Labi Siffre’s lesson (which artists should listen to)

“I don’t believe in giving the public what the public wants in any case. Rather, I believe in giving the public the best of me and in the pleasure of it. There are no successful records, in this way. On the other hand, however, you go to sleep serene at night“, He said in an old interview of the 70s, shown on social networks. Inside those words there was the whole lesson of Labi Siffre for forty years the London musician was a ghost, although he was not dead.

All traces had been lost of him. The records he published in the 70s, containing that pair of successes that Siffre managed to place in the British charts, “.It must be love” And “Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying”, They were no longer found anywhere. Of some of his songs it was not even possible to find the texts on the net. It is not clear how he has been remitted, together with his music: mysteries of discography at the time of Tiktok.

His story recalls that of Sixto Rodriguez, the American musician to whom the Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul in 2012 dedicated the beautiful documentary “Searching for Sugar Man”, putting himself on the trail of the Rockstar that was believed to be deceased. It origins for half Barbadian and half Nigerian, Siffre became wide among the voices of the British songwriting of the 70s with records such as the eponymous debut of 1970, “The Singer and the Song” of 1971 and “Crying Laughing Loving Lying” of 1972, which also achieved a mediocre success in the United Kingdom. Golders and Hit Parade didn’t care much In fact, he didn’t care at all: «Popularity and success were not in my plans.

I simply wanted to be a musician. When I became a public character, I took very little to realize that I would never have been comfortable to receive those attention ». Spacing between folk, soul, reggae and funk, in his records poetically faced so much.political (in his songs he spoke of War veterans, homeless and religion) and the personnel (Listen to the beautiful “Till Forever”). Labi Siffre has never aligned with industry’s requests: «I gradually understood that all that society, the country and the world in which I lived told me about myself was a lie as homosexual artist, black and atheist».

Her homosexuality also told her in a song, “Something Inside SO Strong“, Released in 1987: he went to fourth place in the British ranking and subsequently was also reinterpreted by Kenny Rogers. Became a anti-apartheid anthem When Siffre sang the song in Trafalgar Square for the birthday of Nelson Mandelaafter we have seen participation in the great concert in Wembley because “not suitable”. Siffre retired from the record scenes in 1998. But his music, in recent years, has continued to travel. And to reach new fans. Also thanks to tributes by artists such as Kanye West, Eminem and Jay-Z. In 1997 the latter championship “I Got the …” in his “Streets is watching“. Two years later Eminem also recovered “I Got the …” for “My name is“. In 2007, however, West shed his “My Song” in “The Wonder“. The electronic musician Matthew Herbert in 2012 said: “The fingerprints of Labi Siffre have been on popular music for many decades, but his real voice is rarely heard”.

In recent months his history has aroused the attention of many users on social media. Fragments of old interviews, shown on the net, also conquered those who did not know him and had never heard of it. And its music, consequently, is recording interesting numbers on the platforms. As as from Pigeons & Planes Over the past five years there has been a growth of 700% of the streams of Labi Siffre’s songs on Spotify only in the USA. And in the last three years there has been one 900% growth in listening by the Z generation, or that of children aged 16 to 24, born with the smartphone in hand In 2022 in an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the first granted after decades, the artist – today 79 years old – spoke of his career and revealed that he was working on a new album, which however has not yet seen the light: “In the 1960s I was very naive.

.I entered the musical industry believing that the music business was managed by musicians. But you can’t blame a rattles snake for bite you. A Sonagli snake is a rattan snake: you are stupid you wandering with sandals and without socks in an area infested with strain snakes». How much poem.