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Caught
in Katie The dreamy eyed, ‘doll like’, British jazz and blues star cum song writer, Katie Melua, who’s also Education Ambassador for Save the Children (SC), was in town last month to visit some of the war-torn areas, the NGO conducts its work in. “I generally don’t like much publicity and being in the limelight, but if some good can come out of it, then it’s worth it,” said the twenty-year-old songbird, summing up her simple, unaffected nature quite aptly. Being her first visit here, Katie had been quite excited about visiting, but hadn’t known what to expect because of the tsunami. The aerial view from her plane had been “simply breathtaking,” said Katie. She had read various reports about the country before coming, so she had known something about the country beforehand. Of Colombo, she said that it seemed very westernised and much like a regular first world city. Her main task as Ambassador for SC is to find out as much as possible about the issues they deal with – in this case the issue of child victims of war, explained Katie. “War is a terrible thing for anyone, especially children, as they have been deprived of a proper childhood and have been made to lose a lot of their childlike innocence,” said Katie with emotion. Re-introducing these children into regular society is no easy task, as they must be brought back to their schoolwork, and gradually learn to adopt to normal civil life. She was also quite involved in the new fundraiser campaign – ‘Skip a Treat’, during ‘Skip a Treat Week’, which calls on the public to forego a favourite treat and donate the money instead, towards one of the SC projects. “It’s unbelievable that most of these children who are now my age or a little older, have had to forego their entire education. I can’t imagine being in their shoes,” she said emphatically. SC has set up a vocational centre for those who have missed out on their studies, to teach them skills like sewing and carpentry, she elaborated. She also visited children’s activity centres, where a mixture of children from the community united to play together. They had put on a very colourful show for her, complete with scenes from Bollywood films in costume, traditional dance sequences, and a medley of folk songs. Eight young girls had performed a modern dance item, dressed in different costumes, each representing a different region, she said. A mini skit was also a part of the day’s entertainment, she added. “I enjoyed all the items thoroughly. I felt a mix of sadness and joy as there was a sad aura surrounding the area,” she said. Katie too had performed for them and had received a very enthusiastic and warm response from the children, she said happily. She heard many sad stories when speaking to the parents of these children. Many of these parents have been very grateful to see their children receive an education, and the children too seem to be very happy to return to school. Katie related the story of a young child who had been very sad, because she had missed out on years of her childhood. It had been a very sad, yet real experience for Katie, as she got to know first hand, the plight of these victims of war, and how they’re mere pawns in a dangerous game. The Georgian (a part of the former USSR) born singer shared some experiences of her childhood, and of how she first entered the music scene. Music seems to be in her blood, as her mother too had sung in a band when she was about Katie’s age and she comes from a very musical country, she said. Having shifted homes a lot, from Georgia to Moscow, to Ireland and finally to England, Katie was exposed to a diverse range of music, of which she had managed to take out something good off each style of music. This explains her varied musical influences such as the likes of Queen, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Eva Cassidy, with Irish folk music and Indian music that further enriched her musical tastes. One memory that particularly stands out for Katie, is that of hearing Eva Cassidy’s “Some-where Over The Rainbow” for the first time. She had been completely mesmerised by her and had wanted to somehow meet her. Unfortunately, she had later found out that Cassidy had in fact passed away somewhere during that time, thus putting an abrupt end to her short lived dream of meeting her mentor. Having been quite depressed at the realisation that she could never meet Cassidy, she eventually paid her the biggest tribute of composing the ode “Faraway Voice” in memory of this inspirational woman, whom she never had the good fortune of meeting, said Katie wistfully. Thereafter she began to seriously to listen to mainstream pop, and realised that this was what she wanted to do with her life. It initially started off as a hobby till she was about 15-16 years old. The turning point came when she decided to buy herself some synchronising software and a mini microphone. This triggered off her writing and recording habit. “I became almost obsessed with music. I used to stay all day in my room, composing and recording songs,” said Katie, reminiscing with a smile. She was later discovered by the famous producer/song writer Mike Batt who had visited her the Brit School for Performing Arts (where she got a BTEC and music A-Level) auditioning for a different kind of Jazz/Blues singer, to fund a project. Having liked Katie’s rendition of “Faraway Voice”, Batt had selected her for the project and recognising her potential, stuck with her, eventually ending up being her manager cum producer. “Mike gave me countless tips on how best to improve my music and become well-known and helped mould me into what I am now,” said Katie fondly. A year or so down the line, their hard work paid off, as Katie’s first album ‘Call Off The Search’ reached five times Platinum status (1.5 million) within five months of release, becoming number one on the official UK album charts for six weeks in total, having replaced first Dido and then Norah Jones at the number one spot. Now, her album is gradually being released under the Dramatico recording label throughout the world, and has achieved good chart positions in Europe, South Africa and Australia. It has also recently been released in the USA and many other countries as well. Although her first album was predominantly about love, it wasn’t predetermined to be that way, said Katie. “You can’t limit yourself to one particular theme, unless there is a specific need to do so,” said Katie about her music. She’s currently working on her second album, which slants a little more towards the political arena, she adds. One of her songs speaks of the recent lead up to the USA declaring war on Iraq and the dilemma the common man was faced with in terms of whether the move was right or wrong. She has also done a few cover versions of old jazz/blues classics like John Mayall’s “Crawling Up A Hill”, Randy Newman’s “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today” and James Shelton’s “Lilac Wine”. She has also written a song about the side of Belfast, she experienced – quite in contrast to the general perceptions people have about the town, said Katie. Through this song, she tries to depict that although the political situation wasn’t very stable, people were happy and hopeful. She enjoys accompanying herself on guitar and does it whenever she thinks it would add a little something extra to one of her songs, she said. When asked what inspires her she simply said, “When I pick up a pencil, some paper and my guitar, anything and everything around me inspires me.” |
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