Musicians are constant presence in subway stations in several European cities. Many are ignored by passing, others just collect enough options and some guarantee that on a good day amount to bill the equivalent to R $ 200 in about three hours.
It is rare, however that passengers see in front of a future star.
A few years ago, the British Benjamin Clementine sang and played guitar in subway stations in Paris, for a few bucks that kept him alive.
He spent countless nights on the streets of the French capital, sleeping on sidewalks, braving the cold and snow. On Feb. 20, Clementine has become one of the most respected today’s singers.
Competing with established names, received the British annual prize Mercury Music best 2015 album by At Least For Now, your debut work.
Tough times
Scenes from the hard times of Benjamin Clementine as homeless can still be seen. Some of his performances in the Paris metro were recorded on video by passengers, with their cell phones and posted at the time on YouTube.
In one, shared on the Internet in December 2012, Clementine is balanced in space between two cars while offering passengers their version of Rehab, Amy Winehouse. At the scene, a man on your left seems more interested in the book to read, but a woman comes over to give him a few coins – and he thanks. Others accompany the chorus and sing “No, no, no.”
In another presentation recorded on video, posted by a passing on YouTube in September 2011, he plays the verses of No Woman, No Cry by Bob Marley. His powerful voice takes over the corridors of the station. “Everything is gonna be alright, everything is gonna be alright”, repeats a still poor and unknown Clementine.
He was right. Everything just working. In October 2013, already back in London, Clementine first appeared on British TV, the music program Jools Holland, BBC.
Piano
If your constant companion on the subway was the acoustic guitar in its professional version of its main instrument is the piano. In it, Clementine presented the BBC his first song released, Cornerstone, responsible for garnering the immediate admiration of Paul McCartney.
Barefoot, one of its brands, Clementine impressed everyone not just for his captivating voice and style of playing, which led to comparisons with Nina Simone.
He showed also have much to say. “I’m lonely, alone in a stone box / They say they love me, but are lying / I’m lonely, alone in my own box / And to this place which now belong / It’s my home, home, home,” he sings the beautiful Cornerstone.
In the following months, Clementine released a second EP and worked in the production of their first album.
It took a year and a half until At Least For Now was launched and despite the positive impact among critics and the nomination for the Mercury Prize, the competition for the greater glory of British music was fierce.
With most exciting competitors or already established, such as indie Wolf Alice band, Florence and the Machine and Aphex Twin, Benjamin Clementine did not think he could come out winner. “I always wanted to be nominated for this award, but I never thought I could win. I always made fun of it!” Said the singer of 26 years.
Greater music award
The Mercury is the highest recognition desired by artists from the UK and Ireland. It is given to the best album of the year, chosen by a jury of 12 people made up of critics, musicians and composers.
Among large already victorious names are the Primal Scream band, winner of the first edition of the award in 1992 , Portishead (1995) and Arctic Monkeys (2006). The singer PJ Harvey won twice, in 2001 and 2011, while Amy Winehouse and Adele were only given twice each.
Being among the 12 nominees, however, it is already considered an honor to be able to Boost the career of any artist. In the case of Clementine, the victory already in his first album, only three years after his street singer in reality, it is an impressive feat. – And earned
The work of Benjamin Clementine offers a set of qualities that the current world music scene goes lacking.
Although not read music, he is a quality musician, author of melodies that captivate and can lead many to tears. Often it seems only declaim on piano notes, played simply and melancholy way. When he decides to drop the voice, Clementine is able to draw the attention of the most inattentive listeners and move the coldest of souls.
His work has even more power because of the lyrics, which deal with their life experience and their emotions. Besides being a musician and singer, Clementine is recognized as a poet and has said it plans to release a book with his verses. “I do not think it’s a singer, I think I’m an expressionist,” he said last year, the newspaper The Guardian.
Anyone who has talked to Clementine noticed his soft-spoken, low and timid tone that contrasts with the strength of his performance in front of the microphone. “As soon as I stop singing, I turn to be shy. I have a soft-spoken because I never really talked to people. I did not learn to do it,” he told the Guardian.
As with many other artists, their work is a direct result of your life, be sleeping on the streets in Paris or growing in the neighborhood of Edmonton, North London.
Clementine was the youngest of five children, and his family is originally from Ghana, West Africa. Problems with family and feel that no one in London would care about his absence led him to change the town for Paris in 2010 at age 21, when his interest in music and literature was already consolidated.
He admits it was a difficult boy who escaped from school classes. Unlike others, however, Clementine not fled toward the streets, but the library, which sank in the works of authors such as TS Eliot and William Blake. This experience was vital to produce strong poetic slant of letters, such as Condolence. “Did you feel that feeling / Tell me, do not feel ashamed / You felt it before / So do not tell me / Do not tell me wrong / I almost forgot, what a fool / Where I come from, you see the rain / Even before the rain starts to rain. “
For the victims of Paris
Benjamin Clementine received the Mercury a ceremony on Friday, November 20, one week after the Islamic State of bombings that killed at least 130 people in Paris. After being announced as the winner and call the stage all other competitors, he dedicated the achievement to the victims of the attacks, in a speech interrupted by the cry that could not hold back.
The video of one of his songs reveals how Paris It stays in your heart. The London band talks about the hope for a positive future for Clementine, which may have occurred earlier than he expected. “London London is calling you / What you waiting for, what you’re looking for? / London London is all within you / Why are you denying the truth?”
The video, however , it was not filmed in London but in Paris. While singing the beautiful verses of London, Benjamin Clementine appears again barefoot, on top of a building in his adopted city. On the horizon, imposing, is the Eiffel Tower in images that serve as a declaration of love to the Parisian landscape.
In times of hatred and conflicts, declarations of love are even more welcome, especially when they ignore borders and close cultures
The appearance of Benjamin Clementine is more than a quality win for the British music scene -.. and world
African family, born in the UK and France in his life story, the British singer symbolizes the diversity that makes up cities like London, Paris or Sao Paulo, the same diversity that is threatened by extremist attacks such as occurred in Paris.
Clementine It shows that the war against fanaticism will not be won only with bombs and police apparatus. It will also feature music and poetry.
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