Michael Kiwanuka, the sound of 2012

Michael Kiwanuka made his breakthrough on Jools Holland’s show, after which he was invited on tour by Adele and was named Sound of 2012 by the BBC. His debut Home Again harks back to the sound of…1972.

“The new Bill Withers!” music journalists declared in unison early this year when Kiwanuka appeared on the pop firmament, referring to the author of folky soul hits like “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Lean On Me” in the early 1970s. Kiwanuka is honoured, but he is also getting tired of the comparison. “It is a small price to pay, so long as it gets people interested in my own music,” he tells us with a disarming smile in the lounge of the Brussels hotel where he talks to journalists all day. “Comparisons to Bill Withers, Marvin Gaye, and Otis Redding make you swallow hard, though. They have enduring greatness, I’ve only made one album.”
Kiwanuka’s story is remarkable. The 24-year-old Brit of Ugandan origins grew up in Muswell Hill, a mostly white, middle class suburb of north London. His parents didn’t listen to music, but he discovered Nirvana and Radiohead through friends. When he later discovered that Jimi Hendrix was not a white punk but a black guy with a big Afro, lots of soul and solos, he decided that he also wanted to play the guitar. Kiwanuka started working as a session guitarist, among others for the British rapper Chipmunk. He didn’t like singing because he thought his voice was too dark, and he felt far too limited compared to vocal acrobats like Chris Brown or Usher.

While his black friends raved about hip hop and R&B, Kiwanuka sneaked records by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Crosb, Stills, Nash & Young to his room. In 2001, when a classmate gave him a special soul edition of the British music magazine Mojo with an accompanying compilation CD, he discovered a new world. “I didn’t know any of the artists, but they blew me away. The CD had stripped versions of Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay” and Sly and the Family Stone’s “Luv N’ Haight” on it. And “When Will We Be Paid” by The Staples Singers. I desperately wanted to know how they made that sound.”
Kiwanuka delved into soul music, and started finding connections to folk. His love of Dylan’s acoustic folk songs and Otis Redding’s raw soul came together in The Last Waltz, Martin Scorsese’s 1976 tribute to The Band. “The Staple Singers and The Band sang ‘The Weight’ together; country and soul came together. As a black man with an acoustic guitar, I felt like an outsider for a long time, but then I discovered that it makes sense.”
On Home Again, his debut record released in March, Kiwanuka places himself in the tradition of Terry Callier and Van Morrison: great song writers who blended profound emotions with soul, jazz, and folk at the end of the 1960s.

The Black Keys, Alabama Shakes, Sharon Jones: why are people so enthusiastic about music that avidly refers to the past nowadays?
Miachael Kiwanuka: Because it is beautiful music, full stop. Compare it to the sound of a violin: they have been used for centuries but they never get old. They are timeless. It is the same with old soul: it is still interesting, forty years later. Amy Winehouse reminded people how good that music was, and brought it into the mainstream again.
In the late 1990s, I missed really passionate, human emotions in music. Everything sounded artificial, in England anyway. These days there is a lot of creativity in electronic music, and that was true of soul in the 1960s and ’70s. People like Shuggie Otis were incredibly innovative with their instruments. I wanted to be part of that tradition. I wanted to add more layers and colours, the way electronic music does.
The flute you use in “Tell Me a Tale” is so outmoded that it sounds fresh again.
Kiwanuka: People keep bringing that up, and I’m never sure whether it is a compliment or not. [laughs] Via a sample in “Next Episode” by Dr Dre, I discovered David Axelrod. His album Songs of Experience was a complete revelation; the way he uses the flutes without becoming cheesy. When I was in the studio with Paul [Butler, singer of 1960s pop adepts The Bees – TZ], we listened to a lot of 1970s records for inspiration. We also listened to First Take by Roberta Flack until it broke. It has that fantastic mix of soul, jazz, and folk. The soul is where I get the warm voices, the jazz provides musical freedom, and the folk is important for the powerful songs. Though modern soul sounds very good, and the singers are often great, it often lacks good songs.

When Ringo Starr once asked Wilson Pickett what soul meant, he barked: “It is nothing but a feeling!” What is soul to you?
Kiwanuka: It is music that comes from the heart, music that you feel. When you are elated or in love, you don’t see it, but you feel it. Soul music is like that too. So soul could be anything, from Johnny Cash to Elton John, or Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. It is music that moves you. I think John Lennon is one of the most soulful singers of all time.
Your music exudes a lot of warmth and tenderness. Is that who you are?
Kiwanuka: I can get angry or annoyed sometimes as well! [smiles] But I try to be as gentle and warm as possible. That is how I would like people to treat me too.
Nevertheless, “Any Day Will Do Fine” and “Worry Walks Beside Me” do not shy away from doubts and sombre thoughts.
Kiwanuka: Singing is almost therapeutic for me, it helps me to channel emotions that I wouldn’t be able to deal with otherwise. “Worry Walks Beside Me” personifies worry, as if it was a human being. So when I sing it, it is as though I am expelling it. As though you can shake off your demons in a song.
Speaking of demons: God comes up surprisingly often in your lyrics.
Kiwanuka: I did not have a strictly religious upbringing or anything, if that’s what you mean. But it does interest me. And it also suits the genre; soul developed out of gospel music, which is first and foremost spiritual music. The very first music was spiritual music, and to me, that link is still there. That is also true of love songs: you cannot grasp love, you can only feel it. Love is spiritual too.
You named your first album after the song “Home Again”. Why is that number so important?
Kiwanuka: Home is where you are most yourself, you watch the films you want to watch, you listen to the music you like. As soon as you leave that safe haven, you are influenced by what’s going on around you. You encounter people who think and do the complete opposite. That can pressure you, leading you to doubt whether what you do is the right thing. When you start giving way to that, you are no longer faithful to yourself. That is what that song is about, being true to your own ideas. If you are, you can be yourself anywhere, and you can live life to the fullest. You don’t get swayed too much. The world around you changes, but you always stay yourself. That is a great challenge for me.
As an artist that can’t be easy: you are on tour constantly.
Kiwanuka: I know. [laughs] That is why I like the concept so much, because I can go anywhere, but always feel at home in my head.

Michael Kiwanuka
30/4 • 20.00, SOLD OUT!
Ancienne Belgique boulevard Anspachlaan 110, Brussel/Bruxelles,
02-548.24.24, info@abconcerts.be, www.abconcerts.be