While youth wants to conquer the world and shout about it, maturity at its best is quiet, wise, modest and giving. Just occasionally something new comes out of the two and acid jazz, a fusion of jazz and funk is a case in point. Also known to music critics as music for intellectuals it can be more, for almost forty years turns out to be a remedy for many people. That’s what happened to the band Incognito created by our new columnist, vocalist and guitarist Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick.
It's something that you dream of as a child. People become what they are and succeed often because they have a strong imagination and they see something in their childhood that impresses them much. Same with those who get into music, they once hear something and fall in love with it. It can be some pop show and they see it and then they stand in front of the mirror with their hair brush instead of the microphone and they sing. It was pretty the same thing with me when I heard music on the beaches of Mauritius, then Beatles and Rolling Stones, James Brown and others. I emulated it and my instrument was just an oil drum I stringed by a fishing wire and took bamboo sticks. I wanted to become a drummer. Or the bass player in the Beatles or James Brown's band. Imagination inspires creation.
When you grow up you realize that there are darker chapters in life. They have different names like violence, abuse, racism because many people around you choose subjects, topics and decisions that divide us. It happens everywhere even in sports. I put a statement at one point that I support a football team. You support your own team may be because you were born in that place, your uncle was into this game. It’s quite romantic. But people start to fight with you as if you can be responsible for their hate to enemy fans and their favourite team’s failure. People make decisions according to their choices in sports, religion, politics. But should they fight? It’s a question of choice and I choose the bright side.
Every day of my life I play guitar and sing songs. Amidst my darkest days, I could always count on music to give me a sense of belonging, purpose and balance I never experienced anywhere else. Music is a journey and I’m much into both. Music is big education. If you are leading in the music world you can become a bigger “educator”. I want my musicians to become bigger educators. They are already educated because they play music feeding someone else’s soul. If you can be happy seeing a smile on somebody else’s face that gives you power. That’s medicine. That is healing.
That love brought me out of the darkness, into the light with my band Incognito. When you embrace people, when you have children, everything changes — you learn responsibility, thing that doesn’t exist when you are a teen. Since I am a band leader for quite a long time, I know it very well because the band members are something between family and friends and music is the strongest bond that glues us together. The secret of our long life coexistence is acceptance. We all change and we should accept other people’s changes.
You should embrace changes not to become hard hearted and help people. When you find a new great singer and they are singing for you the band is helping him or her to sound better and this is the reason the song and singer personally become well known. My light shines brighter because of them and I am a lucky person to have met them: Macy Grey, Sade — we worked with more than thousand singers during our band’s existence. Incognito is my flagship and there are other small ships — I’m producing projects, there are four of them in Indonesia at the moment. So now I’ve learnt how to add twenty-four more hours to my day.
My mission is to give people hope and to do it without any emotional or any other profit. To help others without waiting for gratification. To be able to do this and still be even more happy because of the fact that no one noticed it. To be able to make a change in somebody’s life without waiting for a thank you. To be selfless about it. Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela can be set as the examples. Many musicians are no longer able to even think right being messed up with drugs or finances. Just help them not passing by — that’s what I try to do. To put that sparkle back into their eyes. We cannot wait and music showed me the way. The passion I give to my music feeds me back in return and shows that this is my weapon to fight for a better world. You put a thought into your song, a word into one sentence and someone says: “Oh, my God, you talk about me”. And it is not about my own glory but about my eyes are not closed and my heart too. Every time I see someone who needs to be spoken to I do it because I know they were sent to me and this is my job today. I compare myself to an arrow and I wake up every morning and remind myself of it. I was shot into this world for some purpose.
When small, we are not prepared to be busy, to grow up, travel to other countries and meet other people. We think that we are going to earn money and then lay down under the sun for the rest of our life. OK I can do it for some time but then I have to go because there is a village that needs my help and I fly like a shining arrow because my eyes are open and I can see it. And that’s my mission. I always dreamed of making something memorable, planned and alive. Some people dream of constructing big buildings. But I want to make something bright that will be embodied and change someone’s life. An orphanage in northern part of Asia. Old people’s house in north London. A refuge for abused women in southern India. Whatever if it is created to help people. You become a piece of the chain when you help people who also have their mission.
There are many leaders over the world who resemble of emperor and his new clothes being actually naked. We laugh at them but are also scared of them. Countries become broken. Only positive people with good hearts can do something to not let this world be broken. If you look around with open eyes and see small things, fix them, and be a part of a chain. Humble enough to understand that you are a link not the whole chain. If you can’t fix something that is far away go to the nearest old people’s home and help. And see a smile on their face because they won’t be there for a long time. We do small things but we do a great love.
I believe that God lives in my heart not in the heaven. And I speak to Him asking questions every day of my life. And the thing is that sometimes He says “I don’t know. You figure it out”. Too many people have the idea of God who can fix everything. And the truth is that sometimes we should find the answers ourselves. And sometimes He speaks to me through my wife or my child or some other person and the important thing is to listen and remember that the love is the answer to many questions.
