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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Interviews
Forum Description: Original interviews with Prog artists (which are exclusive to Prog Archives)
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=83587 Printed Date: December 22 2024 at 19:26 Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: DjabePosted By: NotAProghead
Subject: Djabe
Date Posted: December 18 2011 at 18:41
Founded in 1995 by Attila
Égerházi (guitars) and András Sipos (percussion, vocals), DJABE released a row
of studio and live albums, became the number 1 jazz/world fusion band in
Hungary and played during these years in 41 countries. These first class
musicians created their own, unique sound. Elements of jazz, rock, Hungarian,
European and African folklore are mixed in absolutely natural, organic way. The
more I listen to Djabe music, the more I love it.
Wherever they play, Djabe are always
warmly received by listeners and critics. I guess these two opinions sum up
well numerous positive reports:
"The best band I've ever played with." – Steve Hackett.
"By the end of the concert we will become slightly different
people..." –
International DVD Magazine.
Attila Égerházi, bandleader,
founder member, guitarist and composer, the manager of his own record label
Gramy Records, kindly agreed to answer our questions.
http://www.radikal.ru" rel="nofollow">
But when we prepared this
interview it became clear that many questions were already answered in
interviews made for the band’s 15th Anniversary DVD “Djabe 15”. Thus Djabe musicians, Tamás
Barabás (bass), Ferenc Kovács (violin, trumpet, vocals), Szilárd Banai (drums),
Zoltan Kovács (keyboards), and the band’s friend and long-time collaborator
Steve Hackett virtually joined our conversation*.
Attila, welcome to
ProgArchives. Last year Djabe celebrated their 15-th anniversary, my
congratulations. Let’s talk about the band’s music, its members, some moments
of Djabe biography and other things related, not necessarily directly, to your
music.
Attila, your father was a painter artist, your grandfather was a conductor and
multi-instrumentalist. You graduated TechnicalUniversity. Was it a
tough choice to make music your profession?
Attila Égerházi: No, it was easy to choose the music, but was a
zig-zag way to pull out something really professional.
My approach
to the music let me create an exciting music, and I was lucky in finding my
band and soul mates, all fantastic professionals.
Ralph
Towner, Oregon, Jan Garbarek, Weather Report, Genesis and King Crimson are
listed among your influences. But who were your musical heroes when you started
playing guitar?
Attila Égerházi: My heroes were: Steve Hackett, Ralph Towner,
John McLaughlin and David Gilmour.
Let’s turn back to the year 1995. How your
previous band, Novus Jam, became Djabe? Who offered the name Djabe?
Attila Égerházi: My co-founder band mate András Sipos, or as we
called him Sipi. He played African, Arabic, South-American and Indonesian
percussions. Djabe means freedom in African Ashanti language. This freedom was
our approach to write and play music. Both of us were self-taught musicians. We
followed unconventional writing and arranging way. And still it is, but later
we added well educated jazz musicians to the band, who could accept our
concept.
László Zeke: How did you meet first?
Tamás Barabás: First it was only studio work. I think it was
so for Muki (Ferenc Muck) and Feri (Ferenc Kovács) that we got acquainted
during the studio work.
Then Muki
and I were asked if we wanted to be members.
We said OK
and from that point we started doing this 4-member formation.
László Zeke: What was your reason to agree?
Tamás Barabás: It wasn’t an everyday music. Sipi was quite a
character... He was interesting as a person and as a musician, too.
We found
some plus in Djabe that other bands did not possess.
To help PA visitors understand
how the band’s sound and ideas developed with time, please give us your long or
brief views on all or some Djabe albums.
Djabe – 1996
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I guess first album is very special for any
artist. Please tell some words about it.
Attila Égerházi: This was a fourth CD I produced as a band
member. In addition on the first Djabe
CD all the musicians played, whom I’m worked with on the previous three ones.
But the concept and the approach to the music had changed in 1995.
I was a
founder member of Novus Jam in 1983.
We had a great success in my hometown Debrecen
in 1983 and 84. In
1985 I had to spend one year in the army as I accepted to the TechnicalUniversity
in Budapest.
The life of the quartet paused for 4 years.
In 1989 we
got together for some gigs in Budapest.
