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" When I was a kid, there was so much talent outside of recorded music. "
Taj Mahal
Talent
Kid
Much
Related Quotes:
" I base myself in African-derived music. Blues is one of the modern forms of African music. "
Taj Mahal
Blues
African
Modern
" 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. "
Taj Mahal
Doing
Know
Roots
" My music is really fun music, with some pan-African and pan-American influences. "
Taj Mahal
Really
Some
Music
" 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? "
Taj Mahal
Live
Seeing
Know
" I'm doing exactly what I always wanted to do, and I still like what I can do musically. "
Taj Mahal
Like
Doing
Musically
" It's pretty exciting. An honorary doctorate of the arts. It doesn't get any better. "
Taj Mahal
Arts
Exciting
Get
" My parents grew up during the Harlem renaissance. "
Taj Mahal
Parents
Up
Grew
" 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. "
Taj Mahal
Blues
You
Past
" I'm perceived as someone who goes out and searches for new music, but it was all present in my household. "
Taj Mahal
New
Music
Someone
" 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. "
Taj Mahal
Moving
Children
She
" As a kid, I always felt connected to Africa; it was something I was very proud of. "
Taj Mahal
Proud
Always
Connected
" Very old music is, like, 11th century in my mind. That's very old. "
Taj Mahal
Old Music
Music
Very
" I would have never gotten to college if it hadn't been for getting up at 4 A.M. and milking them Holsteins. "
Taj Mahal
College
Would
Getting
" 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
Like
Children
Family
" I wanted to explore the connections between different kinds of music. "
Taj Mahal
Explore
Music
Connections
" 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
Me
Child
" The blues is played everywhere. There's no place I've been where they don't have blues or aren't interested in blues. "
Taj Mahal
Blues
Been
Place
" The one thing I've always demanded of the records I've made is that they be danceable. "
Taj Mahal
Thing
Always
One Thing
" I'm old enough to chew my peas and corn without choking. "
Taj Mahal
Corn
Old
Enough
" American music is a powerful ingredient in international music, and as much as it comes from within, it also comes from without. "
Taj Mahal
American
Music
Without
" My perspective is cultural and world-based. It's always been a global perspective. "
Taj Mahal
Always
Perspective
Global
" What the future of the planet and music and art and all of it is sharing; it's diversity. "
Taj Mahal
Future
Music
Sharing
" More and more people are finally realizing that in the heart of America, there's all this incredible music that wasn't widely heard before because it wasn't in the interest of those who feel they have to control the taste of the wider public. "
Taj Mahal
Control
People
America
" 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
Up
Home
" I enjoy music wherever it's coming from. "
Taj Mahal
Coming
Music
Wherever
" 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. "
Taj Mahal
Good
Saying
Music
" As a solo performer, it's total involvement. What I do is to break down the wall between audience and performer. "
Taj Mahal
Solo
Audience
Down
" When I was 5 or 6, I was messing around with the piano, and I listened to everything from Chopin to boogie-woogie. "
Taj Mahal
Around
Everything
Messing
" I've got tons more stuff to do. "
Taj Mahal
More
Tons
Stuff
" 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. "
Taj Mahal
Blues
Playing
Done