A black native of London with an afro hairstyle, Benjamin Clementine until recently sang for food on the streets of Paris, and today he is releasing his second studio album, having become a truly musical phenomenon and cult figure in just two years: his voice has been compared to the voices of Nina Simone and Leonard Cohen, fashion house Burberry suits collaborations, and Gorillaz and Charles Aznavour called to sing along. In anticipation of the first solo Russian concert such an original artist, we have collected the main facts about the bright fate of Clementine and chose his best, in our opinion, songs.
Benjamin is the son of deeply believing Catholics from Ghana. Early childhood he spent time in the industrial suburbs of London with his fanatically religious grandmother, after which he moved in with his parents. At school, he often became the object of ridicule, and at home he was brought up in a strict religious manner, in connection with which he grew up disobedient and often skipped classes, preferring solitary visits to libraries. His interest in music arose at the age of 11 thanks to his older brother Joseph: he bought a piano and let Benjamin play after his lessons. However, parents did not support creative endeavors younger son and in every possible way discouraged him from playing on any musical instruments, dreaming of growing a lawyer out of him.
Clementine has been homeless for a really long time. At the age of 16, he flunked most of his school exams and decided to leave the annoying educational institution forever, which led to the inevitable quarrel with the parents - they put their son out the door. Without a livelihood and literally a roof over his head, Benjamin spent a couple of years on the streets of London, and by the age of 19 he moved to Paris, where he performed in bars, hotels and the subway, while writing his own songs. Many of the videos circulating on YouTube today have captured Benjamin with a guitar at the ready, playing Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley and John Legend around the carriages.
Success came to the homeless musician spontaneously. At one of the evening performances at Place de Clichy, he was noticed by a music agent who introduced Clementine to his first manager. Already in 2012, Benjamin begins to perform at major festival venues in Cannes and La Rochelle, the latter of which he plays for four nights in a row and earns increased attention from the French press, who called the artist an "English revelation". Soon Clementine signed his first contract in his life, divided between three record companies: Capitol Records, Virgin EMI and Barclay Records. In 2013, he also released his first studio single.
Behind debut album"At Least for Now" Clementine received the prestigious Mercury Prize. Today, this music award is considered the main one in the United Kingdom, and that year Benjamin beat such well-deserved British performers as Florence and the Machine, Aphex Twin and Jamie xx in the fight for the award. In the same year, the English press names him among the most influential people in the country, The New York Times lists him as a new cultural genius, and Bjork and Sir Paul McCartney himself admit to loving the artist's emotional style of performance.
The new LP Clementine was released on September 29, 2017. And if the first album was almost entirely written by the musician during his Parisian period, bearing the imprint of the artist's street wanderings and inner throwing, then "I Tell a Fly" was invented mainly in New York and turned out to be more experimental in sound. The new record has a lot of modern electronic music, chanson and even rock, and non-standard arrangements and texts that go into abstract reflections (for example, references to the “fly” in the title) can completely scare away the artist’s former fans from his idol. However, as with any album of a truly great author, it is precisely such unusual and sometimes difficult to perceive recordings that require us to repeatedly, thoughtfully listen to - and perhaps even buy a ticket to a concert.
Three Major Songs of Benjamin Clementine
Cornerstone
Clementine's business card, with which his great career began, is about a heart broken by love.
London
One of the musician's main hits is a declaration of love to his native city and at the same time a frank confession of the prodigal son.
Phantom of Aleppoville
The lead single from the second album, at the same time a personal and political statement by Clementine, rhyming with the war in Syria and school bullying.
His story has already become a myth: the son of poor parents from Ghana grows up in London, surrounded by smart books, and free time while away with the piano. He does not get close to anyone and is not particularly attached to anyone, he wanders around the saddest quarters of London and loves the poetry of the romantics most of all. Having escaped from London to Paris at the age of 19, he begins to sing in the subway passages, gets by with odd jobs and spends the night in the corners - little things in a cap are enough to make ends meet. Producers pass him on the subway - this is how the musician's first EP and a sudden broadcast on television appear, after which Sir Paul McCartney pats him on the shoulder and invites Björk to perform.
Where in this hermit's story is myth-making, and where are the facts - it is impossible to separate, which is not required in the story of the poet. Obviously, the Dickensian motif in the biography of Benjamin Clementine is needed first of all by the media: the singer himself gets angry when people ask about his difficult past more often than about songs. But in the form of a self-taught from the semi-poor religious family, which brings Chopin and European poetry back to BBC radio - the whole absurdity of the cycle modern culture, where instead of your area or environment, a book from municipal library or the hysterical confession “I don’t regret anything” by Edith Piaf. Clementine's songs seem to be composed according to the rules of a child's game: you make a wish, pull out an arbitrary book in the library, name the page and line - you get a story in which there is no high and low, but only human.
