GLYNISO’HARA talks to Be Like Water’s front=20 man Leonel Bastos about gender, sex,=20 lyrics, life, love – and that massive new=20 record deal
PRODUCER/songwriter/guitarist/ singer=20 Leonel Bastos arrives at the interview=20 looking like a tall Buddhist pixie, his=20 head shaved, sporting round silver=20 earrings, pyjama-like pants and a sky-blue=20 T-shirt littered with blue flowers.
Bass player Kai Horsthemke is not entirely=20 conventional either. His hair flows down=20 his back to his waist, his brightly=20 coloured tie-dyed shirt and waistcoat are=20 offset by jeans, and a long silver earring=20 dangles in his hair.
Definitely the most colourful men in Nino’s=20 that day – in fact on any day – they were=20 there to talk about Be Like Water, the=20 group that’s just put out a CD on Polygram=20 called Um, probably because that’s what=20 they said when they were asked what the=20 title should be.
The album became a reality after Polygram=20 South Africa’s Gary Finch played a track=20 (More Than Just a Passing Phrase) to a=20 convention of the company’s MDs in The=20 Netherlands. “It got a standing ovation=20 from the German MD,” Leonel says, “and that=20 was it, really.”
The album is being released in Germany,=20 Austria and Switzerland, with Scandinavia,=20 Portugal, France and Spain expressing=20 interest. Also, a track from the album was=20 included in a German compilation album,=20 alongside songs from such acts as Queen,=20 Whigfield and Vanessa Williams, which at=20 last count had sold 180 000.
Consisting of 12 beautifully crafted,=20 largely acoustic, guitar-based songs, Um=20 also features the talents of Zimbabwean=20 guitar whizz Louis Mahlangu, Kai on bass,=20 Reuben Samuels on drums, lots of percussion=20 from John Hassan, Godfrey Ngcina, Romeo=20 Avalino and backing vocals from Little=20 Sister, Ed Jordan, Wendy Oldfield and=20 Kreesan.
They’re hoping to tour South Africa in=20 February, “hopefully with Louis on board,=20 but he’s so good and so in demand that we=20 don’t know if he’ll have the time”.
The album started in Luxembourg quite a few=20 years back, where both Leonel and Kai were=20 working with a certain Jimmy Wagner (“Harry=20 Connick Junior crossed with Crowded=20 House”). While there, they worked about=20 half an album’s worth of material,=20 including the track the German MD loved.
Back in South Africa, Leonel produced and=20 wrote for people like Wendy Oldfield and=20 Yvonne Chaka Chaka before Finch came back=20 from that convention and told him to “go=20 for” his own album. “So I thought `Okay, my=20 lyrics are not straightforward but they’re=20 liked, so here’s a chance to really write=20 the way I want.'”
It has to be said: in a sea of “baby baby”=20 trash, Leonel’s lyrics stand out like Emma=20 Thompson would have had she been in Naked=20 Gun. It’s pure sophistication, manipulating=20 meaningful language to fit in with rhythm=20 and melody in a manner not unlike masters=20 of the craft such as John Hiatt and Sting.
Adds Kai: “Songwriting is a craft, you=20 know, and some people might get lucky with=20 one or two songs and have huge hits, but=20 they’ll never be able to keep it up.=20 Leonel’s consistent, fine tuned … it’s=20 like a good instrumentalist writing=20 consistently tasty licks or solos.”
Titles like Hi Honey I’m Hom(e)osexual,=20 More Than Just a Passing Phrase and Too=20 Much the Sensitive Man hint at it, but=20 really, you have to hear the songs, which=20 deal in such things as slipping sexual=20 identities, anger at a steamy woman’s power=20 to overwhelm a man’s reason, bondage, Snags=20 (Sensitive New Age men), plain old pain and=20 heartache, and yes, the joy of being in=20 love.
Shifting gender roles are a biggie. “Women=20 are naturally more nurturing,” he says,=20 “and when they become like men, they’re=20 losing something. I’m all for equality, but=20 when women start behaving like men, they’re=20 emulating `the pigs’. After all, the=20 planet’s in the state it’s in only because=20 of men behaving badly.
“It’s all about finding the balance. The=20 Snags can overdo it … Gay men behaving=20 like women really fazes me, as do gay women=20 behaving like men – they’re supposed to=20 hate them, so why emulate them?”
Leonel – the name is spelt the Portuguese=20 way because he was born in Mozambique, so=20 to avoid confusion he says we can call him=20 L – started writing lyrics at nine and=20 taught himself to play the guitar. He’s=20 never had a formal lesson in his life, and=20 says he just manages to read chord charts,=20 “but when there’s more than one symbol with=20 the chord, I’m lost”.
With all those international releases, and=20 a possible tour of Portugal in July, do=20 they need to bother with the home market?
“We’d love to make it here, but you have to=20 fight some stupid things. I heard, for=20 instance, that some DJs wouldn’t play our=20 song I Won’t Be Home for Christmas because=20 it was too sad. What about Michael Bolton?=20 `Sad’ is a staple of music. Anyway, it’s=20 not sad.
“I also heard that a local DJ, talking=20 about Paul McCartney’s Ebony and Ivory,=20 said it wasn’t any good because what’s the=20 point of writing about a piano!”
“L”, or “Al”, as it would be phonetically=20 spelt, is somewhat ambivalent about coming=20 out of the producing/songwriting closet and=20 taking front stage, performing and touring=20 again. But he’s got a lot going for him to=20 keep those bad old rock ‘n’ roll demons at=20 bay – he does Tai Chi every day, meditates=20 and is a Buddhist. Although he does recoil=20 from such a bald statement – “it’s often=20 just hip to be a Buddhist, and that’s not=20 the point. The point is to live with=20 respect for everything, for the life in=20 everything that is God.”
This is a cue for a long digression on=20 spiritual beliefs, vegetarianism, anti- vivisectionist protests, Kai’s PhD thesis=20 (he lectures in philosophy at Wits) on the=20 moral status of animals, comparisons with=20 racism and sexism, the notion of speciesism=20 and so on.
“I made a case,” says Kai, “for the moral=20 equality of animals. Just because they’re=20 not the same as us doesn’t mean they should=20 be treated badly. All beings should be=20 treated equally and have things such as a=20 pain-free existence and personal liberty.”
Well, here’s hoping Be Like Water will help=20 significantly reduce the pain of life for=20 both the music makers and the listeners.