There’s an interesting documentary that was posted over at MTV Iggy of Victoria Bergsman, front woman of The Concretes and female vocals to Peter Bjorn and John’s song ‘Young Folks.’ In her latest project, Victoria goes to Pakistan to record music.
Under the moniker “Taken By Trees,†her second solo album is a blend of floaty, Northern European vocals and the traditional sounds of Pakistan. Bergsman said she went East because she is a “fan†of Sufi music and a lover of such artists as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.[MTV Iggy]
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They set up a makeshift studio in the Lahore home of their hotel owner. [T]he electricity would go off for an hour every third hour. That was the least of their problems. Bergsman and Soderstrom had to pretend to be married in the traditionally patriarchal society. She also had to convince the local musicians that a woman could run a recording session. [NPR]
There is some language in the documentary that I find problematic (“Pakistan was more mysterious” or “people all over, miserable, dirty, poor, dead animals”), though overall her soft lilting voice tempered her words significantly. But what compelled me to bring this dialogue to Sepia Mutiny was an offline conversation with musician friends.
MadGuru, who had just returned from collaborating with local musicians in Pakistan for his animated short Gul, stated:
“I think it’s really cool that she went there and recorded her music, but she seems really clueless about how the traditional music there is improvised and played/recorded live…I had music recorded in Pakistan last summer myself, so I do know how frustrating it can be to try and figure things out, but at least one should go to a place to record the music they play, with some knowledge of what it is instead of expecting the whole world to play like session musicians at a studio and think they lack talent if they don’t.”
The rebuttal argument from someone else was, “At least the Pakistani artists got paid.” But is that enough? Is it really about ‘getting paid’ or is it about the integrity of music is made? Should we reward Victoria’s bravery for being ‘creative outside the box’ and going to Pakistan despite all odds? Personally, I think it would have been braver if Victoria had fought harder to find female musicians to collaborate with, as she initially wanted. The Concretes started as an all girl band, and I think her past working with female musicians may have led to a different Pakistani experience (and album) all together.
The entire album, East of Eden, can be listened to streamed online here at NPR, though the album doesn’t come out till September 8th. I find the album very ethereal sounding and the Desi sounds are intertwined with her unique style. Take a listen and tell me what you think.
I would suspect musicians of the Desi diaspora have a unique perspective on this topic, especially those that have collaborated with artists in South Asia. What do you think, about the documentary, her music and South Asian music collaborations?
After watching the clip, I can see how some people might consider it pretentious. Look a European woman goes to “exotic†Pakistan to record with sufi musicians on her own. Look she is brave enough to walk the streets of Pakistan by herself and the camera just happens to be recording too.
I am a bit skeptical but I will let her album do the talking. I just hope the Pakistani musicians who helped her with the recording were properly paid.
Also it’s important to remember that Lahore, the cultural capital of Pakistan and sister city to Delhi, has long been visited by artists far and wide. What this woman is not out of the norms of history.
I think the album was better than a lot of other attempts by rich pakistanis to draw from their cultural traditions. There’s a growing disconnect between the musicians of Pakistan and the music of the country, and any attempts to make something that isn’t cheesy should be lauded.
Whenever I see “NPR” and “Music” in the same sentence I run.
NPR has the most annoying music played on it.
And now please enjoy listening to an hour of JuJu the African tribesman make music by pounding different parts of a dead yak. You are listening to NPR.
Where did she see the dead humans? What?!
Dead humans?
That’s awesome!!! Where’d you read that? My comprehension skills must be gone.
Basim, in the video when she’s talking about her initial impressions of Pakistan around 2:22 she says “I even saw a few dead humans…” I just want to know which part of Pakistan she went to that had dead humans lying all over the place?
Seems to have been a very joyless experience for her and everyone else involved. I found the music quite dull with the exception of watch the waves. I find her irritating. I think she considers herself a bit of a martyr for going there. Whatever. Spare me white lady.
Basim – You should check out the coke studio sessions. Theres actually a REVIVAL of interest in our musical heritage. The music Rohail Hayat and Co. are creating is phenomenal.
I’ll have to preface this comment with a disclaimer: I’m a fan of “fusion” music.
I actually thought the music on the album was enjoyable. The songs seem to start and end with “traditional” melodies and then transition into a more or less standard indie pop/rock format. (They were almost a low-fi version of songs like Sting’s “Desert Rose.”) But to the artist’s credit, I thought those transitions were smooth. Also the “traditional” parts were traditional enough that my Indian mother (who was also listening) commented, “This is like listening to bhajans.” Either way, the album doesn’t sound like they struggled to record it. This could, however, be due to really great post-processing and mixing, not necessarily because of great live recording.
As for the video, I agree with MadGuru that Bergsman clearly had little practical knowledge of what it is like to live and work – or even visit – south east Asia. I can’t tell if she’s pretentious, or just a space case! It’s one thing to be “courageous” by not heeding government travel restrictions, and something else altogether to be clueless about where you will be traveling and the people with whom you will be working. If she had even glanced at headlines before she left, she would know that Pakistan has a lot of problems for its people right now – poverty, inequality in education, not to mention war…
PS : don’t diss on NPR 😛
Shallow – I respectfully disagree on the NPR music comment. Yes, they have their dull moments – but they have some great shows when they interview world artists, local indie artists and basic reviews of current trends.
A favorite show is Radio M. You can listen to it online.
http://www.wbez.org/Program_RM.aspx
Trust me, I drive a lot for work and listen to a lot of NPR – have heard many artists that I have gone home and looked up for further listening.
Here’s another good one:
http://www.soundopinions.org/
Meriem, thanks for the tip off about Rohail Hayat and Co! I’ll have to check them out. A good friend of mine, Areeb Azhar (who I use to play bass for) was on coke studios for a session, and I heard it went really really well. He does the sufiana kalaam a great service.
The Atif Aslam MJ tribute on cock studios however made me want to burn down an LG Cellphone billboard 😛
Yamn
http://www.pardonmyhindi.com/blog/?p=923
This is fascinating for me. Primarily because I am very interested in hybrid music. Experimenting with music is always a fun thing to do. I like that Victoria did go and experiment with Asian music like this. I wish more South-Asians would be willing to experiment with Scandinavian (or other types of) music. I am interested in that a lot. I think hybrid music is in a way the music of the future.