Interview Emo

Le prime note ricorderanno a molti il modugnese Caparezza, ma in realtà il danese Emo -che oramai ha messo le radici nel suo studiolo domestico, chiamato The Golden Temple- è considerato dai più uno dei più autentici soulman viventi e lo conferma anche sul piano stilistico con questa sua nuova uscita: in Remedy un coagulato di soul, dub, hip hop, jazz, reaggae combinato ad un senso dell'attualità lo fanno collocare fra i "bambini profondi" per la sua attitudine nel rendere una prospettiva un po' fanciullesca del mondo e dei suoi accadimenti e a proporne soluzioni semplici quanto spiazzanti -un po' come farebbe un bambino delle elementari chiamato in causa a risolvere i grandi problemi del millennio... la migliore delle soluzioni?-, a cui molti riconducono il citato Caparezza. Non c'è bisogno del dottore o di fare una capatina all'ospedale per il suo rimedio, per il quale -ne siamo convinti persino noi- molti produttori farebbero a scazzottate per accaparrarselo.Emo "Remedy" (Audiopharm, Distribuzione Audioglobe) 01.Little Black Bird 02.Rise 03.Ya Love Is Like Dope (feat.Mark Linn) 04.Sign Ya Name 05.In The Back Of The Car 06.Yes Baby Fly 07.Bullet Of I (feat.Natasja) 08.No Power Over Me 09.No Gourmet Life 10.Same Sun 11.Star Boy

Hi Emo. Hope everything's Ok. So could we consider Emo definitively as an emoderivate after publishing Remedy? :) Well, first of all, I can't be definitive as long as I'm alive… only the recordings that ends up on my albums or singles is definitive, they are snapshots, but my music is changing all the time , just like I can never sing a song the same way twice. I don't know exactly how I shall understand "emoderivate", but everything derive from something, I just fallow where ever my inspiration takes me.

I recently spoke to Jacob Madsen about the Danish scene. He said that what some journalists design as "the nordic melancholy" is an empty term. How do you perceive the Nordic scene (the Danish one)? Do you agree with Jacob? I think most people in this part of the world, works too much and watch too much telly. Denmark is a different world in the summer… people hang out more, and enjoy life more I guess. If we had longer summers we could might adopt some of the good chilled southern culture. It would very healthy for us in the long run. The further you go north people get's more crazy and funny. We are kind of in between here, as well as the Swedish and the Norwegians… we're not really depressed by the lag of light, but not really happy either. You'll meet a whole lot more smiles in countries closer to equator, and they are not smiling because they are on their way to the bank, I can asure you…

Anyway, this proliferation of dubby and contemplative sounds is interesting . But you seem adding a soulful perspective... When they recorded the classics in Studio One, in Kingston back in the 60's and 70's, they really tried to sound like soul music, it just turned out very different…I've been inspired by dub and hiphop artist especially from UK, and I have a lot of soul so it turns out, very different…

I remember your "house". Lyrics such as Get To Arms Again had a particular effect on our pavillions! Did you throw the weapon of word back or not? Words are not weapons. They can harm, but they do not kill. That's a big difference! I don't believe in war against war, if that's what you mean.

You're quite famous for your great voice. Any Jamaican traces in your genome? Nope! I'm a full blood whity, but my soul is black as a hundred midnights.

Is that little black bird a metaphor? Referring to? No that little black bird actually sat outside my window in a tree in my backyard, as I wrote that song, so it's real alright!

It seems some people are getting bored for messages imprinted by "peace, love & harmony" as they maybe feel them as rhetorical. And maybe someone doesn't understand how music could be a remedy, yet. Any reflection? Well Marvin Gaye released `What's Going On` a year before I was born, and the world has not changed for the better since. I believe that the message of peace and love is still very important! The title remedy is not so much about a musical remedy, as it is a hope for a remedy against the troubles that haunts us. We all know what trouble is, big and small, and it's not easy too be alive, don't know if it has ever been…anyways, I guess it was more simple to be a cave man but it's been hard too!

Any new entrance in The Golden Temple? We just had a new Chinese porch in pure gold! But before you get to that point, you'll have to find your way thru a labyrint, like the ones from Indiana Jones.

What are the prevalent area of fruition of dubby and electronic music in Denmark? Is there any "glorious" club yet? Dancehall and dub is bigger than ever here. I've played many gigs with the electronic dub band Djosos Krost during the last two years. It's a big scene now, not like 9 years ago when I started making dub-reggae clubnights in Copenhagen and playing my dubby formula live…Now I'm more in the studio, and I only get out when I'm out playing… so what do I know?

Ya Love Is Like Dope. Any "hidden" addressee? Love is dope, isn't it?

"Same sun, but different views" so said the wise man! Among those views, do you feel that struggles for power today are among counterbalanced or equally represented views or not? Different views indeed!!! The world is, as we all should know, not equally balanced. I wonder what our grand children are gonna think, when they find out that we lived a nice and decent everyday live, well knowing that a great part of the world population was suffering.

What about your view of the world? I try to enjoy everyday as much as I possible can. It's a wonderful world… but it's just as ugly as it's beautiful.