Taj Mahal - Autobiography of a Bluesman - Hardcover

Taj Mahal; Stephen Foehr

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1860742475 ISBN 13: 9781860742477

Publisher: Sanctuary Pub Ltd, 2001

Synopsis

Self-acclaimed custodian of Black culture, Taj Mahal is an inspiration and a legend. Off stage and out of the shadows, Taj now offers, for the first time, an astonishingly honest personal account.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

There are people who play music, and then there are artists who use music as their medium. Blues legend Taj Mahal is such a musician.

In the course of his unique 30-year career, Taj has embraced the blues, folk, reggae, R&B, gospel, rock 'n' roll, zydeco, Caribbean, African, and Hawaiian music, and has worked with and influenced some of the greatest musicians of our time. Mick Jagger, John Lee Hooker, Linda Rondstadt, Bonnie Raitt, and Keb' Mo' are just a few of the stars who tell their own stories of Taj. Others recount tales of touring in an African war zone; of putting together revolutionary bands; and of playing "inside a song" with Taj.

Taj's lifelong quest has been to get closer to his roots music. Realizing as a child that the songs he was hearing bore fragments of ancestral songs, he strove to popularize this authentic music, often in the face of crippling opposition from a blinkered music industry.

Off-stage, the double Grammy award-winner steps out of the shadows and invites the reader into his private life. He tells of personal tragedies previously not revealed. His immediate family talk of their brother, their husband, and their father with frank sincerity. The result is an astonishing but, above all, honest account of the life of a bluesman.

About the Author:

TAJ MAHAL made his first mark on the music scene when he and Ry Cooder co-founded The Rising Sons, which quickly earned Taj a recording contract that resulted in his 1968 self-titled debut. He has since recorded 39 albums of inimitable American originals and earned six Grammy nominations and one Grammy Award (For 1997's Senor Blues). As a world class cmapion of eclecticism, his career features side trips into Chicago blues, Memphis soul, and country blues, and his musical palate is spiced with a myriad of global influences including West African, Caribbean, Cajun, and Latin sounds. He has allied himself with a host of musicians on a an array of diverse musical projects, particularly 1999's critically acclaimed KULANJAN collaboration with West African kora master Toumani Diabate. Taj plays more than 20 instruments including the National Steel and Dobro guitars. He has recorded a handful of film soundtracks and has made multiple big screen appearances in several major motion pictures. Taj Mahal is a complex, prolific artist who has thrived and survived.

Co-author Stephen Foehr is a journalist who has written four books and numerous articles for national and international publications. He writes about interesting people and places that he has discovered around the world.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sanctuary Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1860742475
• ISBN 13: 9781860742477
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288