WEBVTT - Ep 32: Benjamin Clementine 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:12.240 Loud and Quiet presents Midnight Chats. 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:25.119 I want to start this episode of the podcast with 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:28.040 an apology, but mostly I want to start with some 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.760 thank you. First off, sorry we've been away. It's been 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:34.640 about six weeks since our last episode of Midnight Chats, 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:38.800 episode thirty one with Lucy Rose. There was never a 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:42.479 plan to take a summer break, but unfortunate at the 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:46.239 end of July, our office in London was burgled and 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:48.960 all of our equipment was taken, and that included the 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:53.160 kit we used to make this series and two unpublished 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:56.920 chats we'd already recorded, one that I'd had with the 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:00.560 legendary Tom Morello which took place the more after the 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:04.399 UK general election, and another that Stuart had done with 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:09.280 Adam from the War on Drugs. Unfortunately, those conversations won't 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:13.440 get heard now, which is a shame, but hey, maybe 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:17.120 we'll get those guests back on one day. As I said, 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:19.959 I also need to say a few thank yous as well. 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:23.640 We're a small, independent team, so the last month hasn't 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.319 been the easiest. But the people who got in touch 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:31.040 afterwards to offer temporary working space or help, or sent 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:34.400 us some whiskey or just ask if we were all right. 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:38.840 Cheers to you guys, it was much appreciated, and also 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.520 thank you to Zoom who kindly sent us a new 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:46.240 recorder so that you can hear this now. This feels 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:48.400 like a good opportunity then as we come back to 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.160 remind you what we're all about and what we do, 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:53.640 or if you're listening for the first time, to introduce 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:56.920 you to Midnight Chats. It's a podcast series made by 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:59.920 us at Loud and Quiet. Some episodes are hosted by me, 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:03.640 Greg and others by Stuart and we aim to have 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:07.400 conversations with artists, people of interest that have a late 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:10.320 night feel, the kind of thing that maybe hopefully goes 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.079 a bit deeper, maybe is a little bit different from 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:17.280 what you normally hear from those musicians. So after our 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:21.720 recent unplanned pause, we start again now. A new episode 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:24.960 will be published every fortnight at midnight on a Thursday, 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.160 and you can listen, subscribe, ray and review us on 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:31.520 all the major podcast platforms, plus we stick these on 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:36.600 YouTube and Facebook as well. In exactly one week from now, 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:39.440 the winner of this year's Mercury Prize will be announced. 0:02:40.000 --> 0:02:42.960 Just less than two years ago, that was Benjamin Clementine 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.240 picking up the award, inviting the eleven other nominees on 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:48.679 stage that night to pick up the award with him, 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:50.760 and he was dedicating it to the victims of the 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:54.880 recent Paris terror attacks. At that time. It was a 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:59.040 poignant moment, and the night itself wasn't just the breakthrough 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:02.880 moment for his music, but also the springboard for his 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:07.680 extraordinary story to start being told more widely. Benjamin grew 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:10.600 up in Edmonton, North London, left home when he was sixteen, 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:13.840 spent a couple of years living in Camden before leaving 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:18.280 London for Paris. He was often sleeping rough there on 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.880 the streets. He was busking, though at the same time 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:25.280 on the Metro and on the boulevards, and that's where 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.680 he was spotted an experience which eventually led him on 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:31.840 to record his debut album, at Least for Now, and 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:36.760 eventually onto winning that distinguished award, which incidentally he's managed 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.080 to break. As he says in this chat, the morning 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.560 after winning the Mercury, he went back to Paris to 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:44.680 the cheap hostel room where he was staying and thought 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:49.760 about how surreal the whole thing was. But two years on, 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:51.960 in the middle of September. Now he will release his 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:55.800 second album. It's called I Tell Afly, And there's a 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:59.200 bit in this chat about the album, but not a lot. