Exclusive: interview with Benjamin Clementine. Benjamin Clementine: how a Parisian homeless man won the Mercury Prize Three main songs of Benjamin Clementine

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 truly emerged 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, and I say what I feel and feel that I play sincerely, doing it like no one else.”
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 began to emerge when he was 17 years old. Among his youthful passions were Erik Satie and Anthony Hegarty, Leonard Cohen and Nina Simone, Luciano Pavarotti and Jimi Hendrix. His passion for music allowed him to easily master the keys, flute, clarinet, saxophone, violin, guitar and drums. However, an unexpected meeting took Benji away from the stage towards... the podium. 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 metro (less often in hostels), performing 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 it is too fabulous.

Today, the time has come for Benjamin Clementine to “gather stones”: world critics do not skimp on praise, noting in their reviews both his deep, powerful, sensual vocals and his 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.

• Benjamin Clementine Official Website: benjaminclementine.com
• On the title photo: Benjamin Clementine © Micky Clement

Benjamin Clementine - Live Deezer Session (2015)

Benjamin Clementine - Live sur Le Ring (2015)

Benjamin Clementine - Cornerstone | TEDx (2015)

His story has already become a myth: the son of poor parents from Ghana grows up in London surrounded by smart books, and spends his free time with the piano. He does not get close to anyone and is not particularly attached to anyone, hangs around the saddest quarters of London and most of all loves the poetry of the romantics. Having escaped from London to Paris at the age of 19, he begins to sing in subway passages, does odd jobs and sleeps in corners - the change in his cap is 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 a performance.

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 a poet. It is obvious that the Dickensian motif in the biography of Benjamin Clementine is needed primarily by the media: the singer himself gets angry when people ask about his difficult past more often than about his songs. But in the image of a self-taught man from a semi-poor religious family, who returns Chopin and European poetry to BBC radio, there is all the absurdity of the cycle of modern culture, where the source of inspiration, instead of your neighborhood or environment, is a book from the municipal library or the heartbreaking confession “I don’t know anything.” I'm sorry" Edith Piaf. Clementine's songs seem to be composed according to the rules of a children's game: you make a wish, pull out a random book in the library, name the page and line - the result is a story in which there is no high and low, but only human.

Benjamin rarely talks about his childhood: after a divorce, his parents would rather survive in unbearable migrant jobs than mentor their five children. At school he was teased as a “faggot” for his androgyny and his habit of reading: according to the simple concepts of the London outskirts, both properties are one hundred percent natural defect. Tired, not very happy and living in one of the most depressing areas of London, where “half are pregnant and the other half are on benefits,” he scraped together money for the next easyJet low-cost flight to end up in Paris (this was the first city he came across) and start life with a clean slate. A couple of days later, he threw away his phone on Place Clichy, realizing that he had no one to call. For several years he never learned French and did not make long-term friends.

Benjamine Clementine "London"

The picture of a tramp becoming a singer by climbing the Montmartre hill and seeing the Sacre Coeur may seem far-fetched - but that's exactly what happened. Yesterday's homeless man gets on the covers, although he continues to wear a suit on his naked body and performs mostly barefoot: in Kanye West's moment of triumph and his sarcasm in "Famous", there is someone who can sing Cohen's "Hallelujah" and really mean it. Here is a man who has fallen to Earth with new songs of innocence and experience, reminiscent of both the Jovial Nat King Cole and the soaring Anthony Hegarty 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” - poetry emerges from such rubbish, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. Washing dishes in Paris hotels, like George Orwell, is not at all offensive and much less traumatic than being a London Abercrombie & Fitch model, which Clementine also tried and still remembers reluctantly. Grace Jones's cheekbones and hairstyle, black skin, laconic style make Clementine an ideal object for observation, of which he is clearly aware - the lyrics of his songs go side by side with photo shoots, where appearance becomes the accompaniment of intimate confessions.

In Paris, Benjamin Clementine sang solo a cappella in the transition - he had no money for instruments. “Singing in transition teaches you humility and kindness towards people,” he says in an interview, adding that the audience at his concerts are often the same people he might meet on the Paris metro on the second line, which is reassuring. When the life-loving city is shaken by terrorist attacks, the young voice of modern multicultural Paris will continue to sing and perform here, remembering that the city that raised him is, first of all, a place with a sense of self-worth, 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 like 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 concert halls of the world's capitals and the same secluded life of an artist.

