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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

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

" I wanted to keep pushing the musical ideas I had about jazz, music from Africa and the Caribbean. "

" As a kid, I always felt connected to Africa; it was something I was very proud of. "

" It's just like heirloom tomatoes; this is heirloom music. We used to have all kinds of diversity in our poultry, in our vegetables, in our fruits, and slowly but surely the monoculture beast comes in. I'm saying that's not a good idea. And if it means that I gotta do it on my own, then I do it on my own. "

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

" 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. "

" I'm doing exactly what I should be doing, every day on the road. "

" My mother was American, and my father was from the Caribbean, and there was a big open door into the world of humanity and music. "

" The one thing I've always demanded of the records I've made is that they be danceable. "

" I came up not understanding that a lot of people didn't start to hear music until they went to college or were turned on by an older brother or sister. "

" 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've got tons more stuff to do. "

Taj Mahal

Tons

Stuff

" I base myself in African-derived music. Blues is one of the modern forms of African music. "

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

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

Taj Mahal

Doing

Think

" What you have to understand is that blues... it's in a line from the oldest forms of African music. If you're playing it like it's an echo of the past, it would be a lot less exciting, but this music lives today. "

" I didn't want to fall into the trap of complacency. "

" Ziggy Marley is the third generation of Marleys I know. I knew his grandmother and his dad - I did a children's album with his grandmother. They're like family. "

Taj Mahal

Children

Family

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

" It's very interesting, the dynamics of popularity. When you do something all the time, you don't worry about whether it's trendy or not. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" Particularly with the blues, it's not just about bad times. It's about the healing spirit. "

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

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

" 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.' "

" When I was a kid, there was so much talent outside of recorded music. "

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

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

" 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. "

Taj Mahal

Time

Child