In 1993 the flutist (Judit Gesztelyi) and me recorded an album under Judit’s
name. Next year we put together the Novus
Jam again and released the album “Profiles”. Judit was the one, who met
Sipi and invited him to join for the “Profiles” recordings in 1994. We
supported “Profiles” with a domestic tour as a trio. Judit on flute, Sipi on percussion,
and me on guitar. The Novus live
album in 1995 captured the Debrecen
show.
After this
period we started to record a new material with Sipi. Judit didn’t like the
fresh compositions, and we invited some new musicians to record our new music.
Ferenc Kovács on trumpet and violin, Ferenc Muck on saxophone, Tamás Barabás on
bass.
Tibor
Karvaly (violin) and Tamás Rácz (guitar), original members of Novus Jam, also played on this album,
which in 1996 released under the name Djabe.
In 1997 Sipi and me put together a band to play the numbers of the first album
live, and to record the second CD.
This was
the first official line-up of Djabe:
- András
Sipos – percussion, vocal,
- Tamás
Barabás – bass,
- Ferenc
Muck – tenor and soprano sax,
- Attila
Égerházi – guitar.
László Zeke: Who wrote compositions at that
time?
Tamás Barabás: Attila and Sipi, the real core guys.
Attila Égerházi: We used to improvise with Sipi and not only in
the studio.
Then if we
thought we had found something good, we would return, record them, and we had a
range to select from, to edit.
When a
composition was about to take shape we called the others.
This was
our modus operandi in the beginnings.
Did the first Djabe album change the band’s life
in terms of popularity?
Attila Égerházi: Juventus Radio played the track “Coffee Break”for a year in the selector which means it was on air six times a
day.
László Zeke: How did it reach the radio?
Attila Égerházi: We simply sent it to them.
László Zeke: And the video with the bus?
Attila Égerházi: That is the video of the hit Djabe, which also had a radio friendly
version.
It doesn’t
feature percussion, it is based on groove but there was djembe obviously.
Coffee Break was better received in the media, it was on
more times, but we preferred Djabe,
that’s why the video was made. I think it was a work of professionals. I still have
good feelings watching it, I still think it kept its ground. It is quite rare
that a non-pop band shoots their video onto 35mm film then edits it in a
professional environment.
We wanted
the whole thing to be humorous, that’s why we had the bus, the dancer girls,
the fun…
The
audience loved it.
So our
first so-called concert at Petőfi Hall was sold out so much that people were
not only sitting but standing, about 1200 people were there.
Today it
would be harder to attract 1200 people as easily as the music we play now is
closer to jazz. Our fan base was much bigger than today. However, I always used
to say to produce good quality, something of a high standard, make good music
because we love it. And then we found the place of the music we play nowadays.
This is
justified by our concerts abroad. The music we used to play in ’98-99, in 2000 we probably
couldn’t appear at renowned international jazz festivals where quality is
important.
At that
time my idea was to create a real show, something professional and enjoyable
for the audience so that they wouldn’t get bored.
László Zeke: How many of you were on stage
then? How big was the crew?
Attila Égerházi: Four of us played the music and there were
about six or eight dancers. Gábor Bakó was the choreographer and used to dance,
too. His students formed the dance group. We devised part of the show when the
dancers entertained the audience beside us. I think it was a good thing but our
gigs would be strange with dancers today.
Are there any stories behind funny titles of
these two pieces: “Late Night Drink” and “Hangover”?
Attila Égerházi: No. I don’t drink alcohol, maximum one beer a
week. I don’t like spirits at all. When we finished those numbers, these titles
were match with the mood of them. “Hangover” is a parody of a drunken trumpet
player.
From the very beginning all Djabe albums are
released by the band’s own label Gramy Records. Did you try to deal with other
labels before or you initially wanted “to hold all cards in your hands”? Did
Djabe already have then, in 1996, their own recording studio?
Attila Égerházi: I never wanted to sell our music to other
labels. I never wanted to present to record business people how good we are. I
never wanted to be auditioned. I got the model from Frank Zappa. I built a
recording studio in 1997, I recorded all the gigs with my own equipment, I run
a records label, etc.
During the
time of the first Djabe album the Gramy Recording Studio was just a plan, so we
recorded it in three other studios in Budapest
and Debrecen,
and some guitar parts at home.
