African, zydeco, rock, jazz, and R. In fact, it was always the music of country blues that has influenced most of his own music.
After learning how to play a multitude of instruments, Taj Mahal moved to Los Angeles and teamed up with Ry Cooder to form the Rising Sons, who split after one single was released. Mahal recorded his first solo album in 1968, shortly before playing an incredible performance of the Banks/Parker hit, “Ain’t That a Lot of Love” on the Rolling Stones’ Rock & Roll Circus with the late, great Jessie Ed Davis on lead guitar.
Following what his fans believe to be his prime years, Mahal went on to experiment with whatever music genre he was infatuated with at the time, and also wrote scores for the stage as well as television and film. His homes have ranged from New York City to the Hawaiian islands, where he lived for nearly 20 years. The music of Hawaii influenced his latest album, “Hanapepe Dream.” The English translation of Hanapepe is, “having a baby.”
Known as the “biggest little town” on the island of Kauai. Hanapepe is located on the west side of the island. According to legend, when couples needed to escape the stress and strain of “day to day” life, it was believed that the peaceful settings of Hanapepe would assist them in “having a baby.”
Taj is at his best playing country blues styles. His rich soulful singing has an ultra-deep dynamic range that fits perfectly with the driving shuffle-beats and bass bounce of this particular blues subgenre.
-- from Rolling Stone & the Taj Mahal website.

THE ROLLING STONE REVIEW:
Taj Mahal • Hanapepe Dream

Having connected the blues to West African griot songs and just about every other indigenous music on earth, Taj Mahal returns to the placid chiming sounds of Hawaii, where he lived for two decades.
Hanapepe Dream surrounds Mahal’s gritty, road-roughened voice with elegant slack-key guitar lines and the ukulele textures of Hawaiian folk.
Some tracks are pleasantly innocuous, but there are several treasures, among them a brisk “Stagger Lee.”
-- Tom Moon (RS 928, August 7, 2003)