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.080 Mostly his conversation about his roots in Edmonton, why it 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:04.920 was so hard going back there a few years ago 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:08.040 to try and live there, why the twenty five pounds 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:10.840 he got given for winning the Mercury Prize is still 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:14.640 sat in a bank account, and also his impression of 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:20.000 America and Americans after he spent the majority of last 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:24.880 year there writing and recording his new album. Just finally, 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.240 I should add that Benjamin speaks in a quite hushed, 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.839 unhurried way, so you may want to turn this up 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:34.560 a touch to get the full effect of our conversation. 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:38.880 So here it is the return of Midnight Chats. This 0:04:38.960 --> 0:05:03.320 is episode thirty two with Benjamin Clementeine. What is the 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:04.360 summer looked like for you? 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:08.560 Yeah, I've been finishing the album and also playing from 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:13.839 festivals across Europe. The last one it's in a few 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:19.320 days in Portugal, and I can't wait to go and 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:22.120 perform for them, and then go back and rest a 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:26.080 little bit before it all starts again in September. 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:30.400 How do you find that transition between being in the 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:34.359 writing recording place and then being out on stage, because 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:38.159 I know for some artists their preferences to be in 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:40.760 one zone at a time, if you like. So if 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:43.360 you're trying to finish things, off record things and play 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:45.719 shows at the same time, it can be a distraction. 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:49.320 But how do you find it? I see it as 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:53.719 as you know, a part of what, don't you know? 0:05:54.160 --> 0:05:58.920 What defines me going into the studio and recording it's 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:02.960 the same as going to the stage and performing. Obviously 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:07.080 they're both different things. Making the studio album it's different 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:11.479 from making even a live album. But I think it's 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:15.440 a bit like being a mu's good. You know of 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:19.000 our occupations, like you know, a doctor or whatever it is. 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.680 You know, you go to different places every time, and 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.440 you you're going to have to give your best at everything. 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.000 So you know, I wake up every day to do 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.919 what I what I love doing, which is which is 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:31.120 being an artist. 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:34.880 When you're off the road, so to speak, where do 0:06:34.880 --> 0:06:37.480 you consider yourself based? Now? Are you living in London? 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.800 Well, I am. I'd say that I pay my taxes 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:45.160 in London, so I suppose because I'm living here. Yeah, 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:49.200 I mean, I like coming back to London every time 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:52.520 I'm not working or I'm not yeah, if I'm not 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:57.320 writing or and in fact, I don't really like hanging 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:01.120 around in London. I like to go outside London as 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:02.120 much more peaceful. 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:04.600 Where do you take yourself? Do you go to the coast, 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:05.920 do you get into the countrysideway? 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:10.239 Do you go well, you know, these days, my girlfriend 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:15.280 she and she's, she's she's got a nice house and 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:22.280 there's woken them. Okay, so we we go there, you know, 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:29.280 as much as possible to to relax and and and 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:36.080 get out the what's called the tantrums and snelligans of 0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:38.600 of off the city. 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:42.320 And increasingly polluted out it feels like it. 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:44.760 Certainly as soon as you leave London you realize how 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:50.320 how dreadful it is to live in a search metropolis. 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:52.600 What are the things that you still love about London? 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.120 Night like having you know, growing up here. I don't 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.080 know whether you consider yourself still in London and having 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:00.360 like moved around to different places, but yeah, one of 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:05.240 the things you still love about the city, I think 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:06.080 is that a short list? 