BEN HARPER
interviewsofrecordingartists.com
Folk artist Ben Harper's acoustic blues music draws from such diverse influences as country-blues legend Blind Willie Johnson,Pop Staples of The Staple Singers and reggae great Bob Marley. The 25-year-old Californian's folk/funk,guitar and vocals arrangements set to lyrics lamenting the causes of social and economic injustice,are similar to the work of retired folk singer Cat Stevens from the early '70's. "I try to respect the tradition of doing music like Bob Marley,Woody Guthrie and Jimi Hendrix,"Harper said during a recent telephone interview. "I mean these guys were not so much talking through their music,something was talking through them. I'm checking out what they were doing. It takes a lot of work not to sound like someone else,but it takes even more work to sound like yourself." Harper does sound like no one else on the record charts today. Known in music industry circles as the musician's musican,Harper has received high praises from the pop critics in the influential Rolling Stone magazine as well as from recording artists both here in the States and in Europe. According to Harper,he isn't looking for his latest Virgin Records album,"Fight for Your Mind",to earn him fame and fortune,or high praise for his work. There's a higher calling he says is the driving force behind his musical career. "I'm influenced by artists who seek God's truth in song,"he said. "There's man's truth and then there's God's truth. Man's truth is just to benefit himself and God's truth is to benefit all the children. You dig?" A noble pursuit indeed. However,the driving force in the music industry is to mass-market a product and the primary goal is to sell product worldwide for profit. So it's not exactly a medium that easily translates Harper's almost evangelical style of folk music,into big buck sales. "What I've seen as the main drive of Virgin Records,"Harper said,"is music before product and not product before music. They're not about making a product that's obviously tangible to let's say the open inroads into the commercial mediums of radio TV,etc. They're a brave label man." Perhaps there is a disparity in the way Virgin is marketing Harper's music. A reggae and retro-folk music revival is currently sweeping the pop music marketplace,especially among high school and college consumers. Hippie wannabes as well as middle and upper class folkies in major market cities such as Boston and New York,in the last two years have been purchasing cds and cassettes in record amounts. All this sales activity,has fueled major label interest in signing and developing as many new artists as possible whose work will appeal to the target audience. Thus, many artists are dabbling in a hybrid form of folk and reggae music which has proven to be successfully marketed by the major labels with international distribution. Where Harper enters the picture becomes evident in that Virgin Records is attempting to have Harper's music heard and experienced primarily by a predominately pop consumer marketplace. No where is this more evident then in a recent concert date Harper performed at in front of 40,000 as support act for rock/pop giants Pearl Jam,at an outdoor show in San Jose,California,at Spartan Stadium,earlier this month. "To walk out on-stage in front of that many people was quite a rush,"Harper said,"I didn't come off the stage until the next day. I'll tell you what man,in front of 40,000 people,you still feel the presence of every person there. You feel the emotions of each individual,even if that individual doesn't want to listen,it still sinks into their unconscious. That's the power of music."
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COPYRIGHT 2008.
