Interview: Baraka

Bristol band Baraka are regulars on the festival circuit, heading to Shambala and Purbeck Valley Folk Festival this summer before returning to the city for a hometown gig in the autumn. We grabbed a quick chat with sax player Brendan to find out more.

Hullo! Can you give us a brief rundown of who Baraka are please.
Ben Baddoo from Ghana on vocals and percussion, Royston Gage from Dominica on vocals and bass, Tony Bailey from Trinidad on drums, Chris Cobbson from Ghana on guitar, Brendan Whitmore from Ireland on sax/flute and Modou Cissoko from Senegal on kora and djembe.

What brought you to Bristol?
From a personal point of view I was living in London and wanted a change. London is great if you are young and rich. I was not rich. I got the opportunity to move to Bristol and loved it. This was in the mid ’70s, and it was great even then.

How has Bristol treated you over the years?
Bristol is a great place to be based as a musician. The motorway network allows you to get to London or any other part of the country quickly and easily, and the music scene in Bristol is very active and vibrant.

You’re playing Purbeck Valley Folk Festival. How do you think you fit in with the folk genre? And how would you describe your sound?
We have played at a number of folk festivals over the years, and are regulars at Priddy Folk Festival (one of my favourites). We play music which combines virtuosity with ensemble playing, and everyone appreciates a good solo. I also think we have very strong songs which people remember after the gigs. 

I try not to categorise our music, or music in general. Being able to switch from soca to reggae to highlife gives a great variety to our set, and the range of instruments available to us also adds lots of excitement. 

You seem to be a true musical collaboration – not a frontman or woman flanked by a bunch of musicians. Is that an easy thing to achieve? How do you work together on stage?
We have always approached the music from a collaborative point of view. We have very strong musicians in the band who are prepared to listen to each other, but why would a guitarist tell a drummer how to play his instrument?! We don’t always agree, but that is partly the point. If one person dictates everything you end up with some very bored (and boring) musicians.

On stage each song has a loose structure which allows the individual musicians to express themselves, but we always have cues to bring everyone back to the main song.

Do you think people can truly appreciate Baraka without seeing you play live?
Pardon me if I say so myself, but our live show is a wonderful experience. There is always such an uplifting atmosphere. Everyone leaves with a smile on their faces – when we’ve finished that is. At Priddy this year, what started out as a seated gig quickly changed when the audience moved the seats to the side of the floor so they could dance. 

I think live and recorded music are two parts of the same thing, but should be approached in different ways. I am very proud of the CDs we have done – Poor Man and Your Arms Around Me – which are available from our website www.barakamusic.co.uk. The recordings allow us to build a firm structure for a song, and the live performance allows us to play with that structure.

What can we expect from your Purbeck gig compared to your October show at Fiddlers? Is there a difference in playing festivals to playing headline hometown gigs?
We don’t specifically tailor our set for different situations although we do introduce new songs or change what songs we play. The music says it all. We play music with an irresistible rhythm which people love to dance to, but we also like to have a message in there somewhere.

Tell us something about you we won’t know.
We recently did a video with Hamza Namira (see above) – who has been called the voice of the Arab Spring. It’s available on youTube as one of a series he made called Remix for AlAraby TV. He sang traditional Arabic songs backed by different bands or musicians. It’s also on his Facebook page. So far it’s had 640,000 hits! 

Baraka play Purbeck Folk Festival on Sunday 28 August (tickets still available) and Fiddlers, Bristol on Saturday 15 October. For more information visit www.barakamusic.co.uk