How to Be a World Music Star: Buena Vista, Bhundu Boys and Beyond

Download Subtitles

Transcript

0:00:04 > 0:00:06In the 1980s,

0:00:06 > 0:00:09some British music fans were searching for something new.

0:00:11 > 0:00:15The answer lay somewhere out there,

0:00:15 > 0:00:18but how to find it over here?

0:00:18 > 0:00:23Where did you put a Bulgarian tractor-factory workers' choir

0:00:23 > 0:00:26and some guitar-slinging hotshot from Guinea-Bissau?

0:00:26 > 0:00:28How did you put them in a record shop?

0:00:30 > 0:00:34This is the story of how a new music genre was born.

0:00:34 > 0:00:36What could we have?

0:00:36 > 0:00:40OK, tropical? Well, that leaves the Bulgarians out.

0:00:40 > 0:00:42After ten minutes, then more audience came.

0:00:42 > 0:00:44World beat.

0:00:44 > 0:00:46After 20 minutes, more audience came.

0:00:46 > 0:00:48Maybe someone said "ethnic".

0:00:48 > 0:00:51And after 30 minutes, packed.

0:00:51 > 0:00:55"World music" and everybody went, "Yeah, that works."

0:00:56 > 0:01:02And it's the story of the meeting of cultures, collaborations

0:01:02 > 0:01:03and conflicting ambitions

0:01:03 > 0:01:07that have changed our musical landscape for ever.

0:01:10 > 0:01:14You know, any idea they were these kind of innocent noble savages

0:01:14 > 0:01:18who were going to be corrupted by Western influences was rubbish.

0:01:18 > 0:01:26We have been offered to be in a limousine, we travel with limousine.

0:01:33 > 0:01:38MUSIC: "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" by Wham!

0:01:38 > 0:01:41At the turn of the 1980s,

0:01:41 > 0:01:44Britain was sound-tracked by chart-friendly pop.

0:01:45 > 0:01:49Punk was dead and so was Bob Marley.

0:01:49 > 0:01:52Music was reflecting, not criticising the excess,

0:01:52 > 0:01:57the glamour, the new drama of life and those that really

0:01:57 > 0:01:59loved the idea of just music,

0:01:59 > 0:02:01they felt an awful lot would be missing,

0:02:01 > 0:02:05you know, in terms of authentic music, real music,

0:02:05 > 0:02:08music that wasn't about showbusiness or escapism.

0:02:11 > 0:02:14Now people were looking for the kinds of things

0:02:14 > 0:02:16they used to get

0:02:16 > 0:02:20from roots music in the early '60s and jazz,

0:02:20 > 0:02:22that kind of virtuosity

0:02:22 > 0:02:27and improvisation and connectedness to culture.

0:02:27 > 0:02:31I think people were really casting around for something different

0:02:31 > 0:02:34because it was almost like if you admitted that manufactured pop

0:02:34 > 0:02:38was the king again, then the whole punk thing had been a waste of time.

0:02:42 > 0:02:45Meanwhile, the post-punk scene of the early '80s

0:02:45 > 0:02:48found itself in a dark place.

0:02:48 > 0:02:51They too were looking for fresh sounds from somewhere, anywhere.

0:02:51 > 0:02:54MUSIC: "All My Colours Zimbo" by Echo & The Bunnymen

0:03:00 > 0:03:04Enter WOMAD, the World Of Music And Dance Festival in 1982.

0:03:06 > 0:03:10Musicians from around the world arrived to share the stage with

0:03:10 > 0:03:12indie bands - Echo & The Bunnymen

0:03:12 > 0:03:15teamed up with the drummers of Burundi.

0:03:18 > 0:03:21All of the Bunnymen fans from Liverpool were so excited.

0:03:21 > 0:03:22They just drummed all night,

0:03:22 > 0:03:27there were about 80 people just drumming in a very good-natured

0:03:27 > 0:03:29fashion, I may add, on a sheep-shearing shed

0:03:29 > 0:03:30and as they did it,

0:03:30 > 0:03:33it just gradually just fell over, the whole shed just collapsed.

0:03:36 > 0:03:40The first WOMAD was an expensive venture and founder Peter Gabriel

0:03:40 > 0:03:43had to put on a gig with a re-formed Genesis to pay for it.

0:03:45 > 0:03:48But a spark had been ignited.

0:03:48 > 0:03:50I'm very hopeful that even if we can't continue,

0:03:50 > 0:03:54that the idea is going to be pushed through by some others

0:03:54 > 0:03:56because, if nothing else,

0:03:56 > 0:03:58we showed that a rock audience

0:03:58 > 0:04:02could give a standing ovation to a 50-year-old Chinese horn player

0:04:02 > 0:04:04and that was great.

0:04:09 > 0:04:13Several radio pioneers had also been trying to push their listeners

0:04:13 > 0:04:16to look outside the UK charts.

0:04:16 > 0:04:19The trouble with the industry at the moment is that everybody is

0:04:19 > 0:04:23kind of recycling existing ideas and copying each other

0:04:23 > 0:04:26so fast you can't even remember who copied who any more.

0:04:26 > 0:04:29Radio 1's John Peel had always slipped in the odd foreign

0:04:29 > 0:04:31record from the BBC sound archives...

0:04:33 > 0:04:36..as did his enthusiastic young apprentice.

0:04:37 > 0:04:41One day, Peel and I were sitting in the office of Radio 1 and almost

0:04:41 > 0:04:47together we opened cardboard mailers which contained the same record.

0:04:47 > 0:04:51I said to Peel, "The Bhundu Boys. I've never heard of them.

0:04:51 > 0:04:54"Have you, John?" He said, "Oh, stick it on."

0:04:56 > 0:04:58The instant it went on,

0:04:58 > 0:05:01it was as though somebody was showering the room with

0:05:01 > 0:05:04this fountain of jewelled guitar notes

0:05:04 > 0:05:08and it was one of these great "What is this?" moments.

0:05:09 > 0:05:13HE SINGS IN SHONA

0:05:32 > 0:05:37By the time their demo bounced into the Radio 1 studios in 1985,

0:05:37 > 0:05:40the Bhundu Boys had long been entertaining audiences

0:05:40 > 0:05:41back home in Zimbabwe.

0:05:47 > 0:05:50Their journey to the UK began in a Glaswegian Jobcentre

0:05:50 > 0:05:54as musicians Owen Elias and Doug Veitch set their sights

0:05:54 > 0:05:58beyond the drizzly Scottish dole queue to hotter climes.

0:06:03 > 0:06:04It was the glorious days

0:06:04 > 0:06:06of something called the Enterprise Allowance Scheme,

0:06:06 > 0:06:08so Owen went off to Zimbabwe

0:06:08 > 0:06:10with his £40 a week

0:06:10 > 0:06:14from the government of the day to start an African record label!

0:06:17 > 0:06:22He came back with this globetrotter case full of records.

0:06:22 > 0:06:24The one that stuck out was the Bhundu Boys.

0:06:24 > 0:06:27And our producer came to us and told us,

0:06:27 > 0:06:29"There are guys who are coming from England

0:06:29 > 0:06:33"and they want your group to go to England and play there.

0:06:33 > 0:06:37"Would you be interested?" Who would reject an offer like that?

0:06:45 > 0:06:50We got in the plane, actually with nothing besides our rucksacks

0:06:50 > 0:06:55and we're thinking, "Well, we've seen London on the telly,

0:06:55 > 0:06:57"it looks like heaven.

0:06:58 > 0:07:02"Probably we are going to buy our clothes there."

0:07:02 > 0:07:06We were told this guy is a professor and if you want money -

0:07:06 > 0:07:09the professor, you expect him to be very rich.

0:07:09 > 0:07:12I think the band were under the impression that Owen

0:07:12 > 0:07:15was a professor and there was this pop-star musician called Doug Veitch.

0:07:15 > 0:07:18Now, when they arrived off the plane, they very quickly see that

0:07:18 > 0:07:22I was no pop star and that Owen was no real professor.

0:07:23 > 0:07:26The band came off and I think the most any of them had was

0:07:26 > 0:07:31a toilet bag and I thought, "Shit, where's the instruments?", you know.

0:07:31 > 0:07:34They were waiting with their trolleys,

0:07:34 > 0:07:39waiting to pick up the stuff and at the end, there was no stuff.

0:07:39 > 0:07:41We didn't ask what they were waiting for,

0:07:41 > 0:07:44we just thought this is what you do at the airport.

0:07:44 > 0:07:47The Bhundu Boys were due on in Glasgow that night.

0:07:47 > 0:07:49They're in London with no instruments.

0:07:53 > 0:07:56With only a few hours until their UK debut,

0:07:56 > 0:07:59Owen and Doug hurriedly scoured the music shops of Glasgow

0:07:59 > 0:08:01to secure some last-minute instruments.

0:08:04 > 0:08:07As we arrived here, we didn't know what to expect.

0:08:07 > 0:08:10We are coming from a country where we are used to play

0:08:10 > 0:08:13to our own black audience

0:08:13 > 0:08:20and there we are where there was only white audiences and we're going

0:08:20 > 0:08:24to speak in our own African language which they don't understand.

0:08:28 > 0:08:32People were so tense at first, they didn't know what to expect.

0:08:33 > 0:08:36And something used to happen around the third number.

0:08:36 > 0:08:39It was as though something coalesced, gelled, at that point,

0:08:39 > 0:08:42and all of a sudden it would seem like the whole room -

0:08:42 > 0:08:46audience, band, structure, the lot - was bouncing up and down as one.

0:08:59 > 0:09:02But when we finished the first set,

0:09:02 > 0:09:06the lights started going kito-kito-kito off and on

0:09:06 > 0:09:11and it sounded like that was the end of the day and I'm thinking,

0:09:11 > 0:09:17"What's going on?" Back home, we were used to play for long hours.

