Natasha Hurst : hard-headed woman on the road to glory

...continued from front page

PH: I noticed your "This is me...like it or lump it" logo.

NH: Thankyou. It's a good one for me. It's little things like that logo that help me get through. I figure that I can't please everyone and I need to live with myself everyday, so pleasing myself is big on my priority list.

PH: Does that philosphy feed into your music?

NH: Yes, very much so - I need to be the one happy with the song at the end of the day. I write from life experience, and I know that my voice and style isn't going to appeal to everyone

PH: Specifically, what are some of your songs about?

NH: Life in general I guess. I wrote one about my fathers passing called Don't Shed A Tear. It's sort of a reflection, in a way...it starts of with him talking to me, and then the second part is me talking to him. He always used to tell me to be strong and not to cry, so I was basically telling him that I try but sometimes I really just wanna run away.
But when I sing - I can feel his presence.

PH: Have you recorded this song?

NH: Not yet, it's one I wrote in April this year. I plan on recording it soon.

PH: You seem to be very organised, with brochures and demos and booking sheets. Does that come naturally, or did you develop those skills over time?

NH: I worked in an accounts payable job for a little while (way back when now), but I have always liked order. I see it as... if everything is organised then life runs a lot more smoothly. The external house reflects the internal, so to speak. Probably more wishful thinking, cause it doesn't always seem to work to plan!

PH: I guess having a child forces you to be organised also.

NH: Yes it does...

PH: Has having children affected your music career?

NH: It's really funny. I started out as one of these parents who said "I am not going to let a baby change me!" And yes, it definitely has.
My children come first. As much as I love my music, I really need to stop and consider how what I decide to do will affect them.
Before I got pregnant with my first child I had planned to tour around Australia - singing my way around the country. What my friends and I planned on living on, we dont know, but we thought it would be fun. I don't think like that anymore...I have matured in a lot of ways since having kids. I certainly don't lead a 'Rock Stars' lifestyle.

PH: What do you want to achieve with your music? Do you have particular goals?

NH: That's a really hard question. I guess on some level I would love world wide recognition. To be able to earn a living from my music. To tour the world. To be rich and famous - Nah!! This one isn't me, I couldn't see that happening....I see money as the root of all evil, a necessary part of living unfortunately...but still...and with fame comes no freedom to be who you want to be - it seems like most people who get the fame end up being molded. So I really don't know....I really just want to be able to play my music and reach out to people and somehow make a difference in the world. World Peace perhaps...

PH: Do you have particular musicians who are idols or role-models to you? People you admire either for their music or their values?

NH: My Dad is my biggest musical influence. And after that.....I don't have idols as such. Kasey Chambers was probably the one who got me really interested in pursuing a music career though. I started following her career and she seems to be that sort that gave the message "if I can do so can you".

PH: How would you describe your style of music?

NH: I used to call it country but now... I say it's acoustic, with influences of Country, Folk, Blues, Roots...it really depends on the mood that I am in as to which style the song is created in.

PH: Some musicians are really into crafting the musical elements of their songs, others focus on the lyrics and see the music as a platform for what they have to say. Are you inclined one way or the other?

NH: I work either/or...it depends what comes first...I would say the majority of my songs comes from my poetry and then when I feel ready and have the time I sit and think of some music to go with it.

PH: So you write to lyrics?

NH: The majority of the time, but not all of it...

PH: What sort of gigs have you been doing recently?

NH: Various pub and restaurant venues - mostly singing covers, but I also throw in one of two of my originals as well.

PH: Do you think of yourself more as a performer of music or a songwriter?

NH: I think of myself as a performer who writes her own songs...so a singer/songwriter.

PH: Do you enjoy doing the covers?

NH: Yes and no - I enjoy doing the songs that I like to play. The past year I have been playing a lot of material to suit the venues and please the crowd, but not stuff close to my heart.

PH: Are you doing that to increase the financial viability of your music?

NH: To keep being booked so that the cash flow keep coming in - Yes!!

PH: Where would you like to see yourself playing in five years time?

NH: I would like to be a big name act at all the Country/Folk/Blues Festivals within Australia.
And also possibly do a world tour. I am planning a trip to New Zealand in August next year and am hoping to make it a working holiday.

PH: Finally, tell me about your guitar(s) (and amp if you use one).

NH: I have a Cort guitar and I use an Alesis mixer..I dont know a lot about the equiptment side of things....My guitar is my right arm, I take her with me when I go away even if I don't play her...

