As he worked on his new album, the blues rocker Ben Harper looked on with horror at the killings of young African Americans and knew he had to put their plight into song.
"I have to write about what moves me the deepest or what's knocking the loudest. I wanted to say it loud," said Harper, whose 13th studio album, "Call It What It Is," comes out Friday.
"There was Trayvon Martin, Ezell Ford, Michael Brown," he said, referring to unarmed African Americans who have been shot dead, with Brown's 2014 killing by police in Ferguson, Missouri setting off mass protests.
"By the time it got to Michael Brown, it was my tipping point. My back was against the wall," Harper told AFP on a recent visit to Paris.
Harper on the album's bluesy title track concludes with the line, "Call it what it is -- murder."
Activism is not new for Harper, whose early successes included the 1994 song "Like a King" about Rodney King, the African American motorist whose filmed beating by white Los Angeles police set off riots after the officers were acquitted.
Harper noted that the latest killings took place under Barack Obama, the first US president who is African American, and said that race was inadequately discussed in the United States.
"I do think possibly having a black president, it made it a lot better. He's such a symbol around the world, a cultural symbol," he said.
"But I also think that it stirred things up from the bottom. There's been too many situations now to not look at race, culture and politics holistically and question, why now?
"People are so used to pressing the delete button and making things go away quickly that they think that culturally the same thing will happen, but there is no cultural delete button, right?"
Morning coffee and slide guitar
Besides his return to activism, "Call It What It Is" marks Harper's reunion with his old band, the Innocent Criminals, for the first time in eight years.
"You have to know in your life when it's time to make the right moves, you hope. It had been too long. All roads led back to my original band," he said.
Harper has stepped up collaborations in recent years, forming the rock group Relentless7 and the more folksy Fistful of Mercy. He has also recorded with the blues harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite and his own mother Ellen, who runs the Folk Music Center in Claremont, California.
"The way our voices sound together is like I could never sound like that with anyone else 'cause it's my mom.
"Same with the Innocent Criminals, I've been with them in the 90s, 2000s and 2010s. We've known each other so long that there is a sort of genetic encoding," he said.
On the new album, the band revives its blues rock with Harper taking the lead on slide guitar. Harper and the Innocent Criminals go to a more rugged sound on "When Sex Was Dirty" and bring in reggae elements on "Finding Our Way" while also producing powerful ballads "Deeper and Deeper," "All That Has Grown" and "Goodbye to You."
But not all of the album is stern, with the chorus of "Pink Balloon" inspired by his daughters.
The reunited band plans an extensive tour for "Call It Like It Is," with dates until the end of the year throughout North America and Europe as well as dates in Australia and New Zealand and Japan's Fuji Rock Festival.
At 46, Harper said he no longer felt obliged to write one song each day as was long his habit. But he said he cannot imagine spending a day without creating music.
He wrote "Call It Like It Is" quickly but said that he is content simply to jot down a few lines before the end of a day.
"When I wake up in the morning, I pick up a slide guitar. That's the first thing: coffee and slide guitar," he said.
"I don't force a song a day, I let it come."
AFP RELAXNEWS
Fri Apr 08 2016
![Ben Harper, back with band, takes on police killings Ben Harper, back with band, takes on police killings](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/http://img.astroawani.com/2016-04/71460085342_BenHarper.jpg)
Harper on the album's bluesy title track concludes with the line, "Call it what it is -- murder."
![Kim Pan-gon akan ke Ulsan Hyundai? Kim Pan-gon akan ke Ulsan Hyundai?](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/51721117483_KimPangon.jpg)
Kim Pan-gon akan ke Ulsan Hyundai?
Bekas pengendali skuad negara itu dilaporkan sedang menjadi calon utama untuk mengisi jawatan pengurus kelab gergasi Korea Selatan, Ulsan Hyundai.
![Lebih 2,300 hektar kawasan lapang di ibu negara diperuntukkan kawasan hijau Lebih 2,300 hektar kawasan lapang di ibu negara diperuntukkan kawasan hijau](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2016-12/41482504881_TamanTasikTitiwang.jpg)
Lebih 2,300 hektar kawasan lapang di ibu negara diperuntukkan kawasan hijau
Daripada keluasan itu, sebanyak 977.55 hektar tanah telah diwartakan, manakala 1,416.24 hektar tanah lapang yang berpotensi akan dan sedang dalam proses diwartakan.
Guna jawatan untuk projek pembekalan, suami isteri ditahan
Sepasang suami isteri direman enam hari dalam siasatan penyalahgunaan jawatan untuk mendapatkan projek pembekalan bernilai lebih RM200,000.
Perintah reman dikeluarkan Majistret Noor Mazrinie Mahmood bermula hari ini hingga Ahad.
Perintah reman dikeluarkan Majistret Noor Mazrinie Mahmood bermula hari ini hingga Ahad.
DBKL ubah lalu lintas Jalan Sultan Ismail bermula 22 Julai
Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) akan melaksanakan perubahan lalu lintas di Jalan Sultan Ismail berkuat kuasa 22 Julai ini.
![ADUN Rembia sertai Pas, kenapa tak umum tahun lepas? - MP Kampar ADUN Rembia sertai Pas, kenapa tak umum tahun lepas? - MP Kampar](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/61721116604_ChongZheminDewan.jpg)
ADUN Rembia sertai Pas, kenapa tak umum tahun lepas? - MP Kampar
Tindakan tersebut seolah-olah satu penghinaan paling besar kepada Parlimen yang telah meluluskan pindaan Perlembagaan Persekutuan berkait Akta Antilompat Parti.
[TERKINI] Perbelanjaan pengguna Malaysia dijangka kembali teguh
Perbelanjaan pengguna Malaysia dijangka teguh sepanjang tahun ini, demikian menurut BMI, iaitu syarikat Fitch Solitions.
![Kes bunuh Nur Farah Kartini: Suspek berkhidmat 5 tahun dalam PDRM Kes bunuh Nur Farah Kartini: Suspek berkhidmat 5 tahun dalam PDRM](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/81721102947_suspekbunuhNurFar.jpg)
Kes bunuh Nur Farah Kartini: Suspek berkhidmat 5 tahun dalam PDRM
Anggota berusia 26 tahun terbabit bertugas di Balai Polis Slim River di bawah Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah (IPD) Muallim dengan pangkat lans koperal.
![Perunding pelaburan didakwa terlibat pengubahan wang haram hampir RM1 juta Perunding pelaburan didakwa terlibat pengubahan wang haram hampir RM1 juta](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/51721117052_SaifulNizamSaharud.jpg)
Perunding pelaburan didakwa terlibat pengubahan wang haram hampir RM1 juta
Seorang perunding pelaburan mengaku tidak bersalah atas empat pertuduhan pengubahan wang haram berjumlah hampir RM1 juta.
Purata suhu meningkat 0.24 darjah celcius per dekad
Berdasarkan rekod dari tahun 1969 hingga 2019, purata suhu bulanan di Semenanjung Malaysia pada bulan Mei 2024 adalah 28.8 darjah celcius manakala purata suhu bulanan pada bulan Mei 1974 iaitu 50 tahun yang lalu adalah 26.6 darjah celcius.
ADUN dari kerajaan perpaduan sertai Pas
Menurut Takiyuddin, keahlian Muhamad Jailani yang juga wakil rakyat UMNO diterima pada 10 Jun tahun lalu, namun diumumkan secara rasmi hari ini.