Ute Lemper |
 |
|
Tue. March 11.2003 5:17 PM EST |
||
Ute Lemper: The Politics of the HeartUltra modern chanteuse talks cabaret, passion, and the violence of tango. by C. Bottomley and Jim Macnie |
||||
|
||||
 |
Ute Lemper (Linda Zacks) |
|
||
Ute Lemper has a voice that finds the center of a song in a matter of seconds. She's a masterful singer who can throw your emotions off balance with just a trill or a growl. Known as the premiere interpreter of German cabaret tunes, she's sought out
Lemper goes where the passion is. She has cut two volumes of Kurt Weill's work (along with writing partner Bertoldt Brecht, the composer is responsible for some of the 20th century's most insurgent art, full of sophistication and satire). She's also paid tribute to Edith Piaf and Marlene Dietrich. When Bebe Neuwirth left the original Broadway production of Chicago, Lemper was recruited to star. Critical acclaim followed, but by 2000 she abandoned the grueling schedule of Broadway, and returned to the studio to release Punishing Kiss, an album of songs commissioned from esoteric artists like Elvis Costello and Tom Waits. Lemper's new But One Day (Decca) may be her most revealing disc so far. Here she tackles tango for the first time, squeezing every last drop of blood from the pen of Argentinian giant, Astor Piazzolla. Lemper's picked up the pen herself, too. Her own songs are in a vein similar to that of her heroes; they tell stories of women haunted by history and of love that makes the stomach go numb. There's even the revelation of sentiment - a touching tribute to her children. The music is all glistening electronic surfaces and groaning strings, but Lemper plays both seductress and passionate volcano, singing Jacques Brel's pungent "Amsterdam" like she's about to level the entire city. Lemper took the time to talk to VH1 about being in Chicago, why singing a torch song has nothing to do with age, and how current events have only made Brecht & Weill's work more essential. VH1: You played the part of Velma in Chicago for two years. Have you seen the movie? Lemper: No. I played it eight times a week, 52 weeks a year, for two years - I'm not in a hurry to see it. The Chicago chapter of my life, which was a very intense chapter, is done. [I left when it wasn't] artistically satisfying any more. It was a big sacrifice. It's like Sisyphus. Each week is a mountain you have to climb. You have to get through eight shows without injury, hope the vocal chords hold up. Then when the mountain is climbed, you have one day off and you think, "This is glorious!" Then you start all over again! [Watch Clip] VH1: Your new record pulls you in two different directions. It's the first time you've written your own songs for a disc, but you also include versions of songs that have become concert favorites. Lemper: Every album I make is made because of the previous one. But One Day was inspired by Punishing Kiss, where Elvis Costello, Nick Cave, Tom Waits and the Divine Comedy wrote songs for me. It was the first time I could get away from Weill, but I wanted to keep everything I ever sang in my coat pocket and take them with me into the next century. First, I wanted to write the whole album myself - I had 25 or 35 songs. But my label said, "We need some repertoire also, because your fans want to see you sing Weill, Piazzolla, and Jacques Brel." VH1: How do you keep that repertoire interesting? Lemper: I never recorded Brel and I've been singing him for a few years now. I just recently discovered Piazzolla's music, but I couldn't cut the songs in Spanish. You have to speak the Spanish of this very specific neighborhood in Buenos Aires, which I don't know. I didn't meet the appropriate person to teach me so far! VH1: Once you decide you're going to have both originals and old songs, where's the bridge? Lemper: For this record, we tried to meld the beauty of the last century's music together with contemporary elements. My demos sounded like rock, but we added some very wicked string arrangements, which remind you of the 1920s. Then we decided to do the theatrical songs with computer programming. Then there is my voice and my interpretation. I don't differentiate between a theatrical song and my own songs. I intuitively use the voice I want to use, that's always a voice full of brokenness, weirdness, and intimacy. There's some real singing in there, but a lot of the dark Berlin underground, too. VH1: You've waited a long time to record Weill's "September Song." Did you have to mature in order to get the proper perspective on the song? Lemper: I don't know. The song is sung by a man in the musical Knickerbocker Holiday, so it's already weird to sing it as a woman. You can sing a torch song at any age as long as you give it what you have without creating some drama that is not supposed to be there. It could be sung in an innocent, youthful way, and then as much as 50 years later in a broken old-lady way. VH1: You're probably the premier interpreter of that canon now. Your name is always the first mentioned when Brecht and Weill come up. Lemper: I know! And people think I'm 66 or so. The other day I