Raul Midon - Synthesis - International Music Network

“… a one-man band who turns a guitar into an orchestra and his voiceinto a chorus…” -Stephen Holden, New York Times“Since his 2005 debut CD State of Mind, Raul Midon has receivedglowing reviews for his unique sound combing flamenco and jazz guitarstylings, a rich vocal range, and inspirational lyrics. What makes himtruly remarkable is that although he lost his sight shortly after birth, ithasn't held him back from being one of the most sought after musiciansin the music industry.” -Lynn Neary, NPR“Raul Midon is a hugely talented guy who calls to mind some of thevery best soul musicians of the last few decades.”–David Pollack, Glasgow Daily Record

Raul Midon: Meditations on Success and SoulBy: Allison KeyesPublished: November 10, 2007Singer-songwriter Raul Midon first entered the public consciousness two years ago with hisalbum State of Mind. Audiences and critics alike were drawn to his remarkable guitar chops andhis voice, often likened to that of Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder.Midon always performs solo. No backup — just him and his guitar. But his new CD, A WorldWithin a World, functions as a substantial departure from his previous recordings, which focusedmainly on his instrument and his voice. Midon says this disc reflects what he's thinking aboutnow.Interviewed in his dressing room, he talks about the pitfalls of trying to get noticed in acommercial environment."It's easy to get off track in this pop music field because people get elevated to greatness," Midonsays. "People get called artists that aren't artists. I try to keep my eye on the prize as I see it."Of course, Midon sees things differently than most — he has been blind since he was an infantgrowing up in New Mexico. Midon says the prize, as he sees it, is the goal of becomingsomebody who contributes something lasting to the musical landscape.Midon hopes A World Within a World is part of that process. But it may surprise his fans."What we did was try to make a studio album this time and try and keep the essence and make itmore about the songs," he says.Midon says the arc of the new album is much broader. Sprinkled among the soul tunes are trackslike "Caminando." Sung in Spanish, the song eschews R&B in favor of traditional music fromArgentina.There's even an a cappella tune on the new record. Midon says he wanted to pay homage togroups like Take 6 and Singers Unlimited: "It took days to get all of these parts recorded, but itturned into this a cappella monstrosity," he says.But Midon still wants to make a living from his music, which he says is tricky. For him, it meansmaking music he likes that will also sell.

"What I try to do is take the parts of it that I think have a shot at being commercially viable ...and put those on the record," Midon says. "You cannot make a record — I can't, anyway —thinking about, 'Will this play on the radio?' If you do that, I think you're gonna end up making arecord that you're not going to like. Because, let's face it: Pop radio is pretty bad these days."Midon says the narrow arena in which artists are forced to compete for attention on the airwavessaddens him."There's a sort of conflict," he says. "People want to hear something new and somethingdifferent, but what the sort of values of commercial radio are — it has to sound like the last thingthat was a hit on the radio, which nobody really wants."But he also says it's difficult to tell the difference between what will sell and what won't. Midonsays that the way people listen to music now — for example, putting songs they like into an iPodplaylist — might actually be good for his sales."I hope people will listen to the record and get where I'm coming from, and that ... it's not aboutgenre," Midon says. "I think people in a certain way are getting that now, because people havetheir own musical universe where they are living now with the iPods and so forth. People areliving in their own musical universe, so it's not out of bounds to hear Madonna next to Mozart."Midon says the best way to hear him is to see him live — just him and his guitar.And he hopes that will convince audiences to vote with their wallets for the other Raul Midon.