Witchi
Tai To – 1998
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Attila Égerházi: Witchi
Tai To was a composition I first heard by the band Oregon then Jan Garbarek at the Debrecen
Jazz Days live. When my band took shape, I felt the urge to cover it. I found
Sipi suitable to sing this song as it was his world.
I also
chose this the title song because I believed that if there’s a completely
unknown band, it can be guessed what music it plays as the song Witchi Tai To was well-known.
I also
thought it would be good towards abroad by giving an international taste to the
production. It’s not English, Witchi Tai
To is an intermediate choice. My best experience regarding Witchi Tai To was in Portugal, in Porto Covo. We had
been invited to a world music festival. Our concept was that once we were at a
world music festival, we should play more world music than jazz. It was then
that after a long pause we put Witchi Tai
To into our set and I remember the audience received it very well and then
it found its way back to our standard repertoire.
First compositions written by Tamás Barabás for
Djabe appeared on “Witchi Tai To” album. A year or two later he became,
together with you and András Sipos, one of the main authors in Djabe. Did other
band members encouraged him to compose or he offered his own pieces and ideas?
Attila Égerházi: Tamás worked on the recordings as a sound
engineer as well, not on the first ones but he recorded most of our second
album.
Instantly
he found himself busy with arranging the music.
With his
knowledge and professional approach he wanted to make the tracks also more
professional which resulted in him writing numbers, or rather we had mutual
compositions.
Ly-O-Lay
Ale Loya – 1999
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Attila Égerházi: It was in fact a more conscious choice than Witchi Tai To. The concept with Lay O Lay Ale Loya was also to increase
our popularity, position our band with a well-known world thing. By then Tamás
and I had discussed matters, the music we wanted to play, how to make
recordings, and then I showed him this track. He got interested and it was him
who arranged our cover from this authentic Indian theme.
Tamás Barabás: This was the album where I started arranging
the music, getting involved.
Attila Égerházi: There was a tour to accompany this album.
We carried
on with the show and the lighting system.
But we
replaced the dancers with projection. By Tamás taking a larger role in the
arrangement, he brought more themes and he formed the final characteristics of
the tracks. We wanted to illustrate and support the music by the projection. In
fact, this was the point when we reached a summit in that kind of arrangement,
mentality and we took full advantage of everything we could, and then we had to
change.
Tamás Barabás: We had no problems with the instruments but
there were the four of us on stage. We had played so many different instruments
at the studio that it sounded empty on stage when only the four of us played.
We came up with the idea to have a lot of percussion backing tracks, maybe we
already had keyboards then, and then we would play to it.
We were a
bit restricted this way and we had to know the structure of the songs very
well. The tape would obviously not adjust itself to us if we happened to want
something else, like a longer solo. Practically, the arrangements went beyond
the point when four people could play them.
Attila Égerházi: We basically had the need of musicians.
Update
– 2001
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Up to this album the line-up was completed – Zoltan
Kovács (keyboards) and Szilárd Banai (drums) joined the band.
László Zeke: How did you and Sipi got used to
each other? Did you feel any tension? Or any problem caused by it?
Szilárd Banai: There was no problem. But I felt a kind of, I
don’t know, not rivalry but something on Sipi’s part.
Attila Égerházi: He tried to achieve new things. Tomi (Tamás
Barabás) also tried to build up the music so that the two would complement each
other. I remember we were playing exactly at the Steve Hackett press conference
in 2004, and I don’t know which musician said, the bass guitarist from that
band that he liked this two-drummer line-up. There is a drummer with massive
drum kit and a percussionist and they complete each other so well, and the
rhythm section is very strong. Sipi was also a soloist, so occasionally he
stood centre stage and sang and did a percussion solo, while Szilu (Szilárd
Banai) was giving him the base to which he could put even more.
Ferenc Kovács was in the band from the very beginning, but he did not
play with Djabe after their debut album. And in 2001 he returned.
László Zeke: With this row of people as we’re
sitting here, with the featured musicians and Sipi, the first album to be
recorded was Update. What did it feel
like participating in it?
Ferenc Kovács: It was
curious to work with a band again and it felt like home. I also felt it
comfortable. I had never been served so well as a musician. The backgrounds,
the organization of the tour, and the sound surroundings on stage are all very
important for a musician. Even more so for those musicians who widen their
practice methods and reinvent their relationship with their own instrument.
