Radio Three Interview

Here is an interview Krzysztof Migdalski sent to the Tanita Tikaram Internet Mailinglist. The interview was done by Mariusz Owczarek from Polish Radio Three 29^th june 1998.

Thank you Krzysztof.

Mariusz: Tanita, I look at you and I see that time has stopped for you. Could you reveal the mystery how you make it.

Tanita: I don't know, that's very flattering. I age, too - if you could see my belly (laughter) Sorry. Time has stopped - no, I don't know really, I'm not sure.

Mariusz: I wanted to thank you for your last album TCS, it's marvelous.

Tanita: Thank you.

Mariusz: What are your favourite songs on it?

(problems with the microphone)

Mariusz: Sorry, it's the microphone, could you repeat it?

Tanita: I love The Cappuccino Song because it's, ehm, very funny. It has a friend on it - two friends, Marco is on it and Angela Delucciano , who is a Sicilian woman. For me it expresses a kind of joy in life that I think er, is the way into the rest of the album and perhaps it's a song I couldn't have done till now so I'm very happy with that one.

Mariusz: How did you meet Marco Sabiu?

Tanita: I met Marco because I was going to work with a production team he was in called the Rapino Brothers, who were Italian, and I was going to sing a song E Penso A Te - in English I Think Of You. It's a Lucio Battisti song, so I wanted to work with Italians, and after I met him I understood that we're gonna become great friends, and with Charlie, the other guy but I wasn't gonna work with Charlie. And Marco and I had a very - you know, when you meet somebody you almost fall in love with them and because...

Mariusz: ...or you hate them

Tanita: ...or you hate them, I'm very much the same, either I love them or I hate them. And with Marco, I was like, 'My God, this is a real brother and he has the same attitude to life as I do, he's very generous, he's a laughing guy and he really wanted to change the direction of the music he was making, which was very dance, he wanted to do something slightly different. So it was a very good time for us to meet because I wanted to extend the way I wrote songs, I felt very limited by the guitar and working with him made a different palette, a different instrument, really.

Mariusz: Why did you entitle your last album The Cappuccino Songs

Tanita: Well, he's Italian, I'm brown, we look like cappuccino when we stand next to each other. I like to drink cappuccino, I think for me when I was a kid the idea that I would ever be in a world where I would drink cappuccino every day was something so romantic. So for me it's a very magic word because it means - it suggests the love I have for Italy and it's a kind of attitude to life that I think I have now, which is very light. And somebody said to me, 'Why don't you call the album The Sky Is Mine?' and I was like, I can't call an album The Sky Is Mine, it's so awful, it sounds so pretentious and TCS is a very funny title, everybody is very curious about it, it's a love story, really, title.

Mariusz: But how did you work together?

Tanita: Marco is a computer guy, he's the technical guy and he's also a very talented keyboard player so what we used to do was we used to meet at 11 o'clock in the morning at the Russian Tea-room in Primrose Hill and we would have a cappuccino, and then we would go and write songs and we would just play around in the studio. And I felt very comfortable with him in his studio because I really started to go there and meet Charlie and Marco for coffee there or just to help them with a mix, it was just a very fresh relationship. I'd never done that before, I'd never usually go and hang out in somebody's studio but with Marco and Charlie I didn't have the sense there was a barrier.

Mariusz: I'm very glad I'm doing my first interview with you.

Tanita: This is your first interview?

Mariusz: Yes.

Tanita: In the world?

Mariusz: Yes, yes.

Tanita: Really?!

Mariusz: Your debut album Ancient Heart was released in 1988, tell me how it is when you're teenager and you're famous.

Tanita: It's very strange because you're still a teenager and there are many things that you want to do, like you wanna fall in love, you wanna make stupid mistakes, you wanna get drunk but you never do because you are very scared that people will criticize you. Eventually, I did these things when I was older but I missed - I didn't miss but I was very much in an adult world, I was very much on my best behaviour all the time. So it's a bit strange, actually, I was working very hard and I didn't really understand that I was successful, the only way I understood I was successful was that people recognised me and that I was working very hard but I didn't do anything fun. I didn't really do many fun things.

Mariusz: Tell me why the people in your songs are always in an unhappy, unrequited love, why was it...

Tanita: Because I'm such a sad woman, nobody loves me. (loud laughter) No, I'm joking. No, no actually...

Mariusz: My microphone is awful, I know that.

Tanita: (laughter) Sorry, no, because it's sexy, because that's life, because we don't know when we're falling in love, we don't know we're alive.

Mariusz: Sorry, I know it's terrible but could you repeat it?

Tanita: Hold on, I've got this, are you sure it's in the right...

Mariusz: Yes, yes, the light is on.

Tanita: Ahhh... OK, cool.

Mariusz: It's rather an ancient recorder.

Tanita: I have the same recorder and sometimes if you put these in the wrong place it makes... That's OK, I'm not gonna... (laughter)

Mariusz: You know, this one is for the microphone and that one is for the headphones.