0:09:17 > 0:09:19If you play one and a half

0:09:19 > 0:09:24and people have paid £10, they'll stone you to death.

0:09:26 > 0:09:30Instead of going back to Zimbabwe, the boys from Harare

0:09:30 > 0:09:34became temporary residents of the Scottish village of Hawick.

0:09:35 > 0:09:38They emerged with a new album and a tour van.

0:09:40 > 0:09:43The Bhundu Boys were ready to take jit jive on the road.

0:09:45 > 0:09:46What the boys are doing

0:09:46 > 0:09:52and other musicians like the Bhundu Boys is not as dramatic and severe

0:09:52 > 0:09:56as the whole punk phenomenon when that happened, but it's nevertheless

0:09:56 > 0:10:02as, erm, as important. It's...

0:10:02 > 0:10:04This is the next stage of popular music.

0:10:08 > 0:10:10We played everywhere.

0:10:10 > 0:10:15In certain places where when you arrive, it would be empty.

0:10:15 > 0:10:19We would be asking ourselves, "Oh, we've made a mistake,

0:10:19 > 0:10:24"we shouldn't have come here." We go on stage, it's packed.

0:10:24 > 0:10:28When you come to Zimbabwe, we are going to give you sadza,

0:10:28 > 0:10:30because you have given us Guinness.

0:10:30 > 0:10:31Thank you.

0:10:31 > 0:10:33All right.

0:10:50 > 0:10:52Peel and Kershaw had become entranced

0:10:52 > 0:10:56and championed the Bhundu Boys on their Radio 1 shows.

0:10:56 > 0:10:59They were playing at a college in Chelsea and anyway Peel

0:10:59 > 0:11:03and I plodded along and I was just, I don't know, with this enormous grin

0:11:03 > 0:11:07on my face and I looked at Peel and Peel, of course, being an old softy,

0:11:07 > 0:11:11he was standing there with fat tears running down fat cheeks.

0:11:11 > 0:11:12Then he said something to me

0:11:12 > 0:11:16at the end along the lines of he never expected

0:11:16 > 0:11:20to be as moved by music again

0:11:20 > 0:11:25as he was by what he heard that night.

0:11:25 > 0:11:27When I'm invited to dinner by friends in the village here,

0:11:27 > 0:11:30instead of taking the bottle of unpleasant wine that's obligatory

0:11:30 > 0:11:35even in these backwoods, I take a copy of the Bhundu Boys LP Shabini.

0:11:35 > 0:11:38This has by so much supplanted the Dire Straits LPs

0:11:38 > 0:11:40on the smarter turntables in the area that we now get

0:11:40 > 0:11:44invitations from people we barely know who just want a copy of the LP.

0:11:44 > 0:11:47Why aren't these people getting more daytime radio airplay,

0:11:47 > 0:11:48the Bhundu Boys?

0:11:57 > 0:12:01I think we came on the right time where a lot of people wanted

0:12:01 > 0:12:05some change and we have come with a different beat,

0:12:05 > 0:12:10different from reggae, different from pop, something different.

0:12:10 > 0:12:14It seems, I think, we are proving ourselves to be the Duran Duran

0:12:14 > 0:12:20of Zimbabwe and, well, any time from now the Bhundu of the world.

0:12:40 > 0:12:44It turned out the Bhundu Boys were right on the money.

0:12:44 > 0:12:48In 1987, Shabini hit the indie charts at number two

0:12:48 > 0:12:51and stayed in the top 20 for five months.

0:12:52 > 0:12:56And that year, less than two years since their first gig in Glasgow,

0:12:56 > 0:12:59the Bhundu Boys signed with Warner Brothers.

0:12:59 > 0:13:07There is a bigger untapped source of absolutely fabulous talent

0:13:07 > 0:13:12on the African continent than anywhere else in the world by far.

0:13:12 > 0:13:17# Back in the Bhundu is where we are from

0:13:20 > 0:13:24# Dancing back from there the whole night long

0:13:28 > 0:13:32# They seem not to care They say it's all right

0:13:35 > 0:13:37# Let's avenge each child in the bhundu night. #

0:13:40 > 0:13:42But their first album with Warner, True Jit,

0:13:42 > 0:13:46was a far cry from early albums like Shabini.

0:13:46 > 0:13:48I think it was the death knell for the band.

0:13:48 > 0:13:51They had a brilliant formula, they sang in their own language,

0:13:51 > 0:13:53they sang in Shona,

0:13:53 > 0:13:56people were perfectly willing to listen to the band in Shona.

0:13:56 > 0:13:58It was part of the appeal of the band.

0:13:58 > 0:14:01They signed to WEA and went down a completely different route -

0:14:01 > 0:14:04they sang in English, they added brass sections to them.

0:14:04 > 0:14:06Why would you change a winning formula?

0:14:06 > 0:14:10Why would you change everything the public liked about the band?

0:14:10 > 0:14:11Why would you change that?

0:14:11 > 0:14:15They put us on a tour in America.

0:14:16 > 0:14:21We had to sleep in five-star hotels, which was great,

0:14:21 > 0:14:24because we have never tasted that kind of life before

0:14:24 > 0:14:27and we never thought it would come our way.

0:14:27 > 0:14:30We had been offered to be in a limousine,

0:14:30 > 0:14:32we travel with limousine.

0:14:32 > 0:14:34MUSIC: "Material Girl" by Madonna

0:14:39 > 0:14:43That year saw the Bhundu Boys support Madonna at Wembley Stadium,

0:14:43 > 0:14:45but it wasn't to last.

0:14:47 > 0:14:51True Jit was a commercial flop and in 1989, just three years

0:14:51 > 0:14:53after they'd arrived in the UK,

0:14:53 > 0:14:56the Bhundus were dropped by Warner.

0:14:56 > 0:15:00They had this quality which excited people, thrilled people,

0:15:00 > 0:15:04and brought out a, er...

0:15:05 > 0:15:07..like a sense of devotion.

0:15:07 > 0:15:09People loved them.

0:15:09 > 0:15:12And they did reach people who would not ordinarily have been

0:15:12 > 0:15:16listeners to African music, even me mother liked the Bhundu Boys music.

0:15:21 > 0:15:24The broad appeal of the Bhundu Boys was undoubtedly

0:15:24 > 0:15:26helped by radio airplay.

0:15:26 > 0:15:29One of the big differences and very positive things about

0:15:29 > 0:15:32that time was you could hear a lot of things on Radio 1.

0:15:32 > 0:15:35You had not only John Peel, but you had Andy Kershaw

0:15:35 > 0:15:37and you had a sense in which both Radio 1

0:15:37 > 0:15:41and Radio 2 would let all sorts of unusual musics in.

0:15:42 > 0:15:46But even the likes of Peel and Kershaw had to know where to look.

0:15:47 > 0:15:49There was this shop, Sterns, in London, which was selling...

0:15:49 > 0:15:53It was selling toasters and repairing weird

0:15:53 > 0:15:57bits of electrical equipment, but they also sold African records.

0:15:57 > 0:16:01And I'd spend hours in there and I couldn't have carried on

0:16:01 > 0:16:07with these radio eccentricities had I not had the support of that shop.

0:16:07 > 0:16:11MUSIC: "A Lambkin Has Commenced Bleating" by Nadka Karadjova

0:16:19 > 0:16:22Terry Wogan's breakfast show had

0:16:22 > 0:16:26a reputation for dipping into exotic sounds and one day he picked up

0:16:26 > 0:16:29Nadka Karadjova's Bulgarian folk tune,

0:16:29 > 0:16:31A Lambkin Has Commenced Bleating.

0:16:33 > 0:16:35It turned out to be a radio hit.

0:16:46 > 0:16:48People were picking up different things

0:16:48 > 0:16:49and obviously pre-internet period,

0:16:49 > 0:16:51you were finding scraps of information

0:16:51 > 0:16:54and people were going, "I've got this thing," you know,

0:16:54 > 0:16:57and they would play it to their friends and run off a cassette maybe

0:16:57 > 0:16:59and you'd pass it

0:16:59 > 0:17:01in a very hand-to-hand, word-of-mouth kind of way.

0:17:01 > 0:17:04MUSIC: "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by Bauhaus

0:17:13 > 0:17:18I'd been given a third copy cassette from a stagehand friend of mine.

0:17:18 > 0:17:19The moment I heard it,

0:17:19 > 0:17:23it was a brand-new, wonderful, almost operatic,

0:17:23 > 0:17:26aria-type folk song.

0:17:26 > 0:17:30MUSIC: Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir

0:17:38 > 0:17:43At the end of each session, I would have a sort of listen to this music

0:17:43 > 0:17:49and Ivo was very piqued by that and he quickly moved in on it.

0:17:51 > 0:17:55Ivo Watts Russell was the head of art rock label 4AD,

0:17:55 > 0:17:59home to the likes of Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance.

0:18:03 > 0:18:07In 1986, he released the songs from Pete Murphy's

0:18:07 > 0:18:10cassette on a 4AD album.

0:18:10 > 0:18:14It was called Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares.

0:18:14 > 0:18:17I think they actually leaked the record onto the market

0:18:17 > 0:18:21and sold 500 copies of it with a conventional choir on the front

0:18:21 > 0:18:23cover and they didn't sell any copies

0:18:23 > 0:18:27so they kind of did a Cocteau Twins Design with the jewelled slipper

0:18:27 > 0:18:32underwater and immediately that just started to intrigue people.

0:18:32 > 0:18:34The label had applied to the cover

0:18:34 > 0:18:37their trademark enigmatic art work to dramatic effect.

0:18:39 > 0:18:43The cover looked like it was a still from a horror movie.

0:18:43 > 0:18:46It was obviously mysterious and drew you in.

0:18:46 > 0:18:48You certainly wanted to know who was behind it

0:18:48 > 0:18:53and lots of people were talking about why Bulgarian

0:18:53 > 0:18:57women singers were suddenly appearing in the independent charts.

