Interview with Nadir


Q: How would you describe your music to someone who hasn't heard of Nadir before?

Nadir: The music I create is called Distorted Soul. It is soul music that incorporates elements of hip-hop, rock, funk, folk, gospel and the blues. I really don't like comparisons to other artists, but that seems to be the easiest way for people to think about it, so I would say a cross between Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone with ?uestlove from The Roots on drums. Or halfway between D'Angelo and Lenny Kravitz.

Q: Who has influenced your sound and made you want to become a musician?

Nadir: I come from a musical family. My mother plays piano in church and encouraged/forced me to sing in the choir at a very early age and I loved it. My brother played bass guitar and trumpet. Because I wanted to be like him, those were the first two musical instruments I picked up. I also have several cousins who are great musicians. One was in a band with Chuckii Booker and later played drums for Barry White. On two different trips to Los Angeles I got to hang out at rehearsals for both groups, and that made a deep impression on me.
In high school (age 14 or so) I became very serious about music. That's around the time I started listening to Miles Davis, Prince, Wynton Marsalis, Stanley Clarke, The Time, Cameo, and many others and decided this is what I wanted to do with my life.

Q: Distorted Soul 2.0 is actually a new version of your previous album Distorted Soul. Why did you re-record it?

Nadir: Distorted Soul 2.0 is quite literally like a software upgrade where certain aspects are tweaked to develop a better product. The album was recorded with co-producers Neal Cappellino (who has worked with Dolly Parton, Victor Wooten, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Allison Krauss and many more) and Reavis Mitchell (hip-hop producer and winner of 3 Addy advertising awards who has made commercials for Sprite and Taco Bell among others). Throughout the entire project we were searching for a unique sound and feeling which often only existed somewhere in my mind. As a result we recorded and re-recorded and remixed and threw tracks away until we got as close as we could to the vision.
We released Distorted Soul in 2003 and began promotion and test marketing by playing the record in a variety of different settings to gauge the reactions of a diverse array of music lovers. The overall reception was very positive, but there were several aspects that we felt could be improved, so we remixed just over half of the tracks, rearranged the running order, remastered the entire project and changed the artwork. I'm glad we did it because even though we were building a solid buzz with 1.0, once people heard 2.0 the project really took off, and this year Distorted Soul 2.0 won the Detroit Music Award for Outstanding Urban/Funk/Hip-Hop Recording.

Q: In a comment to my review you've said, that you "have been frustrated with major labels for a long time, both as an artist and as a consumer". While I know the frustration on the consumer side, I would like to know more about your frustration as artist with the majors. Do you still like to sign a contract with a major label after all?

Nadir: Well, you hit the nail on the head when you said that the major labels have difficulty dealing with multifaceted music that doesn't fit into the neat little boxes that have been created by music marketers and radio programmers. I think of myself as an artist, and I am just now learning how to view myself as a consumer product. I would like to see my music reach a wider audience, and a major label would probably provide the most efficient means, but it would have to be the right company under the right conditions. Meanwhile, we'll keep plugging away and making moves on our own.

Q: You've released Distorted Soul on you own imprint Eclipse America Productions. How pleased are you with the reactions so far?

Nadir: I'm thrilled so far! Reaction has been very positive from most quarters. The album's diversity appeals to a wide range of listeners of all ages and cultural backgrounds. We have received spins on R&B, rock, Neo-Soul and smooth jazz radio, and have won several awards. I think it is simply a matter of time (and a lot of hard work) before we reach a much wider audience.

Q: You also have a forum on your website named Blues Talkin' where you address a lot of political issues. It doesn't happen too often these days that a musician voice his political opinions so openly. Why do you think most artists rather appear non-political and why do you think different?

Nadir: Michael Jordan spoke for a lot of entertainers when asked why he wasn't more open about his politics. He said, "Republicans buy shoes, too." Most entertainers are simply afraid of offending their audience. Others are too concerned with making a living to even think about politics much less comment on it or take action.
I think we are all responsible for each other and for the world we live in. As an artist it is my duty to paint pictures and make observations about life as I view it. To me, that is the job. Others may feel their job is to entertain people and help them forget about the troubles of the world. I believe we have to have both.

