Funk-fuelled and bongo-powered, we catch up with the groove master, Nasser Bouzida, to talk about his new album, Indian Summer of Love. Stu Smith reports…
Stu: You’re known for fusing funk, soul, Latin rhythms and heavy percussion. How does Indian Summer of Love shift or expand that musical soundscape?
Nasser: It still has some of those elements, but with the addition of the 60s Indian studio production style and instrumentation of sitar and bansuri, there is an extra sonic dimension to the sound on this record. Along with that, drums are my first instrument, which I started playing at the age of 11, and on this record, the drums are to the forefront and very prominent, so I hope drummers will enjoy it as it’s quite a self-indulgent percussion journey too.
Stu: Would you say this album is a deliberate departure from The Bongolian’s sound?
Nasser: With this record, I was trying to create something new and interesting. I spend a lot of time in the recording studio experimenting, trying to find new ways to play, record and change the way I would start a recording, or write a song. This always creates a different avenue, be it rhythm or sonics; for example, a song might start with just one small bass guitar riff and grow from there, and another song might start with just a small bongo pattern; if you keep changing things, it opens up more potential. As well as that, the world is now much more on show than before, which means there are more opportunities to include visuals. So we shot a video for one of the songs, Master Blaster Tendulkar, who is an Indian cricket legend. To do that, we went to the local cricket ground and had a day’s shooting, batting, bowling and wearing medieval masks!
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Stu: What was the inspiration for Indian Summer of Love?
Nasser: Definitely Ananda Shankar, he has two songs that inspire me to make better music every time I hear them. One is called, Dancing Drums and the other is called, Streets of Calcutta. They are both epic masterpieces that have in them everything I love: dirty, raw production, swirling organ and groovy drum beats.
Stu: There’s an inference of a psychedelic undercurrent suggested by the album’s title. Is that reflected within the palette of this album?
Nasser: Yes, it’s definitely more, later 60s than my other albums and more colourful and visual. Over the last few years, I’ve been experimenting with recording videos and painting, so the whole thing has expanded. I also used a couple of session players for the instruments I don’t play; the sitar is played by an amazing musician called Churrogreen from Venezuela, and a studied classical musician from India, Rajat Prasanna, is on bansuri, which is a totally different palette for The Bongolian.
Stu: The album feels like it could be an emotional and reflective journey; is there a narrative or personal arc running through it?
Nasser: Yes, every album is like that, as they’re a moment or period in time which is captured during the recordings. This one was done during lockdown, which for some people was a total nightmare; for me, it was strange, but a very creative time because I couldn’t see people, but I could still work remotely with session players, so it was a joy to make in strange circumstances.
Stu: What influences led to this new chapter?
Nasser: Ginger Baker and, as I mentioned earlier, Ananda Shankar. I also went down the rabbit hole of looking at every major band’s album of 1967 and listening to where they journeyed, which took me to many different places. Along with that, the art nouveau period had a big influence on the artistic direction of the record through artists like Aubrey Beardsley, Alphonse Mucha, Koloman Moser and Paul Berthon and in my eyes, the lithograph paintings they did have never been beaten.
Stu: What do you hope listeners will feel when they experience Indian Summer of Love?
Nasser: Euphoria, ecstasy, joy, pain and hunger, and I hope it’s the kind of album you can dance to, which has always been an important part of my live shows.
Stu: Looking ahead, do you see Indian Summer of Love as a one-off detour, or the beginning of a new era for The Bongolian?
Nasser: There won’t be another album like this one because I don’t see the point in making two albums exactly the same. But I will definitely keep the sounds, rhythms and timbres from it in future projects. I’ll always keep things moving and learning new ways to write, perform and record whilst keeping one foot firmly in the past.
Stu: On a lighter note, could you please tell us a secret or an unknown fact about any of the songs on Indian Summer of Love that’s not previously been made known to the public?
Nasser: I didn’t know who Master Blaster Tendulkar was until last year!
Stu: Could you also tell us what scooter connections you’ve had over the years?
Nasser: The first scooter I had when I was 16 was a Vespa 100 Sport, then at 17 I swapped a drum kit for a Spanish Jet 200 in original mustard ochre colour, which I resprayed to look like an Li150, as having a Spanish scooter at the time was not the done thing, unlike now, what a fool I was. Since then, I’ve had several scooters, and after shooting the video for Big Boss Man’s song Lambretta Boogaloo I was bitten once again, and now have a beautiful Lambretta Li125 Series 2, which I will keep to the end of my days.
Words: Stu Smith & Nasser Bouzida
Photos: Courtesy of Blow Up Records