Shunned by his 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 strong point is intuition and greedy 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 “Soaring lark." The singer is clearly just at the beginning of his journey, able to absorb, look in all directions at once and sincerely loves classic (or old-fashioned) things that are lost in the shallows of dominant pop culture. Legendary musician David Byrne, before interviewing 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 the guitar in his own way, and in the concert hall under the spotlights he transferred Hendrix’s classics to the piano - with his inherent doubt, lamentations and slander, without the courage that 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 softly and without falsehood. If you've seen Brel crying on video, you'll instantly recognize the similarities between pauses, stumbling rhythms and counterpoint: his songs are a continuation of halting speech, poetry and melodrama backed by piano. In Clementine's poems one can clearly hear the maximalism of another troubadour - the tragic folk singer Tim Buckley. But the most obvious analogy for Clementine is, of course, Nina Simone, who went from an ordinary pianist and shy performer of other people's songs to a superstar songwriter.

The storm, longing and rapture with which Benjamin Clementine sings “I’m Not Complaining” is of the same nature as Nina Simone’s “I Feel Good”: a “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. Excess of joy cries,” wrote Clementine’s idol William Blake: three hundred years later, Clementine’s fiery voice picks up his manner of speaking simply and succinctly about carefree joy and endless night, which are sometimes inseparable from each other.

“Heaven is another name for curiosity,” says the poet and singer, recalling how as a teenager he read Kant to escape the poverty and predetermination that surrounded him. His collection of poems, Through the Eyes of a Wild Greyhound, is ready for publication, and in the mental vicinity of Thomas Eliot and Sylvia Plath, Clementine feels almost more at ease than on stage with an award for a music album. He recalls how the Bible was for him a collection of fascinating stories and a path to world literature - The Chronicles of Narnia, John Locke's treatise An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Carol Ann Duffy's cheerful poems about sailors, the changing landscape and our lesser brothers. What influenced him more - the harps of John Keats, 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 names.

A dark-skinned native of London with an afro hairstyle, Benjamin Clementine was recently singing for food on the streets of Paris, and today he is releasing his second studio album, becoming in just two years a truly musical phenomenon and a cult figure: his voice is compared to the voices of Nina Simone and Leonard Cohen, fashion house Burberry is satisfied collaborations, and Gorillaz and Charles Aznavour they call you to sing together. On the eve of the first solo Russian concert of such an original artist, we collected the main facts about the bright fate of Clementine and selected his best, in our opinion, songs.

Benjamin is the son of deeply religious Catholics from Ghana. He spent his early childhood in an industrial suburb 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, and therefore grew up disobedient and often skipped classes, preferring to visit libraries alone. 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 classes. However, the parents did not support the creative endeavors of their youngest son and in every possible way discouraged him from playing any musical instruments, dreaming of raising him to be a lawyer.

Clementine was indeed homeless for a long time. At the age of 16, he failed most of his school exams and decided to leave the annoying educational institution forever, which led to an inevitable quarrel with his parents - they kicked 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 simultaneously writing his own songs. Many of the videos circulating on YouTube today show Benjamin with a guitar at the ready, performing Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley and John Legend on cars.

Success came to the homeless musician spontaneously. At one of the evening performances on Place Clichy, he was noticed by a music agent, who introduced Clementine to his first manager. Already in 2012, Benjamin began performing at major festival venues in Cannes and La Rochelle, at the latter of which he played for four nights in a row and earned increased attention from the French press, which 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 released his first studio single.

For his 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 in the fight for the award Benjamin beat out such honored British performers as Florence and the Machine, Aphex Twin and Jamie xx. In the same year, the English press named him among the most influential people in the country, The New York Times named him one of the new cultural geniuses, and Björk and Sir Paul McCartney himself admitted their love for the artist’s emotional style of performance.

Clementine's new longplay 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 throwings, then “I Tell a Fly” was invented mainly in New York and turned out to be more experimental in sound. The new recording has a lot of modern electronic music, chanson and even rock, and non-standard arrangements and lyrics that go into abstract reflections (for example, references to the “fly” in the title) may even scare away the artist’s former fans from their idol. However, as with any album by a truly great author, it is precisely such unusual and sometimes difficult to understand recordings that require repeated, thoughtful listening from us - and perhaps even a purchased concert ticket.