June 21, 2008Music ReviewFaith From the South, and a One-Man Band TooBy STEPHEN HOLDENIf I had to choose a single word to describe the mystique of the singer Lizz Wright, it would be steadfast.Ms. Wright, who headlined a double bill with the equally talented singer-songwriter Raul Midón at the concerthall of the New York Society for Ethical Culture on Thursday evening, is a minister’s daughter from a smalltown in rural Georgia. Her recent album, “The Orchard” (Verve), is a self-conscious return-to-roots record,although Ms. Wright has never ventured far from those roots.In her last record, “Dreaming Wide Awake,” Ms. Wright’s voice brought a concentrated, churchlike gravity tothe folk-jazz musical settings of the material from here, there and everywhere. From its title to its gatefoldportrait of Ms. Wright, regally costumed, standing by a cypress tree in the middle of a swamp, “The Orchard” isa celebration of the South, fecundity and connection with nature. It expresses a proud and profoundly reassuringsense of knowing where you come from.For this JVC Jazz Festival concert Ms. Wright was accompanied by a five-member band that included ToshiReagon (on rhythm guitar and backup vocals) with whom she collaborated on 6 of the 12 songs from “TheOrchard.”All might be called contemporary spirituals. Although they describe exaltation and suffering in relationships,there is little separation in feeling between the secular and the sacred. Faith, of one kind or another, is heremotional anchor.Even songs by others, like the Ike and Tina Turner classic “I Idolize You,” are transmuted into somethingmajestic. In Ms. Wright’s rendition on Thursday, it metamorphosed from a wild, flailing, call-and-responserocker with a sassy girl-group chorus into a slow, deep blues shuffle, which Ms. Wright’s dark, penetrating altoinfused with a mystical belief.The Led Zeppelin ballad “Thank You” and the Patsy Cline song “Strange” underwent similar transformations.Ms. Wright’s integrity is synonymous with her utter lack of vocal adornment. Her voice, luminous and smokyand perfectly pitched, is one of the most wondrous rhythm-and-blues instruments of our time; it needs noornamentation to stand on a pedestal by itself.Mr. Midón, a one-man band who turns a guitar into an orchestra and his voice into a chorus, is just asaccomplished and as spiritually connected but in a sunnier way. And in his sensational set he suggested a threewayfusion of Stevie Wonder, Bobby McFerrin and José Feliciano.Although only 42, Mr. Midón has the stage personality of an unreconstructed hippie. His lilting, continuouslymelodious songs, taken from two albums, “A World Within a World” and “State of Mind,” expressed a liveand-let-liveCaribbean perspective. (Mr. Midón, however, is from New Mexico.)

As he used his right hand alternately to slap his guitar strings for a beat, then to fingerpick, he displayed avirtuosity that seemed effortless. His supple vocal phrasing echoed Mr. Wonder’s in some songs; in others heturned his voice into a trumpet, then traded playful back-and-forth dialogue between the simulated horn and hisnatural voice. Elsewhere the flurries of strumming echoed Mr. Feliciano’s intense, flamenco-flavored guitarsolos.Mr. Midón and Ms. Wright made a persuasive case for personal, accessible music oblivious to trends: realmusic as opposed to fashionable pop sound.

JazzRaul MidonPigalle, LondonJuly 27, 2006By JOHN L WALTERSWhen you witness someone who is really good, like singer-songwriter Raul Midon, it's aprofoundly moving experience. But more than that, it redefines the whole notion of what "good"means. Midon just walks on with his guitar and sings his deceptively simple songs, and the entireclub is enthralled.Midon has a lovely voice, a beautifully controlled tenor that can express anything fromtenderness to passion. When he needs an additional instrumental colour, he imitates a trumpet inthe manner of Bob Gurland. It could seem like a gimmick, but he does it so well, with suchconfidence and fluidity, that his Dizzy-like "vocal trumpet" solos become a highlight of the set.And the guy can play. His strumming has a flamenco flourish, but after a while you realise hecan do every kind of accompaniment he needs on acoustic guitar. Funky rhythm guitar,expressive arpeggios, super-relaxed "walking bass" for Devil May Care ... it's breathtaking.All this would be impressive enough were Midon playing others' songs, but his own material isof a high calibre, with few fillers. Songs such as Everybody, State of Mind (the title track of hisrecent album), Suddenly and Sunshine I Can Fly (which he co-wrote with Louis Vega) alreadysound like standards. If You're Gonna Leave showcases his finely honed control of voice andaccompaniment.There are explicit influences - Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder - but Midon sounds likesomeone who has done a great deal of listening and learning. His songs are not so "well-crafted"that you're overly aware of the gears cranking into place: they flow like jazz performances. Thereare times when you're reminded of a sweet-voiced Ray Charles, or Nat "King" Cole, buteverything about Midon reveals a strong, individual and totally musical mind at work. Awesome.

