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<\/p>\nIn addition to being an accomplished and often awarded musician, Taj Mahal established himself years ago as one of music\u2019s foremost cultural historians. Not simply an entertainer and performer, he creates genre-spanning music that embodies his commitment to the study, honor and preservation of indigenous styles of music. He\u2019s currently touring with his Trio.<\/p>\n
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One of the earliest and most prominent musicians to be tagged with the world music label, Taj Mahal has been making albums as a solo artist since 1968; before that he was a member of an overlooked band called the Rising Sons, featuring fellow musical folklorist\/archivist Ry Cooder. Mahal\u2019s approach to music has always found him with one foot in the present and the other firmly planted in exploration of the past.<\/p>\n
In 2017, Mahal\u2019s interest in the history of recorded music led him to involvement with filmmaker Bernard MacMahon\u2019s The American Epic Sessions<\/i>, a documentary exploring the little-known origins of the first electrical sound recording device. That groundbreaking machine has a connection to Western North Carolina: it was used to capture a performance of \u201cI Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground\u201d by Mars Hill musician Bascom Lamar Lunsford, known as the \u201cMinstrel of the Appalachians,\u201d in 1928.<\/p>\n
For MacMahon\u2019s film and soundtrack album, Mahal cut three songs recorded by a modern-day reconstruction of the device. He came away from the experience with a greater appreciation for its place in history. \u201cEveryone who listens to music today, their ability to hear [recorded] music goes back to that particular machine,\u201d he says. \u201cIt completely changed the way people listened,\u201d because prior to its invention, unless witnessing live musical performance, people were limited to their imagination. He quotes the film\u2019s narrator, Robert Redford. \u201cIt was the first time American heard itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an even wider sense, Taj Mahal values music for its ability to bridge cultural differences. \u201cI\u2019ll give you an example,\u201d he offers. \u201cYears ago, I worked on a big dairy farm. I milked 70 Holstein cows twice a day by myself, carried the milk and everything. The family was French-Canadian and English, and the grandfather came to me one day and asked me did I know a song called \u2018Jole Blon.\u2019 He said that it was the national anthem of the Cajuns, the Acadian French.\u201d Mahal wasn\u2019t familiar with the tune, but in future years he would hear various live and recorded versions of \u201cJole Blon.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the making of The American Epic Sessions<\/i>, Mahal learned more about the song and its origins in a 1929 recording by Cajun trio the Breaux Brothers. \u201cThat\u2019s the kind of stuff that I took away from that [experience,] says Mahal. \u201cThat\u2019s really fabulous, American folklore and deep culture. When you\u2019re trying to figure out what American culture is, well, it\u2019s going to be a mosaic with lots of people contributing to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taj Mahal continues to contribute to American\u2014and world\u2014music himself. To date he has released more than 30 albums, including collaborations with indigenous musicians from India, Hawaii and Africa. His most recent release is 2017\u2019s Grammy-winning TajMo<\/i>, a collaboration with Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019.<\/p>\n
He expresses a deep appreciation, too, for the music of Appalachia. Asheville and Western North Carolina are frequently on his tour itineraries, whether he\u2019s playing solo, with his Phantom Blues Band, or\u2014as for his February date in Asheville\u2014with longtime associates Kester Smith on drums and bassist Bill Rich in the Taj Mahal Trio. <\/p>\n
Mahal compares audiences in the region to what he encounters elsewhere. \u201cWe play all over the South, and it\u2019s just different,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople have manners. Folks come to dance; they come to have a nice time.\u201d He recalls a specific memory. \u201cSome cloggers\u2014both black and white\u2014got up there and really just threw down,\u201d he says. The spontaneous and unplanned act of audience members dancing deeply resonated with the musician. \u201cWhen you\u2019re playing the music, you hope that it\u2019s inspiring people to feel that way about it. And it\u2019s a lot of fun to see people still keeping that tradition up; I really enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the Trio, Taj Mahal plays guitar, piano and banjo. And while audiences are likely to hear his most well-known tunes, \u201cFishin\u2019 Blues\u201d from 1969\u2019s Giant Step\/De Ole Folks at Home<\/i> among them, a Taj Mahal show maintains an element of unpredictability. \u201cI\u2019ve never done a set list,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t have to turn around and call the name of a song; they can usually tell by what notes I start warming up on, is where we\u2019re going to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get up there and feel the music, and, it goes from that. Sure, I\u2019ll do a song I know people like, as long as people are really responding to it. And if they don\u2019t<\/i> particularly respond to it,\u201d he says with a laugh, \u201cthere are a whole lot of other tunes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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