Tanita: Sorry, usually I mix them up. Anyway, so... Yes. Yes. (laughter) Uhm, no, I think it's because I think, uhm, I think these emotions are very close to the surface, I think most people are feeling an anxiety about love all the time. I think it's a very real situation for most people apart from working and apart from working I think most of the time we spend thinking about love.

Mariusz: Do you like playing concerts?

Tanita: Yes.

Mariusz: Will you be playing any concerts to promote TCS?

Tanita: I think so. I think the main thing I want to do first is cos I want to work with a particular set-up musically and not really rock'n'roll. It's gonna be a string quartet and two other instruments so I need to be really able to afford to bring such a big band on the road and so I want to do it comfortably because I really have a bad time being on a bus, I can't stand being in a closed space and it's fine when I'm on a plane because I can get there quickly so I have to work out that as well, which is a bit of a problem. (laughter) So hopefully by the end of this year I'll have worked up my relationship with touring.

Mariusz: Will you include Poland in your schedule?

Tanita: Yeah, hopefully.

Mariusz: Do you remember your first concert?

Tanita: Yes, the first concert I did was - I remember I bought a new dress for the concert (laughter) and there was nobody there, there was about five people and luckily one of the people there was a very important music agent who'd come for a cup of tea. But it wasn't like I got paid or anything, it was just - you know - like an open microphone. It was very funny. And I came and then ran off. It was very weird.

Mariusz: When you write what becomes first: music or words?

Tanita: The two at the same time. It has to feel like you're singing a song that's already written. For me, I hear a melody and then I start to think of the other melody that goes on top of it and then the words come. So it's a very strange process because it kind of happens at the same time. Funny.

Mariusz: Is it hard to write such songs as Twist In My Sobriety or I Think Of You?

Tanita: No, not really. (laughter) No, I mean, it's hard to think, if you're gonna sit down and you're gonna think, 'I'm gonna write a great song today,' I think that would be a problem but I think if you never lose the sense that you're still a kid and that you're still playing, I think you'll always write interesting things because you know, children do the most interesting pieces of art. When you read a thing written by a kid it's always uninhibited, there's no editing, the child doesn't edit itself and says this is important or this is not, this is serious. And I think as long I can still feel that very free I think I'll always write songs, I don't know if they'll be like Twist but they might be all right.

Mariusz: Do you remember your childhood, your mother is from Borneo, your father is from Fiji, was your childhood any special?

Tanita: Yeah, I think it was, I think the early part of my childhood was really nice, I was in Germany, I was growing up on an army environment, I had a very, very strong childhood because we didn't really have television because it was in German. So the kids were really free, we were really wild, we were really playing all day long, we didn't really watch telly, we were just playing, we were always in pop groups, making up our own games, playing football, creating our own world. We were really free when we were young and I think now I see kids, they spend all the time in front of computers, you know, they don't have the same freedom. Maybe that's the world that has changed a bit, maybe it's not so good to have your kids outside till 9 o'clock in the evening, maybe there's so many weirdoes around but I mean, when I was a kid I felt very protected.

Mariusz: Do you remember when you decided to become a musician?

Tanita: I was about 16 and - not a musician cos I never thought I was a good musician but I thought I wanted to become a writer. I saw Suzanne Vega and I thought, 'Wow, you could be a songwriter, that would be so cool,' and I remember it was her really, I think that influenced me very much at my young age. Not just her songs as the fact that she was singing, that she was there. She had quite a strange voice but she was very musical and for me it was like, 'Ah, this is the way to become a musician, to be able to tell your stories.'

Mariusz: What are the artists that you admire and would like to work with?

Tanita: The Maverics - do you know the Maverics?

Mariusz: No, not really.

Tanita: (laughter) Madonna, everybody beginning with m, er, Gladys Knight, the Gypsy Kings, I'd like to work with lots of people.

Mariusz: Do you know that Madonna says that she...

Tanita: ...listens to me.

Mariusz: Yes.

Tanita: Yea, but I don't think she does, really (laughter)

Mariusz: You don't believe her?

Tanita: No, she's telling lies.

Mariusz: How did you meet Jennifer Warnes?

Tanita: I was a big fan, I remember when I was a bit younger before I became a singer and songwriter, the album that actually - I didn't copy the album but I was very influenced by her album Famous Blue Raincoat. It was almost like I learnt how to make an album by listening to that album and that was how I wanted to make my own album when I came to making Ancient Heart, it was really the way she made her album. And when I became successful, I was in Los Angeles and I met her, she came to my concert, cos she knew I was saying I was a big fan and I was very embarrassing, I hid behind my keyboard player (laughter) because I was so nervous, cos you can't imagine, this woman has such an influence on me.

Mariusz: How did you come to working with film?

Tanita: Oh, it was very funny, it was actually an erotic film - sorry, (laughter) it was very funny. I liked the feelings in this film and just being and hanging out with actors. But I don't think I could act, I don't think I'm a very good actress, it was just a funny thing to do because my friend was directing the film so eventually it was like - you know...

