ARTS Thursday, September 28, 1989 The Michigan Daily Page 7, 'Home-grown wonder Bluesmaster Taj Mahal finds his roots TAJ Mahal has seen it all and done most of it, but in mid-career he is hardly pausing to look back. He's known as keeper of the blues flame but his musical versatility and di- verse heritage make him one of our most original and charismatic per- formers, incorporating blues, folk, caribbean, latin, and rock all within a single personality. He'll be playing this Friday night in Ann Arbor at The Ark, and you'll be able to see him perform on David Sanborn's Sunday Night this week on network TV. In the late '60s Mahal achieved -immense popular success. After sev- eral big-selling albums and a couple tours of America and Europe (arranged with the help of new fans the Rolling Stones), Mahal took a break to assess his life and the indus- try and decided to pull off the fast track. He says, "We'd lost too many musicians, siphoned off by drugs and all... I said hey it's time for this stuff to be over. I decided to take back the day, and the night, and the month, too." Conflicts over musical styles were a big factor in his decision. "I worked real hard with the big record companies for ten years, and they wouldn't let me do my stuff," he says. "You could make big flash stuff and then be scared to death that it wouldn't be accepted and they'd drop you." Raised in Springfield, Mas- sachusetts, Mahal grew up in a diverse cultural environment. "I grew up believing that the world is a multi-national place. As a youngster I thought the world was out of joint because the music was one-dimen- sional. See, I grew up listening to all kinds of music - Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, Illinois Jacquet, Thelonious Monk. I have relatives who are West Indian, Latins, Native Americans, Afro-Americans. The music of these cultures is what we went out and danced to." "When I was a teenager and lis- tening to the radio they were always playing new music from England, Mr. Ackerbilt and all, and one day I heard this song 'Freight Train,' and I said, 'that song does not come from England.' It took me 15 years to find that woman, Liz Cotten, and all that time I had this image of her being like all popular performers, so highly revered, and then I came to find that she looked just like my Aunt Estelle. So I realized how im- portant it was to uncover your roots, to build your music out of your own heritage." For Mahal, the choices were about music and about life. He says, "Going through my youth I got to know all these great things my rela- tives had done, how much they achieved. My grandfather came to New York from the Caribbean, got a job as a Pullman porter, saved enough to buy a house. That kind of legacy helps everybody to know about themselves. Unfortunately, it's not the message given to some of my partners. They're still hanging out on street corners, drinking wine, driving around in long-ass Cadillacs." In his travels Mahal has become keenly aware of social and political problems facing the world, and he tries to address them with a positive message in his music. He is careful in his approach, noting that "It's okay now for Axl Rose to slam Black people on record, and they still American music legend Taj Mahal is privileging Ann Arbor with his appearance at the Ark tomorrow night. Renowned for his deft synthesis of many American musical traditions, this is one cool guy. make the cover of Rolling Stone. human spirit - yes, you can do it. themselves to make the world right. But everyone slammed Public You can try to make improvements. Males are going to have to give in Enemy for making statements. I like And you know, the future is female, to a sensitive side. We have to nur- celebrating the perserverance of the females are going to have to assert ture one another." See TAJ, page 8 AMM& ;. Kincaid discovers beast beneath beauty BY JIM PONIEWOZIK IN my dream, I walked down a smooth, unpaved road. The road was lined on either side with palm trees whose leaves spread out so wide that they met and tangled up with each other and the whole road was shaded from the sun, which was always shining... my steps were quick and light, and as I walked these words would go around in my head: "My mother would kill me if she got the chance. I would kill my mother if I had the courage." -Jamaica Kincaid, Annie John In a way, I hope you're not reading this. I hope you just read the paragraph that I retyped above and have al- ready skipped down to the italicized blurb at the end of this article so you can find out for yourself what sort of person is capable of producing those rich and jarring lines. Because I can't tell you. I can't guess from whence within Kincaid spring these contradictions: this painter's instinct for physical beauty and this psychol- ogist's discernment of inner pain. I can tell you, how- ever, that they are there. Kincaid was born in St. John's, Antigua, a city on a Caribbean