Benjamin rarely talks about his childhood: after the divorce, his parents were more likely to survive in unbearable work for migrants than to be mentors for five children. At school, he was teased as a "faggot" for androgyny and a habit of reading: simple concepts outskirts of London, both properties - one hundred percent natural defect. Tired, not too happy and living in one of the most depressing areas of London, where “half are pregnant and the other half are on welfare”, he scraped together money for the next easyJet low-cost flight to be in Paris (it was the first city he came across) and start life with a clean slate. A couple of days later, he threw the phone away in Place de Clichy, realizing that he had no one to call. For several years, he never learned French and did not make friends with anyone for a long time.
Benjamine Clementine "London"
The picture of a vagabond becoming a singer after climbing the hill of Montmartre and seeing the Sacré Coeur seems far-fetched - but that's exactly what happened. Yesterday's homeless man makes the covers, though he continues to wear a suit over his naked body and performs mostly barefoot: in the moment of Kanye West's triumph and his sarcasm in "Famous", there is someone who can sing Cohen's "Hallelujah" and really mean it. Here he is - a man who fell to Earth with new songs of innocence and experience, reminiscent of both jovial Nat King Cole and Anthony Hegarty soaring in other realms.
Restlessness is his middle name: Clementine calmly talks about how loneliness and wandering around the city without a goal are necessary for the fermentation of the mind: “busy with idleness, playing with words” - poems appear from such rubbish, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. Washing dishes in hotels in Paris, like George Orwell, is completely harmless and much less traumatic than being a London model for Abercrombie & Fitch, which Clementine also tried and still remembers reluctantly. Grace Jones' cheekbones and hairstyle, black skin, laconic style make Clementine an ideal object for observation, which he is clearly aware of - the lyrics of his songs go side by side with photo shoots, where appearance becomes an accompaniment to intimate confessions.
In Paris, Benjamin Clementine sang a cappella solo - he had no money for instruments. “Singing in the passage teaches modesty and kindness to people,” he says in an interview, adding that the audience at his concert are often the same people he might have met in the Paris metro on the second line, which is reassuring. When terrorist attacks rock the vibrant city, the young voice of modern multicultural Paris will continue to sing and perform here, remembering that the city that raised him is first and foremost a place with a sense of dignity where they love music, know how to grieve and rejoice together. There he will come up with one of his hits "London" - about returning to his homeland, where the line "London calling" will not sound solemn and self-confident, as in the anthem of The Clash, but as in a song about a distant home, where it is both joyful and fearful to return . But Benjamin Clementine will return, London will become closer and warmer - with an EMI contract, sold-outs in the concert halls of world capitals and the same closed life of an artist.
Eschewing classmates and the influence of hip-hop and RʼnʼB, Benjamin still wanders in the Bermuda triangle of the best piano authors - Chopin, Ravel and Satie. His forte is intuition and an avid search: you can see how a very young guy, hypnotized by Antony & The Johnsons, gradually discovers the world of Scott Walker and Johnny Cash, comprehends Nick Cave and Tom Waits and falls in love with the British classic Vaughan Williams and his "Taking off lark." The singer is clearly only at the beginning of his journey, he knows how to absorb, look in all directions at once and sincerely loves classic (or old-fashioned) things that are lost in the shallows of the dominant pop culture. Legendary musician David Byrne, before an interview with Clementine, argues that the singer's self-education is his way of asking questions about how to live in a world that has completely lost its meaning.
Benjamin Clementine Cornerstone
In the Paris metro, he sang Bob Marley on guitar in his own way, and in concert hall under the spotlights, he shifts Hendrix's classics to the piano - with his usual doubt, moaning and slander, without courage, which other performers try in vain to reproduce in the manner of Hendrix. Parisian languor and spleen, which the French chansonnier Jacques Brel so easily marries, are also borrowed by Clementine gently and without falsehood. If you've seen Brel weeping on video recordings, you'll instantly catch the similarity of pauses, stumbling rhythm and counterpoint: his songs are a continuation of confused speech, poetry and melodrama with piano support. In the verses of Clementine, one can clearly hear the maximalism of another troubadour - the tragic folk singer Tim Buckley. But the most obvious analogy for Clementine is certainly Nina Simone, who has gone from being an ordinary pianist and shy songwriter to a superstar songwriter.