went through immigration coming back from Europe and the woman had the name "Lempert" on her shirt. Immigration staff is usually very tough; they ask you all these obnoxious questions. But I took the risk of being thrown out of the country and dared to ask her a question. I said, "Your name is Lempert! Is that German roots?" She said, "No, it's from Lithuania." I said, "My name is Lemper!" She said, "There used to be this famous German singer Lemper. She did all these wonderful theatrical songs. She's like 70 or so, a grand dame of theatrical song." There I was with my two kids; I looked frantic, my hair was everywhere and I was in my jeans. I said, "I think that might be me." She fell out of her chair! [Watch Clip] VH1: A lot of contemporary artists have picked up on Weill because of the work you've done. Lemper: Lou Reed sang "September Song," on this album Lost in the Stars. He didn't even sing it - he chewed it out. I'm sure the Kurt Weill Foundation fell off their chairs when they heard that, because that was the first time that somebody dared to mess with the material in a creative way. They're a very conservative institution. They insist on appropriate, authentic interpretations. The Foundation and I had some conflict at the end of the ‘80s. They got used to it. They know that the songs stay alive through real people putting real life into them and not having them sung by very bel canto voices. VH1: When we think of the tango, we usually think of Rudolph Valentino with the rose clasped between his teeth. But the lyrics in the tango songs are very heady. Is that true to the original intent? Lemper: The language is like their religion: very colorful. It's everything they believe with their whole soul. The lyric of "Buenos Aires" says "I shall cover my shoulders with the entire sky of the blood-drunken dawn/ My second last whiskey I'll sacrifice…" Those are my words, but they were inspired by what I read. That's how they see things - with bright, strong colors - always red! It's like when you paint with strong brushwork. You paint very violently; you speak very violently, with strong words and images. VH1: When you're revisiting classic songs, does their relevancy change with the times? Does it change your attitude to your material? Lemper: These songs are very close to the edge, very close to the darkness and the unanswered questions, and I always feel that in me. I grew up in Germany in a time of fear. In the ‘70s, you never knew who was going to push the button. If anything ever happens between the two superpowers, it will be on top of our roof. Terrorism is also a much more common thing in Europe, and those fears factor into society there. People who always came to my show knew that I was bringing this aspect to the stories I was telling. The week of September 11, I was doing performances in Joe's Pub in New York. We had to shut the show down for three days because no one could go below 14th Street. When we opened again on Friday, I started the night with a poem from Brecht - "Truly I Live in Dark Times." It goes, "The man who laughs has simply not yet heard the terrible news." They were beautiful words about the impossibility of changing chaos in the world. At the end, Brecht says "Those who live after us, please look back on us with indulgence, because we were not able to create a world of harmony." I was on stage in the dark, and had no light, and there were just a few little guitar swells under my voice. I just read the poem, and then I just did the show with everything - "Amsterdam," the Berlin Cabaret songs about the life of the people blooming in the dark. Every song had so much to do with the times we are living in. Everyone was sobbing. I always felt that existential feeling - "What if it is all taken away tomorrow?" Then I said to myself, "Now everybody felt it." [Watch Clip] VH1: "Little Face" is about your two children. You're quite the vixen on stage. Are your fans ready to accept you as a mother? Lemper: I'm Mother Courage! My children are what I love most in my life. It's also the greatest inspiration as a performer. You regain this innocence towards what you do when you have children, when you really get down on your knees and get into the dirt with them. I'm also a crazy mother. That's the German in me, worrying about things and trying to make everything good. I take them to gigs and they know I can be very exotic or extravagant and wicked and crazy, not like their normal mother! VH1: Is there any song you sing around the house, but will never make it on one of your albums? Lemper: I sing everything. The kids love it. We were recently singing Joni Mitchell's "Black Crow" over and over. They sing like [she goes into a vocal] "Illumination, corruption and diving, diving diving, diving …" and they don't know what the heck they are talking about! But they get the rhythm and the vibe completely! |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
  |
 |
 |
Receive Free Music News Daily Via Email |
|
Receive Free Artist Updates Via Email for Ute Lemper |
|
All news for Ute Lemper |
|
Breaking Music News |
 |
Add VH1 News to My Yahoo |
|