PH: How did you choose her?

NH: I went into heaps of music shops and just sat and played guitars - only if I liked the look of them though...I did have my heart set on a Maton, but my friend Phil had a Cort and I figured I would give this one a try and I fell in love with her. I didn't have any money at the time so my friend Jodie paid for it on her credit card and I paid her back.

PH: Do you have any recording plans?

NH: I am waiting on my recording equipment to get here from the States and then I will be working on recording my next EP.

PH: When do you hope to finish it? And do you have a title?

NH: No titles as yet, and I don't have a time frame in mind which has really shocked me (considering I am a bit of a control freak). I am hoping it will be well and truly done so that I can promote it on my NZ tour, once I organise it.

Listen to an excerpt from Natasha Hurst's music.

Natasha is performing on on Friday 3rd August at Holgate Brewhouse and on 13th October with her duo Half Cast at Flannagan's Border Inn, Bacchus Marsh. You can find out more about her at http://www.myspace.com/tashahurst

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Refugees deserve better than bland

...continued from front page

Then, it’s all over within the space of 21 words; to wit: “The six All Stars launch into a defiantly up-beat blend of modern and traditional styles including the warm, reggae-like baskeda rhythm.”

Am I being too harsh?

Probably. This is a music article along the lines of the “human interest” story. And, after all, given that the protagonists of this little drama have been to Hell and back — and given that it is well to be informed of all manner of thing going on in the world — the members of the band are worthy of having their thoughts considered seriously.

“This was a sweet, sweet country until it was destroyed by greed and foolishness,” says bandleader Reuben M. Koroma of Sierra Leone. And, well he might; how sweet is the sight of one’s home after an absence; especially a forced absence; and how especially after suffering through a civil war and exile. The horrors and hardships he and the other band members have endured gives them a credibility that no amount of abstracted considerations can displace.

Unfortunately, Cornwell falls into the hole of abstraction, not to mention reductionism, all too often not to be awarded the title of “donkey”.

One egregious example comes when Cornwell records Koroma’s comment, “I believe my safety belongs to God” and follows it with Guitarist Ashade Pearce’s words: “Our faith was tested. But, as we say in our Krio language, ‘If you wan wet fo san, sidon na faia’: to achieve something you must suffer first.” To which the tin-eared writer appends the remark: “The band members’ unswerving belief in fate and destiny has proved as buoyant as their music.”

Huh? Fate? Destiny? Didn’t Koroma, who follows the Rastafarian religion, just say in so many words “I believe my safety belongs to God”? In what sense is it legitimate to dilute the content of that statement to a profession of the expectation that what will be will be; except that the writer feels it is part of her brief as a reporter to protect the delicate sensibilities of her readers from a non-blasphemous and vocative use of the name “God” and to explain to the ignorant masses that what Koroma means, while it may (or may not) refer to something of greater significance, is basically what the reader means when he or she says “fate” or “destiny”. This is hardly good theology, or good etiquette, and, my oath, it ain’t good music criticism.

Another moment of unconscious buffoonery comes in the following statement:
“Admirably clear-eyed in its portrayal of the brutality, the film delivers life-affirming moments, too: Black Nature returns to school; Koroma is reunited with his daughters.”

Life-affirming moments? Cornwell puts this writer in mind of seemingly endless soul-deadening tutorials inside university English departments in which one flapped one’s arms about in an outre and precious manner to demonstrate one’s exquisitely sensitive nature and offer the comment about Paradise Lost or Wilfred Owen’s poetry, “it’s so life-affirming!” Pe-uke!

A final point. An astonishing absence from this piece is any indication of how much of its content comes from the film about the All Stars — which is first mentioned in the third paragraph — and how much comes from the writers interview with the group; after all, the strapline to the piece reads: “A group from Sierra Leone sings of the experience of refugees from conflict. Jane Cornwell met them on the eve of an Australian tour.” The trouble is that the film is not specifically mentioned again until the 12th paragraph; is what comes in between a description of the film or is it a record of interview? To find out, email Jane Cornwell at The Australian; I for one can’t tell.

Really, a poor piece despite the intense pathos of its content and the human interest such content can generate in a sympathetic heart. If this preview sent any reader to the concerts, I’d be surprised; but also glad.

I say again: my oath, this ain’t good music criticism.

Read Jane Cornwell's original review.

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