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:12.360 I'm asually you have. I'm glad that I I I know, 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:17.800 in fact, leaving London made me No London more, No 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:21.360 London more because living in the city and you haven't 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:24.800 really traveled around other cities, you don't realize what you 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:28.040 have or what you don't have. For me, I like 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:34.800 the openness of London, so if you want to go somewhere, 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:36.880 you're going to have to really go there, cause it 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:40.400 takes a long time to go there. I also like 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:49.079 the obviously the so called it's the word mrticultural aspects 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:55.160 of the city. Whether it's an advantage, I have no idea, 0:08:56.240 --> 0:09:01.360 but I do appreciate it. That's what I like about London. 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:07.800 I think I like the southmore, South London more because 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:16.280 it is very quiet compared to Central and North London. 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:20.640 That's my experiences, you know, maximum anthorm of London. But 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:26.400 I think I prefer up Landing more. Overall, I it's 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:31.400 nice again, it's it's nice to to to see a 0:09:31.440 --> 0:09:38.280 whole bunch of people from looking different everywhere around the 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:47.400 world coming to the city to somehow uh fulfilled their dreams. 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:48.000 You know. 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:50.000 It's a bit like I'm sounding a bit like America 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:55.240 now so called the American dream might be a great 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:58.439 British dream, but you might have to ask her. You 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:00.880 might have to ask her what's his name? Like your farage. 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:04.559 If I am right or wrong, You're from Edmonton, so 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.320 north of London. You're already north London. You've already mentioned. 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:10.240 Do you find yourself back in that neighborhood very often? 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:14.840 No, be honest with you, it's it's a shuttle. 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:17.839 And I can agree with you on that because I 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:19.240 live relatively close to there. 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:25.640 It's a shittle. I would like to hopefully, you know, 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:29.040 I have so many you know, so many dreams, and 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.319 you know, you know, when I'm when I'm done with 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:39.959 this music, I would want to know I would be 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:41.719 allowed to say that I can do it. At the 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:45.000 same time, it's amount of times I'm traveling, so I 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:49.480 had to you know, even I have time for my 0:10:49.559 --> 0:10:54.160 own lady. You know how much more our village of 0:10:54.240 --> 0:11:01.319 Old City City in the city, I think that it's 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:04.920 such a I wouldn't say the poor area because there's 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:09.440 there's two parts of Edmonton. It's angel Edmonton and there's 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:14.360 Edmonton Green. Edmonton Green is a poor side, and Andrew 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:19.000 Edmonton is not so poor side. When we lived in 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:22.679 Age Andrew Edmonton, so there was less crime and but 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:27.120 you know, we always warned to never walk around Edmonton 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:31.160 green going back there, you know, nothing has really changed. 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:41.559 It's so look the look I get when I go 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:46.880 to Edmonton. Edmonton suggest that I I've grown out of 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:51.240 it now, I've I tried to live there. I went 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:56.719 back there to live in Edmonton for a couple of 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:00.760 months when I was recording my first album and just 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:04.160 couldn't live there. M I couldn't live there, and I 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:07.839 was very sad because you know, here I was, you know, 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:13.640 you know, the man who I'm always foe for, you know, 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:16.120 uh uh. I stayed true to my word, and I 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:19.400 I tried to stay true to my words. You know, 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:21.840 all the people I'm working with, you know, have been 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:24.439 welcome with them for or four years now, and I'm 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:26.640 and there's no way I'm not. I'm just gonna stop 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:30.040 working with them, you know. So going back to Edmonton 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:32.280 where my where my mother lives there, but I didn't 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.480 want to live there. I wanted to get my own place, 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:38.719 and it was a a very sad sight, one that 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:41.360 I don't think I'd ever want to experience ever again. 