by ian desousa
If the members of Tortoise and Martin, Medeski, and Wood all got together and adopted a musical prodigy from Mali, it's name would be Toubab Krewe. Before getting this interview I'd never heard of the instrumental quintet from Asheville, North Carolina, nor their unique amalgamation of West African and American Music. And I must admit, at first I was skeptical. I've heard more than my fair share of world music, some of it good, but most of it an acquired taste my palate couldn't quite get used to. Toubab Krewe is different in every sense of the word. Accessible without being commonplace, incredibly well versed in their various instruments and the styles that interest them without being elitist, able to jam on a ragga through one of their songs and have it be just as fun for the audience to listen to, as it is for the musicians to play.
It's rare to speak to an artist that, after playing for years, is still so passionate about their music they get excited talking to you about it. But Toubab Krewe takes it one step further, you get the genuine sense that the only thing these guys like better than playing their music, is sharing it. I recently caught up with Luke Quaranta, one of the group's percussionists, and the rest of the Krewe by phone as they started their weekend on a "Jam Cruise."
EU: So, I understand you're on a Jam Cruise this weekend, is it part of your tour or a one off?
Luke Quaranta: It's pretty much part of the tour, we boarded about 10 this morning. It'll be going down to Mexico and Hondouras, and we've got a couple of sets during the trip, so we're pretty excited.
EU: Where is your current tour taking you?
LQ: Well, we started on New Years eve with a great show in our home town of Asheville, after this cruise we'll be going around the Southeast, Northeast, Colorado, the West Coast, through the middle of the country and then back home by mid May. We're looking forward to getting to play so much of the country.
EU: Have you had the chance to tour overseas yet?
LQ: We started 2007 in Mali, West Africa, and this year we'll be playing throughout the states, hitting Portugal in July, and playing for the first time in Europe.
EU: Sounds like a big year.
LQ: Yeah, 2007 was great and 2008 is going to be great too. We've gotten to play all across the country and will now be doing so again. Plus, we had a great recording session in December, and are looking forward to putting out our new CD.
EU: When you've played in West Africa is there a noticeable difference in your performances or how your music is received?
LQ: Not really. We're cool playing for West African crowds and American crowds because our sound has so much influence from both cultures. We've got a lot of traditional sounds and background with West African music and we're from the states, so we feel comfortable in either environment.
EU: What's your dream venue?
LQ: Wow, that's a hard one. (Confers with band mates), probably the festival in Muscari It's this amazing music festival right in the heart of Mali and would be incredible to play. (Please note: the author could find no details about this event, including the correct spelling).
EU: Members of your band have studied with some of the biggest names in African music. If you had to choose the single most important lesson that an American musician can learn from them, what would it be?
LQ: More than anything, a real attention to the time, not just playing with the time, but around the time. In a lot of West African music they play around the pulse but not right on the pulse. It's hard to explain and often when people listen to it for the first time they don't quite get it right away. That, and truly playing from the heart.
EU: How much does the audience's reaction affect your performance?
LQ: Well, we've always said we'll play our hearts out for a crowd of 5 or a crowd of 5,000, and we've played for both, so we always try to bring it. That being said, there's nothing like playing for a large crowd. The feedback and energy back and forth just gets incredible when more and more people are getting into it.
EU: You have a broad range of tempos and moods within your music, when playing live shows, do you create a set list with a certain flow in mind, or do you go where the moods take you?
LQ: It depends, certain experiences are more appropriate for a specific environment. If we're in a concert hall we run more from a specific set list than if we're playing, say, a New Years Eve show. We usually create a set list according to the environment, but we definitely cater to the crowd.
EU: Craziest thing that's ever happened at a Toubab Krewe show?
LQ: Probably the time we were playing at a venue and a speaker fell off the stage and straight onto a girl's head stopping the show. The second time we played there, a tractor-trailer hit a telephone pole and knocked the power out. We jammed out acoustically for a while, but it's definitely freaky that we've never been able to finish a normal set there.
More recently though, we got to play with Umar Bin Hassan, he was a member of The Last Poets, a very, very intense and politically-charged poetry group from the 70's. He's been on Common's Be and sampled by Tribe Called Quest. He joined us for two nights in Asheville at the end of December and did spoken word over a couple of songs each night. New Year's Eve he absolutely killed it!
EU: Your band employs a wide range of instruments, what would you consider the most interesting instrument in the band's arsenal?
LQ: Probably the Kamalengoni. It's one of the two "harps" that Justin plays, and is called "the young man's harp." It's more modern and sonically tuned. Justin studied with a real virtuoso of the instrument, a renegade that transformed it from more of an accompanying instrument to a lead instrument, doing things with harmonics and up the neck that really took it to places it had never been before.
EU: Is there any instrument you guys would just kill to play but haven't yet?
LQ: The balafon. It's like a xylophone, but comes from Mali and has gourds underneath it with wooden slats above. A couple of the guys have dabbled in it, but we haven't gotten it yet.
EU: Any chance we'll hear it on the new album.
LQ: No, not yet. We just finished a great recording session for our second album in Asheville. No title yet, but I think, realistically, it should be out the last week of August, or the first week of September.
EU: You guys will be in St. Augustine in a couple of weeks at Cafe 11. Looking forward to seeing you then.
LQ: Thanks we're really looking forward to being in St. Augustine and coming back to Florida, we've only played a couple of shows down there and are really excited about spending some more time playing [in the state] and just rocking it out.
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