So they
keep evolving and don’t want to stop. As Attila has said, some were fine with
simply doing gigs only. But the band made a great step forward and I still like
to listen to that album, my children adore it even.
László Zeke: Am I right in saying that Update was a kind of spontaneous music
making as well?
Zoltan Kovács: No, for me it was exactly the Update tour that was incredibly
disciplined and precise. I had much more to play on the keyboard that was part
of the compositions. I had to play at a given place with a given tone.
Tamás Barabás: We were so afraid of having a drum kit and the
piano after the band sounded with Ferenc Muck, the lineup of four. We somehow
included the piano a bit anxiously.
Then we
sampled a nice little nursery tune into Lead
Soldier played on the piano.
It was then
that we began to appreciate the sound of the piano. It was then that we
realized how this sound would work in our music.
Táncolnak a kazlak / Sheafs are Dancing – 2003 (CD and
DVD-Audio)
http://www.radikal.ru" rel="nofollow">
The album is inspired by painting arts of Attila’s
father, Imre Égerházi (1925 - 2001).
http://www.radikal.ru" rel="nofollow">
Imre Égerházi ( http://www.egerhaziimre.hu/" rel="nofollow - ) had a rare talent to
see miracles in ordinary things – in his paintings details of landscapes can look
like human faces and figures, sheaves begin to dance and eyes tell more than
words can say.
[Note: following this link http://www.egerhaziimre.hu/eletmu.php" rel="nofollow - you can look at many
Imre Égerházi’s works, just select time period in the field Időszak.]
How the idea came to life, how it was supported
by the band and received by your listeners.
Tamás Barabás: Attila and I had this idea independently.
There was that sad event and the paintings were given. We somehow came up with
the idea separately to write compositions to the paintings. Obviously, there
had been a kind of thing like this in the course of history but we also wanted
to try it. I didn’t believe it would work so well. It happened like this:
Attila showed me some pictures, the better known paintings, and also some less
known ones. I chose a few and wrote my compositions to them.
The picture
entitled Iceworld was also featured
in a booklet. [In 1988 Imre Égerházi was
in the state of clinical death on three occasions. He painted several pictures
of these experiences.] I put the picture in front of my keyboard, I was
looking at it, and the way I pressed the first chord started it all. So all
this worked very well, that painting captured my imagination so.
When the
composition was done, it touched everyone, especially those who had a
near-death experience. There was a man at the press conference who came up to
me and said he had had an experience like this and when he was listening to the
song he got the shivers. So there must be a connection.
Ferenc Kovács: We were
exploring something different. It made a disc like Sheafs possible to come out which is one of the summits of the
Djabe quality. On it, it was real world music. We put our personalities into
it, the artistic concept itself, which didn’t require a foreign language or a
foreign culture but our own. The tracks reflected on the wonderful paintings of
Attila’s father.
This album
proved Tomi to be breaking new grounds compared to Update.
“Sheafs are Dancing” was the first Djabe record
with Steve Hackett, one of the most respected musicians in prog community. How
Djabe met Steve?
Steve Hackett: Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve been
playing and working with them and I think I must have heard something on record
first of all but originally I met Attila when it was – he was a distributor for
some albums of ours. So first of all I met him as a record company and we
started talking, and I found out more about the group and I found it
fascinating, the concept of this entirely fluid band that just adds and changes
members all the time. It’s a very interesting concept; it’s a very, very good
idea.
László Zeke: What was your first impression
about their music?
Steve Hackett: Well, I thought it was very free and I think
that the more I saw of it live the more I realized how free it was. When I
first heard it I thought it was very tightly arranged and in a way it’s become
freer since then so it’s developed over time.
László Zeke:I think
the music of Djabe is a very nice combination of jazz, the world music and
traditional authentic music. How can you find your role in this
interesting mixture of cultures and music?
Steve Hackett: Well, I’ll tell you what I often do: if I hear
someone doing an interesting sound I sometimes try to create almost like a sort
of a wasp behind them of a similar sound so you can’t quite tell who’s doing what.
I like it when instruments start to sound like each other. We’re not quite sure
who’s who. I’ve always enjoyed that when two instruments create a third
instrument. So part of what I do is cloaking and masking what goes on.
