The German superstar brings beautiful house music to our world
Interview by Dan Prince
Hey Ralf welcome back to DMCWORLD, where on planet earth are you today?
“Many thanks for having me Dan and giving me the opportunity to do an interview with you again. While answering it, I am in beautiful Cape Town. Since I moved to South Africa 3 years ago, the mothercity is on my schedule kind of regular.”
Sound amazing! So, you are in the middle of a very hectic part of the year with the promotion of your breathtaking new album ‘In My City’. Over at DMC we are well aware how popular soulful house music is in your new home country, the tour has taken you all over the country…talk us through the nation and how different parts of South Africa maybe appreciates the music more than other parts…
“While a lot of areas still have there own little specificities of local sounds, literally soulful and deep house music is part of people’s daily life in every corner of the country. You simply can not escape it, no matter where you are. There’s nationwide media support for the music and therefore it is popular all over. Giving an insight on only the 3 biggest cities in the country, I would describe Cape Town’s scene slightly more influenced by a European sound, Durban a bit more into African drums and the Johannesburg / Pretoria area more into soulful & deep. But you’ll definitely find great crowds for real House Music in all of them, especially in the surrounding townships.”
Loved your interview on Morning Live on the South African SABC 2 channel. It’s not often you see the camera shot moving up and down due to the cameraman bouncing with the music! Seeing the joy on peoples faces listening to your music must make all of the late nights worth it?!!
“The late nights are worth it regardless, as DJing and producing, which I prefer to do at night, too, is simply my calling. But of course it is amazing being offered platforms such as national TV to speak about the music. It reflects the general media interest I already mentioned above. The dance music scene in the motherland and everything attached to it really became one of its kind. Media plays a big role in making it what it is.”
Ten stunning singles making up ‘In My City’…please give us a few words on each of your new musical babies…
“With Her Hand… features Hugh Masekela, one of the most legendary South African musicians, who probably does not need much of an introduction. It was a dream for a long-time to work with him, as I am a huge fan for at least 2 decades now. And luckily he is no one who thinks in boxes or genres. For him it is simply about (good) music. Staying in South Africa made it possible to approach him. In a meeting I gave 2 playbacks to him, so that he can chose which one he prefers. Few days later he called me and said “Let’s do both.” Of course this was a happy day for me. Knowing that we’ll only have one afternoon to record, I prepared myself as good as possible. This song was written prior he came to studio and the lyrics are by Monique Bingham. The song talks about Winnie Mandela who was Nelson’s love of his life.
Our Love Is A Star, is the album song which has most classic disco, funk and soul influences. I worked with Jocelyn Mathieu for the first time on my previous album “Never Leaves You” and was already saying back then, that he’s one of the most underrated House vocalist. He has great intonation and phrasing and is a very skilled writer. I hope that the last album helped to get his name out there a lil more and I definitely wanted to have him on ‘In My City’ again.
A Brighter Dream, is the Broken Beat tune of the album. I always included at least one Broken track on my albums, as it my second love next to the four to the floor formula, which I mainly do. I knew that it would be a perfect fit for my jazz brother Kafele. He might be known more for songs like “Complicated” and “Above the Sky”, which are straight up House tracks, but comes from a Jazz background. The playback gave him the opportunity to present his Jazz side to full effect. I always dig the hooks he comes up with.
Free (Is All I Wanna Be) was the first single taken from the album and features Portia Monique an amazing vocalist, I wanted to work with since a while. The way she delivers her songs really impressed me since the first time I heard something from her. After communicating and working with her via internet, I finally met her few weeks ago, when I brought her for gigs to South Africa. Now I can say she’s a great personality, too.
The Pap features long-time collaborator and friend Monique Bingham. I like to call her the queen of deep lyrics. For me, she is the best lyricist we have in the House Music scene. It is, next to her vocal tone, really the writing which sets her apart from others. The Pap is the album track that has the strongest influence from Phil Kullmann aka Raw Artistic Soul, who co-produced half of the album.
‘Pap’ video link…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk-LTdGXkOc
Check some behind the scenes action here…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OVgV0yP0Dk&list=UUUhbw7fR71MaNRVtxExgEtQ
In The City is the second album song featuring Hugh Masekela. It voices the topic of overpopulated metropolis. When recording Bra Hugh on this track, I had the chance to experience the genius he is. His input on the song literally took less than 30 minutes to record. For me it is the album song I probably worked on the longest. Little changes and details in the playback kept me busy for month.
Bi ‘na Ba N’jo is an Afrobeat influenced track. I do love Afrobeat since ages, but never really produced a song in the genre. Luckily I was able to feature Dele Sosimi. Phil Kullmann knew him personally and linked me up. I always admired the work of Dele, who was the keyboarder and musical director of the late and legendary Fela Kuti.
My Angel is the album track which probably has the most classic NY house influences. It is sung by KB, a South African singer and actress. Since she worked with Osunlade many years ago, I always had her on my “wish-list”. Especially with her “Feelin U” which is a classic in books. And sometimes life holds good surprises, as we randomly met about a year ago. I had to ask her right away if she’d be up for a collab and she was.
