If I sound bitter, it’s because, as a fan of soul music, I did not synchronize with the period when I was an adult. nothing was less cool in Britain in the first decade of the 21st century than soul music. It may not be the most dangerous species, but I like the wisdom of the soul. In the United States, it is sometimes referred to as “the music of great peoples” because it speaks of the eternal rather than the style. Soul deals with the metaphorical and literal interior, is less suitable for festivals and is more suitable for private or intimate spaces and cultivates composure. And what can I say? I owe my life to soul music, literally. I’m a North Soul kid, the product of a touring African-American musician from Brooklyn and a white English mother from a Sheffield working class who met at a soul club in the north in the early 1970s. However, when I was old enough to to go out, the forced walks at Wigan Casino were gone to see Wilson Pickett live, the unconscious dancing was gone until the wee hours of the morning for Jackie Wilson. The roots of Soul music emerge from the black intimacy, the longing to be together in a world that has a way of keeping you apart Then came the 1980s and 1990s. My brother and sister are 12 and 11 years older than me, respectively, so they experienced the British wave of the soul that included the epic mixed media events of Sade, Omar and Soul II Soul at the Africa Center at Covent Garden in London and a thriving club scene in the UK that gave birth to artists as diverse as Seal and Shara Nelson. They talk about Trevor Nelson when he was known as Madhatter and danced acid jazz at the Dingwalls in Camden. Young Disciples, Incognito, Jamiroquai in front of Ferrari actors. It was not that the 00s lacked talent, they just pushed us into an underground that was not fashionable. We had neo soul, a genre that was often rejected even by those artists who were considered part of it. As controversial as the title is, there is no doubt that a sound was born from the Black Atlantic – this inverted piece of geography that unites black culture from Africa, the US, Europe and the Caribbean. Soundly and aesthetically, the neo soul often referred quietly to African artists, particularly Fela Kuti, and was both British and American. Omar, Sade and Brand New Heavies contributed a lot to what followed with the sounds of Erykah Badu, Maxwell, and even J Dilla (whose early remixes are all over the acid jazz scene). It was natural then to have our own great neo soul artists like the late Lynden David Hall (the UK’s criminally underestimated response to D’Angelo), Floetry – who wrote about Michael Jackson – Hil St Soul, Siji, Terri Walker, Conner Reeves and artists crossing the line between soul, pop and R&B such as Hinda Hicks, Kele Le Roc, Shola Ama, Nate James and Beverley Knight. The list goes on. However, when the 00s came, there were few avenues for soul artists and the infrastructure around soul music was in serious decline. My band, Bare Knuckle Soul, did a live session on Maida Vale for Nelson and it was played by executives like Gilles Peterson and Norman Jay, but no company was interested in us, the Fender Rhodes, without our skinny jeans. My first concert was for Blues & Soul, the oldest black music magazine in the world, but its days as a print edition were numbered. the same was true for stores like Touch Magazine and Trace. It was a time of great transition for the music industry and the few opportunities for soul singers were controlled by 00s hipster A&Rs who wanted to weaken the black tones for a white audience, often with catastrophically mild ballads or offensive black culture. Such was the complacency of New Labor Britain – where not only was no one racist, but that race itself did not matter (supposedly) – that white singers were praised for sounding black, while black singers themselves were sidelined. Things were different for black artists who were considered quite “urban”. I met many Ethnic guys who loved UK grime and hip-hop on the East Coast before ’96 – exotic danger stories they would never face – but not so many who loved soul music: “A load of old caterwauling “, I was once said. Maybe it has to do with the roots of soul music emerging from the black intimacy, the longing of black men and women (choose your own gender) to be together in a world that has a way of keeping them apart and an industry that found black- Violence in black is sexier than the love of black with black. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis and the age of austerity, during the turbulent decade of 2010, we began to seek solace in the soul again. Michael Kiwanuka showed why old analog textures mattered in a digital world, Jessie Ware proved that a white singer with a soul is not always reductive, Laura Mvula created a sound that was fresh and familiar and Lianne La’s rich vocals Havas ushered Sade into a new era. All this means that we no longer live in the neglected 2000s, we live in the anxious 2020s, and as the soul passed through my mom’s British generation in difficult times as steelworkers or miners, it may be able to offer comfort in the dark again. Johny Pitts’s Afropean is released by Penguin (99 10.99)
Joel Calpeper: “There is as much sadness in the soul as in dirt”
London singer and songwriter, 37 “I had to be as raw and free as possible”: Joel Culpepper. Stylist Tommy Raban, assistant Ejatu Shaw. Photo: Suki Dhanda / The Observer For years, Joel Culpepper lived a double life. As a soul Superman, he worked during the day as a learning mentor for children. in the evening he played shows and made the album that boosts him in response to Catford’s response to Curtis Mayfield. In the summer of 2021, however, shortly before its release, the 37-year-old decided to make the leap into full-time music, saying goodbye to his education career. “It is with the hope that the children continue to follow me, know exactly what I am doing and see that they can do it if they want to,” he says. This album, Sgt Culpepper, was a 10 year old debut. Culpepper released his first EP, Skydive, in 2012. This was followed by a number of dance floor guest spots and a support reception for Paloma Faith in Australia. But for the most part, the UK music industry did not know where to place him. Here was an artist whose sound was both nostalgic and futuristic. icy and yet ostentatious. rugged but without rap, and resembled the UK’s greats (Omar, Linden David Hall), US funk and soul heavyweights (Marvin Gay, James Brown) and Los Angeles’s fusionists Anderson (Th.). Paak). It did not fit in any lane. The record labels showed some interest, but mostly misunderstood his music. “We do not know where he stands on the radio and the black audience versus a mainstream audience,” are some of the comments he remembers. To succeed, he implied, he would either have to smooth it out for Radio 2, or become fancy for the mainstream of pop, or become an MC. On one occasion, he was told that there was already a Tinie Tempah, “which showed a lack of nuances and understanding of what I was doing,” he says. “Comparing me to Tinie Tempah is based on my skin. And [wearing] Glasses. “Because musically, we are not very similar to each other.” This, he adds, is the fate of many soul singers, who in the United Kingdom are given little opportunity to grow. “It’s frustrating,” he sighs. “I see soul artists I love feeling frustrated and discouraged because they have felt this glass roof. They start doing the same circuits, fewer releases – their enthusiasm is taken away “. And while white British soul-pop concerts are often hugely successful (from Tom Jones and Dusty Springfield to Sam Smith and Adele), Culpepper says his black British peers often do not receive the same attention. “In the UK, I feel really impressive to see a white man singing [soul music]. Adele does it, Duffy does it, Amy Winehouse did it. It’s like, “wow.” When a black man does it, he is still impressive, but he may be considered typical. At the time of Amy Winehouse, there was also Terri Walker. He worked with me [the producer] “Salam Remy, like Amy.” And yet how many people have heard of Walker in comparison? “There are a lot of discouraged artists out there who feel they are not good enough or as good as [someone else]and it is absolutely “, he adds. Culpepper took a break when he gave his demo to a dad he talked to at the gates of kindergarten, music journalist Joe Muggs. Muggs introduced him to a producer – once the grime producer Swindle – who played a key role in shaping his sound. Culpepper’s 2017 EP Tortoise – the title that suggests a sly nod to how he spends his time – included songs he had written with Jimmy Hogarth, a hit architect with Amy Winehouse, Duffy and Corinne Bailey Rae. But it was the Woman who really put his stall. He performed Woman on the channel with influence on YouTube Colors, exposing his breasts under a pendant …