It’s
something which is presented in a way where there’s lots of room so anything
can happen. And I think the best music is like that where it’s not so much the
set moments but the moments of happy accidents that are happening the whole
time. And I love the fact that there’s so much exotica within the concept of it
because you know at times it’s truly free, and I wish I had more of that with
my own band. I always feel it’s implicit or incumbent to be doing things that
are recognisable. Whereas I think most musicians would always prefer to be
doing something new so that fits. In that way Djabe fulfils that need for
something new the whole time.
Djabe toured with “Táncolnak a kazlak”
programme, it was filmed and released on “Sheafs
were Dancing” DVD (2006)
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You used screen projections, animations and
surround sound on this tour. Please tell some words about these concerts.
Attila Égerházi: At first, it was me who came up with lighting
ideas but Tomi got interested soon as well. And I felt it did good to talk it
over more. Especially when we devised the Sheafs
Are Dancing tour, it needed a great brainstorming as it was a process that
the album was done to paintings. It was also an extra that we released our disc
into a book in which you could see the paintings. We also thought we could do
more live. We projected films and we didn’t stop at the paintings, they were
followed by similar ones and themes attached to them. My father used to make
super8 films a lot, so we had footages linked to the paintings.
Our idea
was to play a two-hour video that wasn’t so tight, it was more like moods
except for Iceworld, in whose case an
animated video was made. Iceworld was
one of the paintings made after the near-death experience and there were six
other paintings as a series. My father always used to say that he would paint
his short footage like experiences as he could but, it would do better if they
could be made into a real film instead of a still like paintings, because he
watched short “footages”.
He
explained them on cassette and with the help of voice recordings an animation
team at Focus Fox Studio lead by Csaba Vass created the animation.
We weren’t
charged for it, they loved the idea so much. We played live at the concert to
the video.
The real
extraordinary thing was that Tomi and I came up with a system how to make it
sound in surround, in 5.1 live. We wanted our band to sound like this, how does
it sound on the DVD Audio version of Sheafs
Are Dancing, we didn’t want a simple, stereo soundscape but the audience to
be surrounded by the music, because we thought they would have an even more
interesting musical experience if they heard everything better. Moreover, this
surround environment, which is brought to life by effects, backing tracks, even
with the moving of the instruments around, provides a more interesting
experience.
We devised
and built our own audiovisual system. A Mac computer with Protools controlled
the band, the sound and the video. So we created a complete multimedia system
on our own, but it was the band of course the essence of it because we played
the whole album live to the computer provided audio and video backgrounds.
Attila, I know your father was fond of Djabe
and often attended your concerts. Did he encourage you to be a musician from
the beginning of your career or it took time for him to see that his son found
his place in life?
Attila Égerházi: No. He said to me: Do what you like, and you
will find your way. The things will turn out themselves.
He was
happy, that I choose architecture first as a profession, because this is close
to the fine art. But at the end he was happy with my musical activities too. He
was happy with my results and I could support him with my company too in his
last years of life.
Where are Imre Égerházi’s works now? Is there
some permanent exposition?
Attila Égerházi: He has a memorial house in his hometown,
Hajdúhadház, with more than 100 very important paintings. He gave a whole lifetime
collection to the DeriMuseum in Debrecen.
His paintings can be found in several Hungarian museums, The National Gallery
in Budapest,
different institutes and collectors. The family also has a more than 1500-piece
collection with oils, monotypes and graphics.
Some later albums were also released both on CD
and DVD-A. Is Djabe the only Hungarian band recording albums in surround sound?
Attila Égerházi: Not the only one, but I don’t know other band
from the jazz, world and rock scenes. Akos, a very intelligent quality pop star
and producer made several surround recordings too.
Slices of Life – 2005 and Take On – 2008
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Tamás Barabás:Slices
of Life was the first album where I tried to transform the compositions in
arrangement and in sound to prepare them deliberately for our gigs abroad. We
had seen what they wanted there. You have to play a bit differently at a jazz
festival than at your own gigs. Everyone was aware of it in there solos, too…
It had to
fulfil the requirements of that atmosphere.
So it was
all conscious.
The
following album, Take On represents
almost the same attitude. You realize exactly at these stages of the
international tours what works well.
We almost
come up with these ideas on stage what suits everyone individually in the band.
