Nena Cherry: "I will no longer have 18 years for vacation"

On August 9, at the Flow festival in Helsinki, Nena Cherry will perform-the singer, known for the superchites of the 90s “Woman” and “7 Seconds”, who, after 18 years of lull, released the Blank Project experimental record. The producer of the album was the famous electronic producer Kiyran Hebden, and the participants of the British electronic duet RocketNumbernine were co -authors. The album "Blank Project" turned out to be minimalistic and gloomy - in many ways the impetus for writing these songs was the death of Cherry's mother. Egor Antoshchenko found Cherry on vacation in the Swedish wilderness and talked with her about London of the early 1980s, the American musical market and a “warm tube sound”.

-We got some extremely hot end of July. How about the weather in Sweden?

- I am now in a country house in the south of Sweden, closer to Stockholm: it is incredibly hot. Today it rained for the first time for a long time, yesterday there was a thunderstorm, due to which the local telephone station was damaged. In general - a great summer.

- Are you just a lot of live?

- Yes. Now I have taken a week of rest, before that I and I play RocketNumbernine mainly in clubs, now there were open platforms, about 10 large festivals in total.

So Nene Cherry and RocketNumbernine look alive

- The last Blank Project album turned out to be very personal, it will not be difficult for such music to play on large platforms?

- I think that everything will work out naturally. We ran into this material on small clubs, worked it - so now it will be able to open up on big scenes. At one festival in Bristol, we played at six in the evening - far from the most advantageous time, and everything went well. It seems to me that now we have confidence that we can play this music anywhere.

- You recorded the album in five days - for electronics this is almost a record. Usually jazzmen record plates in two or three days ...

- Or even in one (laughs) ! In fact, I usually take a week for one song. Well, firstly, we prepared very well: before we come to the studio, we rehearsed for a week. And secondly, Kieran Hebden was very interested in such a jazz approach. In the studio, we played everything alive, and some songs were recorded from one double, such as the last track - "EVERYTHING" . It was important for us not to lose energy during the recording.

For a black audience, my music was not black enough. Well, for white - not white enough.

- And the songs themselves were quickly written?

- In principle, yes. Some of them were recorded in my house, some in London. We recorded four songs with the musician Child of Lov in Holland. At first we played four songs at the Jaylsa Peterson party - just to understand what comes of all this. I did not think what exactly I want to write about - in some places the texts of these songs seem quite crazy, such a stream of consciousness. Perhaps they are closer to poetry in a literary sense than to song poetry.

In the opening track of the album "Blank Project" sound exclusively vocals and drums. Other songs are also a minimum of funds

- I think the most accurate definition of “Blank Project” is “Uneasy Listening” .

- Uneasy Listening - to the point (laughs) ! It seems to me that he balances between light and darkness. There is even something manic in this, because the mood of this music is changing very quickly: from an enthusiastic and encouraging to the depressed and desperate. Probably, this makes him a "difficult hearing." In general, this album is a series of observations about what it means to live and remain a person (laughs) . Whatever it means.

- Let's talk a little about your past. You grew up in Sweden, your stepfather is the most famous Avant-Dzhazovaya trumpeter Don Cherry, who played with Ornett Cowlmen and many other legendary musicians of that time. Many American jazzmen left the States to Europe: they paid more here, and the attitude was completely different. Was it the same in Sweden?

-Yes, jazzmen were real heroes here-almost like a rock star in our time. And jazz himself in the sixties was the same important music as The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. In America, many musicians had to just survive physically, they paid very little money. And you are right, the Americans for a very long time could not realize the enormous cultural significance of this music, unlike Europeans. Many remained, the stepfather met in Sweden musicians from around the world, Africans, Indians - and this, of course, contributed to his own creative development.

This album is a series of observations about what it means to live and remain a person.

- And over the past decades, the attitude towards jazz in America has changed?

-In a sense, yes. But, from my point of view, the history of blues and jazz is still not paid enough attention: this heritage deserves much more respect. Of course, something changes for the better. It seems to me that American music has become much more open from the point of view of mixing styles.

"7 s econds" - perhaps the most famous song Nene Cherry

- I was very surprised when I found out that your second album “Man” in America was not even published; Although “7 Seconds” and “Woman” at that time did not get out of the air of the European MTV .

- They just did not know how to promote me. For a black audience, my music was not black enough. Well, for white - not white enough (laughs) . Now the Internet has destroyed these marketing barriers: so many most strange combinations have appeared. For example, the Vampire Weekend group is an indie music with African guitars, and this is just fine. And then, in order to air in the States, we had to record the version “7 Seconds” , where Yussa N'Dur was supposed to sing in English. Although all the magic of this song was that there were lines in different languages ​​- and it doesn’t matter, you understood English or French.

- How did you decide to quit school and move to London at sixteen? Did you have any plan?

- There was no plan. I was just fascinated by London. In the first summer I was hanging out, work appeared in the fall. I started playing in punk groups, performed with The Slits for some time. She became a new “crazy sister” there (laughs) . There was no plan, but I quickly realized what exactly I wanted to do. London is still my second house, I am constantly there.

Great The Slits "In the Begining There Was Rhythm" with participation Cherry

- You have close ties with the party of Wild Bunch , from which the Massive Attack group later appeared: you helped to make arrangements to their first album “Blue Lines” , 3 D helped you to record the song “Manchild” . Where did you meet, in London or in Bristol?

- In Bristol. I then sang in the post -tank group Rip Rig + Panic , its participants were from Bristol, they grew up with Daddy G. Bristol is a small city, but there are special people. I don’t know why - maybe it's about the proximity to water. I have many friends in Bristol. But it seems to me that in London a similar scene - people who are engaged in very different music constantly intersect, get acquainted with each other.

- In music, and in an interview you can’t say that people from Massive Attack are very sociable.

- No, they are just such with journalists (laughs) .

The first international hit of Cherry "Buffalo Stance", behind the turntables - Mushroom, the future participant in Massive Attack

- You still had a brief experience at a pirate radio station.

“Yes, although I don’t think I was a good DJ.” I worked in a shop where badges, fenzins and any musical merchandise were sold, on Portobello Road-there we met with one of the Died BroadCasting Corporation DJs. I played reggae, soul, plates of Sugarhill Records (where the first hip-hop hips Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash came out).

- You wrote on Facebook that your daughters recently recorded a mix for the radio.

- Yes, they are well done! But I have not heard him in my village yet.

- Then tell us that you are listening in the village yourself.

- We have many old records here, music on which I grew up. Today we listened to Chaka Khan, John "Guitar" Watson . A lot of jazz, of course, Cuban music. We listen to exclusively vinyl records here.

- Love "warm tube sound"?

- Oh yes. I also really like to look at the covers - each has its own story.

- When to wait for the next album? Are you not going to take a pause again for 18 years?

- No, in September I plan to proceed with the record. I'm afraid that 18 years for vacation will no longer be (laughs) . Although you never know: I did not have a career at all in the traditional sense of the word, everything was spontaneously. Now I get great pleasure from writing and recording music - it means that you have to continue!