0:19:01 > 0:19:03For the average 4AD fan,

0:19:03 > 0:19:06the otherworldly voices of Bulgaria seemed to fit

0:19:06 > 0:19:09right in with the ethereal sound of the Cocteau Twins.

0:19:11 > 0:19:13It was a rock audience that was just going,

0:19:13 > 0:19:16"There's something amazing here," and, you know, musicians would

0:19:16 > 0:19:20start to pick up on it and play it for people and, you know,

0:19:20 > 0:19:24the word didn't exist in those days, but it was a viral thing.

0:19:38 > 0:19:41Who do you enjoy listening to now? Do you enjoy listening to Madonna?

0:19:41 > 0:19:45There was a nice record by the Bulgarian Ladies' Choir,

0:19:45 > 0:19:47which I think is sensational.

0:19:47 > 0:19:49We'll have to look that out at the BBC record library,

0:19:49 > 0:19:51the Bulgarian Ladies' Choir, yes.

0:19:51 > 0:19:54I'll bring it with me next time.

0:19:59 > 0:20:03In 1987, a Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares touring choir

0:20:03 > 0:20:06met with British audiences for the first time.

0:20:10 > 0:20:16Their appearance was certainly unlike anything that we've

0:20:16 > 0:20:20come across in the conventional pop and rock sense in a long time.

0:20:28 > 0:20:30Off the back of the success of the 4AD album,

0:20:30 > 0:20:33Bulgarian choirs started springing

0:20:33 > 0:20:37up all over, including splinter group Trio Bulgarka.

0:20:38 > 0:20:42In some ways, it's the most exciting communication I've ever had

0:20:42 > 0:20:48with musicians because we can't communicate intellectually because we

0:20:48 > 0:20:52don't have the language, so we speak to each other emotionally, really.

0:20:52 > 0:20:56We sort of feel each other, that's what it feels like.

0:21:04 > 0:21:05Everyone wants to be a part

0:21:05 > 0:21:08of the apparently ancient magic of rural Bulgaria.

0:21:11 > 0:21:14There was just a real sense of, this is an extraordinary phenomenon

0:21:14 > 0:21:17and it's something that's obviously been hidden away for centuries

0:21:17 > 0:21:19and suddenly it's come out into the open.

0:21:48 > 0:21:50But in fact, when 4AD

0:21:50 > 0:21:54had licensed the music, the trail for its owner had led them

0:21:54 > 0:21:57not to Bulgaria, but to Switzerland.

0:22:03 > 0:22:08The recordings were traced back to music collector Marcel Cellier,

0:22:08 > 0:22:11who since the 1950s had been poking behind the Iron Curtain

0:22:11 > 0:22:14looking for folk music.

0:22:14 > 0:22:17He'd stumbled across a goldmine of recorded songs

0:22:17 > 0:22:21in the archives of Bulgaria's national radio station.

0:22:21 > 0:22:24To enter the radio, you had to give your passport...

0:22:24 > 0:22:28And to pass a man with a gun.

0:22:28 > 0:22:33..with a machine gun was before...at the entrance.

0:22:41 > 0:22:45The songs were in fact the creation of Bulgaria's Communist regime.

0:22:46 > 0:22:50In the 1950s, they embarked on a programme to promote national

0:22:50 > 0:22:55pride by taking old folksongs and rearranging them for whole choirs.

0:23:09 > 0:23:13In 1975, Cellier released a compilation of his findings

0:23:13 > 0:23:16and called it Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares.

0:23:19 > 0:23:25We sold very little during ten years, but then it was the new generation

0:23:25 > 0:23:32actually who was eager for new sounds that discovered it and it spread.

0:23:37 > 0:23:42In 1989, the songs that had started life in a Communist radio station

0:23:42 > 0:23:46before being collected by a Swiss musicologist

0:23:46 > 0:23:51and finally repackaged by a British indie label, won a Grammy award.

0:23:53 > 0:23:56And thanks to that Grammy,

0:23:56 > 0:24:01they went to be well known over the world,

0:24:01 > 0:24:04and succeeded everywhere.

0:24:05 > 0:24:06It was a great success.

0:24:19 > 0:24:22Non-Western music was starting to appeal on a global level...

0:24:25 > 0:24:26..but there was a problem.

0:24:29 > 0:24:30Record shops wanted it,

0:24:30 > 0:24:33but they didn't know where to put it physically in the shops.

0:24:33 > 0:24:35They didn't want to put it alphabetically by artist

0:24:35 > 0:24:38because lots of people who went in looking for these things

0:24:38 > 0:24:40didn't know how to spell the names of the artists,

0:24:40 > 0:24:43so where did you put two albums as diverse

0:24:43 > 0:24:47as a Bulgarian tractor-factory workers' choir

0:24:47 > 0:24:51and some guitar-slinging hotshot from Guinea-Bissau?

0:24:51 > 0:24:56How did you put them in a record shop and, moreover, put them together?

0:24:58 > 0:25:01A handful of independent record labels and journalists

0:25:01 > 0:25:06met to work out where to put this music and what to call it.

0:25:06 > 0:25:09And as with all good ideas, the discussion took place in a pub.

0:25:09 > 0:25:11'What can we have?'

0:25:11 > 0:25:15OK, Tropical? Well, that, you know, leaves the Bulgarians out

0:25:15 > 0:25:17and the Finns.

0:25:17 > 0:25:20- World Beat. - Maybe someone said Ethnic.

0:25:20 > 0:25:21That's boring.

0:25:21 > 0:25:23Global something.

0:25:23 > 0:25:24And so on.

0:25:24 > 0:25:27World Music was one of the terms that was around

0:25:27 > 0:25:32that was chucked into the pot and everybody went, "Yeah, that works."

0:25:34 > 0:25:38- # Movement of the people - Send us another brother, Moses... #

0:25:39 > 0:25:42Finding musicians from overseas with enough crossover appeal

0:25:42 > 0:25:44to excite a UK audience

0:25:44 > 0:25:48was the ultimate dream for many independent record labels

0:25:48 > 0:25:49throughout the '80s.

0:25:51 > 0:25:53And since Bob Marley's death in 1981,

0:25:53 > 0:25:58there was quest to find a Third World superstar to replace him.

0:26:00 > 0:26:03Their attention was starting to turn to a generation of stars

0:26:03 > 0:26:08emerging from Africa, whose presence was growing closer to home.

0:26:16 > 0:26:22It's really something that comes back from the colonisation period.

0:26:22 > 0:26:29African artists are used now to come here to record for years, really.

0:26:31 > 0:26:36A new generation of African musicians was descending on Paris,

0:26:36 > 0:26:39aspiring to break into the international market.

0:26:42 > 0:26:44Among them, a young Youssou N'Dour.

0:26:46 > 0:26:47HE SPEAKS FRENCH

0:27:10 > 0:27:13Youssou N'Dour used the opportunity whilst in Paris

0:27:13 > 0:27:16to record his debut international album.

0:27:49 > 0:27:53Immigres would put Youssou N'Dour on the international music map

0:27:53 > 0:27:55and indicate greater things to come.

0:27:56 > 0:28:02Also searching for international stardom was Malian, Salif Keita.

0:28:02 > 0:28:07In 1985, he was approached by producer Martin Meissonnier

0:28:07 > 0:28:10to record a demo for record label, CBS.

0:28:13 > 0:28:17Salif's band was two guitars, percussion, backing vocals -

0:28:17 > 0:28:19like a rock'n'roll set-up.

0:28:19 > 0:28:22So we went to the studio and we recorded just like, you know,

0:28:22 > 0:28:26three days and one take. Boom.

0:28:26 > 0:28:29HE SINGS IN MALIAN

0:28:34 > 0:28:38That was it. I actually thought he was fantastic.

0:28:38 > 0:28:39I took it to CBS

0:28:39 > 0:28:43and, basically, CBS didn't like the demo, because they thought

0:28:43 > 0:28:48it was too African. Salif got really pissed off with me

0:28:48 > 0:28:51and he got pissed off also with his band, so he actually

0:28:51 > 0:28:52fired the band.

0:28:52 > 0:28:56And, um...

0:28:56 > 0:29:01Because he wanted to have a more modern sound.

0:29:03 > 0:29:07Salif found a new producer, a few electronic instruments

0:29:07 > 0:29:11and a 48-track mixing desk to re-record the album, Soro.

0:29:15 > 0:29:16HE SPEAKS IN FRENCH

0:29:36 > 0:29:38It was an extraordinary LP.

0:29:38 > 0:29:41It really all came down to the opening few seconds

0:29:41 > 0:29:45of the first track on the album, where he goes... Here we go!

0:29:45 > 0:29:47Ha...

0:29:47 > 0:29:50SALIF'S NOTE CONTINUES

0:29:51 > 0:29:52'Oh, wow! When you heard that,'

0:29:52 > 0:29:56it was that wonderful sense, as ever, of "What is this?!"

0:29:56 > 0:29:59SONG CONTINUES

0:30:25 > 0:30:29But not everyone was so convinced of Salif's new direction,

0:30:29 > 0:30:32including his own producer, Ibrahim Sylla,

0:30:32 > 0:30:34known as the Quincy Jones of West Africa.

0:30:35 > 0:30:37HE SPEAKS FRENCH

0:31:03 > 0:31:06HE SPEAKS FRENCH

0:31:15 > 0:31:20Soro sold 60,000 copies in the UK for Sterns,

0:31:20 > 0:31:24which was the nearest the record label had to a mainstream hit.

0:31:31 > 0:31:35All these guys, they didn't want to sounds like grandpa, you know.

0:31:35 > 0:31:37HE LAUGHS

0:31:37 > 0:31:38They wanted to be hot.

0:31:38 > 0:31:42And so, on one hand you have the critics, who actually want the band

0:31:42 > 0:31:49to feel the dirt and... you know, make a trip to Africa

0:31:49 > 0:31:51as they listen to the track.