Mariusz: Was it that you wanted to have a rest from music and try something new?

Tanita: No, I just think when you're a singer or you're vaguely famous, you have a lot of opportunities to do other things. And sometimes it's funny to do those other things but they are never what you really want to do, they are just opportunities, really, just to play. So for me, I just thought, 'Oh yeah, I'll go to Hamburg for a week to be in a film'
(laughter), it was just like that but I wasn't very good at it, I was very bad, I was very bad.

Mariusz: You always say that.

Tanita: (laughter)

Mariusz: Why did you decide to make a new version of an ABBA song, why that song?

Tanita: ABBA were a big influence on me and I grew up with their music and for me they symbolise something very European, they had a real sense of their otherness, I don't know how to explain it but even if their music was sometimes very kitch, I always thought it was very European. So I always liked the idea that they became successful in their own terms, and the song that haunted me was this song TDBYC. I think it was their last song and it was a song that seemed to be a very adult song, it didn't seem a pop song, it seemed to have a real melancholy in it and a real sense of a woman's alienation. The song is really a list of the woman's day and how boring it is, it doesn't change, she remembers every moment of the day by the amount of cigarettes she smoked, and she's waiting for something to happen. I just thought it's an incredibly wonderful piece of writing, but I think it's an enigmatic song, TDBYC, you don't know what the song is really about.

Mariusz: And you decided...

Tanita: And I decided to ruin it. (laughter)

Mariusz: But why is it - you know - so electronic?

Tanita: Because, I shall tell you honestly why it's so electronic, because when you actually listen to the original song it's so long that to make the words fit, this is eventually a list, I had to do it in double time - - first I say one line and then I say the other line very quickly. And also I think it's a very angsty version of the song, the original is very much like- it's almost serene and this to me is much more like something spooky happens in the song. I don't know why we did it like that but I quite like it, I think it works, I think it's just funny. I'm quite happy that we didn't do it like the original song because I don't think there's a point in just copying what was done originally. I mean, the original is wonderful and lovely and can't be bettered so this is just a reinterpretation.

Mariusz: Does your name Tanita mean anything?

Tanita: Apparently, my mother has two stories: she says it was the name of a native American Indian activist in Canada, who was protesting against the rights for American Indians when the Queen came in the 60's to Canada. And she also tells me she made it up - she took the name Anita and she added a T, 'Tanita', because she thought the name was musical, Tanita Tikaram. So she just tells stories, she tells stories. (laughter) I don't know the truth but either way they are very good stories.

Mariusz: I have to look at my notes.

Tanita: (laughter) Do you mind if I smoke?

Mariusz: No, of course I don't.

Tanita: Do you?

Mariusz: No, I don't smoke, I'm trying not to smoke but I don't know how long...

Tanita: I'm trying, I'll stop on Thursday because I'm going away for four days so I need to stop.

Mariusz: Do you like to listen to music in private, when you're alone?

[There's something missing on the tape here]

Tanita: Yeah, I did that this weekend. I bought ten albums but they weren't interesting. Sometimes I buy ten great things but this time they were ten crap things. (laughter) No, it was music from all over the world but I mean, I don't know what I'm buying so... But I think it's a good way to discover music, it's very difficult to discover music from the radio, it doesn't really play a very big variety so sometimes I just go out and buy lots of records to see what's on them.

Mariusz: When you do concerts, do you prefer playing at big venues or rather at more intimate ones?

Tanita: I think about 1,000 to 1,500 people is a good size. And I think it's nice for me as a spectator to see concerts in theatres and somewhere where you really can - my favourite concert hall in London is Royal Festival Hall and it's not just a theatre, it's an art centre, it has a bookshop, it has cafes, I like - maybe as I get older I like this feeling that I want to be able to hear the acoustics of the room, I don't like this idea of going to concerts where it's smelly and sweaty and you get pushed in and people treat you as if they were giving you a favour. I mean, I like the idea that you can really relax at a concert.

Mariusz: And feel the music.

Tanita: And feel the music, and sometimes, I think my favourite concerts are in theatres where you can really hear the sound.

Mariusz: The last question I think - tell me something about 'I Think Of You'. I think it's the most important and most marvellous song of yours.

Tanita: Oh, thank you, really? ITOY is my favourite song, it's again, it's not by me, I did a translation of an Italian song by Lucio Battisti and it's very funny because I did it for my Italian friends, who always wanted me to sing an Italian song. And the songwriter in Italy who I think is as good as John Lennon or anybody like that is Lucio Battisti, I don't think he's very well-known outside of Italy but in Italy he's God. And what I like about this is that it's very emotional, it's very melodramatic, you know that most of the song is just going 'pa-da-da-da-da-pa-pa' but you all understand what the meaning is, it's a kind of love that's not gonna work, but it's very abandoned to this feeling and when I played it to my friends, they all started crying so I figured out it was a good test...

Mariusz: Me too.

Tanita: Oh, brilliant (laughter) That's great, cos I really love that. That was with Marco and that was the first time we started to write together. So - brilliant.

THE END