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" As I got more involved in music, one of the things that made me excited, from the time I was a child, was that clear link between our ancestors and the sounds we hear today. "

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" I've only been on MTV once as one of their 'Closet Classics,' with some bootleg footage of a 1970 tour I did in Holland. They didn't know what to make of my music, but they finally invented a name for it - world beat music. "

Taj Mahal

Know

World

Beat

" I'm perceived as someone who goes out and searches for new music, but it was all present in my household. "

" If what you're talking about is seeing someone perform, then I'll have to say that in the rhythm-and-blues side of things, seein' Otis Redding live was it, you know? "

" My parents grew up during the Harlem renaissance. "

Taj Mahal

Parents

Grew

" No matter what went down, music was always going to be a part of my life. What ultimately happened is that, over a period of time, I just kind of looked around and when like, 'Wow! I'm actually making a living doing this.' "

" My grandparents on my father's side came to this country from the Caribbean with a strong connection to Africa and no shame about it. "

" As a solo performer, it's total involvement. What I do is to break down the wall between audience and performer. "

" American music is a powerful ingredient in international music, and as much as it comes from within, it also comes from without. "

" My perspective is cultural and world-based. It's always been a global perspective. "

" The song of the blues, the song of the music, was something a lot of people missed out on. They thought they had to swagger a certain way or bark at the mic, and you don't have to do that. "

" I haven't worn one for a long time, but I look pretty good in a suit. "

" It's pretty exciting. An honorary doctorate of the arts. It doesn't get any better. "

" I'm always cracking up when I hear what people think I should be doing. "

Taj Mahal

Doing

Think

" What the future of the planet and music and art and all of it is sharing; it's diversity. "

" I'm doing exactly what I always wanted to do, and I still like what I can do musically. "

Taj Mahal

Doing

Musically

" In looking out into the world, it didn't look all that nice out there. And who were the nice people? Certainly Mahatma Gandhi was. "

" I was always looking for evidence of these common musical roots, but I was too young to know that what I was doing was called ethnomusicology. "

" My music is really fun music, with some pan-African and pan-American influences. "

" I see myself as a composer who plays music and likes to play with other people, and not just as a solo artist. "

" All the music that I play today, I actually heard either at home or in my neighborhood when I was growing up in the '40s and '50s. "

Taj Mahal

Growing Up

Home

" I enjoy music wherever it's coming from. "

" My grandmother had many children. She lost most. So when we came along, we were really special. I was the first grandchild that could see her spirit moving to a new generation. "

" I'm old enough to chew my peas and corn without choking. "

" The blues is played everywhere. There's no place I've been where they don't have blues or aren't interested in blues. "

" Music is like the soul of the planet. "

" I would have never gotten to college if it hadn't been for getting up at 4 A.M. and milking them Holsteins. "

" I wanted to explore the connections between different kinds of music. "

" I'm a composer, man. "

Taj Mahal

Man

Composer

" As a youngster, my parents made me aware that all that was from the African Diaspora belonged to me. So I came in with Caribbean music, African music, Latin music, gospel music and blues. "

Taj Mahal

Parents

Caribbean

" I don't need the credits for playing the blues and paying the dues. I've already done it. There are some other things to do here - movies and scores and voice-overs. "