Three main songs of Benjamin Clementine

Cornerstone

Clementine’s calling 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 hometown and at the same time a frank confession of the prodigal son.

Phantom of Aleppoville

The lead single from the second album is both a personal and political statement from Clementine, riffing on the war in Syria and school bullying.

On December 18, Benjamin Clementine will perform at the Stereo Plaza club in Kiev. This is the third visit to Ukraine by a young British musician who is driving 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 site’s editorial staff: the editor-in-chief was wondering if this would be a Skype interview, because then the whole team would be able to watch their favorite musician; Colleagues asked: “How’s it going?”, and meanwhile I was looking for a secluded corner to talk with the musician. Benjamin speaks quietly, thoughtfully and reacts vividly to my questions - every now and then he laughs and exclaims something. He became a big “star” only a year ago, when in 2015 he received the prestigious music award Mercury Prize, so questions from the press have not yet become boring to him. in Stereo Plaza - the musician’s third visit to Ukraine:, and in August - in Odessa. “Ukraine is a big mystery for me,” says Clementine 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 to be wonderful in Ukraine, you are full of life. And the girls are very beautiful."

The touching story of how Clementine wandered around Paris for several years and sang in subway passages, where he was noticed by a producer, 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 adds mystery to the musician. Benjamin himself speaks about his past without coquetry, although he does not go into detail. He recalls that when he heard his name last year at the Mercury Prize ceremony, he simply did not believe it. “I got up on stage, started to say something, but still didn’t believe in what was happening. It was all too different from my previous life, in Paris, in which I was nobody and no one needed me.” Benjamin’s victory was like a Cinderella story, and the editorials of serious newspapers, for example, the British Telegraph, were full of headlines: “Parisian street musician wins Mercury Prize.”

By the way, then on stage the 25-year-old musician was not talking about music at all, but about Paris. Just a few days before the award ceremony, there was a terrorist attack at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, 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, by his own admission, he was homeless for six months. “In Paris, I became a man. I found myself there alone, there were no friends, no money, no opportunities, I didn’t know the language, so I had to grow up. In Paris, I wrote most of the songs that you heard in the album At least for know - I just talked about what I felt, about what I was worried about, about what I miss."

Mercury Prize presentation, 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 a new album, Clementine truly triumphantly returned to London in 2015: 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 fashion public. With fashion, everything is especially curious: even in his youth in London, Clementine worked as a model for several brands, but he hardly talks about it. And last year, Christopher Bailey, the creative director of the house, invited Bejamin to perform at several shows of the brand - and so the musician became one of the British fashion world.

"What surprised me was 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 to support me. We met at one of the music festivals in London and became friends - he turned out to be very nice. When he first asked me to play at the Burberry show, I was a little surprised - I was far from this audience at that time. Bailey made me change my view on the world of fashion and rich people. Previously, I treated them with a slight prejudice - they say that a rich person cannot be soulful, but it turned out that I was thinking superficially. Although someone even now says that my music is not for Burberry and not for the fashion world in general, but who decides that? "

Benjamin Clementine at the Burberry show, 2015

Benjamin's candor is amazing - both in interviews and on stage. If you listen to his lyrics - The People and I, Condolence, Adios, it becomes clear that he sings about himself - about his loved ones, habits, complexes and fears. Isn't it scary to be naked like that in public? “No, no,” Benjamin says hastily. - It is my choice! I know that in life I give the impression of an unsociable and shy person, which is what I am, in principle, but on stage I am completely different. I’m not afraid of anything on stage because I can speak honestly to the audience.”

I'm not afraid of anything on stage

This man seems to be interested in everything. In 20 minutes we manage to talk about fashion, poetry, music, politics and travel - Benjamin is thoughtful, open and very smart. People like him are said to be “well educated” - but the whole point is that Benjamin does not have a higher education, he is self-taught. He grew up listening to the music of Chopin and Debussy, and independently mastered the piano, clarinet, flute and saxophone. Clementine also studied literature on his own: he simply dug up books by William Blake and George Orwell in a library near his home in Edmont, a proletarian suburb of London - that’s education.

Poetry, by the way, is Clementine’s great love - he even wrote a collection of poems, found a publisher, but did not have enough time to complete the job. “You’ve probably heard that I’m 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 began to act that way myself. Because poetry is the most honest way to communicate with the public."