0:31:51 > 0:31:54And the other guys, they want to be Michael Jackson.

0:32:08 > 0:32:12In 1988, traditional kora player Mory Kante actually pulled it off,

0:32:12 > 0:32:14with his hit record,

0:32:14 > 0:32:17Yeke Yeke - the first-ever African single to sell

0:32:17 > 0:32:20over one million copies worldwide.

0:32:21 > 0:32:25While some African musicians were trying to sound more Western...

0:32:27 > 0:32:31# People say she's crazy, she's got diamonds on the soles of her shoes

0:32:33 > 0:32:38# Well, that's one way to lose these walking blues

0:32:38 > 0:32:40# Diamonds on the soles of her shoes. #

0:32:42 > 0:32:44When Paul Simon released Graceland

0:32:44 > 0:32:49in 1986, its jubilant South African township jive went platinum,

0:32:49 > 0:32:53selling over 1.5 million copies in the UK alone.

0:32:53 > 0:32:56If I had a mountain to climb, trying to convince

0:32:56 > 0:32:58the British radio audience

0:32:58 > 0:33:03that these kind of groups were worth listening to,

0:33:03 > 0:33:07then that job was made a doddle by Paul Simon releasing Graceland.

0:33:07 > 0:33:10Suddenly, people's ears had been opened.

0:33:10 > 0:33:14# As if everybody knows what I'm talking about

0:33:14 > 0:33:18# As if everybody here would know exactly what I was talking about

0:33:18 > 0:33:22# Talking about diamonds on the soles of her shoes. #

0:33:22 > 0:33:23African music was finally getting

0:33:23 > 0:33:25increased exposure in the mainstream.

0:33:27 > 0:33:31And by the late '80s, Salif Keita and Youssou N'Dour were starting

0:33:31 > 0:33:34to take the stage in front of a global audience.

0:33:35 > 0:33:36HE SINGS

0:33:41 > 0:33:44The time was surely right for an African superstar.

0:33:47 > 0:33:49Leading the search was the man who helped Bob Marley

0:33:49 > 0:33:51reach a rock audience.

0:33:51 > 0:33:54Head of Mango and Island Records, Chris Blackwell.

0:33:54 > 0:33:58Chris Blackwell, as a believer in a certain sort of music

0:33:58 > 0:34:01that was very dear to him, he had the missionary zeal to make it

0:34:01 > 0:34:04accessible to a wider audience.

0:34:10 > 0:34:14At which point, Blackwell discovered an acoustic album

0:34:14 > 0:34:17by a young Senegalese singer called Baaba Maal.

0:34:24 > 0:34:26It was based on West African folk songs

0:34:26 > 0:34:30that Maal and guitarist Mansour Seck had collected as students.

0:34:38 > 0:34:40We were just a group of young people

0:34:40 > 0:34:42and we went into that journey,

0:34:42 > 0:34:46going from village to play. Sometimes, I spent two weeks

0:34:46 > 0:34:48in a place. Sometimes, one month.

0:34:48 > 0:34:53In a journey like that, people come to you, naturally.

0:34:53 > 0:34:56Sometimes you meet an older person who'll say, "Hey, boys, come here.

0:34:56 > 0:35:01"I have one song or two songs that I want to teach you.

0:35:01 > 0:35:06"Take your guitar and play that melody, that rhythm."

0:35:06 > 0:35:09And this is how we get a lot of the songs off Djam Leelii.

0:35:12 > 0:35:16Blackwell entrusted Mango A&R man Jumbo Van Renen

0:35:16 > 0:35:18to find a producer to work on an album with Baaba.

0:35:18 > 0:35:24I was living in Hackney as, pretty well, an underground DJ

0:35:24 > 0:35:26and suddenly, Jumbo phones up and says,

0:35:26 > 0:35:28"Would you like to go to Africa and work

0:35:28 > 0:35:29"with Baba Maal?"

0:35:35 > 0:35:39I went round his house and then he started singing

0:35:39 > 0:35:41a song to his son.

0:35:41 > 0:35:44HE SINGS

0:35:45 > 0:35:47I just said to him,

0:35:47 > 0:35:51"If we can just record that moment, that would be perfect."

0:35:51 > 0:35:52And he went, "Oh!

0:35:52 > 0:35:55"So you're not here to make a disco record?"!

0:36:00 > 0:36:04The producer from East London and the singer from North Senegal

0:36:04 > 0:36:05had just a few days to put an album together

0:36:05 > 0:36:07in a makeshift studio.

0:36:08 > 0:36:13One night in Dakar, Baaba Maal turned up with his kora player

0:36:13 > 0:36:17and he said, "Nope, we're not going to do the track with the band.

0:36:17 > 0:36:20"I want sing a song for you." And he went in the studio.

0:36:20 > 0:36:24surrounded by the band, his griots - the wise men - they were all there.

0:36:24 > 0:36:28Some of his family, the kids, and he sang

0:36:28 > 0:36:31a track called Daande Lenol - the voice of my people,

0:36:31 > 0:36:32the voice of my race.

0:36:32 > 0:36:34It was just amazing.

0:36:34 > 0:36:36I had an epiphany.

0:36:36 > 0:36:40HE SINGS

0:37:04 > 0:37:08The following year, they went back into the studio in Dakar

0:37:08 > 0:37:11to record a new album, Firin' in Fouta,

0:37:11 > 0:37:15which they hoped would push Baaba into the charts.

0:37:15 > 0:37:17When we turned up, all of Baaba Maal's band

0:37:17 > 0:37:20were completely conversant with modern technology.

0:37:20 > 0:37:23They were itching. Any idea they were these, kind of,

0:37:23 > 0:37:27innocent noble savages who were going to be, kind of,

0:37:27 > 0:37:30corrupted by Western influences was rubbish.

0:37:31 > 0:37:36What I found was a very sophisticated musical scene

0:37:36 > 0:37:38that was deprived of technology.

0:37:40 > 0:37:42I say, I want

0:37:42 > 0:37:47this album to be a meeting between whatever fascinated me

0:37:47 > 0:37:53into the West - like this modern beat, the bass and drum

0:37:53 > 0:37:58and all the programming, like that. I think you can work very well

0:37:58 > 0:38:01with African music. It depends on how you put it together.

0:38:01 > 0:38:05We went up to the north of Senegal, borders of Mauritania,

0:38:05 > 0:38:07Baaba Maal's ancestral homeland.

0:38:07 > 0:38:10THEY CHANT

0:38:15 > 0:38:20We were recording everyone and everything. We recorded the women

0:38:20 > 0:38:23pounding the grain. We tried to get microphones in the earth,

0:38:23 > 0:38:25to get the sound of the earth.

0:38:32 > 0:38:36And then I go to my local people and say,

0:38:36 > 0:38:41"Hey, listen to that beat. Refer yourself to that traditional dance

0:38:41 > 0:38:45"or that traditional drumming and you can do the millet pounding

0:38:45 > 0:38:47"in that rhythm. It will work with that beat."

0:38:47 > 0:38:50HE SINGS

0:39:05 > 0:39:09It's the kind of work that was

0:39:09 > 0:39:11really exciting, because nothing was planned,

0:39:11 > 0:39:14but at the same time, there was a lot of experimentation.

0:39:20 > 0:39:24Baaba was such a huge star back home in Northern Senegal that he had

0:39:24 > 0:39:29at his disposal an almost limitless number of musical contributors.

0:39:29 > 0:39:34When we turned up in Podor, we were led into the town

0:39:34 > 0:39:37by a griot on a white horse.

0:39:37 > 0:39:40The whole community were there and they were all chanting.

0:39:40 > 0:39:42And they were all singing for Baaba.

0:39:45 > 0:39:49It was like the rhythm even of the voices of the young people chanting,

0:39:49 > 0:39:52"Baaba! Avec Baaba!" It goes with the house music, that beat.

0:39:52 > 0:39:53It goes really well.

0:39:53 > 0:39:56CHANT: Baba! Avec Baaba!

0:40:05 > 0:40:09In October 1994, Firin' in Fouta was released.

0:40:09 > 0:40:14It mixed ragga with Senegalese drums, house music with hip-hop,

0:40:14 > 0:40:16salsa with swing.

0:40:23 > 0:40:27His experimental fusion was rewarded with a Grammy nomination.

0:40:32 > 0:40:36But a global mainstream audience would prove more elusive.

0:40:42 > 0:40:44It was interesting, the idea of Baaba Maal,

0:40:44 > 0:40:48who, on the surface, seems to have everything to be a new superstar.

0:40:48 > 0:40:49Never quite achieving it.

0:40:49 > 0:40:51Getting a lot of loyal followers,

0:40:51 > 0:40:54getting a lot of great-sounding records,

0:40:54 > 0:40:56always just on the verge of it happening.

0:40:56 > 0:41:00But for some reason, the adjustment of a Baaba Maal sound,

0:41:00 > 0:41:03as much as they tried, didn't seem to lend itself

0:41:03 > 0:41:05to the adjustment of the Bob Marley sound.

0:41:05 > 0:41:09But just months before Firin' in Fouta came out,

0:41:09 > 0:41:11fellow Senegalese star, Youssou N'Dour,

0:41:11 > 0:41:14released a duet he had recorded with Neneh Cherry.

0:41:14 > 0:41:19# Into this world, it has no concept

0:41:19 > 0:41:23# Of the tone of skin it's living in

0:41:23 > 0:41:28# It's not a second Seven seconds away

0:41:28 > 0:41:31# Just as long as I stay

0:41:31 > 0:41:34# I'll be waiting

0:41:34 > 0:41:40# It's not a second Seven seconds away

0:41:40 > 0:41:43# Just as long as I stay. #

0:41:43 > 0:41:46It proved it was possible for an African artist

0:41:46 > 0:41:50to have a global hit. All you needed was the right pop song.

