Labi Siffre

Rip It Up, Issue 171, 1 October 1991, Page 12

Labi Siffre

Labi Siffre is far from a household name around these parts, although he's been in this business around twenty years. He's evolved from the serious young ballad singer of the seventies into a fully fledged R'n'B man on his most recent album, Man Of Reason. Here he mixes his incredibly strong lyrics with a soulful radio-friendly sound, a true 'iron fist in a velvet glove' deal.

Normally chatting with stars in the plush surroundings of a record company suite is something I loathe, but from the first question on in, it was obvious that Mr Siffre is no simple muso on a promo junket, but that rarity, a thinking man. A simple inquiry into his sixties London roots brought forth an impassioned flow of influences.

"God it was incredible! I was very young and more there as an observer, but I saw the likes of Zoot Money and Georgie Fame and Mose Allison and Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Jimmy Reed, and at the same time hearing records by

people like Monk, Mingus, Coltrane, Ayler and Archie Shepp. It all seemed so powerful and passionate." After that I trusted the man wholeheartedly, and our conversation stretched from the alloted 20 minutes as Siffre explained his lyrical stance, his career sideline as a poet and numerous other things of import until after an hour and quarter an angry promotions person banned me from the building. So here are the edited highlights of an intriguing conversation with a fine musician and writer,definitely notan

everyday experience. ON RACE PORTRAYAL: "My song 'School Days' is about positive images, all the images of non-white people we were given were bad ones, the lazy wide-eyed shuffling nigger, they love to sing and dance but have no intelligence, or never give the Indians whiskey, you'll never civilise them. I was never told about genocide or how a lot of the major institutions of the West are built on the blood, sweat and bodies of non-whites, or the broken treaties, we were just told how we had no culture or usefulness, and I believe this needs to be redressed."

ON SONGWRITING: 'Writing songs that have intelligent lyrics is almost frowned upon, if you write something that has a nice tune and something to say with its lyrics, the attitude is 'Well let's not mix politics and entertainment', or 'This social conscience seems like a good business move'." "Information is power, and if you can persuade the mass to pay . attention to trivia you can continue with the system as it is. Basically ; society moves at the pace of the ■, slowest, and the slowest are those with the most to lose." ON POETRY: "I was incredibly influenced by people like Raymond Carver, and Hugh Selby Jnr. He totally changed my approach to life and writing. I've kept the poetry and music two separate things though, I don't want people to say 'Oh yes, ir's just the songs without music.' Although the poetry evolved out of songs I couldn't use as songs, the two things are very different: songs are quite restrictive in that there is a classic structure to follow, and with poetry I found this new freedom, a new way to communicate."

KIRK GEE