You may have caught our concert preview last week for The Very Best (Radioclit’s Johan Karlberg and Malawian songsmith Esau Mwamwaya), who visit Madison this Thursday at the Majestic Theatre with special guests Seye, Tani Diakite & The Afrofunkstars, and Asumaya. I spoke with Johan Karlberg in advance of The Very Best’s very first visit to Madison.
Congratulations on the new album. I’ve listened to it and though it reminds me of Warm Heart of Africa, I also get a different vibe from it. How was the creative process different when making MTMTMK?
“It was very different in a lot of ways and quite similar in a lot of ways. I think when we did the first album we were just making songs and having fun then suddenly realized we were putting together an album. When we started touring with it we wanted to work with an active tempo so we could have a very high-energy live show. One of the initial things was to make something with a lot of energy, something that would work perfect at a festival. We wanted to explore a bigger side of things, something where background production was big so Esau’s voice isn’t just carrying the whole load. So with MTMTMK we worked to make sure the melodies and the production music and Esau’s vocals all complemented each other and kind of walked hand-in-hand rather than everything riding on Esau.”
Along those same lines, what do you believe makes a show performed by The Very Best unique? What kind of atmosphere within the audience do you and Esau hope to create when performing?
“What I enjoy the most about The Very Best’s show is the feeling people take away, this positivity. Esau’s got this smile and that’s what I love about him — besides the fact that he is an amazing singer. I love watching a crowd, this massive group of people together in front of you, just giving off so much energy. Apart from that, I guess also what comes out of the African vibe or whatever you want to call it because our music is a real in-between of our world and all these different worlds. I think it’s a different musical experience in general for all these people who enjoy music. With Esau, it’s a positive punch in the face I hope. We also have a lot of other different people and sounds on stage with us, a lot of drummers and other percussion. We try to reincorporate a bit of the organic vibe because the new record is a bit more electronic so we do try to get the worlds to meet a little bit more in the live show.”
The Very Best’s discography features a diverse and extensive set of guest artists. What do you like best about working with other talent when recording an album?
“For me, first of all, it’s not really a conscious decision to go out and, like, work with a lot of people and I know on the D-Record [2006’s debut mixtape Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit are the Very Best] there was a lot of people involved behind-the-scenes that were credited obviously but are not the featured artist. I just like working with people in general, full-stop, both me and Esau do. Everybody brings something to the table that is different from someone else.
“You know, it is always exciting hearing and making something yourself and getting excited about it, but when you’re working with someone else and they play something or put something on top of what you have already done and they make it so much better, you just have this constant buzz that’s just an amazing thing. So I really like it; I just like working with people in general as long as you get along well and you’ve got at least semi-similar views of what you’re trying to do.”
What have you found is the best way to introduce people to genres such as yours, including Afro-Western, jazz fusion, and world music in general?
“I don’t know, I don’t really see it like that, as if I’m introducing anybody to something. I think people get hung up that Esau is Malawi and speaks in a different language and that there is something African about our project, when at the end of the day we just did just a music we liked and feels right for us. If that influences somebody one way or another to buy something within the genre that’s amazing, but I don’t actively try to get people into a certain kind of music I guess. Of course, it’s a supercool byproduct if it works but I find a lot of times it doesn’t really work. Maybe Vampire Weekend [whose lead vocalist Ezra Koenig was a featured artist on Warm Heart of Africa] fans went out and bought African records, maybe the hardcore fans, but I don’t think there is a lot of them who did.”
Malawi music, language, and culture is such a huge contributor to the sounds and styles of The Very Best, directly or indirectly, but how does your roots in both Sweden and the U.K. impact it?
“It’s a good question. It probably doesn’t feature as prominently as Esau’s, whose roots are pretty unavoidable, but I’ve always felt that Swedish folk music, like the way they sing — very complex harmonies, very beautiful melodies — are very similar to a lot of African-style singing. Even though it’s not something we’ve explored, and we keep talking about that we will, I think subconsciously for me I bring that through to some extent. But you know at the same time I don’t think you could say that my side of the band represents a country or a style of music because of where I’m from or where I live, really. It’s a lot bigger than that. I think anything and everything can influence it, whether it’s a hyena by the studio in Malawi or me hearing some Swedish Christmas songs when I go home one year or whatever it may be.”
Is there anything you would like to be known to both your fans and new listeners alike?
“We are just super, super excited to go on tour again, especially with this album since this record was made to play live. We [went] to Japan [last month] for the first time before our American tour, so it’s also the first time playing with a new band so for us there’s so much new stuff going on that we’re so excited about so I hope other people are excited as well. And we’ve never been to Madison before either, so it’s another new place to play — so it’ll be amazing.”