Pred drugo izdanje Musicology festivala koje se bliži, dobili smo priliku da porazgovaramo sa hedlajnerom festivala, jednim od najprepoznatljivijih glasova današnjice i dobitnikom Grammy nagrade za najbolji vokalni jazz album, Gregoryjem Porterom. U ekskluzivnom intervjuu Gregory Porter govori o svojim ritualima, omiljenim muzičarima, muzici koju je slušao kao tinejdžer i ostalim hedlajnerima Musicology festivala.

Pored Gregoryja Portera, na festivalu će nastupati i Duško Gojković, Electro Deluxe, The Brand New Heavies, Ničim izazvan, Liv Warfield & The New Power Generation Hornz i Marčelo i Napeti kvintet.

Festival Musicology će se održati od 23. do 26. jula na Kalemegdanu, a karte još uvek možete da kupite na svim prodajnim mestima Eventima, DD Tickets, Gigstixa, Ticket line-a, Bitefarcafe Summer Stage-u i Bitefartcafeu u Mitropolita Petra 8.

SRPSKI

MjuzNews: Da li imate neke dnevne rituale u životu i ako da, da li biste to podelili sa nama?

GREGORY PORTER: Naravno da imam. Ali kada vodite život kao što je moj ne možete da imate prave rituale jer uvek morate da prilagodite vreme i planove poslu koji je veoma nepredvidiv. Ono što ja volim da radim u slobodno vreme je odlazak na lepu večeru sa prijateljima. Postoji mesto u Njujorku na koje često idem. Možete da jedete odličnu hranu dok slušate raznolike nove muzičare. Pa to je lep ritual, zar ne? :)

MjuzNews: Voleli bismo da saznamo koja pesma vam je bila broj jedan za ples kada ste imali 16 godina?

GREGORY PORTER: Hmmm. Dozvolite mi da se podsetim kako je bilo imati 16 uopšte. :D Oduvek sam bio baja od klasike. Verovatno „Autumn Leaves“ Nat King Cole-a. Mada, ne mislim da je ovaj moj izbor neko iznenađenje.

MjuzNews: Ko su vaši omiljeni muzičari trenutno?

GREGORY PORTER: O, ja sam veliki fan Jill Scott, Dianne Reeves, Jamie Culluma, Esperanze Spalding. Kako veliki glasovi i muzičari. Imao sam čast da sarađujem sa nekima od njih. Veliko zadovoljstvo!

MjuzNews: Postoji taj jaz o kom muzičari pričaju, između onoga što čuju u svojim glavama, inicijalnih ideja i onoga što se desi na karju u studiju kada prođete proces stvaranja muzike sa drugim ljudima koji takođe imaju ideje. Koliko ste blizu tome da radite tačno ono što vam dođe i da li ste uopšte zainteresovani da servirate te netaknute melodije i reči?

GREGORY PORTER: Koliko god jako da ste vezni za svoju ideju morate da budete spremni na kompromis i prihvatanje tuđih ideja ukoliko vas one ne skrenu sa puta. Ukoliko znate ko ste kao muzičar lako tuđe ideje integrišete te se one čine kao deo vaše muzike i adaptirate ih tako da vam se dopadaju. Morate da budete bez ega da biste sebe nadogradili. A ponekad, ukoliko sam siguran da je moja ideja put kojim treba ići, držaću se nje.  

MjuzNews: Krajem jula dolazite u Beograd da biste nastupali na festivalu Musicology. Šta je to što biste voleli ovde da vidite. Ovo mu dođe kao kakav savet za vaše domaćine.

GREGORY PORTER: Uvek volim da vidim profesionalce koji rade svoj posao do maksimuma i za više ciljeve. To sam čuo o Musicology festivalu i drago mi je da sam deo njega. Još neki odlični muzičari će nastupati na festivalu. Liv Warfield je fenomenalna! Takođe veoma poštujem The Brand New Heavies. Jedva čekam da nastupam pred novom publikom tako da je sve odlično. :)

MjuzNews: Imate priliku da pozovete sve na vaš koncert u Beogradu jednom pesmom koja nije vaša. Koja je to pesma?

GREGORY PORTER: Dođite i uživajte sa nama. To će biti „Unforgettable“.

ENGLISH

MjuzNews: Do you have any daily rituals in your life and if so, would you like to share them with our readers?

GREGORY PORTER: Of course I do. But, when you lead a life like mine, you can not have true rituals, because you always have to adjust your time and plans to my job, which is quite unpredictable. What I like to do in my spare time as a ritual is go to nice dinners with my friends. There is a place in New York where I like to go often. You can eat great food while listening to various new and interesting artists. Well that’s a nice ritual, right?  :)

MjuzNews: We would like to know what was your number one song to dance to when you were 16?

GREGORY PORTER: Hmmm. Let me try to remember being sixteen at all. :D I was always a classical dude.

I would probably say it was "Autumn Leaves" by Nat King Cole. But I don’t think this choice of mine comes as a surprise.

MjuzNews: Who are your favorite musicians who are active at the moment?

GREGORY PORTER: O, I am a great fan of Jill Scott, Dianne Reeves, Jamie Cullum, Esperanza Spalding. Such great voices and musicians. I worked with some of them, such a pleasure!

MjuzNews: There is this gap musicians talk about between what they hear in their heads, the initial ideas, and what happens in the end in the studio when you go through a process of making music with other people who also have ideas. How close are you in doing exactly what comes into your mind and are you interested in serving these intact melodies and words at all?

GREGORY PORTER: However strongly you feel about your initial musical idea, you have to be ready to compromise and accept other people’s ideas. If they don’t take you off your path. If you now who you are as a musician, it is easy to make other people’s ideas seem like the part of your music, addapt them to your liking. You have to be egoless in order to upgrade yourself. Sometimes though, if I am certain my idea is the way to go, I try to stick to it.

MjuzNews: You are coming to Belgrade in late July to perform at the Musicology festival. What would you like to see here? This is sort of a tip for your hosts.

GREGORY PORTER: I always like to see professionals doing their job to the maximum, and to see they do it for a greater cause. That is what I heard about Musicology and I am glad I am a part of it. Some other amazing musicians on the festival, too. Liv Warfield is amazing. I also admire The Brand New Havies very much. Can’t wait to perform in front of a new audience. So, everything is great. :)

MjuzNews: You have the opportunity to invite everybody to your concert in Belgrade with one song which is not yours. Which song is it?

GREGORY PORTER: Come and enjoy with us. It’s going to be “Unforgettable”.