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:46.079 What made you sadder? Was it the flood of kind 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:48.520 of memories of the place, that came back to you 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:52.400 when you moved back there possibly some negative experiences or 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:55.199 was it more that the place haven't changed and you 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:57.680 felt like maybe it would have moved on in that time? 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:04.840 Was both next feelings, of course, So as trauma. Uh, 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:11.559 I would walk on the street and whenever I see kids, 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:16.880 you know, I'll just you know, started thinking about when 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.360 I was a kid, and I wouldn't want to pass 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:21.920 them because cause I was bullied in school. So I 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:25.760 wouldn't wanna walk past the badge of kids laughing together 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.640 cause I think they might look at me in and 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:32.920 uh we'll start laughing at my hair or you know, 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:38.800 and I'm a corn man. So that, yes, of course. 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:43.600 But it's also the fact that I, as you rightfully said, uh, 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:46.760 I hadn't really moved on, you know, it hadn't. It 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:52.959 was still I was going back. It's the past, you know, 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:55.800 and I had already you know, gone fr gone through 0:13:55.840 --> 0:14:00.240 a lot and embarrassed. So and if I I mean, 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:03.719 I can afford to live somewhere, there was you know, 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.400 you know, not not the penthouse, but you know, in 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:11.319 a in a nice are, in a safer and I 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.880 was called a peaceful place. So yeah, it was, it 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:19.760 was it was both, it wasn't it wasn't just and 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:23.040 also in the you know, it's funny it's people. People 0:14:23.120 --> 0:14:26.520 do change, and and you know, talking about the neighborhoods. 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:32.440 So going back there, they were less English people there, 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:38.200 you know, and there's more I think, uh, Turkish people, 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:45.760 and you know, it's uh, it's different. I mean a 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:48.640 a a and field particularly it's it's is full of 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:55.520 you know, uh, English, Greek people and fields the borough 0:14:55.560 --> 0:15:03.160 of of Edmonton, and and we were the few black 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:07.640 people who who lived at that time. And then now it's, uh, 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:12.240 it's changed, you know. I hope it's for the better 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:17.360 in the long run because one a lot of uh 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:19.600 I think one A lot of working class, you know, 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:23.720 a lot of a uh yeah, a lot of working class. 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:29.360 And I mean, what's people under working class? 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:29.960 What's it called? 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:30.920 I don't even know. 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:34.000 Crime. Well, I mean I said, technically, I guess you're 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:35.040 moving inside. 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:40.560 Gypsies, Yes, gyp just uh gypsies. And you know, yeah, 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:42.320 I saw I saw them living there. And and you 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:47.520 know when there's that uh, I've been reading h Tom 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:53.120 sol who's an economist. He says that uh, you know, 0:15:53.720 --> 0:16:00.120 uh uh poverty. There's not great crime, but I do 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:04.200 a better to differ because liven't there for that particularly 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:09.040 a few months I've thought to myself, all I could 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:12.760 get robbed in an instant, you know, I could. I'm 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:14.760 sure that the people are peaceful in the daytime, but 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:18.680 at that time it is not. It's not a safe place. 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:21.560 That's why there's not a lot of people are it's 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:27.840 that time. So yeah, I hope they they find what 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:28.480 they're looking for. 0:16:29.200 --> 0:16:32.560 You mentioned the couple of just talking about that. Then 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:36.000 you said when when the music thing is done, which 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:39.680 he infers that you don't imagine that you'll do music forever? 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:40.400 Is that right? 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:41.520 Do you think that way? 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:45.400 Yeah? Yeah, of course I won't. I won't well doing music. 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:52.880 Of course I'll playing music forever. But but I I 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:58.520 don't see myself doing a lot of albums and you know, 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:02.000 fifty albums and all that. No, that's not that's not me. 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:05.480 You would be Paul McCartney still going at seventy. 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:07.960 Well, I mean, after a certain time, what do you 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:12.479 talk about? I don't I don't see how. I mean, 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:15.040 you love songs? Can you write what I've written? None? 