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But, more precisely, "Body and Soul",
could also be the binomial capable of characterizing at best, the qualities of a
fresh interpreter of the American musical scene of the last years of this
millennium. Erykah Badu, born in Dallas Texas 26 years ago, under the sign of
Pisces. One then begins observing her body - black, statuary - and the first
impression that one gets is, of an untamable force. It's almost as if young
Erykah Badu had decided to condense in it all the centuries of suffering and
torment ( but also of proud wars, of never crushed rebellions, of strong liberty
claims "black is beautiful") lived by her people. Her face - of rare beauty and
rare intensity - emphasizes this visual intuition. Only because, as the great
natural actress as she is, Miss Badu, loves framing her face with a traditional
African turban at least, a few inches high, like a Queen Nephertity of the year
2000.
But the real surprise is when, we
venture inside that precious box of hidden treasures: descending to probe the
unreachable depths of the soul. Here, is where we first run into her voice.
Bitter but sweet at the same time, very versatile, a voice that many American
critics have promptly compared to that of Diana Ross, and others, even to that
of Lady Day: the unreachable Billie Holiday. In any case, a voice where passion
moves step by step with freedom and the restlessness for predetermined schemes,
with the yearning for a fantastic research. Like Erykah says, almost as if it
were the most natural thing in earth " these are the dictates of my life: never
have barriers, rules nor roles, and face all obstacles, which appear in front of
me, overcoming them or perhaps demolishing them. Always with the help of the
Lord."
Enunciation doesn’t represent a
complete novelty. Everybody knows, in deed, that African - American "soul
singers", even the ones apparently more "lay", from James Brown to Wilson
Pickett, always considered themselves like messengers of a superior will. But,
in Erykah’s case, the approach has been profoundly different. Her first record -
"Baduizm", just released by Universal - is full of images, slightly esoteric:
white burning candles, Egyptian rings, a violet Ankh cross (covering half of all
the cover). Also when she sings about apparently plain things, for example in
"On and On", she never forgets to bring her version of everyday life to a more
vast conception: macrocosmic, we’d dare to say. "Everybody asks me what does 'three
dollars and six dimes', I talk about in my song mean? The answer is very simple",
she says. "In cents, that sum is equal to 360. Just like the 360 degrees of the
circumference, of the astrological birth theme and of the totality of human
existence."
This profound awareness of the
perfect identity between "small" and "big", is precisely what allows this young
black Texan to feel an integral part of the entire history of her people. "When
I was little, I used to listen to Marvin Gaye and Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder and
Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson and Patti LaBelle", she declares. " And I perfectly
know that my inspiration comes directly from the thousands of millions of
microscopic atoms of memory that my favorite singers instilled in me. Just like
I know that music is a process of continuos rebirth, that has to do with the
soul and with breathing. Indeed, they are the architects which allow you to
build an harmonic construction built on "empty space", that each one of us has
available."
Fantastic. This is so true that, now,
the "architects" which Miss Badu is talking about, give life to a little
masterpiece of contemporary soul. It's the "nu soul", as the staff calls it,
where feelings play hide and seek with ecstasy, pain plays with joy, memories of
the past with future hunches, archaic feminism with the recent one, earth with
the sky, and the body with the soul. Precisely.
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