Trouvaille

1 SKULLCAPS

These skullcaps are worn by religious men from different parts of the world. I have collected a variety, for example a Nigerian skullcap worn by Muslim men who have been to Mecca. These men are often referred to as ‘Elijah’. I myself was referred to as ‘Elijah’ while wearing one of these caps in Lagos. Nobody seemed to mind that I was a woman and that I was wearing a tiny pair of shorts. I guess I was lucky! I also have Muslim skullcaps from Malaysia, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which are called ‘Taqiyah’. I also bought two woollen hats from Georgia. They are worn by the Svans, an ethnic subgroup of Georgians, and are common attire amongst bearded Orthodox Christian men there. The Svans have retained some pagan traditions, and the hats trace back to that time. I often wear my Nigerian skullcap underneath the woollen Georgian hat. I like to mix materials and cultures.

2 CARDBOARD MODELS

This is a life-size cardboard model of a MacBook Pro laptop. Paper or cardboard models of luxury products are manufactured for the Chinese community in Malaysia in order to be burned at funerals. I bought this in the town of Seremban on the Malaysian pen­insular. The shop where I purchased it, in the Chinese quarter of the city, made a variety of cardboard models of things like BMWs, flatscreen TVs, games consoles, washing machines, luxury houses, yachts and paper money (known as ‘Hell Bank Notes’). Imagine ancient Egyptian burial chambers full of furniture and food and even leisure and luxury items like games or make-up – only instead of actual goods, for the Chinese Malaysians one only needs to use facsimiles. I was in Malaysia in May 2013, while touring with my band Jahcoozi in China, Korea, Philippines and Vietnam. I took a couple of days off to visit a friend who has build a couple of houses in the rainforest on the Malaysian peninsular. It is an amazing place, especially to make music.

3 RECORDS

When I was in Lagos, Nigeria I bought a load of Juju and Highlife records. Juju is a style of Nigerian popular music derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. The first ‘Jùjú’ recordings date back to the 1920s when Tunde King pioneered the style. The lead and predominant instrument of Juju is the ‘talking drum’. I bought a bunch of records from the 1970s and ’80s in an unbearably hot and very dusty shop on Lagos Island. This record is by King Sunny Adé who was later signed to Island Records. He was supposed to become the Bob Marley of Juju and introduce the sound to Western audiences. I guess that didn’t really happen – I hadn’t heard of Sunny Adé when I bought the record. I just grabbed 10 records and tried to get out of the shop as fast as possible. I was in Nigeria in January 2013 as a curator for a project called Ten Cities which was initiated by the Goethe Institut. I also composed music while I was there. One of the tracks called Ebora features a singer called Aremu. I’ve included it on my debut solo album, released in October last year, Everlast.

4 EKTARA

The Ektara is a Bangladeshi string instrument made from a pumpkin. It’s used a lot in Bengali traditional folk music, called Baul. In October 2013 I was in Bangladesh for a project called Soundlab. I had been invited again by the Goethe Institut, this time to show musicians and producers how I produce electronic music and to work on tracks with them. At the end of the week they performed their tracks and I played a DJ set in Dhaka. One of my ‘students’ gave me this Ektara after we had talked about Baul music and Lalon, a Bengali saint, mystic, songwriter, social reformer and thinker. I recorded the Ektara and used it in a remix I made for the Berlin-based artist Planningtorock last November. I’m also using it in a composition I’m working on at the moment.