rticle

“That's Our Boy”

By Jeremy Stewart

Raghu Lokanathan is a Prince
George singer/ songwriter. We
became acquainted at the Moving
Pictures Film Festival. Raghu was
performing to a chatty audience
while I was just.taking it all in. It
was there I bought his CD,
“Everywhere I've Ever Been,” and
when I got around to listening to
it, | was pleasantly surprised.
There had been sound problems at
the Festival; but on dise, Raghu’s
talents were more obvious. It’s a
pleasure to stumble on a song-
writer of his calibre.

Raghu and [ saw each other
around town after that at places
like Café Voltaire. Raghu often
had his guitar with him, and I was

happily regaled with many selec-
tions from his catalogue. It struck
me that Raghu’s newer work was
head and shoulders above his
already estimable older songs.
When I started attending a song-
writing group he was also a mem-
ber of (which is still running,
meeting at 7 pm on Thursday
nights in Café Voltaire) this was
even clearer. Everyone in the
group was taking notes.

In May, Raghu performed an
Artspace concert that cemented
his status as a local phenomenon.
The show’s success spurred on
Raghu’s desire to get an album of
his current together.
Knowing that I was a recording
engineer with some experience

songs

and aceess to a modest portable
studio, Raghu asked me to help
him capture his vision of a
stripped-down document of his
work that would stand up with-
out embellishment. This paral-
leling my own feelings about
recording, | was. thrilled to
accept. It was quickly negotiat-
ed that I would be paid in
breakfasts at Ricky’s Pancake
House.

We began, with the help our
mutual friend Cliff Ashton, to
search for a room that would

| sang along with
every word, hav-
ing learned them
by osmosis.
“That's our boy,” |
caught myself

thinking, with a
feeling of pride for
Prince George in
my chest.

offer us the conditions we need-
ed, including natural ‘reverb.’
We didn’t want any artificial
effects, so we had to get the
sounds right on the way into
the recorder.
also decided to record Raghu
‘live off the floor,’ a method in
which you use only sounds
recorded live, adding no ‘studio
magic.” This was much like the
techniques used by the depres-
sion-era artists that influenced
Raghu. It wasn’t ‘retro,’
though, because we would use
today’s technology. It was a
great plan, but we needed a big,
‘bright’-sounding room where
we could make the only sounds
heard for hours on end. Cliff
connected us with St. Michaels’
Church, who kindly offered. us
the use of their sanctuary for
the project, as did the
Evangelical Free = Church.
Unfortunately, at St. Michael’s,
beautiful acousties were marred
by the sound of traffic going by
on Victoria Street; the
Evangelical Free Church, on the
other hand, was too acoustical-
ly ‘dead’ for our purposes, lack-
ing sufficient reverb.

Raghu then came up with the
idea that we should use his
brother’s dining room, which
had hardwood floors. He had a
big country house with a couple
of dogs that loved to go for long
walks along dirt roads. Perfect!
We drank a great deal of coffee
and got into it. [It wasn’t all
work, though, by any means.
On one of our walks, we found
the remains of a train trestle in

To this end, we

the woods, all broken concrete
and rusting rebar. We discov-
ered that the different lengths of
rebar sounded different notes
when struck with rocks. Our
improvised cacophony, which
Raghu, dubbed ‘trestle brains,’
would’ve been a smash on
CBC's Brave New Waves.

The album moved slowly.
After a month, we had a half-
dozen takes of twenty different
songs, but nothing was quite
right, either because of micro-
phone placement problems,
performance errors, or back-
ground noises like ringing
phones or barking dogs. Back
in May, Cliff had said, “Record
Raghu now. He’s on fire.” He
was right. It was the middle of
June, and both Raghu and |
were gearing up for our sets at
the Smithers Midsummer
Music Festival. Raghu was
unable to check out my set,
which went well, because it was
scheduled at the same time as
his accordionist gig with
Fellini's Hat Band.
Raghu’s excellent main stage
solo set, though, and I sang
along with every word, having

learned

[ saw

them by — osmosis
“That's our boy,” [ caught
myself thinking, with a feeling
of pride for Prince George in
my chest.

With that interruption out of
the way, the time was ripe to
work on the album... but it was-
n’t meant to be. Seon, Raghu
and | rushed off to the Edge of
the World Festival on Haida
Gwaii (also known as Graham
Island, the major north island of
the Queen Charlotte Islands
archipelago). It was a glorious
journey. On our ferry trip from
Prince Rupert out to the island,
we saw deer at the ferry dock
and dolphins frolicking in the
ocean. Wow! Raghu’s playing
knocked the islanders dead. |
myself relaxed with friends,
swam in the ocean, and even
took part in an amazing, twen-
ty-plus-person all-night jam in
the performer’s hospitality tent
with many of the festival acts.
What a blast!

After, we stayed on Haida
Gwaii at Raghu’s sister’s place,
which is an organic farm and
dog refuge. We walked dogs
up and down the beach for
days to eam our keep, but the
hospitality was still almost
embarrassingly generous.
Genuine South Indian cuisine
(which, according to Raghu,
was “just like Amah used to
make”) was devoured in abun-
dance with gusto. On the way
home, Raghu and | spent a day
wandering Prince Rupert,
where we fed pigeons, found
giant yellow slugs, and appreci-

ated the local vandalism
(QUESTION YOUR OWN
AUTHORITY, advised one
clever artist). We also, took in
the view of the harbour from
Totem Park. Prince Rupert is
beautifully decaying jewel of
postwar industrialism set in an
evergreen rainforest of breath-
taking splendour.

Back in Prince George, we set
to work. With the distance time
gave us, however, we saw the.
recordings with new eyes. The
sound was dry and muted,
without the sparkling high fre-
quencies that only expensive
microphones can capture, With
a heavy heart, Raghu phoned
me in late August to suggest we
shelve the project.’ 1 sighed
with relief. My equipment just
couldn’t cut it. We both
acknowledged that the experi-
ence had been valuable. There
was nothing to regret. Raghu
offered me-the job of doing the
dise jacket layoutshaving
noticed my meticulousness ‘im
design. | graciously accepted.

Right now, Raghu is record-
ing his new record in a profes-
sional studio. I’m not at liberty
to divulge its title or any of the
songs that will appear on it,
What I can tell you is that this
album represents a turning

With the__dis-
tance time gave
us, however, we
saw the record-
ings with new
eyes. The sound
was dry and
muted, without the
‘sparkling high fre-
quencies that only
expensive micro-
phones can cap-
ture.

point in Raghu’s artistry, as
well as in his career. His for-
tunes will surely rise to the high
level of his craft. It also repre-
sents a turning point for the
Prince George music scene; we
ean sve that there is no mysteri-
ous force that holds us back
from achieving at the level of
our merit. Come see Raghu
play at St. Michaels’ Hall on
November 14th. Moreover,
watch Prince George’s Raghu
Lokanathan rise in the music
world and say to yourseif,
“that’s our boy,” because he
truly is.