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:22.639 That's because I'm keeping all of my love. But I 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:28.080 just don't. I don't like repeating myself, you know, And 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:33.720 maybe I would just make I'll go to university, will 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:38.120 go to conserve it or something. Study here, i'd been 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:45.720 a composer or what's it called, something called director? 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:47.280 Yeah, like an orchestra leader. 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:51.320 Yeah you have forgotten, Yeah, the maestra or whatever it is. Yeah, yeah, 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:56.200 you know. I want to try and help my community, 0:17:56.680 --> 0:18:01.200 communities that touched me. Touch you know. So there's a 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:08.040 community in France, that's community in England, Edmonton, community in 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:14.560 Italy near Tuscany. I asked, that's what makes me go, 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:17.879 That's what makes me breathe, and that's what makes me 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:24.320 think that I'm worth it or my life is of 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:29.040 VISal importance umanity. So so that music is I love music, 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:32.560 but I don't think it's That's what I'll be doing 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:37.159 for you know. You know, touring is so an easy thing. 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:41.520 It's not, and there are many ways to make a living. 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:44.760 It's just that most of the time, we artists, we 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.800 compare ourselves to each other because of our others are 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:51.399 greedy than others. So when you're making some money, you 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.840 compare your money to someone who's greedy and then you 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:59.040 think that you're making none, but there's enough to survive, 0:18:59.440 --> 0:18:59.639 you know. 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:05.560 So so if you were to go back to somewhere 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:08.919 like Edmonton, how do you imagine what kind of capacity 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:12.879 would you imagine that in the sense that you would 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:16.679 want to be part of like a community youth program 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:20.400 like about about trying to help like lift people out 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:22.200 of some of the difficulties that you've just talked about. 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:23.600 How do you mean you would want to go and 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:26.119 kind of affect those communities in some way work with 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:26.639 them perhaps. 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:31.560 Yeah, I mean, first of all, I am you know, 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:33.440 we just talk about how I'm going to stop doing music, 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:37.080 and you know, but you know, you know once once 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:40.440 I'm mature, and since I'm mature, and I'm starting to 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:43.360 understand that it's not just for me, you know, it's 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:49.280 it's I'm here because of other people. And so with music, 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:51.639 for example, I would I would like to be a 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:55.560 festival in these places, you know, And I'm not talking 0:19:55.600 --> 0:20:00.240 about playing the most obvious music, No, I would want 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:04.480 to either pick out guys from that same community and 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:08.520 also bringing people I love. And that's if they want 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:11.280 to do of course, but that's that's one of the 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:14.040 things I want to do. The music of course, bring 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:18.680 people together, but also you know I tried talking to 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:21.520 the council a couple of months ago and they just 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:23.480 poor SARTs on it. 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:23.960 I mean. 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:31.560 It is you know. I tried to to get you know, 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.440 to get them pianos, as I had said, with my 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:41.280 mercury money. But after talking to the council or whatever 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:46.359 his name, the the guy the mayor was it. 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:48.880 Council leader. 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:54.720 Or the MP or whatever it is, Yeah, they just 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:58.680 put me off, you know. So I just need to 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:01.040 find a way of just doing it. I still have money. 0:21:01.080 --> 0:21:04.639 It's twenty quid, twenty k, twenty five k. Sorry, And 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.239 I said, I'm you know as as I said too 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.800 that I am out of my words. And you always 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:14.080 dreaming about that, you know, I dreamt about it for years. 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:17.760 But they want to get involved, these guys before their 0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:24.080 own earned benefits. You know. He said something like, and 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:28.280 let's do it so that this mail or this count, 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:34.760 this this man will wor will be you will set 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:38.080 a legacy or something or today I don't care about 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:41.800 you know what you what you want to set for yourself. 