0:41:50 > 0:41:52Would Baba Maal just work as Pop?

0:41:52 > 0:41:55But then if people went to Baaba Maal because it was under Pop,

0:41:55 > 0:41:59they would immediately dismiss it, cos it's not their kind of pop.

0:41:59 > 0:42:00So what would it work under?

0:42:00 > 0:42:03Unfortunately, it works under World, cos that category now exists.

0:42:03 > 0:42:07MUSIC: "In An English Country Garden"

0:42:12 > 0:42:16In a small Wiltshire village outside Bath, Peter Gabriel had set up

0:42:16 > 0:42:22a studio complex and record label to harness world music in one place.

0:42:22 > 0:42:24He called it Real World.

0:42:24 > 0:42:27Just as the way that the WOMAD Festival

0:42:27 > 0:42:28was aiming to give

0:42:28 > 0:42:33equal billing of music from different corners of the continent,

0:42:33 > 0:42:35alongside Western pop names, if you like,

0:42:35 > 0:42:38we wanted to have a record label that did the same.

0:42:43 > 0:42:45The Real World Recording Weeks

0:42:45 > 0:42:49were these extraordinary events that we started. We had a series of them,

0:42:49 > 0:42:52beginning in 1991.

0:42:52 > 0:42:56The idea was to turn the whole of the studio here at Real World

0:42:56 > 0:42:58into a, sort of, recording festival.

0:43:09 > 0:43:11'People would get together.'

0:43:11 > 0:43:15You might have an Egyptian string section and a Japanese percussionist

0:43:15 > 0:43:18in one room, with, I don't know, Paul Brennan from Clannad.

0:43:27 > 0:43:30It was across the threshold

0:43:30 > 0:43:31of the Real World studios

0:43:31 > 0:43:35that one of the biggest world music stars of the '90s would emerge.

0:43:35 > 0:43:38It was actually Pete Townshend who said,

0:43:38 > 0:43:41"You must hear kuali music. It's fantastic."

0:43:41 > 0:43:45I think my experience, when I first heard Nusrat

0:43:45 > 0:43:46was very much the same.

0:43:46 > 0:43:50It was a very powerful, sort of spiritual feeling.

0:43:50 > 0:43:52I get tingles in the back of my neck.

0:43:52 > 0:43:55THEY SING

0:44:27 > 0:44:30Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a sufi from Pakistan,

0:44:30 > 0:44:33who devoted his whole life to qawwali,

0:44:33 > 0:44:35the spiritual music of Islam.

0:44:43 > 0:44:46Since the late 1970s, he'd been distributing his music

0:44:46 > 0:44:48through a small record label in Birmingham.

0:44:57 > 0:45:01To the broad Asian audience in Britain, he was already a huge star,

0:45:01 > 0:45:04whose music transcended the boundaries of faith.

0:45:08 > 0:45:12I went to a local performance in a community centre,

0:45:12 > 0:45:16which was an old cinema. I think it was in Southall.

0:45:16 > 0:45:19THEY SING

0:45:26 > 0:45:30People were rushing to the stage and throwing themselves at the stage.

0:45:30 > 0:45:34I think that was quite... Something that I had never seen before

0:45:34 > 0:45:38in any kind of music performance. It was like watching a punk gig.

0:45:38 > 0:45:40People were just going crazy.

0:45:59 > 0:46:01In 1985, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

0:46:01 > 0:46:03found himself on the bill at WOMAD,

0:46:03 > 0:46:06alongside The Fall and New Order.

0:46:06 > 0:46:08For whatever the reason,

0:46:08 > 0:46:11it was, kind of, a hotly-anticipated performance.

0:46:11 > 0:46:14Everybody there knew that this was an artist that

0:46:14 > 0:46:17they should go to see, even though I don't think anybody

0:46:17 > 0:46:19in the audience had ever seen him before.

0:46:28 > 0:46:31HE SINGS

0:46:53 > 0:46:56After ten minutes, more audience came.

0:46:56 > 0:46:59After 20 minutes, more audience came.

0:46:59 > 0:47:02And after 30 minutes - packed.

0:47:02 > 0:47:04The arena was packed.

0:47:11 > 0:47:17The energy and the intensity of the night just grew and grew and grew

0:47:17 > 0:47:20and, at points where you just felt, "My gosh, this is the height,

0:47:20 > 0:47:23"this is fantastic",

0:47:23 > 0:47:27it would then just get amped up even another notch.

0:48:13 > 0:48:15It just made this huge impact.

0:48:15 > 0:48:18It really just was one of those moments, I think.

0:48:21 > 0:48:24Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan obviously had an extraordinary experience there

0:48:24 > 0:48:28and a bit of a revelation that there was this new audience out there,

0:48:28 > 0:48:32because straight after the festival appearance, the following week

0:48:32 > 0:48:36he went in and recorded two albums' worth of music for us

0:48:36 > 0:48:39and he decided to arrange the music

0:48:39 > 0:48:42with an accompaniment of a guitar and a mandolin,

0:48:42 > 0:48:45and I think he felt that that would be something

0:48:45 > 0:48:46which would be something

0:48:46 > 0:48:48that could help to introduce the music to western ears.

0:48:57 > 0:49:01Aside from the Sufi stuff, the mystic stuff,

0:49:01 > 0:49:03the devotional, the religious element,

0:49:03 > 0:49:06it was just a bloody great dance-floor filler

0:49:06 > 0:49:07whenever I went out

0:49:07 > 0:49:10and, you know, those rare occasions when he did a live gig.

0:49:10 > 0:49:12If you wanted to get the buggers on the dance floor,

0:49:12 > 0:49:15even if they'd never heard it before, all you had to do was go,

0:49:15 > 0:49:18"Allah Hoo, Allah Hoo!" and they were out there! Fantastic!

0:49:22 > 0:49:25Nusrat was becoming more and more aware

0:49:25 > 0:49:28of the power of his qawwali to reach new audiences.

0:49:35 > 0:49:38In 1990 he met up with Real World producer Michael Brook

0:49:38 > 0:49:41to collaborate on an album for the first time.

0:49:43 > 0:49:45'One thing that I quickly learned

0:49:45 > 0:49:48'is that Nusrat likes to sing for a long time.

0:49:48 > 0:49:51'My backing tracks were only four or five minutes long,

0:49:51 > 0:49:55'so it seemed we were always rewinding the tape.'

0:49:55 > 0:49:57And so we just recorded very long takes

0:49:57 > 0:49:59so he could improvise as long as he wanted.

0:49:59 > 0:50:01And that worked out really well,

0:50:01 > 0:50:03although we then had a massive editing challenge.

0:50:03 > 0:50:06HE SINGS

0:50:11 > 0:50:13In the West - do, re, mi.

0:50:16 > 0:50:17'Qawwali is a kind of'

0:50:17 > 0:50:20spiritual, sacred music

0:50:20 > 0:50:22that has lyrics with meaning.

0:50:22 > 0:50:25And I wasn't that clear on the distinction at the time.

0:50:25 > 0:50:29So I just cut it up in a way that... So it sounded good.

0:50:31 > 0:50:34But, anyway, it was a big problem,

0:50:34 > 0:50:37because I had cut up these sacred lyrics

0:50:37 > 0:50:40in ways that they were nonsense.

0:50:46 > 0:50:49He said, "Well, OK." But, in fact,

0:50:49 > 0:50:52he got a lot of criticism at home.

0:50:54 > 0:50:58Back home in Pakistan, Nusrat was an even bigger star,

0:50:58 > 0:51:01with millions of fans watching his every move.

0:51:03 > 0:51:07It's like if you had the Beatles, Frank Sinatra

0:51:07 > 0:51:09and Elvis all in one person.

0:51:11 > 0:51:14'It's hard to exaggerate how big a deal he is there.

0:51:14 > 0:51:18'And if you went into the music store - which I did -

0:51:18 > 0:51:20'there would be a wall, you know,'

0:51:20 > 0:51:22like the size of this book shelf,

0:51:22 > 0:51:25'and half would be him

0:51:25 > 0:51:27'and half would be everybody else.'

0:51:29 > 0:51:32He lived in a very grand house in Lahore, as was appropriate,

0:51:32 > 0:51:35and it was almost like a sort of medieval court,

0:51:35 > 0:51:38where he was at the centre of all this activity.

0:51:41 > 0:51:43'Very Louis XIV.'

0:51:43 > 0:51:48Like all this really ornate French-looking furniture.

0:51:48 > 0:51:51And there was always a sort of anteroom

0:51:51 > 0:51:54full of people waiting to meet him.

0:51:54 > 0:51:57People coming with gifts or asking advice.

0:51:57 > 0:52:00But basically, there was a host of people

0:52:00 > 0:52:02waiting to meet the great master.

0:52:08 > 0:52:12The recording of Mustt Mustt was not without controversy

0:52:12 > 0:52:14amongst Nusrat's more orthodox fans,

0:52:14 > 0:52:19who saw his experimentations with the West as a step too far.

0:52:24 > 0:52:26Over the years, there've been a few people

0:52:26 > 0:52:29who've sort of been concerned about your defiling,

0:52:29 > 0:52:31or kind of diluting something,

0:52:31 > 0:52:35but the fact that he would like a KORG synthesiser,

0:52:35 > 0:52:39or something modern or different than his tradition,

0:52:39 > 0:52:43I don't think in any way meant he didn't like his tradition.

0:52:43 > 0:52:46It wasn't a rejection in any sense.

0:52:46 > 0:52:49It was more an acceptance of something new.

0:52:49 > 0:52:52THEY PLAY AND SING

0:52:56 > 0:52:59At the time of the release of Mustt Mustt,

0:52:59 > 0:53:01the emerging UK dance scene

0:53:01 > 0:53:04was starting to discover new global sounds.