A sense of wonderSabine DurrantPublished: 12:01AM GMT 12 Mar 2006Manhattan transfer: Raul Midon moved to the big city,'Not to hang out, not to see New York, not to meet people.If you're distracted, New York will eat you alive'The soul singer Raul Midon was born blind, just like his mentor and hero, Stevie Wonder.It hasn't helped, he tells Sabine Durrant. But it hasn't held him back, eitherRaul Midon was playing one night in a small music venue called Joe's Pub in New York when aman came up to him. 'He said, "How would you like to play at Carnegie Hall?" I'm like, "Yeah,some day, that would be cool." He said, "How about next month?" "Next month? What do youmean, with an orchestra?" "No, I'd like you to play solo."' The show, which took place in 2002,was called The Movie Music of Spike Lee. Midon, whose soul baritone can swoop up high like atrumpet, and who bangs and beats his guitar and slaps it on the strings as if it were a stageful ofpercussion instruments, gave his interpretation of a Stevie Wonder song from Jungle Fever.'Cassandra Wilson was on the show. Bruce Hornsby was on the show. A bunch of names, and Iwas the no-name.'Spike Lee himself rang him the next day. 'My wife answered the phone and I can hear her, like,"oh hi, oh yeah, hang on … it's Spike Lee," trying to be really cool. He said, "You've got to dowhat you did last night at the Hollywood Bowl. If you don't show up, I'm not showing up." Thenhe asked me to write a song for She Hate Me, his next movie. That's how it happened.'

Other things followed dizzyingly fast: the record deal and debut album, State of Play (releasedhere last week), produced by the legendary Arif Mardin, who has worked with Ray Charles andAretha Franklin; the contact with Stevie Wonder, to whom Midon wrote in Braille inviting himto play harmonica on one track ('We were on two different coasts when we recorded.'); the ravereviews: 'The next great Wonder?' (People); 'a virtuoso' (The New York Times).One minute, says Midon, he was a hired musician - backing for Ricky Martin, touring withShakira, 'Raul the please-everybody musician.'The next, he was 'Raul the artist,' playing his own unique combination of jazz, pop, R&B andLatin, no longer 'going in through the kitchen' for gigs, but travelling first class (where, for once,no one tells him to stow his guitar in the hold).'All those producers before who said, "You can't put your trumpet sound on a pop album. It's justtoo weird. And you can't play the guitar on your record because it's so strange." I get to affirmabsolutely in myself my "artistic identify", for lack of a better term. I get to make a statementthat is unique.'Midon is tall with soft features and a sketchy beard. He's eating linguini when I arrive at thefancy hotel where he has been put up in London. ('I enjoy good living,' he laughs.) An assistantguides him to the sofa where we talk. He has a computer around his neck, for information heneeds at his fingertips. He's wearing jeans, a jaunty cap, and a trendy two-tone blue jacket withdifferent coloured buttons on the cuffs: 'My wife,' he explains.'When I met her, like most guys - and I was blind - I had, like, three pairs of jeans, one suit andone tux. She was like, "You can't go on stage looking like that." I have to say, it made animmediate difference.'He says, in his deep quiet voice, with its unexpected hills and valleys, that his secret is to nevercompromise, to never give up. His wife, Kathleen - a legal secretary he met in Florida, where hehad studied music - threw in her career to further his. 'I'll never forget that.' They moved toManhattan for the same reason. 'Not to hang out, not to see New York, not to meet people. Ifyou're distracted, New York will eat you alive.'His self-belief, he says, comes from his parents. 'We didn't have "can't" in our family. We didn'thave, "Oh you're blind, so you should set your sights - pardon the pun - a little lower." Thatdidn't exist. "Whatever you want to do, you can do it. And by the way, if you're going to do it, tryto be the best at it." That was our credo.'Midon and his identical twin brother, Marco, were born 39 years ago in a small town in NewMexico to an Argentinian father (a dancer) and an African-American mother, who was to die ofan aneurysm when the children were four.Six weeks premature, Raul and Marco were placed in an incubator with too much oxygen. Raul'sretinas were destroyed. Marco had limited vision in his childhood, finally losing his sight whenhe was 16. They went to a school for the blind, where Raul learnt to play the guitar, and then,