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:44.560 What I want to do is to help, is to 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:50.200 give to the place where I am from. And you know, 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:52.320 so he put me off a little bit, but it 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:55.440 would still go on, just having the time until but 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:58.359 I would just rather just because they've got to grant 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:02.200 me permission to put piano and library because the plan 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:08.600 the libraries is a public library, you see. So these 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:12.560 things are now hard when you're not on the same 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:19.159 side with with the powers of of of the of 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:24.760 of of the community. But you know, I'll find a 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:27.440 way and and then let's start. That would be the 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:32.000 starting point, you know, that giving pianos, putting pianos in 0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:36.800 in schools and in in libraries or set it off 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:40.560 and eventually you know, of course I wanted to tackle 0:22:40.800 --> 0:22:45.919 things like not tackle, but bringing to the light things, 0:22:47.000 --> 0:22:53.040 especially the arts, because the arts is poor. It's really poor. 0:22:54.000 --> 0:22:58.560 It's very poor compared to French arts and culture. Personally, 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:04.600 I think it's poor. There's no appreciation for contemporary art. 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:09.639 There's no appreciation for young people expressing themselves in a 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:14.240 different way. People get laughed at, you know, the people 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:17.199 get laughed at for doing things differently, expressing themselves differently 0:23:17.760 --> 0:23:23.520 in England, and it's terrible and I don't personally investment 0:23:24.560 --> 0:23:27.840 giving put into arts. It's mostly put into arts of 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:33.119 Casto's and you know, and it's it's a waste of 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:36.560 money because that that that painting is fifty million pounds, 0:23:37.000 --> 0:23:41.760 so it's making his money anyway. You know. That's what 0:23:41.880 --> 0:23:46.600 I'm really upset about concerning the arts and in as 0:23:46.720 --> 0:23:49.200 kandom that I don't ignited Kingdom because I haven't haven't 0:23:49.200 --> 0:23:53.720 been everywhere in me you know, it's it's it's put 0:23:53.760 --> 0:23:56.880 me off London a little bit. You know, who cares 0:23:56.880 --> 0:24:02.119 about uh uh a garden bridge, you know, or who cares? 0:24:03.080 --> 0:24:09.119 I mean, there's there's going back into the community. I'm 0:24:09.200 --> 0:24:14.240 yet to see any you know, any kid coming out 0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:21.600 of the block or whatever painting uh a Renaisance painting 0:24:21.760 --> 0:24:24.119 or you know, or even a contemporary but you know, 0:24:24.440 --> 0:24:27.160 as you know, it doesn't as contemporary as a as 0:24:27.400 --> 0:24:34.280 Michelle John Michelle Bascat's paintings. You know, it's terrible, it's 0:24:34.280 --> 0:24:37.280 too terrible. And then and then for me personally, I 0:24:37.320 --> 0:24:41.560 don't really care about education and education and you know, 0:24:42.960 --> 0:24:46.320 books and eventually you grow up and you learn, of 0:24:46.440 --> 0:24:51.440 course still to have a education, but you know, and 0:24:51.640 --> 0:24:54.320 when you learn, you start reading books. You start reading. 0:24:54.359 --> 0:24:57.480 Now what's called books that you like and you start 0:24:57.520 --> 0:24:59.920 discovering books you know, and and so and so forth. 0:25:02.240 --> 0:25:08.320 But there are you know, is an expression that we 0:25:08.480 --> 0:25:12.920 all have, Yeah, and we express it through you know, 0:25:13.800 --> 0:25:19.800 different mediums, and and it's yeah, sorry, it sounds like 0:25:19.880 --> 0:25:21.520 I'm complaining. I think. 0:25:23.359 --> 0:25:25.439 I think. I think it's interesting because I've just come 0:25:25.480 --> 0:25:27.080 back from France and I think that. 0:25:29.480 --> 0:25:29.960 You're right. 0:25:30.560 --> 0:25:32.399 You can walk around a small village and there'll be 0:25:33.040 --> 0:25:37.440 an encouragement around putting on small art exhibitions or just 0:25:37.520 --> 0:25:40.920 the infrastructure of the ways of sort of doing those things. 0:25:41.520 --> 0:25:45.040 And it's not necessarily about education in the UK because 0:25:46.320 --> 0:25:48.320 the school curriculum when it came to music when I 0:25:48.400 --> 0:25:50.760 remember it wasn't the kind of thing that would encourage 0:25:50.800 --> 0:25:54.720 somebody to go into music. But perhaps it's just what 0:25:54.920 --> 0:25:56.800 I think what you're talking about, or my kind of 0:25:57.400 --> 0:25:59.920 understanding what you're talking about, is the ability to build 0:26:01.560 --> 0:26:07.240 for people to explore that kind of kind of creative 0:26:07.320 --> 0:26:09.840 inquisitiveness at an early age, to be able to if 0:26:09.880 --> 0:26:12.240 that piano is in the library, in that public space, 0:26:12.920 --> 0:26:15.200 in that classroom, in that corridor, or whatever it is, 0:26:15.320 --> 0:26:17.720 to just try and see if that's something. 0:26:18.320 --> 0:26:24.399 Because I I had to have the privilege and I 0:26:25.200 --> 0:26:27.399 like you to have the privilege that I you know, 0:26:27.560 --> 0:26:31.840 I had a piano in my house. 0:26:32.000 --> 0:26:33.960 You know, this is this is. 0:26:37.160 --> 0:26:40.600 A lot of kids don't don't don't have that. They 0:26:40.680 --> 0:26:46.960 don't the music and listen to I don't know. You know, 0:26:47.080 --> 0:26:50.040 if you if you don't play piano, piano or an instrument, 0:26:50.160 --> 0:26:53.960 you don't listen to how the instrument is played, so 0:26:54.040 --> 0:26:57.160 you never you never look for you know, you never 0:26:57.280 --> 0:27:01.119 search for. You know, it's a bit you know, couteeling. 0:27:01.119 --> 0:27:02.720 You can never fall in love and never be a woman. 0:27:02.800 --> 0:27:04.320