Attila Égerházi: In the beginning, when these gigs started, we
had to apply our older numbers to fit these festivals. It was exactly Tomi’s
idea to create pieces so in the first place and then we wouldn’t have much left
to do at a festival. You can discuss whether to make certain parts longer or
shorter, but you don’t need to transform them. The new compositions were
considered from this point of view as well.
Djabe recorded an impressive number of live
albums and videos. I believe this record, dedicated to your late friend András
Sipos, is very important for Djabe.
Sipi Benefit Concert (featuring Steve Hackett) – 2009, released as 2CD
and 2DVD
Please share your memories of that evening,
when lots of friends came to say their last farewell to András Sipos.
Zoltan Kovács: We all you know it, and in my view, we all
talk about him in remembrance as if he was still with us. He is still not
featured in the Djabe stories as a separated part. Well, while Djabe exists,
I’m sure it will stay so.
László Zeke: For me – it’s my personal view –
the most memorable part of the Sipi benefit concert was Sipi himself playing in
the background. Those who don’t know much about these things or not a musician
may not appreciate what a big achievement it is to play with a video. Because
he should accompany the group. It was incredible to see how it can be done live
that someone who’s not alive can play on the video in the background and the
band plays in sync with him.
Attila Égerházi: He watches over the band and when he’s needed,
he joins in.
This was,
so to say, the most defined part of the evening. It caused this fantastic
feeling to everyone, and everyone got wings. Our special guest, Steve Hackett
got such wings that he stayed with the band.
László Zeke (question to Steve Hackett): You offered that you would come to Budapest. Attila told that it would be great
but they couldn’t pay in reply. The only thing you wanted to know is the exact
date and place of the concert. Why did you feel that was so important for you
to be here in Budapest
for that occasion?
Steve Hackett: Well, Attila is a great friend and so all the
guys in Djabe. I’m incredibly impressed by all of them as musicians, they’re
all fabulous. But more than that, I have an idea that in the ideal world, music
would exist without money. It’s not, it’s not about the money I think for most
musicians, I think it’s about the chance to create some magic together, the
alchemy of it, a spontaneous gesture, the ability to be able to surprise
yourself, and I have to say that although I’ve been a professional musician for
most of my life, and I’m 60 now, I think the times that I’ve enjoyed best on
stage were the times when I was improvising and there was no money involved
within whatsoever. It was just something that happened where the instrument
took off in my hands and I was just there to try and hang onto it as it took
off. So sometimes you get the feeling that you have a visit from some
incredible guitarist who takes over from me and does something that surprises
even me. And I live for those moments. When that happens, that’s incredible, I
just – if I could exist like that the whole time that would be Nirvana. Perfection.
Djabe recent live releases In the footsteps of Attila and Genghis –
2010 (2CD)and Jubilee double DVD Djabe 15 (2011) also feature Steve Hackett
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Djabe often tour with Steve. How it is to work
with him?
Zoltan Kovács: He’s a very-very good, kind-hearted person,
and as a musician I feel absolutely secure when he’s on stage with us. You
can’t detect uncertainty in the Djabe tracks, which is not really his music. He
can bring an essential colour to it, and it’s a very important plus. When we
began to play his numbers, we realized that experiencing them internally, the
whole material is very good, a very serious cohesion. I love to play Steve’s
music very much.
Szilárd Banai: He reacted to all of us perfectly. He is an
absolute musician. It is very rare if someone joins an existing production, the
whole thing changes completely.
Tamás Barabás: He didn’t have to give us musical instructions
or the other way round, somehow the whole thing fit. He is a personality, when
he appears, the band is more disciplined in their play, it is obvious as we
respect him very much. Even more, since we got to know him as a friend. He is a
friend now.
http://www.radikal.ru" rel="nofollow">
László Zeke (question to Steve Hackett): You are not only a studio star guest of Djabe. You’ve taken part in
concerts several times, for example in London or
in Graz; in Romania more than 13 thousand
people saw your concerts. Which performance was the most memorable for you and
why?
Steve Hackett: Well, you know we did a tour a while back and
got to visit extraordinary places. You know we got to play in – Sarajevo was
extraordinary, you know beforehand we didn’t now if – I had a piece of my
equipment missing and I didn’t know if it was all gonna function. You know it
was on a knife-edge and yet the concert was extraordinary.
At the end
of the day, you know the message of music is that – and especially with Djabe –
is that I feel there would be no nationality or race that would be excluded
from playing with this you know it really is world fusion. You know it ranges
from Morocco to Azerbaijan to America
to England.