Love Core is a pretty much a classic house tune and I am pleased that I was able to lock down a Soul Music legend to sing on it. Omar Lye-Fooke keeps the flag of UK Soul flying high since the late 80’s, while staying open for various collaborations in related genres. I wanted to hear him on this rather simple but cool House playback so that his vocals could shine.
The Best Thing is a quite interesting combination of Afro inspired groove with deep harmonies and features a fresh talent from Germany on vocals. During my career I was always looking for new artists, either to release those on my label or to work with them on own music. After all it is new talent that keeps the scene alive as well. Lee Bling never sang on a House track before and has a very own approach of vocal melody, phrasing and harmony which proved to be the prefect fit for the playback.”
How long did the album take to create and did you manage to get into the studio with all of the vocalists?
“All my previous albums took me more or less 2 years and it is the same with ‘In My City’ again. It seems that I am simply not able to pull it off faster and I actually don’t see a need to try and rush. I haven’t been in studio with all vocalists. Budget unfortunately did not allow flying everybody to South Africa and my experience is, that some prefer to record in their own familiar surrounding anyway. Literally every song was written in a different way. The song with Monique Bingham for example was started by both of us when she was in South Africa for gigs. She then took the parts with her and did the final recording in New York. Others were fully recorded in my studio, as the one with KB and the ones with Hugh Masekela. Then there are songs where the vocalist and I were sending back and forth via internet until both sides were satisfied.”
Monique Bingham admits the eyes of the world are on South Africa at the moment both creatively and artistically. Who are some of the talents we should be looking out for in the next 12 months, I believe you are currently signing artists to your label as we speak?
“I think the music produced in the country is drawing attention on the country since some years now and I hope that my work helps to raise even more awareness, as still only the tip of the iceberg is known globally. There’s really a lot of talent here. Signing artists and offering them a known platform with GOGO Music is one part of my work to promote the music from the motherland. The latest signing is Sir LSG, who already had two successful single releases and some remixes on the label. I just signed him for a full album project.”
The album features some incredible live artists alongside Monique – Omar, Dele Sosimi and rising star Portia Monique are amongst the beautiful voices on the long player. Who though is a singer you would love to work with on a future project?
“There are many, but I can’t tell in general. The idea which vocalist to feature always comes while working on a composition and hence a desired vocalist will depend on what kind of playbacks develop once I am back in studio.”
How difficult was it to tie down Hugh Maskela to work on the album?
“Bra Hugh is definitely a busy man. At the age of 75 he still has an absolute impressive schedule with steady gigs all over the world and many other things he’s involved in. Therefore the most difficult part was actually to schedule a meeting with him, but one of my qualities is to work hard on something that I want to make happen. Once I had the opportunity to speak with him things rather became easy, as we instantly clicked and have a very mutual understanding about music.”
“When making music I always look for challenges”. What were some of the big challenges for you when making this album?
“Working with many people, including musicians and vocalists, who are all top of their game at the same time is already the big challenge. Communicating and keeping up with them, while staying inspired to deliver the best possible is not always easy.”
What are the 5 big tunes in your box this weekend…that you didn’t make!
Louis Lunch – Reflections Of The Night (Calvin Fallo Remix)
Deep Boyz – Byron Stingily – Father (Frankie Feliciano Classic NYC Mix)
Octopuz – On My Way (Deep Mix)
Roland Clark – Simple Things (Joe Claussell’s Sacred Rhythm Remix)
Nastee Nev – SomethingæBoutJazz (0808DeepMix)
Rhythm, melodies and the groove is obviously very important to you. What are some of the big albums / artists nestling in your home collection that has influenced your sound?
“My influences are so manifold, that I always find it difficult to just mention few. They range from classic to jazz to electronic music and everything in between. If I had to just throw out some more well known artists quickly: Saint Germain, Nuyorican Soul, Erykah Badu, Chacka Khan, Moodymann, Larry Heard, Fela Kuti or Jill Scott.”
What is the next studio project you are about to get into? Or are you going to hit the DJing circuit again?
“I never left the DJ circuit, but was cutting down on gigs a bit during the first half of 2014, just to find enough time to finish ‘In My City’. I will DJ extensively the next 3 month and meanwhile only do a bit of studio work to capture ideas. From early 2015 you’ll find me in studio more regular again, simply because I never can stay away from it for too long. However I haven’t really planned what I’ll be working on.”
Who is the first person you play your new music to?
“My wife.”
What are the main (if any) changes to your life living in South Africa. Other than wearing shorts and flip flops all the time!
“I don’t think my life changed drastically since I am based here. However I am sure that the sun, just as the friendly and relaxed lifestyle of South Africans influenced me in a positive way. At home, as a family, we pretty much live a similar life as we did in Germany keeping our traditions, but of course as well adapted to South African culture.”
And finally…come on, everyone has one – what is your favourite track on the album?
Haha, now you try to twist my arm, but it is really impossible to choose a favourite. Despite the fact that THE favourite always depends on my own mood, an album should in ideal case be one long one. Otherwise artists could stop doing full length albums and we will end up in a purely single driven music market. This would definitely lead to a less experimental approach, as a full album allows much more freedom, which is obviously healthy for progression. Every single song included on this long-player is there, because it excited me to further work on it until it was finished.
Ralf GUM ‘In my City’ album is out now on GOGO Music