thanks to someone to whom he refers to only as an anonymous benefactor, they attended aprestigious prep school in Santa Fe, New Mexico.Raul remembers the first year here as the hardest thing in his life.'Academically and, of course, socially. We were like "the blind kids" at a time when the wholeidea is to be cool and to try to fit in. And, boy, you just don't fit in.'But they both flourished. Raul discovered his musical gifts. And, in the year he lost his sight,Marco came in the top five of his class. He is now an engineer for Nasa.Midon is tapping on his legs as he talks, his head jerking in rhythm. What's he doing?'I always do that. There's always something in my head. I'm working on this song about … like,I'm, I don't know, very happily married now, and doing well, and it's about the girls who passedme by, and how they messed up.'And he throws back his head and laughs.

Raul Midon Pushes Musical BoundariesBy Cathy Rose A. GarciaStaff Reporter02-26-2008The name Raul Midon may not ring a bell. But try searching for Midon's live performances onYouTube and you'll wonder why he's not yet a superstar.Midon is literally a one-man band on stage, armed with his distinctive soulful voice, while hisfingers work magic on a guitar. When you have the immense talent of this man, a voice andguitar is all you need.``I've always been a musician. I think music chooses you,'' Midon told The Korea Times. The41-year-old blind singer has earned rave reviews for his first two albums, 2005's ``A State ofMind'' and 2007's ``A World Within a World."Being blind never stopped Midon from pursuing his dream as a musician. Midon and his twinbrother were born in Embudo, New Mexico, to his Argentinean father and African-Americanmother. They became blind as babies, when they were placed in an incubator without properprotection for the eyes.Midon learned to play drums when he was four years old, and began playing the guitar when hewas six years old. Later, he was accepted in the University of Miami's jazz program. Aftercollege, he started singing backup for stars such as Shakira, Alejandro Sanz, Jennifer Lopez,Christina Aguilera and Ricky Martin.Did he consider being blind an obstacle to pursuing a career in music? ``No, I think it is an asset.I think being blind helped me to focus and direct my life better. I knew what I could and couldn'tdo and with lots of practice I became good at it,'' he said.Midon writes and composes his own music, which he describes as a mix of ``eclectic, genrejumping,pop, jazz fusion.'' His unique guitar-playing skills have also attracted a lot of attention.``I absorbed a lot of techniques from studying classical, flamenco and jazz guitar. Then I startedbreaking the rules of those traditions and came up with something that was my own,'' heexplained.Midon has been compared to Donnie Hathaway and another blind superstar musician, StevieWonder. He is flattered to be compared to his idols, saying that this only pushes him to become abetter musician.

Midon is grateful for the chance to work with Wonder, who played the harmonica on``Expressions of Love,'' from his debut album. He recalled how his album producer, the lateGrammy-award winning producer Arif Mardin, pushed him to write a letter to Wonder, inBraille, and ask him to play in the album.``I wrote a letter and Arif, who is Stevie's friend, followed it up with a call and it all worked out.I can never repay the debt of that generous act. I was unknown and he extended himself. I amvery grateful. He is, as you'd imagine, an extremely generous person, kind and of course,supremely talented,'' he said.When asked about his future plans, Midon said he is working on his next album and performingin concerts around the world. ``I'd like to change the world but for now I'll just keep playingmusic,'' he said.Midon is looking forward to his first trip to Seoul next month. ``I hope to bring to (Korea) apositive musical experience. I will do my best to be as creative as possible on stage and maybeI'll play some new songs never heard before,'' he said.