0:53:04 > 0:53:07I think there's something transcendental

0:53:07 > 0:53:09about Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's music.

0:53:09 > 0:53:11The sort of repetition in it,

0:53:11 > 0:53:14the way he goes through this process

0:53:14 > 0:53:17of getting himself into an ecstatic state,

0:53:17 > 0:53:20that really engulfs the audience.

0:53:20 > 0:53:24There's something there that seemed to sit comfortably

0:53:24 > 0:53:27with dance music at that period of time.

0:53:29 > 0:53:31The title track was remixed

0:53:31 > 0:53:34by British trip-hop group Massive Attack,

0:53:34 > 0:53:36and Nusrat's invigorating qawwali

0:53:36 > 0:53:39also inspired a generation of British Asian dance producers

0:53:39 > 0:53:43in search of a new cultural identity.

0:53:43 > 0:53:46But, in 1997, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan died suddenly,

0:53:46 > 0:53:49leaving behind hundreds of recordings

0:53:49 > 0:53:52and millions of fans around the world.

0:53:58 > 0:54:01Throughout the '90s, fusion and dance electronica

0:54:01 > 0:54:04had been at the cutting edge of popular music.

0:54:04 > 0:54:06But towards the end of the '90s,

0:54:06 > 0:54:10one of the biggest world music hits of all time would emerge,

0:54:10 > 0:54:13and instead of looking to the future,

0:54:13 > 0:54:16it would make the world audience turn towards a vanished past.

0:54:19 > 0:54:23The original idea for the album that became Buena Vista Social Club

0:54:23 > 0:54:27was a collaboration of some Malian musicians and some Cuban musicians.

0:54:27 > 0:54:29And then I thought it might be quite nice

0:54:29 > 0:54:32to see if Ry Cooder might be interested in working on it as well.

0:54:32 > 0:54:35But then just before we were supposed to make the trip,

0:54:35 > 0:54:38I learned that the Malians couldn't come.

0:54:38 > 0:54:41So I told Ry that we couldn't get them,

0:54:41 > 0:54:44he said, "Let's go anyway and see what happens."

0:54:46 > 0:54:50Ry Cooder and World Circuit's Nick Gold

0:54:50 > 0:54:53had worked together with musicians around the world,

0:54:53 > 0:54:54but never in Cuba.

0:54:57 > 0:54:59With an album to record and musicians to find,

0:54:59 > 0:55:03they turned to local band leader Juan de Marcos Gonzalez.

0:55:04 > 0:55:07I was the one that selected the musicians,

0:55:07 > 0:55:10because Nick knew, of course, the music,

0:55:10 > 0:55:12but he didn't know the people.

0:55:14 > 0:55:16Marcos would say, "I've found this musician,

0:55:16 > 0:55:19"I've found that musician!" And a lot of those musicians,

0:55:19 > 0:55:22they hadn't played or sung for a long, long time.

0:55:22 > 0:55:24You know, they had their glory days in the '50s

0:55:24 > 0:55:27and they were massive stars in the '50s.

0:55:27 > 0:55:31So to come back into the studio was just incredible.

0:55:34 > 0:55:36'In particular for Ruben.'

0:55:45 > 0:55:47'You'd get to the studio and he was sat there waiting at the door'

0:55:47 > 0:55:49and you'd unlock the studio

0:55:49 > 0:55:51and he had sort of this little shuffling run he did,

0:55:51 > 0:55:53he'd run to the piano and open it,

0:55:53 > 0:55:56and he'd play and he'd play and he'd play and he'd play all day.

0:55:56 > 0:55:58Uno, dos, uno, dos, tres.

0:55:58 > 0:56:02# Y llegando bailadores, comay

0:56:02 > 0:56:04# Ra

0:56:04 > 0:56:09# Por los caminos atascados. #

0:56:11 > 0:56:13'People were suggesting songs all the time,

0:56:13 > 0:56:16'and they weren't suggesting them by saying, "Can I do this song?"

0:56:16 > 0:56:18'They were just playing them.'

0:56:18 > 0:56:21But they'd all be playing their own songs at the same time in the studio.

0:56:21 > 0:56:27It was like a laboratory, everything was...flowing.

0:56:27 > 0:56:31I remember at one point we wanted to do Dos Gardenias, a bolero,

0:56:31 > 0:56:33and I think Puntillita was singing it,

0:56:33 > 0:56:36but he's got a very sort of hard, declamatory voice,

0:56:36 > 0:56:39and Ry asked if there was a singer with a softer voice to sing it,

0:56:39 > 0:56:41and Marcos sort of stood there and he went, "Yes!"

0:56:41 > 0:56:44He sort of beamed and literally ran out the studio.

0:56:44 > 0:56:50An hour, two hours later, he came back in with this...

0:56:50 > 0:56:52man who was just...

0:56:52 > 0:56:57I mean, this beautiful man. He sort of walked like a cat.

0:57:02 > 0:57:03'And it was Ibrahim Ferrer'

0:57:03 > 0:57:05and he started to sing this song.

0:57:09 > 0:57:11HE SINGS:

0:57:11 > 0:57:14# Dos gardenias para ti

0:57:14 > 0:57:17# Con ellas quiero decir

0:57:19 > 0:57:20# Te quiero

0:57:20 > 0:57:23# Te adoro

0:57:23 > 0:57:26# Mi vida

0:57:27 > 0:57:30# Ponles toda tu atencion

0:57:30 > 0:57:34# Que seran tu corazon

0:57:34 > 0:57:37# Y el mio... #

0:57:37 > 0:57:40After the Cuban Revolution in 1959,

0:57:40 > 0:57:42the Communist Government

0:57:42 > 0:57:45began closing nightclubs and entertainment venues,

0:57:45 > 0:57:49including the once-famous Buena Vista Social Club.

0:57:49 > 0:57:52Musicians were out of work, and before long,

0:57:52 > 0:57:55even their music fell out of fashion.

0:57:55 > 0:57:57Relics of a forgotten past.

0:57:57 > 0:58:00The room that we recorded in

0:58:00 > 0:58:02was this gorgeous room built in the '50s

0:58:02 > 0:58:05by a record company called Panart,

0:58:05 > 0:58:08In these tiny little back streets of Cuba.

0:58:08 > 0:58:10You would go in this little room, wind up these stairs

0:58:10 > 0:58:14and this huge, beautiful room would be revealed to you.

0:58:14 > 0:58:16Ry wanted everything mic'd ambiently

0:58:16 > 0:58:18because he fell in love with the room.

0:58:31 > 0:58:34'At the time, the Cubans would separate everything,

0:58:34 > 0:58:37'close-mic everything as possibly as they could,

0:58:37 > 0:58:38'so the whole idea'

0:58:38 > 0:58:40of recording them ambiently

0:58:40 > 0:58:42was very, very unusual.

0:58:42 > 0:58:45Originally, in the '50s, they would have recorded like that.

0:58:53 > 0:58:57'The Buena Vista Social Club sounds like a rehearsal'

0:58:57 > 0:58:58in your house.

0:58:58 > 0:59:02Like if you have all of these outstanding old guys

0:59:02 > 0:59:04surrounding you, having a drink

0:59:04 > 0:59:07and smoking good cigars and singing for you,

0:59:07 > 0:59:09and this was very special.

0:59:24 > 0:59:26'At the end of the recording we were elated,

0:59:26 > 0:59:28'because, you know, we finished'

0:59:28 > 0:59:31and you play the music back and, really...

0:59:31 > 0:59:34it was very apparent that something wonderful was there.

0:59:38 > 0:59:40When the album was released,

0:59:40 > 0:59:45few outside the increasingly niche world-music market took much notice.

0:59:47 > 0:59:51Then suddenly sales started to rise. And rise.

0:59:55 > 1:00:00I don't know. Maybe a few hundred thousand, I thought we'd sell.

1:00:00 > 1:00:03But, yeah, sold millions.

1:00:06 > 1:00:08You did start to hear it everywhere.

1:00:08 > 1:00:11You'd go to a cafe and you'd hear it. You'd go to a bar and you'd hear it.

1:00:11 > 1:00:14Your mum's friend had heard it, your neighbour had heard it.

1:00:14 > 1:00:17For a little while, it was sort of inescapable.

1:00:22 > 1:00:25Before long, the Buena Vista Social Club album became synonymous

1:00:25 > 1:00:28with the growing high street coffee culture

1:00:28 > 1:00:31and a familiar soundtrack at many dinner parties.

1:00:32 > 1:00:36The great triumph of the Buena Vista Social Club record was marketing.

1:00:36 > 1:00:40World Circuit Records are masters of marketing and presentation.

1:00:40 > 1:00:42It looked beautiful.

1:00:42 > 1:00:45We sent out hundreds and hundreds of copies,

1:00:45 > 1:00:48because we just thought there was something special there.

1:00:52 > 1:00:53A year after recording,

1:00:53 > 1:00:58the original line-up embarked on a tour of Europe and the US.

1:00:58 > 1:01:03When we called them to go on tour, it was the first time in years

1:01:03 > 1:01:06that they went out of the country - in YEARS.

1:01:11 > 1:01:15Touring with them was fantastic. They were very excited

1:01:15 > 1:01:16and the rider was great,

1:01:16 > 1:01:20it wasn't beer on the rider, it was warm milk, which was quite nice.

1:01:23 > 1:01:28My wife became the nurse for the old guys, to give them the medicines

1:01:28 > 1:01:31because they were musicians and they forgot the medicines.

1:01:35 > 1:01:39One of the stops on the tour was playing at Carnegie Hall,

1:01:39 > 1:01:42New York's leading concert venue.

1:01:42 > 1:01:44I think that would have been the first time

1:01:44 > 1:01:46nearly all of them had been to the states.

1:01:46 > 1:01:48There was an embargo, we shouldn't forget.

1:01:48 > 1:01:51They didn't just not play there cos they chose not to,

1:01:51 > 1:01:53they weren't allowed to play there.

