FP: Why Bordeaux and not Paris?
CB: I knew Bordeaux very well as I used to take many holidays there. I liked the climate and the fresh air.
FP: Why did you decide to go back to the other side in 1993, under the projectors with a first album, Men From The Sky?
CB: It was just after the Sinead OConnors hit that I decided to spend some time on my own, real dream of making my own music. I took some months off and recorded my solo album "Men From The Sky". This album was inspired by my travels around the world and exposure to different cultures. Each track has an "imprint" of the places I visited. When I finished this record, I played it to Ed Bicknel, the manager of Dire Straits. He told me it was the best album he had heard in years. He picked up the phone and arranged a meeting with Polygram records. They signed my first single "Where do we go from here" and released a 3 track EP.
FP: This track, Where Do We Go From Here? has been added to the album One Voice, One Love. How did it happen?
CB: I met a woman called Sam Hutton who was working for 'Care international', raising money for Africa. She asked me if she could put the song on the compilation album, 'One voice, One love'. I donated to this charity the royalties for this record.
FP: After such recognition, why did you then wait another 17 years?
CB: Again it was a problem of too much work. I just didn't have time to do my own music. Sometimes I barely had time to sleep. I worked with Malcolm McLaren sometimes and he would work for 48 hours non-stop.
FP: Wasnt it also because you were disappointed by the way your first album was received?
CB: A little. Many people in the music business were interested in this record but I didn't tour and put the right energy into promoting it. I did regret it later. I was also signed by a label called 'Mega Records' in Scandinavia. I was there a lot doing radio interviews. My main regret is that I never toured the record.
FP : And afterwards?
CB: I made an album later in the 90's but never released it. I did start doing concerts in Bordeaux to promote it. Sometimes I was playing to over 10,000 people. I was the main event when France won the football world cup.
FP: Why did you wait 17 years to release a new album? 17 years is nearly a life time, isnt it?
CB: For me, it was a time to mature and find out my true direction. It can take a lifetime to do this, some people never find out. The new album is inspired by the opening of my heart to myself and to a woman called Cythara-Martine Gercault who I fell in love with. Most of the songs are about this realisation, except for the title track 'Freedom'. I wrote this song when I was 25 on the piano, but I could never figure out how to do it until I arrived in Paris after my 25 year marriage broke up. The song took on a whole new meaning to me. I finally understood what I had written all those years ago.
FP: Releasing this second album seventeen years later, isnt it a way of reassuring yourself?
CB: No, for the first time in my life I didn't need assurance, I started to believe in myself.
FP: It seems that this album is for you a kind of therapy?
CB: All music is therapy for me. Especially playing and composing. I learned to heal myself and to help others by simply playing my native American drum and singing. This is therapy.
FP: What has changed inside you in 40 years time?
CB: I know what I want now and how to achieve it. When I was young I was full of dreams but lacked the ability to make them happen.
FP: Who are the people you met who have had the most impact on you?
CB: The list is very long, too long for this interview, but they are not all musicians. Some are people from whom I have learned, other have helped me to evolve as a human being: Tony Visconti, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Thomas Dolby, Led Zeppelin, Rory Gallagher, Rufus Thomas, Ann Peebles, Basil Tilley, Cythara-Martine Gercault, etc.
FP: From all the records youve been involved in, which are the two or three albums you are most proud of?
CB: 'Come Hell Or Waters High' and 'Long Fingers In The Soft Rain' by Omaha Sheriff, 'Men From The Sky and 'Freedom' by Chris Birkett. I loved these records because I was involved in the creation in all aspects. There is also 'Introducing Etran Finatawa' by Etran Finatawa. I made this record in my studio in Bordeaux and it introduced me to Touareg and Wadabi music. Then 'Aki D'amour' by Ali Amran. This record was made at my studio in Paris and introduced me to Berber music. Also, 'Copperhead Road' by Steve Earl, which opened me up to singer-songwriters and country rock music.
FP: And amongst those you havent worked on, which ones would you have liked to be involved in?
CB: 'Travelogue', by Joni Mitchell, a wonderful double album by this amazing artist. 'Music Of My Mind' and 'Talking Book' by Stevie Wonder, a spiritually inspired music, and 'In The Slot' by Tower Of Power. Killer grooves and brass arranging.
FP: Now, after this second album, will we have to wait for another 17 years before we listen to your next album?
CB: Certainly not. I'm already recording tracks for my next album. I'm on an express train to my artistic "Soul contract". I know why I'm here now and don't intend to waste anymore time.
To check out:
www.chrisbirkett.net
www.discogs.com/artist/Chris+Birkett
www.myspace.com/chrisbirkett
www.facebook.com/chrisbirkett
www.sonicbids.com/chrisbirkett
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