(Because it will eventually be removed from thestar.com)

Out of her Shell

In this rare interview, singer-bassist Meshell Ndegeocello has lots to say on the state of a male-dominated world

June 30, 2007
Ashante Infantry
Pop & Jazz Critic

If Meshell Ndegeocello had her druthers, this story would be reduced to one sentence: "I know nothing; I'm just having my own life, trying to learn some things."

She's not so much media shy, explained the New York-based singer/bassist of her initial request to conduct this Q&A via email; she'd just prefer to let the music speak for her.

Besides, "I find that people have a tendency to put words in my mouth," said the reluctant but gracious interviewee in the phone call she eventually agreed to.

"And I'm a very simple person, not that political. I'm trying to live my life and get some clean food and just continue to see the world and be able to make my own personal assessment, so that I can have a good life. Inshallah (God willing)."

Uh-huh, just a simple, openly gay musician who punctuates sentences with Arabic expressions of faith.

Since she debuted in 1993 with the Grammy-nominated Plantation Lullabies on Madonna's Maverick label, Ndegeocello, 38, has earned a reputation for captivating eclectic music with deeply personal hard-hitting lyrics, dealing often with sex and race.

She claimed not to be political, but check out the inspiration behind the title of her forthcoming album, The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams.

"It's kind of like a joke to myself," she said. "I live in a male-dominated society, I've experienced the melding of church and state, I notice that all the premier writing, the whole canon, is based on male ideas, and I live in this over-romantic society where, as a woman, the great dream you're supposed to possess and have is to find this man of your dreams.

"I was just looking at myself and thinking the world, through the pressure of it – kind of like when you take a piece of coal and the pressure turns it into a diamond – I've become the man of my dreams.

"And if you hear a lot of the lyrics (the record is slated for an August release), I was really immersed in Islam, so it's also a questioning of all these ideas that sprout from the minds of men.

"I'm a person who is seeking reason, but I see that clergy and sheiks and rabbis and Buddhist teachers – they're all these men kind of laying their trip on other people.

"Since a lot of the events that have happened – the Iraq war, Sept. 11 – I find myself approaching my spiritual and religious practices differently. I kind of consider myself living in a modern hijab. I've created my own thing, but I can see hypocrisy a lot clearer now.

"I've had to deal with a lot of patriarchal bulls--t and I have a son to raise, so I'm constantly trying to manouever another individual through it, so that he dosen't collect some of the baggage of it as well. It's a constant struggle, but once you see it, it's just so much easier.

"On stage I have a great time. In the studio I'm very free. I'm talking about walking in everyday Brooklyn, or being on tour in France, or just dealing with people's perception of women/Americans – that has been my new journey."

You're probably wondering what of all this has to do with her free show at Harbourfront tonight at 9:30.

Well, since Ndegeocello's music is a reflection of her being, the current show has little to do with her last disc, a jazz record, 2005's The Spirit Music Jamia: Dance of the Infidel.

"It's got more of a rock edge," she said of the band's new sound. "I hate even genres, but lately that's what people say about us. It's groove and bass, kind of drum-oriented music."

And her chameleonic tendency is no big deal, she said.

"To me, it's just that I wrote some songs and they kind of vary in textures and, hopefully, people will be open to hearing things they're not familiar with.

"I really stress to the audience to have an open mind and let your body experience the music. You'll probably have a better time; expectations might cause you suffering."

Especially if they want to hear erstwhile hits like "Dred Loc" and "If That's Your Boyfriend (He Wasn't Last Night)."

"I rarely do any of the older stuff, I'm just a different person, on a different vibration. I want to keep growing and learning different things. I know it disappoints people. I'm not an a--hole, it's just how my brain works.

"I'm lucky to be a musician. I'm not Condoleezza Rice, or I don't have to do some other job that might not uplift my spirit, or do anything for the world. I'm lucky to kind of be neutral. I don't consider it entertainment, but I'm not highbrow ... that's why I didn't like jazz too much. Playing that jazz record in the very male chauvinistic jazz world was also eye-opening. I just want to play and hope people come out and drink, hang out with their friends and have a good time."

Though it's been some time since Ndegeocello has performed in Toronto, she did take advantage of our same-sex laws to get married here two years ago.

"I'm not standing on that soapbox on that particular issue, I just worried about what if (I were dying), I'd be really saddened if the people I loved were not able to be around me. And also the children that I have wouldn't be able to be with the person they were most comfortable with.

"I'm a big fan of Canada and its comedy and its music. It's one of my favourite places to go. I'm trying to figure out (how to move to Canada). Everyone says it's hard to expatriate, but hopefully a way will make itself known and I'll be able to do that."