And that doesn’t stop, that’s I think that’s a very great thing.
László Zeke: Nowadays, we can hear Genesis
adaptation in the concert. How does it sound from the Djabe?
Steve Hackett: We’re about to do it now. It sounds like
Genesis plus. You know it’s Genesis but in another way, on a grander scale.
Genesis was
five guys when I joined, then it became four guys, then three guys after I left
and then it became I think two guys. But you know my idea for Genesis was I
thought we should work with lots of people. You know there should’ve been a
Genesis orchestra at the end of the day but it’s – Genesis had the opposite
philosophy and I doubt that there will be any more from Genesis ever again.
There are some heavy and rocking compositions
on Djabe live albums with Steve. Can we expect heavier sound on future Djabe
records?
Attila Égerházi: Djabe means freedom. It means nothing is
directed in advance for us and the audience. So, some heavier bits are
possible. But this is not the way we walk.
And some questions not only about music
Do you remember the moment when you realized:
Djabe is a strong band and it has its own identity (or perhaps you knew it from
the start)?
Attila Égerházi: I felt good from the beginnings, but the
international success of the Update
album convinced me, to try ourselves in abroad.
Some musician said that it’s easier to compose
a piece than give it a name. Titles of many Djabe tracks (“Above The Skies”,
“Distant Dance”, “Winter Forest”, “Clouds Dance” etc) help the listener to
imagine some picture. Were such pieces composed with some images in mind or
initially the music was abstract and entitled later?
Attila Égerházi: The music is coming often with visuals. If
not, we can name it later.
Arrangements. Main band’s arranger now is Tamás
Barabás. Does it mean he makes all arranging work or it is a collective process
and each musician brings his ideas?
Attila Égerházi: I record my ideas with my own, or with some of
the band members, and then I present them to Tamás, who works out, and finalise
them.
He works differently
on his own tunes. He records everything with midi, and then asks the musicians to learn the melodies and add their own solos.
Tamás Barabás is now one of the best sound
engineers in Hungary.
As far as I can tell, good sound producer should have deep knowledge not only
in music, but in technical side of recording process, equipment, acoustics etc.
You are also producing Djabe records. Did you and Tamás have formal technical
studies or your achievements in this field are a result of practice and
self-education?
Attila Égerházi: We have our own recording studio, which is one
of the best in Hungary.
This is a big adventure. We learnt everything in practice.
Is Djabe a democratic band (i.e. to include
some new piece in the repertoire is the whole band approval necessary)?
Attila Égerházi: Djabe is a kind of a family. But my and Tamás’
influence on the music, set and plans are determining.
Biographies of Djabe members can be found here:
http://djabe.hu/biografia_eng.html" rel="nofollow - , but I can’t skip the question about Ferenc Kovács (violin, trumpet, flugelhorn,
vocals).
The list
of his talents is unbelievable: musician and composer, key member of numerous
musical projects, a European champion of kendo, an active kendo trainer, he
produces famous wines, prepares meals, makes rustic carved pieces of furniture.
Each of this occupations can take the whole life, do you have any idea how he
can manage all these things?
Attila Égerházi: He is an extraordinary person. Steve Hackett
is amazed by Feri. If he was born in the USA, he would be a World Star now.
But he rodilszja [“was born” in Russian]
in Hungary
during the communist era.
According
to his bio, Ferenc Kovács graduated as a trumpet teacher. I don’t know any
other musician who plays such different instruments like trumpet and violin. And
he is so good on both of them that Archie Shepp tells about Ferenc: “Apart from
being one of the best violinists of the world, he can play the trumpet like
Miles Davis.” When Mr. Kovács started play violin and did he have teachers?
Attila Égerházi: No he is a self-taught on violin. The
Hungarian ancient violin sound is circulating in his blood.
All Djabe albums, including live and club
releases, have perfect sound. Who is the man behind the desk, responsible for
concert sound?
Attila Égerházi:Gábor Zrupkó is a member of the band from the
point of view of the sound. What you hear and what we hear on stage depends on
him.
