Q016:
Tell us about the experiences that led to the recording of La Nòvia.
A016:
La Nòvia is one of the Occitan traditional songs that Tsuyama and I love. I first heard Tsuyama singing it at a solo gig. Troubadour music is probably the music I love most in the world, and since it has its roots in Occitan trad, I love it deeply too. As I mentioned earlier, Tsuyama really knows a lot about European traditional music, but he too said that he was really shocked the first time he heard an Occitan melody. So, it was a very natural step for us to decide to cover an Occitan trad song. Of course we aren't from Occitan and we don't speak the language we just love the music of that region. But the music has become a key for me, and I've started to learn a bit about the history of Occitania, and now I want to go and visit the ruins there. At first though I did have doubts about whether it was alright for us to play Occitan trad. The culture and religion of the people of that area forms the background to any traditional music, and it only has meaning when performed in that unique context. It isn't something that anyone could just start playing. However, we're not a trad band we're merely a rock band. Rock has a frightening gravitational pull, just like a black hole, and it sucks in all kinds of different musics. Under the frighteningly simple-minded justification that rock allows you to do whatever you want, we decided to go ahead and cover that Occitan song. Then, the first time we went to Toulouse, almost everyone we met there said that they had no interest in Occitan traditional music. But every time I went there, I would search for LPs and CDs of traditional music. None of the locals could understand why I was so interested, and I would just ask if them if they really couldn't dig why I was into this wonderful music. But eventually, more and more people around me in Toulouse began to show an interest in the music. We're just glad if our cover version convinces a few more people to check out this amazing music. On my last solo tour of France, at last someone arranged for us to play a concert with the great Occitan singer Rosina de Peira. For us, this was more nerve-wracking and exciting than playing with any improv giant.