JAZZ SOUL GETS SLAP HAPPY:Raul Midon's attention-grabbing style trumpetsthe arrival of a major new talentBY JIM FARBERMay 29, 2005You can't blame Raul Midón for feeling he's been chosen.When a recent press showcase of his music was held, it wasn't shunted off to the usual dark clubor dank rehearsal studio. It was presented in the well-appointed Central Park West apartment ofArif Mardin, one of pop's most storied producers.Mardin helped shape the classic recordings of artists like Aretha Franklin and Dusty Springfieldin the '60s, the Bee Gees in the '70s, and more recently Norah Jones. Mardin helped Midón getsigned by Manhattan Records and co-produced his first album.He was drawn to Midón's rare approach to singing and playing.As Midón stood in Mardin's home and hunkered over his guitar, he didn't so much play hisinstrument as slap it like it was a naughty child. First, he attacked its body with his flat hand,then he pulled briskly back on the strings, flicking them with a flourish.As Midón began to sing, he let the notes swirl feverishly around the melody, then pursed his lipsand imitated a trumpet in full solo swing.Midón says he developed his percussive approach to music out of desperation."I had to find a way to have a presence, to stand out," he explains. "When you're an artist with anacoustic guitar, opening for somebody else in a club, strumming quietly isn't going to cut it. Iwanted to project something rhythmic as well as lyrical."The effect pricked up his producer's ears the moment he heard it."As a jazz fan, I detected that freedom of expression in his playing," Mardin explains. "It waslike a little drummer was living in his guitar, like in flamenco music. And his vocal had thatsoulfulness."

You can hear the result on Midón's debut CD, "State of Mind," which comes out June 7.Mardin, and his co-producer son Joe, let no sonic filters get in the way of Midón's style. The CDsounds like it was cut live, but Midón says they worked on it meticulously.It's no surprise Mardin Sr. was sensitive to the singer's spare approach. He had produced severalrecords that greatly influenced Midón, especially some by the late soul singer-songwriter DonnyHathaway. Midón's voice has a similarly free range and rich core."I first heard Hathaway's 'A Song for You' and then kept discovering layers," Midón says. "Irealized I was on the same path."Midón listened to Hathaway's music for inspiration every morning before recording his ownalbum. He even dedicated one song to him, "Sittin' in the Middle," since it bears an uncannyresemblance to the unfiltered acoustic soul of Hathaway's early '70s work.Another song on the CD, "Expressions of Love," draws from early '70sStevie Wonder to such an extent that Midón asked his producer - as a joke - if they could getWonder to play on the song. "[Arif] said, 'Oh, yeah, I'll call him,' - just like that," the singerrecalls with a laugh.Midón and Wonder are also linked by the fact that both are blind. To boost his request, Midónwrote Wonder a note in Braille. A month had passed when, on the day before they mastered thefinal CD, Wonder sent in a harmonica part via the Internet.MOVED TO NEW YORKSuch connections still boggle Midón's mind. He had struggled for many years before his recentbreak. The musician, who will give his age only as "younger than Prince and older than Usher,"grew up in the small town of Embudo, near Taos, in New Mexico. His father is Argentinian, hismother was African-American.Midón has an identical twin brother who's also blind and now works as an engineer at NASA.Their mother died when the boys were 4, but Midón says their grandmother was a strong personin the family and instilled her memories of their mom in their lives.Midón absorbed Argentinian folk music from his dad (who was a professional dancer), alongwith jazz and progressive pop. He considers himself a jazz musician at heart.After graduating from the University of Miami, Midón worked on the local Latin music scene,eventually making a solid living as a backup singer and session player. But he longed to focus onhis own music. So he moved to New York in 2002 and began playing small clubs, like Arthur'sin the West Village. He contributed a song to Spike Lee's "She Hate Me" soundtrack, but most ofthe labels he approached wanted to steer him into commercial R&B.

"I didn't want to do that tired sort of approach," he says.It was in New York that Midón developed his mix of flamenco-influenced acoustic jazz-soul. Attimes, his style recalls the work of Richie Havens or José Feliciano. But Midón adds somethingrare with his vocal trumpet effect. "It's like having three instruments," he says, "the guitar, thevocals and the trumpet."Only time will tell if a sound that straddles so many styles can find a large audience. Midónadmits it's a concern, but he feels thankful his record company never second-guessed the style hechose. For the moment, Midón is simply flattered to be part of his famous producer's legacy."I feel," he says, "like all the stars are aligned."