The Edge P:

E Badu Erykah Badu has a history
Mama’s Gun of outdoing herself, and
Motown/Universal redefining the entire music

industry, especially with rela-
tion to her native R&B.
Maybe it’s because she does-
nt stick only to R&B - Badu
allows the spiritual sides of a
lifetime pursuit of jazz and
hip-hop to shape her music to
a level where she is virtually
uncontested in her genre.
Live!, which Badu released in
‘97, garnered Badu two
Grammys, four Soul Train
Awards, four Soul Train Lady

Trinity Hi-Fi
Fuego
TVT/Universal

Downtempo dance sur-
rounds lush and playful lyrics
in Trinity’s premier release
with Fuego. The results are
staggering.

Lead singer Kay Dee Kay
can generally be credited
with making the success of
rinity Hi-Fi. Her strong, nat-
ural vocals are lush and play-
ful. Retrospective lyrics and
strong arrangements accom-
panying “funky breaks and
head-nodding R&B beats” will
feebe sure to bring Fuego to hit
} status in Canada.

The history behind Kay is

Delerium Delerium hasn't released
Poem any albums in a few years,
Nettwerk three actually, but Poem

proves that they have been
far from docile during the “in-
between” years.

Karma, the last disc which
Delerium released, hit the
world like a brick when the
“massively popular’ single
Silence, which co-Nettwerk
artist Sarah McLachlan sung,
topped charts in the UK,
Belgum, Australia, and
Ireland just to name a few.
The world popularity sent

of Soul Awards, two NAACP
Image Awards, and an
American Music Award in the
first year. The second year
saw her “revisiting the
Grammy podium with long-
time collaborators The
Roots.”

You may have heard the
lead single Bag Lady or seen
her self directed video clip
made to accompany-it. The
combination returned Badu to
a number one position in air-
play among the R&B spin
charts.

almost as diverse as the
sound which they bring into
the world. Born and raised in
Liverpool, Kay began voice
training at the age of three -
her parents being classically
trained musicians and her
grandmother an opera singer.
At the age of 14, “teenage
rebellion” kicked in and Kay
dropped out only to wind up
playing in a kick-ass band
and joining the local Hells
Angels. After a brief stint of
boredom on a commune in
Wales, Kay began to study
History at University. Kay

sale skyrocketing in America
near to 200,000 and in
Canada, the CD is fast
approaching the platinum
level with sales still continu-
ing.
Poem shows a change in
the style which Delerium has
been working with in the past.
The new album is dedicated
to “a broader scope” and
works less with hard techni-
cal sounds and focuses more
on mixing the traditional style
of Delerium with the tradition-
al styles of the world. Poem

(4

The fact that Badu self
directed her video is some-
thing which we rarely see in
artists. This is probably a fea-
ture which has helped to pro-
pel her success though.
Erykah isn’t only involved in
singing and directing, but has
had a long time interest and
focus on writing, producing,
poetry, dance, drama, and
visual art. This combination
has helped move Badu to a
deeply spiritual, sensitive and
sensual position, which
undoubtedly influences the

then began to teach voice
lessons at the Sir Paul
McCartney School Of Music.
It was here that someone
asked Kay if she would write
and sing a lyric to accompany
their dance tune. She basi-
cally said whatever, did it. A
week later the tune was being
played on dance _ floors
across Britain and reached
#30 on the UK charts.

While working at Airdog
records as the act manager, a
co-worker grew interested in
her singing and invited her to
sing. They were “bowled

features the influences of
worldbeat, folk, pop, dance,
classical, electronic, and
rock. The result is “an eclec-
tic but smooth collection of
songs.”

With Aria a dance friendly
beat burner and Gregorian
chanting adding a mystical
undertone to the tracks of
Terra Firma and Temptation,
it isn’t hard to see the evolu-
tion which Delerium has gone
though.

Also appearing on Poem
are Leigh Nash of Sixpence

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music which she brings to the
world.

Why the drive for revolu-
tionary music? Mama’s Gun
represents “growth, evolution,
and learning...this is my gift,
my baby, my art,” says Badu,
“what a person is, he brings
with him when he comes to
music...while writing and cre-

_ating .this.. music, +-continued

to build myself as a person,
as a woman and as an
African-American.”

-Kevin Milos

over’ and compared her style
to such master influences as
Joni Mitchell and Rickie Lee
Jones. Kay attributes her
influence to Ella Fitzgerald
and Aretha Franklin, “big
women with big beautiful
voices.”

On Fuego, Kay wrote all of
her music, but with her exten-
sive formal practice, “no
genre has escaped her.’
Fuego is filled with electronic,
classic, and live to produce a
stunningly riveting disc.

-Kevin Milos

None the Richer, Kirsty
Hawkshaw (you~ might
remember her as appearing
with BT) and Joanna
Stevens. New Nettwerk artist
Jenifer McLaren is also a
guest before Matthew Sweet
adds his talent to a mystical
but beat happy Daylight.

Delerium has a history of
taking the world by storm, so
brace yourself for a third hur-
ricane.

-Kevin Milos