island which, with its combination of tropical beauty and poverty, may have provided the seeds for both sides of the contradiction. Much like her homeland, Kincaid's prose bears underneath its lush, vibrantly colorful surface an undercurrent of unease. Such contrasts are easy for an author to exploit; many make the mistake of pushing readers back and forth between literary hot and cold water taps ("Why, LOOK at this character who's SO MISERABLE de- spite this IDYLLIC BACKGROUND!!! MY, but isn't that IRONIC! !! "). Not so in Kincaid's fiction. Like the Trystero postage stamps in Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49 made all the more eerie by their deviating only slightly Kincaid was born in St. John's, Antigua, a city on a Caribbean is- land.... Much like her homeland, Kincaid's prose bears underneath its lush, vibrantly colorful surface an undercurrent of unease. from their authentic prototypes, Kincaid's writing derives its power from its subtlety. In Annie John, the reader is first caught by her fluid, friendly prose and her sensitive description of the pastoral life of the Antiguans, lulled into near-complacency by the nar- cotic pleasantness of the narrative. The true gist of the story - the adolescent confusion, spiritual unease, and mysterious guilt which shatter its protagonist's world - settle upon the reader unawares, like the first vague shadows of an approaching thundercloud. Kincaid, who now resides in Vermont and has been a staff writer for the New Yorker, is also the author of the novel At the Bottom of the River and the non-fic- tion collection A Small Place. The University's King/ChavezlParks Visiting. Professors program and Visiting Writers Series pre- sent JAMAICA KINCAID, who will read from her work at Rackham Amphiteatre today at S p.m. A re- ception for her will be held in the Hopwood Room, 1006 Angell Hall,from 4-5 p.m. BETTER THAN THE BATHROOM WALLS! SiGive your message a 5 2*Z JJ2 Touch.. *it ER hbti 1utIh Personals 764-0557 CLASSIFIED ADS '** ATENION: Supreme Course Tran- scripts, the LS&A lecure notetaking service, has the following notes avail. at Alpha- graphics Printshops at 715 N. Univ.: Anthro 101, Anthro 161 Anthro 368 Astro 101/111, Astro 102/112 Class Civ 111 Comm 103, Comm 320, Econ 201, Econ 21)2, Econ 395, Econ 401, Geog 101 Geol 100k Geol 101, Geol 107, Geol 115 ieold 222, [ist 160, [ist 200, Hist 332, Hist X366, Physics 125, Physics 140, Physics 240 Poll. Sci. 395 Physiology 101, Psych 101, 1sych 171, Psych 33, Ps 368. Ca663-6816 for more info. FE DANCE LESSONS Sept. 18 & 25 6:30s. AA 1st United Meth. Chur. State & Wash. Square and Round - No partner needed. Park at Tally Hall. 437-8828./e PERSONA * * STACY-"Sisters At Heart!" You Are The Best Friend Anyone Could Ask For. Thank You For Everything & Es cially For Just Being You. I Am Alf SMILES ! ILove You, DEBBIE. ***ATTENTION SENIORS ***YEARBOOK PORTRAITS TAKEN TODAY ON THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE UGL FROM 8:30 TO 5:00 pm. CALL 764-0561 FOR MORE INFO ORT'IO RESCEDULE YOUR APPOINTMENT. *FREE PIANO LESSON!* Casio rental available. Mike 994-0371. PERSONA. DIAL A JEWISH STORY. Another project of the Chabad House. Call 995-5959. BALLOONS! BALLOONS! BALLOONS! Call BALLOONEY TOONS for all occas- sions. 996-4526. 415 Church. Free delivery. My Buddies at 1019 Church St.: Thanx for the Best B'Day Ever! You Guys are theBest. I Couldn't be a Happier Camper. Special Friends Forever! Get Psyched foran Awe- some Year. I Love You, Debbie. PERSONAL JOEL- I can't breathe. Pick up some Sudafed for me at the Village Apothecary. 1112 S. University- Carol. STICKY DART Tournaments!! Have you boys fixed those weapons yet????? THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE. Certified holistic practitioner. Debra K. Rozek 663- 7547. t WANT TO learn word processing? At the Academic Resource Center (The Arc), in room 219 of the Undergraduate Library we'll show you how easy it is to master MS' Word. Drop by the Arc Mon. 2-4, Tue.Fri. & Sun. 2-5. Daily Classifieds t Read Jim Poniewozik Every in, RM WA AMA "SEA " Ve ek 99F- a md ,l Become a i Daily Photographer! _______________________________ m h l U V - Thurs. Sept. Thurs.-Sun. Sept. 28-Oct. Fri. Sept. 29 Sat. Sept. 3t The University of Michigan SCHOOL OF MUSIC 28 Faculty Recital--Hamao Fujiwara, violin, with K. Mikami, piano Mozart: Sonata in B Flat Major, K. 454 Prokofiev: Sonata #1 in F Minor, Op. 80 Bach: Partita #2 in D Minor for Solo Violin Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy Recital Hall, School of Music, 8:00 pm University Players-- 1 Hamletmachine Tickets $7, call 764-0450 Trueblood Theatre, 8:00 p.m. (Th-Sat); 2:00 p.m. (Sun) Faculty Recital--Edward Parmentier, harpsichordist Music of G. Frescobaldi, John Bull Blanche Anderson Moore Hall, School of Music, 8:00 p.m. 0 Dance Guest Artist Series--Alan Lommasson & Lynn Slaughter For tickets call 763-5460 Dance Bldg., 8:00 p.m. 1 rt _ _- _ -U__ _- _ I