Q: As you've realized in your numerous entries on Blues Talkin' there's so much going wrong these days. Yet there are hardly any musicians actually singing about today's problems. Some sing about the ecological desasters like Misty Oldland but where are the Stevies, Gil Scott-Herons or Donny Hathaways of today. Compared to the 70s it looks that we either live in a world where milk and honey flows or almost all musicians have become non-political. Why do you think this has happened and do you think this will change soon?

Nadir: Music is a reflection of the society that we live in. The social conditions of the 1960s and 70s created the music of the time. In that period, a revolutionary fervor was sweeping the planet. War was everywhere. "Third World" nations were throwing off the shackles of colonialism and gaining their political independence. Oppressed people all over the globe were fighting for their rights. These were the conditions that created Bob Dylan, Gil Scott-Heron, Bob Marley, Fela Kuti and many others. This is what caused Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye to break with the Motown mandate of happy music only and talk about the problems in their community.
We see similar phenomena with the rise of the punk counter-culture during the early 80s and with politically conscious hip-hop in the late 80s and early 90s. Both were reactions to social and political repression in their respective communities. The rise of gangsta rap coincides with the flood of crack cocaine and guns into America's inner cities. Artists write about life and what they see around them.
Right now we are moving from a period of economic growth to one of war and economic uncertainty. The Internet provides us with a means of international communication the likes of which we have never seen. At the same time corporate power and the repression of civil liberties and human rights are on the rise.
We have already seen an increase in political music in the U.S. since September 11 and the election of 2004. I predict that socially and politically conscious music will explode over the next four years. The industry itself hasn't promoted these types of artists over the last decade, but once it proves to be profitable again, they will be all over it. We've already seen Dead Prez release two major label albums, but the real gems are in the independent world where artists like Ani DeFranco, Fertile Ground, Paris and Donnie are putting out very good material.

Q: What political issues are the most important for you right now? If you had the power to solve three of these problems, which would it be?

Nadir: 21st century telecommunications are amazing and they make us aware of issues large and small. There are so many tragedies that deserve our urgent attention. If I had the power that you speak of, I would make broad utopian changes that would have dramatic effects for a large number of people.
We've alluded to how global corporate domination is affecting our lives. A corporation is a legal person. It can do anything legally that a person can do. But a corporation has no soul, and by and large the people who run the corporations are not held personally responsible for their individual actions within the corporation. Benito Mussolini told us that "The first stage of fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power." The rise of corporatism is leading the way for new waves of repression and violence. Human beings with souls should hold power in human society, not soulless corporations or the puppet politicians that they hire to run our governments.
So that would be the first solution: People who put people ahead of profits should run the world. Those people would then begin to reverse the damage that centuries of economic and cultural imperialism have caused. This would decrease poverty, war, disease, environmental pollution, political corruption and any number of other plagues that we are dealing with today.
That seems like a pretty far-fetched notion, but it could be achieved through education. Kwame Nkrumah said, "Education consists not only in the sum of what a man knows, or the skill with which he can put this to his own advantage. A man's education must also be measured in terms of the soundness of his judgment of people and things, and in his power to understand and appreciate the needs of his fellow man and to be of service to them. The educated man should be so sensitive to the conditions around him that he makes it his chief endeavor to improve those conditions for the good of all."
This is the second solution: All people should have this understanding of education, and should take the view that life itself is a continuous process of learning. The first universities were in ancient Kemet (Egypt), and when you were enrolled there, you didn't complete your studies until you were around the age of 40. Humans should be constantly seeking to learn. This is one of the principles that we teach in a program where my wife and I volunteer called Ben Carson Lifetime Scholars. We help young people develop scholarly habits, and we prepare them for a lifetime of learning.
My final solution would be the universal acceptance of cultural equality and tolerance. Our society is both local and global. We have to be more tolerant of our fellow human beings in all ways. We are more the same than we are different. We all have the same basic human needs, but there are as many different ways to view our existence as their are people. There has always been war and conflict, and I see no way to eliminate that. However, if we resolve to treat each other with respect and dignity regardless of our differences, the world would be a much better place.

Q: What would you like to achieve with your music?

Nadir: I hope that my music is and will become an agent for change. I want it to change someone's mood from sad to happy (or happy to sad depending on the song). I want to make my listeners think. I want it to make people get up and dance. I want it to reach a broad and diverse international audience. And of course, I hope that it will change my economic status from "doing alright" to "doing very well".

For more infos visit distortedsoul.com, cdbaby.com and read my review of Distorted Soul 2.0.