The storm, longing and ecstasy with which Benjamin Clementine sings “I am not complaining” is of the same nature as Nina Simone’s “I feel good”: “good”, experienced at the limit, which at any moment can tip over into disappointment and bitterness. Romantic poetry teaches that extremes are inevitable and should not be feared. “The excess of sorrow laughs. An excess of joy cries,” wrote Clementine’s idol William Blake: three hundred years later, Clementine’s fiery voice picks up his manner simply and succinctly talk about carefree joy and endless night, which are sometimes inseparable from each other.
“Paradise is another name for curiosity,” says the poet and singer, recalling how he read Kant as a teenager in order to get out of the poverty and predestination surrounding him. His collection of poems Through the Eyes of a Wild Greyhound is ready for publication, and in the mental neighborhood of Thomas Eliot and Sylvia Plath, Clementine feels almost more at ease than on stage with an award for music album. He recalls how the Bible was for him a collection of fascinating stories and a road to world literature - The Chronicles of Narnia, John Locke's treatise An Essay on Human Understanding, and Carol Ann Duffy's cheerful poems about sailors, a changing landscape and our little brothers. What influenced him more - John Keats' harps, Blake's "Human Abstraction" or French chansonniers - Clementine does not know, but readily quotes everyone, implying that poetry in general is a state of mind about one thing, inexpressible and therefore constantly in need of new words and titles.
He is modest, yet childishly open. He likes to go on stage barefoot, wearing a dark long coat over his bare torso. They say that his talent was truly revealed in the Paris metro, where he worked part-time for two years, performing songs from the repertoire of James Brown, Bob Marley and Nina Simone at the Place de Clichy station. By the way, it is with the high priestess of soul that Benjamin Clementine is most often compared in the press, calling him "the male reincarnation of Nina Simone." Of course, in the case of Benji and the divine Nina, there are certain emotional and stylistic parallels. However, what truly unites their souls is their defenseless openness to the world, their open-minded approach to music in general and to soul music in particular. “I am an expressionist. I sing about what I talk about, but I say what I feel and feel, that I play sincerely, doing it like no other.
Benjamin Clementine © Jacopo Lorenzo Emiliani
The life and adventures of this young man are difficult to describe in a nutshell, they deserve a separate story. Benjamin Saint-Clementine was born in 1989 in London in a family of immigrants from Ghana. His unique musical abilities manifested themselves when he was 17 years old. Among youthful addictions were Eric Satie and Anthony Hegarty, Leonard Cohen and Nina Simone, Luciano Pavarotti and Jimi Hendrix. The craving for music allowed him to easily master the keys, flute, clarinet, saxophone, violin, guitar and drums. However, an unexpected meeting took Benjy away from the stage towards ... the catwalk. Everything was predetermined by a meeting on London's Oxford Street: a representative of a modeling agency noticed a young man with a bright, catchy appearance and immediately invited the inspired young man to become the face of the Korean brand HUM.
But the most interesting thing happened next. After several years of successful work in London, Benjamin ... disappeared. One cloudy morning, without warning anyone, he bought a plane ticket to Paris, a city completely unfamiliar to him. Here he lived for 2 years in the subway (less often in hostels), speaking from time to time in bars and hotels. The subsequent series of meetings with future producers and, as a result, the signing of contracts with the British label Virgin EMI and the French Barclay - the story is no less interesting, but from a plot point of view too fabulous.
Today it's time for Benjamin Clementine to "gather stones": world critics do not skimp on praise, noting in their reviews both his deep, powerful, sensual vocals and poetic gift. And the debut album At Least For Now, which was preceded by two EPs Cornerstone (2013) and Glorious You (2014), has every chance of becoming one of the main discoveries of this year.
- Official website of Benjamin Clementine: benjaminclementine.com
- On the title photo: Benjamin Clementine © Micky Clément
Executor: Benjamin Clementine
Album: At Least For Now
Label: Behind/Barclay Records
Date of release: January 12, 2015
videos
Benjamin Clementine
Benjamin Clementine
Benjamin Clementine - Cornerstone | TEDx (2015)
On December 18, Benjamin Clementine will perform at the Kiev Stereo Plaza club. This is the third visit to Ukraine of a young British musician who drives the whole world crazy. A few days before the concert in Kyiv, Benjamin Clementine told Daria Slobodyanik about his impressions of Ukraine, poetry and fashion.
