Preview
ERIC BIBB
Thursday, October 23
Epcor Cenre
Let’s be clear – the blues is often considered the property of the United States. They invented the blues through oppression (in the same way pressure invents diamonds), and many a hardcore blues fan will tell you that there are only certain places, times and people that can deliver the bona fide blues.
"Yeah, I call ’em the blues police," says Eric Bibb with a drawl. "They deserve a certain credit because their energy has kept the music alive… but they’ve got the souls of museum curators, not music lovers."
Most artists working in the blues tradition come from, and stay within, the acceptable parameters. When an artist refuses these strictures or chooses to stray from the blues handbook, the "blues police" can be condescending, harsh and unforgiving. Bibb’s musical mentor, Taj Mahal, is a case in point. Loved to the point of reverence throughout Europe and other parts of the world, and arguably one of the major influences in the work of the new wave of blues musicians, Taj Mahal’s work has been undervalued, underplayed and underappreciated in North America to the point that he’s practically unknown.
"What they’re trying to keep pure was never pure to begin with. But people like to be experts. And so the music ends up becoming a religion instead of a moving and growing passion. Taj has had the courage and balls to go his own way."
Following that example, Bibb’s blues is not just the homegrown sound of America – it’s the music of the world.
Bibb is witty, intelligent, urbane but unpretentious with clear opinions. A New Yorker whose father (Leon Bibb) was a staple of the ’60s folk scene, Bibb has barely lived in the country of his birth since becoming old enough to move elsewhere – he’s lived in France, Sweden and the U.K. His breakout debut album Spirit and the Blues was a critically acclaimed blues roots album he released while living in Sweden.
"It’s funny how small the world has become," he muses. "I mean, when I got to Sweden and decided to live there, almost the first person I befriended was a record shop owner who happened to have the most extensive blues record collection I have ever seen. I wasn’t at all isolated from my musical roots – I was submerged in them in a particularly intense way."
Bibb had been on the cusp of returning to the music of his roots when he got to Sweden and the record-shop owner tipped the scales, allowing him to experience blues music in a European setting. Stockholm, as with many large European cities, serves as a gateway – a meeting place for people from all around the world, including musicians.
"I got to play with all sorts of musicians, and I didn’t just get to hear how they played their own music. I got to hear how they played American music – blues music.
"For good or bad, the blues in Europe is seen in the absence of all the cultural baggage of a racist environment. In America, the music comes with so much other stuff. And in Europe, there’s a kind of idolatry of American blues icons – a naïve reverence for the music that’s refreshing."
This, of course, touches on why Bibb has chosen, like many black American artists before him, to live away from the country of his birth. His love of the music is tempered by a clear-eyed sadness about the profoundly racist atmosphere in the U.S. A stubborn narrow-mindedness seems to have permeated the American way of thinking about everything, including music, a business where adventurism and eclecticism are not rewarded.
"There was a time, years ago, when regional musical identities were genuinely stronger, but those definitions have become completely anachronistic. And yet, there’s always this push from the music business to continue to racialize, regionalize and genrize music, to keep those barriers between musicians and people strong," Bibb says.
"The more this compartmentalized thinking exists, the more difficult it becomes to live with your fellow man in any way. We’re seeing that so clearly these days."
So, Bibb continues to refuse the strait-jacketed frame of mind. Success in his homeland is coming slowly but surely, however, that isn’t the yardstick by which he’s living his life. He continues to explore places that challenge him to see the world differently. He currently lives in London, but also states that Canada is one of his favourite places in the world.
"It’s not just the marvelous physical openness that keeps increasing as you go West. There’s an open-mindedness that I very much admire."
Because of this insistence on open-mindedness, freshness, and new approaches, Bibb was eager to lift the roof a bit with his new album, Natural Light.
"If being well-travelled has taught me anything, it’s that blues has evolved into a universal language. It’s time to look at it for what it is, instead of what it was. Blues was a very regionalized form of music. But it has become a connecting experience all around the world." |
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