An Interview With Tajinere (2/3) By Steve Rudd

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3).

Your debut single, the double A-side Ours Tonight/Welcome is now available. Where can people get hold of this, and what has the response been like to these songs? I figured that the best and quickest way to get my music out there to people was to set up my own record label because I'm too impatient to spend ages trying to get signed. So I set up Heart Of The Nation Records and the single was the first release on that label.

The response has been good, I've been flogging them at gigs and also over the internet so I've sold it in places as far flung as the USA, Sweden and Japan. The release is limited to 100 copies and there's about a dozen left so if you want one, you've got to be quick. You can order the single from the label's website www.heartofthenation.co.uk I'm changing Heart Of The Nation from purely a record label to more of a music production establishment. My head is choca-full of tunes, songs, riffs and ideas and I've realised that I have far more material than I can record on my own on a reasonable timescale so at the moment I'm looking for other artists to collaborate with. Not just MCs but singers, beat-boxers, instrumentalists, producers and songwriters, whoever, please get in touch - it's all about making great music.

You're a songwriter, singer, multi-instrumentalist, producer and engineer for starters. Is it true that you began writing songs around the age of twelve? I wrote my first ever song on a piano when I was twelve, it was called Jailbird and was about feeling trapped and wishing to be free. It wasn't until I learned to play guitar when I was 14 that I got really into writing songs though and since then I've probably written about 150 songs. I switched my focus to making hip-hop instrumentals in about 2003 because I found it easier to be more experimental and to come up with more interesting sounds.

My music still has a real songwriter/indie influence though and I think that's really obvious on tracks like Mea Culpa and How We Do It - even the single Ours Tonight is fundamentally a rock song with me rapping on it.

You spent time in Australia and Guatemala whilst travelling. Do you think that your time away had much of an influence on the type of music that you are currently producing? I have to say it probably didn't influence the type of music I make very much. I was well into reggae when I was living in Central America, but that doesn't mean I'm going to start rapping in Spanish any time soon! My time away has definitely influenced my outlook on life though.

I've realised that in this life, you really do have to chase your dreams because there is nobody who can make them come true for you apart from yourself. While I know its going to take sacrifice and that if you do decide to do anything outside the norm people will slag you off for it, hopefully it'll be worth it in the end. I love making music and now I'm dedicating myself to doing what I love - and doing lots of it.

Continued .... Next Page (3/3)

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