The success
of the band, that both the audience and we enjoy the play depends mostly on
him. His role is not a spectacular one as he’s never on stage but it is even
more important. That is why we try to take him with us everywhere, and
sometimes we get silly messages why we want to bring our own technician when
they have a very good one, too. But that technician can’t be the best if he
doesn’t know the band and our compositions as well as ours does, it is impossible
to fulfil the task, it’s impossible. That is why I credit Gábor as part of the
line up most of the time.
Djabe are extra class musicians. To be always
in a good form, does the band spend much time for rehearsals and practicing on
instruments?
Attila Égerházi: Yes, we are all practicing, and making
rehearsals before the shows. But the best rehearsal is the concert.
Do you
and other Djabe members have time for listening music of other artists? Who are your favourite Hungarian and international bands (artists)
now?
Attila Égerházi: Feri doesn’t listen to any music recently. He
is practicing all the time... I listen to different kind of music, from Brian
Eno to Pat Metheny. Tamás and Szilard are listening jazz mainly, and Zoltan a
lot of classical. But we all listen to Steve Hackett’s music in the tour bus.
Are your friends and families interested in
Djabe music?
Attila Égerházi: Yes. Djabe is part of our life.
How it is to be a musician in Hungary? Is it possible to make
living only by playing music?
Attila Égerházi: Very hard. Unfortunately it is very hard to
live from music only. We all need to do something else. Teach, work in other
professions or do many studio or live sessions.
Does Djabe have sponsors?
Attila Égerházi: We have some sponsors and government
sponsorship, but small part of the real costs.
Does Djabe have radio- and TV-appearances now?
Attila Égerházi: We have a good PR, but the commercial radios
play other type of music. We do not make compromise with Djabe. We play what we
like and feel good.
Did Djabe have negative experience with
promoters (the band not get paid, bad equipment, technical and organization
problems etc)?
Attila Égerházi: We have good and bad experiences both. In Russia
too.
Illegal distribution of music via internet is a
reality of our days. Some artists are strongly against it, some tell “do
whatever you want with our music: upload, download, burn CDs, just don’t sell
illegal copies”. What is your point of view on the problem?
Attila Égerházi: If somebody is stealing your property it is a
crime. The music is the property of the author, the musician and the record
label. The digital world collapsed the business, and the income of the
musicians. Why do we like it?
Can you call one Djabe piece which is in your
opinion the band’s visit card?
Attila Égerházi:Djabe.
Unfortunately Sipi sung it. Maybe I’ll try one day...
Please tell some words about Djabe future
plans. Can we expect a new studio album?
Attila Égerházi: Yes a new studio LP is coming. In addition the
5.1 reissue of the Update album will
come out February 2012 with many audio and video extras on double DVD. We have
just finished the Slices of Life tour
DVD production as well.
What is Djabe for you and your band mates: only
a group you are working in or it’s a circle of friends as well?
Tamás Barabás: When we were looking for band members our
primary goal wasn’t to check what kind of musician they were. The reason why
this band still exists and hasn’t broken up is because we have become one
family. We have said it many times before.
Attila, I thank you for the
interview and wish Djabe to conquer new musical heights and visit as many
countries as possible.
Let me quote your friend, tar player from Azerbaijan,
Malik Mansurov: Not
every band gets the chance to give a jubilee concert. Many musicians or band
leaders dream of a band which can get to their 15 or 20-year anniversary
concert… This is a great thing.
It
obviously depends on every member, but I think it depends mostly on their
leader. If the band leader is a good person, a good musician, and sensitive,
this can all be achieved. I wish them further jubilees. A 20-year anniversary,
a 25-year one…
Peace and love!
Djabe page on ProgArchives: http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=5019" rel="nofollow -
Djabe official website (English version): http://djabe.hu/index_eng.html" rel="nofollow -
Djabe CDs, DVDs, solo works of the band members and collaborators can be
ordered from any corner of the world via Gramy Records website: http://www.gramy.com/rendeles.php" rel="nofollow -
Special thanks to Rita
Gueuth (Gramy Records), without whom this interview would not happen.
* -
fragments of László Zeke’s interviews with Djabe and Steve Hackett used by the
band’s permission
------------- Who are you and who am I to say we know the reason why... (D. Gilmour)
Replies: Posted By: snobb
Date Posted: December 19 2011 at 12:40
Fantastic interview! I know Djabe for years and like them,but this interview really refreshed my interest to band's music
Posted By: memowakeman
Date Posted: December 25 2011 at 11:33