Benjamin Clementine
Clementine's call revived the editors of the site: the editor-in-chief was interested in whether this would be a Skype interview, because then the whole team would be able to look at their favorite musician; colleagues asked: "Well, how?", and in the meantime I was looking for a secluded corner to retire to talk with the musician. Benjamin speaks softly, thoughtfully, and responds to my questions in a lively way - he laughs and exclaims something every now and then. He became a big "star" only a year ago, when in 2015 he received the prestigious music award Mercury Prize, so he has not yet become tired of press questions. in Stereo Plaza - the musician's third visit to Ukraine: and in August - in Odessa. "Ukraine for me - big mystery", - Clementine says affably. - I read a lot in the news about your country and so wanted to come here - to see everything with my own eyes. It turned out wonderful in Ukraine, you are full of life. And the girls are very beautiful."
The touching story about how Clementine wandered around Paris for several years and sang in the subway passages, where the producer noticed him, was not retold only by a very lazy journalist. What is true in this story, and what is speculation, is completely unimportant - in any case, it gives the musician a mystery. Benjamin himself speaks about his past without coquetry, although he does not go into details. He recalls that when he heard his last name at the Mercury Prize ceremony last year, he simply did not believe it. “I went up on stage, started to say something, but still did not believe in what was happening. It was all too different from my former life, in Paris, in which I was nobody and nobody needed. " Benjamin's victory was like a Cinderella story, and the editorials of major newspapers, such as the British Telegraph, were full of headlines: "Paris street musician receives Mercury Prize."
By the way, then on stage, the 25-year-old musician spoke not about music at all, but about Paris. Literally a few days before the award ceremony in the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, there was a terrorist attack, and Benjamin dedicated his victory to the "people of Paris". Paris is an important city for Clementine: he literally fled there from London at the age of 19, lived for six years, of which six months, by his own admission, was homeless. "In Paris, I became a man. I ended up there alone with myself, there were no friends, no money, no opportunities, I did not know the language, so I had to grow up. In Paris, I wrote most of the songs that you heard on the album At least for know - I just talked about how I feel, about what I was going through, about what I miss."
Mercury Prize 2015
"They say that a man cannot become a prophet in his own country, so I left - and here I am." These are the lyrics from the song At Least for Now. With the new album, Clementine returned to London in 2015 in a truly triumphant way: he received the Mercury Prize, signed a contract with a major music label, became the star of festivals, from Cannes to jazz in Montreux, and a favorite of the fashionable public. With fashion, everything is especially curious: back in his youth in London, Clementine worked as a model for several brands, but he hardly talks about it. And last year, Christopher Bailey, creative director at home, invited Benjamin to perform at several brand shows - and so the musician became his own for the British fashion world.
“I was surprised that Christopher Bailey knew about me when I was a nobody. He heard me somewhere when I lived in Paris, and when I returned to London, he was one of the first public people who supported me. We met at one of music festivals in London and became friends - he turned out to be very pleasant. When he first offered to play at the Burberry show, I was a little surprised - I was then far from this audience. Bailey made me change the way I look at the world of fashion and rich people. Previously, I treated them with a slight prejudice - they say, the rich cannot be sincere, but it turned out that I was thinking superficially. Although someone still says that my music is not for Burberry and not for the fashion world at all, but who decides?
Benjamin Clementine at the Burberry show 2015
Benjamin's estrangement is amazing - both in interviews and on stage. If you listen closely to his lyrics - The People and I, Condolence, Adios, it becomes clear that he sings about himself - about his favorite people, habits, complexes and fears. Isn't it scary to be so naked in front of the public? "No, no," Benjamin says hastily. - It is my choice! I know that in life I give the impression of a person who is unsociable and shy, which is how I am, in principle, but on stage I am completely different. I'm not afraid of anything on stage, because I can speak honestly with the audience."
On stage I'm not afraid of anything
This man seems to be interested in everything. In 20 minutes we have time to talk about fashion, poetry, music, politics and travel - Benjamin is thoughtful, open and very smart. They say about people like him "well educated" - but the whole point is that Benjamin does not have a higher education, he is self-taught. He grew up on the music of Chopin and Debussy, independently mastered the piano, clarinet, flute and saxophone. Clementine also studied literature on his own: he simply "dug" in the library near his home in Edmonton, a proletarian suburb of London, books by William Blake and George Orwell - that's education.
By the way, poetry big love Clementine - he even wrote a collection of poems, found a publisher, but did not have enough time to finish the job. “You must have heard that I am a big fan of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. I listened to them a lot and one day I realized that these people never wrote songs - they wrote poetry. And at some point I myself began to act like that. Because poetry is the most honest way to communicate with the public."