1:01:58 > 1:02:01For the past 40 years, the relationship between Cuba

1:02:01 > 1:02:04and the USA had been marked with fear and distrust.

1:02:06 > 1:02:11Since then, Cuba had remained cut off from its neighbouring superpower.

1:02:12 > 1:02:15It was a very rare chance that we got these licences

1:02:15 > 1:02:17to bring them in to play,

1:02:17 > 1:02:19so, you know, America hadn't seen them,

1:02:19 > 1:02:23it wasn't just that they hadn't seen America, America hadn't seen them.

1:02:23 > 1:02:25APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

1:02:26 > 1:02:29They walked on stage and the place erupted.

1:02:29 > 1:02:32And it's loud, that place, when it's full,

1:02:32 > 1:02:35and you know, a shiver goes up your spine.

1:02:35 > 1:02:39HE SINGS IN SPANISH

1:02:50 > 1:02:55There was a huge sort of warmth coming from the audience to the stage

1:02:55 > 1:02:59and they really played. Marcos had them, he was firing them up.

1:03:05 > 1:03:09APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

1:03:13 > 1:03:14Gracias!

1:03:14 > 1:03:16It was very important to play there

1:03:16 > 1:03:19and to see the response of the audience.

1:03:23 > 1:03:26The people standing, the people clapping

1:03:26 > 1:03:29and singing the Cuban music, the music we grew up with.

1:03:29 > 1:03:31It was unbelievable.

1:03:36 > 1:03:38It was a story made for cinema,

1:03:38 > 1:03:41and luckily, director Wim Wenders was there to film it all.

1:03:43 > 1:03:46When his documentary was nominated for an Oscar,

1:03:46 > 1:03:49the old players of the Buena Vista Social Club

1:03:49 > 1:03:53became global stars on screen as well as on stage.

1:03:53 > 1:03:56Now, everybody, after the success of the Buena Vista,

1:03:56 > 1:03:58wanted to make money with the name.

1:03:58 > 1:04:02Spirit of Buena Vista, The Passion of Buena Vista,

1:04:02 > 1:04:05Live From Buena Vista, The Bar at Buena Vista.

1:04:05 > 1:04:09Even Nick had to make a trademark of the name.

1:04:09 > 1:04:14People started recording a lot of old Cubans after that!

1:04:18 > 1:04:21I got asked a lot, "When is the next Buena Vista?

1:04:21 > 1:04:25"What's happening next? What's next? What's next?"

1:04:25 > 1:04:27Sort of, "Let's do a Buena Vista there,"

1:04:27 > 1:04:31or, "Let's do a Buena Vista here," which I found a bit weird,

1:04:31 > 1:04:35because it wasn't, it was very... not contrived, this thing,

1:04:35 > 1:04:37we partly made it by accident.

1:04:38 > 1:04:39Accident or not,

1:04:39 > 1:04:43the Buena Vista Social Club album hit a key formula for success.

1:04:45 > 1:04:48Through repackaging Cuba's abandoned musical past,

1:04:48 > 1:04:51it presented a very different country

1:04:51 > 1:04:54before the days of Communism and embargoes.

1:04:54 > 1:04:57In an age of increasing globalisation,

1:04:57 > 1:05:00the feeling of stepping into a world on the verge of disappearance

1:05:00 > 1:05:01seemed irresistible.

1:05:19 > 1:05:23The worldwide success of Buena Vista Social Club showed

1:05:23 > 1:05:27how music from other cultures could be presented to a global audience.

1:05:28 > 1:05:31It was no longer enough to have the right sound.

1:05:31 > 1:05:35Music would also need to be accompanied by a strong story

1:05:35 > 1:05:37and some photogenic characters.

1:05:37 > 1:05:41And like a mirage, one band emerged from the sands of the Sahara

1:05:41 > 1:05:43with the perfect backstory.

1:05:45 > 1:05:49The legend has it that they were going into battle

1:05:49 > 1:05:53with AK-47s and electric guitars strapped across their backs.

1:05:56 > 1:05:59THEY SING IN TAMASHEK

1:06:05 > 1:06:08Tinariwen were the Tuareg nomadic warriors

1:06:08 > 1:06:10that rose from the desert wars of Mali,

1:06:10 > 1:06:13bringing with them a slow African blues groove.

1:06:18 > 1:06:22Lots of bands know how to rock, but very few know how to roll

1:06:22 > 1:06:25and Tinariwen, by God, they know how to roll!

1:06:33 > 1:06:36THEY SING IN TAMASHEK

1:06:50 > 1:06:52There's a slightly menacing quality,

1:06:52 > 1:06:56a kind of gang quality about Tinariwen,

1:06:56 > 1:07:00which I'd not really seen since the heyday of The Clash.

1:07:07 > 1:07:11As band biographies go, even The Clash have nothing on Tinariwen.

1:07:13 > 1:07:17When Libyan ruler Gaddafi was gathering young Tuareg men

1:07:17 > 1:07:19to fight in his territorial wars,

1:07:19 > 1:07:22the founding members of Tinariwen, exiled by the Malian government,

1:07:22 > 1:07:24answered the call.

1:07:57 > 1:08:00Along with learning how to fight, they would also pass the time

1:08:00 > 1:08:04in the camps discovering western blues and rock music.

1:08:04 > 1:08:08The Tuareg message was finding a new sound

1:08:08 > 1:08:12and their home-made cassettes were traded widely throughout the Sahara.

1:08:12 > 1:08:16The truth is that if you talk to a lot of Tuareg,

1:08:16 > 1:08:18not even Tuareg musicians, just normal Tuareg,

1:08:18 > 1:08:25and you say, "How did you first become aware of the Tuareg cause?"

1:08:25 > 1:08:30It would be, "Because we listened to a cassette of a song by Tinariwen."

1:08:41 > 1:08:44Conflicts rumbled on throughout the '90s

1:08:44 > 1:08:46between Malian forces and Tuareg rebels.

1:08:48 > 1:08:52Apparently they started the rebellion in June 1990

1:08:52 > 1:08:55with, like, six old German hunting rifles

1:08:55 > 1:08:59and a couple of Tuareg swords or something, you know,

1:08:59 > 1:09:04and all the old guard of Tinariwen were combatants in that rebellion,

1:09:04 > 1:09:06they were soldiers, you know,

1:09:06 > 1:09:10but they all considered themselves musicians first, soldiers second.

1:09:16 > 1:09:19Their music would find a way out of the North African desert

1:09:19 > 1:09:21when they met producer Justin Adams.

1:09:24 > 1:09:26It was really like a Western movie or

1:09:26 > 1:09:30what's it called, the Kurosawa movie... Seven Samurai.

1:09:30 > 1:09:32It was like, that because one by one,

1:09:32 > 1:09:34the dudes turned up.

1:09:41 > 1:09:46Then there was the day that this thin guy, with tangled hair,

1:09:46 > 1:09:49turned up where we were staying and he came in,

1:09:49 > 1:09:54quiet to the point of... A completely introverted-looking guy.

1:09:56 > 1:10:02He sat down in the tent where we were sitting, having tea,

1:10:02 > 1:10:03and he got his guitar out

1:10:03 > 1:10:09and it was a moment that still sends shivers down my spine, thinking of,

1:10:09 > 1:10:16because he started to play the guitar so gently, just touching

1:10:16 > 1:10:23the strings, and this absolutely mesmerisingly-beautiful scales.

1:10:24 > 1:10:30And then hit a gentle, lilting rhythm and then started to sing.

1:10:30 > 1:10:33There must have been ten or 15 Tuareg men or women

1:10:33 > 1:10:35sitting around in the tent.

1:10:35 > 1:10:40When he hit the chorus, everybody started singing.

1:10:40 > 1:10:42HE SINGS IN TUAREG LANGUAGE

1:10:54 > 1:10:56Everybody knew the song.

1:10:56 > 1:11:00It was clearly an anthem, written by this guy.

1:11:00 > 1:11:04I could tell that we were sitting with an absolute master.

1:11:09 > 1:11:11It helped their rock image that they had a lead singer with

1:11:11 > 1:11:13Jimi Hendrix looks

1:11:13 > 1:11:15and Justin wasted no time getting Tinariwen into

1:11:15 > 1:11:18whatever studio space he could find

1:11:18 > 1:11:19in the communes of northern Mali.

1:11:24 > 1:11:27The way that Tinariwen had recorded mostly was

1:11:27 > 1:11:30they just used to put a cassette in their ghetto blaster,

1:11:30 > 1:11:32sit round, play and that was the record they'd made.

1:11:32 > 1:11:34Then that cassette would be copied.

1:11:55 > 1:11:57TINARIWEN SING

1:12:28 > 1:12:30Immediately after making Radio Tisdas,

1:12:30 > 1:12:34the Tinariwen collective held a meeting of Tuaregs that,

1:12:34 > 1:12:37by accident, became a mini festival.

1:12:37 > 1:12:39Everyone was saying to me,

1:12:39 > 1:12:41"When we go to the festival, you will see the camels dancing".

1:12:41 > 1:12:43I was like, "Yeah, right.

1:12:43 > 1:12:48"I'll see camels dancing." But sure enough, they do this fantastic thing

1:12:48 > 1:12:53where the women sit in circles and are playing the tinde drum.

1:12:55 > 1:12:57DRUMS PLAY

1:12:59 > 1:13:02Suddenly, on the horizon, you see camels coming at top speed

1:13:02 > 1:13:03towards you.

1:13:03 > 1:13:07These guys with all the veils, amazing costumes.

1:13:07 > 1:13:09Looking cool as hell.

1:13:10 > 1:13:15They come as close as they can to the circles of women,

1:13:15 > 1:13:19like young guys on motorbikes. Showing off, basically.

