After winning an Oscar for the film’s original score Drunk and 5 Grammy Awards, he presents a masterful musical and visual diptych: an album, a fusion of pop, rap and jazz, nominated for six new Grammys, and an exciting documentary film titled. American Symphony.
At 37, this New Orleans singer, pianist, conductor and civil rights activist is a musical prophet. He lends himself to the Autopromo interview game for us.
My news?
My album World Music Radio, which I designed as an antidote to the gloom of time. My goal is to instill an infectious desire to dance. Sometimes the awakening of the spirit comes through the body. I am looking for a universal language, and the logical continuation of this recording was the creation of the symphony I titled: American Symphony. The Netflix documentary of the same name revisits these stages of creation. This is a declaration of love to my wife, writer Suleika Jawad. She’s battling cancer, but writing and painting keep her going. The healing power of art is extraordinary.
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How do my works resonate with my current mood?
I studied music at the Juilliard School in New York. I’m a jazzman, but I also study classical music, soul, rap and Indian scales. In this album and in this symphony, I gathered musicians from different musical styles that are present in the United States, a country based on multi-ethnicity and a cultural foundation that I want to emphasize.
What defines me as an artist?
I am an activist, I am convinced that culture is a powerful vector of peace in the world. All the musical events that I have organized with the aim of bringing together a heterogeneous audience have exceeded my expectations. I started from the conservatory and continued on the streets with my band “Stay Human”, with which I organize musical marches on the sidewalks of cities around the world.
Still the holy fire.
Always! As Bob Dylan said, people need a beat to tell a story and catch their attention. That’s what rap does, conveying prose and emotion. Its strength lies in the oral tradition and the images it sends back: political, stylistic, communal. The goal is to enrich, because it is the music in which the young generation recognizes itself.
I am an activist, I am convinced that culture is a powerful vector of peace in the world
John Baptiste
What do I like people to say about my work?
That I help make the invisible visible, like other artists, Lana Del Rey, Billie Eilish, artist Kehinde Wiley… A page is turned in history and people are searching for identity. Communicating with creation, they identify themselves. Art heals feelings of exclusion and anger. It allows us to integrate other visions.
Do I often lie in interviews?
Never. The basis of art is the search for authenticity. There is nothing more pathetic than a lying artist.
Misunderstanding about me?
I have won five Grammys and an Oscar… From this you can conclude that I have managed to convey messages that are close to my heart. This is not always the case. For example, I hate the way some people use that term world music like a shelf where brilliant artists like Rosalia are locked up. He’s a global pop star, but has “only” won a Grammy for Latin Artist. It’s very reductive.
We need to enrich rap because it is the music that the younger generation identifies with
John Baptiste
What am I going to do after this interview?
I am currently finishing a Broadway musical about the life and work of Jean-Michel Basquiat. I created it inspired by his paintings and discussed with his family, with whom I am very close.
World Music Radio, ED. Universal. American Symphony By Matthew Heineman, on Netflix.
Source: Le Figaro
