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"C.I.D." Musician, Manchester, England www.stalkercid.com "Light House" Stalker [mp3] Page 1 | 2 | 3 Lee: Please introduce yourself to the readers; where are you currently based? Sam Qureshi: I am Saleem Qureshi affectionaly known in the UK, as Sam. Im based in both Birmingham/Manchester in England. L: As a self-taught musician, in the beginning, what contributed or inspired your thoughts in what you wanted to create? S: I heard a Ben Webster album entitled "Soulville" and decided I wanted to play jazz music. L: What instruments were you most interested in learning or working with? S: Alto saxaphone. L: Looking back to your childhood, what sounds would you say are attached closest to your memory? S: Indian tabla/drum- Sitar. L: Tell us about when you first started busking and how it benefited your craft as a musician. S: I started busking around 1991. It's the toughest form of practice for a developing musician. I would say 30 minutes busking is worth 4 hours practice period. Really! When you break tunes on the street you never forget them... how many times I heard musicians telling me they practiced a new set of tunes for months and went blank at the gigs. This will never happen when you play them busking. I guess that your adrenalin is running when busking... its like gig simulation. You can develop improvisation technique greatly also. L: In an article provided online through BBC, I read that you are founder member of a "cult jazz combo" called The Cavemen. Could you tell us more about this group and its other member/s? S: This is very sentimental to me as its my first band. The Cavemen were formed by myself and guitarist Lee Copplestone in Birmingham, 1982. Both of us had the same tastes in jazz music inspired from Blue Note records 1958-63 ie. Coltrane, Wes Montgomery. We hit it off musically speaking and found it easy to write our own music that paralled with the era we loved. Initially we put a set of 15 tracks together and started gigging with various combos. We soon became the leaders of the Birmingham jazz movement (underground). All our gigs were fully attended and followed by press. The difference with our jazz was it was very accessible to non-jazz fans ie. strong themes/rhythms and The Cavemen were very image conscious. Soon we were playing top London venues Ronnie Scotts, Blue Note Club and we had become very strong on the circuit from 83-89. L: What vision did you have for the group and what ended up manifesting from that vision or/ what didn't? S: Jazz music in the UK did not have a very open image at this time. It was only meant to be music for musicians and very difficult for the uninitiated to listen to. The idea of The Cavemen was to DESTROY this myth. I wanted to make it accessible for the general public and set a course of live playing that was outside the existing jazz boundaries. It made the purists foam at the mouth but we introduced more people to jazz music than the "regular system" ever will. To me this was mission accomplished and is the reason The Cavemen are so fondly remembered 17 years later!! As far as recording a complete album for record companies this didn't manifest. Although we were pursued by labels. I won't go into musical politics but this was the decisive factor in preventing a release that was almost being demanded by the public. The big secret is we reformed in 1995 to record an album How To Steal The World for a label in Birmingham. This is awaiting release and in great demand by labels worldwide. When this happens my vision of The Cavemen will be fulfilled. L: Describe your experience as "The Jazz Exorcist" in regards to how it helped you expand creatively in the music you were making/performing. S: "The Jazz Excorcist" was an amazing experience in jazz performance and creative writing incorporating break-beats and unique samples ie. chanting monks, ghostly effects and jazz saxophone improvisation via. wah wah pedals... it stimulated the generation. I used to play at the massive raves in the UK playing alongside big name DJs of the era 1991- 1993. These places used to go ALL NIGHT with 10,000 in attendance... usually underground warehouses were the vehicles used. It was a vast sub culture and "The Jazz Excorcist" was very unique. I made a big name for myself in a very short space of time. Improvising alongside what DJs spun without rehearsal, spontaneously was a great challenge to my musical skills and developed my intuition abilities to great effect. Also, it turned people on to live instruments and musicians. L: During the time, how would you describe the sounds that you were hearing from jazz musicians in comparison with what was coming out during your time with The Cavemen. S: I think the music of The Cavemen was a very authentic interpretation of a classic Blue Note era. Generaly, there was a leaning toward fusion by jazz musicians worldwide during The Cave years such as Weather Report or the smooth jazz of Kenny G. I think our strength was never to compromise this sound of ours. It was very original and distinctive and friendly. Other jazz movements were quite intimidating, almost as they were competing to be fastest gun... this was very frustating for a listening public. Solos lasted 20 minutes at a time, it was hard to define a theme or rhythm, even fellow musicians attending these types of concerts would leave. The Cavemen, although rooted in pure jazz sounds had people dancing and singing along themes. I think its fair to say other jazz musicians who played with my band used to really enjoy the experience. L: What got you involved with making scores for documentaries? In terms of what some consider "mood music", how did the process of creating a score compare/contrast to what comes out of the music that is based on your own story? S: I was contacted by an indepedant film company based in London. The owner had worked previously with The Cavemen and was aware of my musical ability. He was making an hour documentary about child labour in Pakistan and wanted theme+incidental music to compliment his program which was to be shown in Europe. It is a new skill for me to learn, "lock in" to subject matter and develop musical passages. I think subtlety is the keynote... the best incidental music is when the listener doesn't know its even there! To move the emotions in a most anonymous manner. It was a challenge and I really enjoyed the work. The film even won awards worldwide... I was very proud of my part. I think working on my own story is a more constructive process and very esoteric in comparison... as it is something I cant see but only feel. I create all the emotions from my own being and translate into a musical language for others to understand. Documentary work is enjoyable but nowhere near as creative. It only compliments another creator.
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