1:13:19 > 1:13:23Then they start to control the camel and they circle the group

1:13:23 > 1:13:25and this is where they do this kind of thing where

1:13:25 > 1:13:30they control the camel and the camel dances to the music.

1:13:35 > 1:13:38HE SINGS IN TUAREG LANGUAGE

1:13:45 > 1:13:49Adventurous festival-goers started to descend in greater numbers,

1:13:49 > 1:13:53hoping to glimpse a unique culture in its natural habitat.

1:13:57 > 1:14:00The troubled existence of the Tuareg was starting to reach

1:14:00 > 1:14:04a new audience through the music that became known as desert blues.

1:14:38 > 1:14:41The Tuareg call their music assouf.

1:14:41 > 1:14:46It means the pain that isn't physical. So it's the blues.

1:14:54 > 1:14:57In 2007, Tinariwen went back into the studio

1:14:57 > 1:14:59and emerged with a new album.

1:15:02 > 1:15:04They embarked on a year-long tour of Europe and the US,

1:15:04 > 1:15:06taking the Tuareg message with them.

1:15:08 > 1:15:09I spoke to the band

1:15:09 > 1:15:13and I said this is really your chance to communicate with the world now.

1:15:17 > 1:15:19HE SINGS IN TUAREG LANGUAGE

1:15:39 > 1:15:41SHE ULULATES

1:15:44 > 1:15:48The minute they started playing live, it connected with people.

1:15:50 > 1:15:53Tinariwen were immediately seized upon by the international media.

1:15:56 > 1:16:02They were excited because they were beginning to see that their music

1:16:02 > 1:16:05had a life outside the desert.

1:16:07 > 1:16:11In the summer of 2007, Tinariwen swapped the sands of the desert

1:16:11 > 1:16:14for the mud of Somerset and took the stage at Glastonbury.

1:16:45 > 1:16:48HE SINGS IN TUAREG LANGUAGE

1:16:56 > 1:16:57When you do a thing like that,

1:16:57 > 1:17:01what's for sure is that suddenly there are 15,000 people

1:17:01 > 1:17:02like, "What the hell is this?

1:17:02 > 1:17:05"I've never seen anything like that before."

1:17:07 > 1:17:10It really felt that we were beginning to go

1:17:10 > 1:17:13way beyond the world music lovers

1:17:13 > 1:17:17to a new crowd of guitar fans, basically.

1:17:21 > 1:17:24It's something very difficult for music outside

1:17:24 > 1:17:29a Western rock milieu to work

1:17:29 > 1:17:34for a rock and pop audience in a way that is instantly convincing.

1:17:34 > 1:17:35Tinariwen definitely do that.

1:18:21 > 1:18:22CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

1:18:22 > 1:18:24Thank you! Thank you!

1:18:34 > 1:18:37Increasingly, the secret to being a world music star today is

1:18:37 > 1:18:42the ability to present an authentic past to a modern audience.

1:18:42 > 1:18:46In the tavernas of Lisbon, a young singer of African birth

1:18:46 > 1:18:49was giving an old tradition a contemporary international twist.

1:18:51 > 1:18:56SHE SINGS FADO

1:19:00 > 1:19:03Born in Mozambique and raised in Portugal,

1:19:03 > 1:19:06Mariza was the new face of fado.

1:19:09 > 1:19:13SHE SINGS FADO SONG

1:19:23 > 1:19:26APPLAUSE

1:19:26 > 1:19:30My parents, they moved to Lisboa

1:19:30 > 1:19:34and they rent a little taverna,

1:19:34 > 1:19:40and fado was the music who everybody used to listen and to sing.

1:19:40 > 1:19:43So I started singing fado at five years old.

1:19:48 > 1:19:51Fado is Portugal's own blues music -

1:19:51 > 1:19:54full of melancholy and a sense of despair -

1:19:54 > 1:19:56which started life as the drunken songs

1:19:56 > 1:20:00of sailors and fisherwomen in the 19th century.

1:20:00 > 1:20:02When I went to high school,

1:20:02 > 1:20:05everybody was asking me, "What do you do in your free time?"

1:20:05 > 1:20:09And the first times I used to say, "Well, I like to sing fado.

1:20:09 > 1:20:13And they were like, "Ooh, fado. Urgh. That's for old people."

1:20:13 > 1:20:15And I was like, "Really?"

1:20:17 > 1:20:21These mournful songs, with anguished lyrics about love,

1:20:21 > 1:20:25the sea and city life, were the heartbeat of the streets of Lisbon.

1:20:26 > 1:20:31Since the 1930s, fado had enjoyed a golden age in Portugal

1:20:31 > 1:20:34and achieved international success with the Queen of Fado,

1:20:34 > 1:20:36Amalia Rodrigues.

1:20:38 > 1:20:45SHE SINGS FADO SONG

1:21:09 > 1:21:12But since the 1980s, the blanket spread of western pop

1:21:12 > 1:21:15meant that fado was seen as unfashionable

1:21:15 > 1:21:17amongst young urban Portuguese -

1:21:17 > 1:21:21an embarrassing reminder of their country's impoverished past.

1:21:23 > 1:21:25And suddenly Amalia died.

1:21:27 > 1:21:32And it was a very sad time for all of us Portuguese people.

1:21:33 > 1:21:37They decide to make a tribute on television.

1:21:39 > 1:21:42Mariza was plucked from a new generation of singers

1:21:42 > 1:21:45to perform in her memory on national television.

1:21:51 > 1:21:55SHE SINGS FADO

1:22:18 > 1:22:22Everybody starts talking about the blond fado girl.

1:22:22 > 1:22:27Suddenly I was singing in several cities in Portugal.

1:22:55 > 1:22:57CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

1:22:57 > 1:23:03Mariza's debut album displayed the word "fado" boldly on its cover.

1:23:03 > 1:23:08And suddenly, boom! In Portugal, only in Portugal,

1:23:08 > 1:23:12I sell 120,000 copies.

1:23:12 > 1:23:16It was a lot because now only a fado record used to sell

1:23:16 > 1:23:19about 3,000 to 5,000.

1:23:22 > 1:23:26In 2002, Mariza broke onto the international scene,

1:23:26 > 1:23:28performing at WOMAD.

1:23:39 > 1:23:44- The songs you sing are called fa...fado?- Fado.- What is fado?

1:23:44 > 1:23:49Fado is a kind of melancholic music. We don't have only melancholic fado.

1:23:49 > 1:23:53I used to say it's like the Portuguese blues, you know.

1:24:05 > 1:24:07Her international following was growing.

1:24:09 > 1:24:11The winner is,

1:24:11 > 1:24:16combining supreme elegance with all the angst of the Portuguese fado...

1:24:16 > 1:24:17it is...

1:24:19 > 1:24:21..the divine Mariza.

1:24:21 > 1:24:23CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

1:24:23 > 1:24:26Within two years, Mariza had shot to global fame,

1:24:26 > 1:24:30selling out prestigious venues in both London and New York.

1:24:32 > 1:24:34I mean, Mariza, I've always enjoyed.

1:24:34 > 1:24:36Though she was brought up within fado,

1:24:36 > 1:24:39she was born in Africa and she'd sung rock music,

1:24:39 > 1:24:44so she brought these other kind of... This other sensibility to what she does.

1:24:44 > 1:24:47But she's also somebody who really can sing fado amazingly.

1:24:47 > 1:24:52I still want to sing with the basis and roots of fado,

1:24:52 > 1:24:55but more and more I want to do my own fado.

1:24:55 > 1:24:58'And I think that is fair with an artist.

1:24:58 > 1:25:01'Because if you don't have your personality inside of the music,

1:25:01 > 1:25:03'or your stamp in the music...'

1:25:04 > 1:25:06..you're not saying anything to anyone.

1:25:06 > 1:25:10SHE SINGS FADO

1:25:42 > 1:25:45Mariza had given fado a 21st-century makeover,

1:25:45 > 1:25:49with a new-found confidence in its roots, and crossover appeal.

1:25:50 > 1:25:55The new Queen of Fado, Mariza!

1:25:55 > 1:25:58So many artists are coming through who are like her.

1:25:58 > 1:26:01You know, they know so much, they speak English,

1:26:01 > 1:26:03they're sophisticated people in charge of their careers.

1:26:03 > 1:26:06But they're also realising at a very early age

1:26:06 > 1:26:11that what they grow from is tremendously important.

1:26:11 > 1:26:13In other words, they put a real value on their traditions.

1:26:13 > 1:26:17HE SINGS

1:26:29 > 1:26:34'The world, in a way, has turned to look at its history in all sorts of ways.'

1:26:34 > 1:26:37And that brings with it the kind of roots, if you like,

1:26:37 > 1:26:40that a lot of this great music is about.

1:26:41 > 1:26:45'The internet has created a dissolved chronological area

1:26:45 > 1:26:49'as well as dissolving national borders, so the music just appears.

1:26:54 > 1:26:55'You might hear something now that,

1:26:55 > 1:26:59once upon a time in the '70s and '80s, would've sounded old-fashioned.

1:26:59 > 1:27:02An antique, and therefore of no use.

1:27:02 > 1:27:05But now it sounds fresh and therefore new and exciting.

1:27:18 > 1:27:21'There's this mad profusion of different roots,'

1:27:21 > 1:27:23and of people joining up

1:27:23 > 1:27:27and exploring different beats and different styles.

1:27:27 > 1:27:30Personally, you know, bring it on. I think it's fantastic.

1:27:46 > 1:27:48And now it doesn't have to be called world music.

1:27:48 > 1:27:50You're just hearing a music.

1:27:50 > 1:27:52It's a fado or it's a singer from this country

1:27:52 > 1:27:54or it's a rhythm from that country.

1:27:54 > 1:27:57And it's just part of this new decentred zone, if you will.

1:27:57 > 1:28:00The world has become dispersed and diverse.

1:28:03 > 1:28:04This was its dream.

1:28:23 > 1:28:26Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd