Nina Vox’s Blog-Chanteuse and Time Voyager

Interview with Nina Vox by Billie Wild-Freelance Journalist

Q: What is Jazz to you?
A: “Safe Sex of the highest order ” to quote Kurt Vonnegut Jnr.
Q: There are a lot of Jazz standards on the album, is there a story behind that?
A: Yes. My Father was a Jazz drummer and trumpeter who died when I was
three. These are my favourite songs from his era, so singing them is
like having a conversation with him.
Q: Do Moravians have a rich Jazz tradition?
A: Why Yes. Jazz was alive and cooking until the Secret Police tried to
wipe it out during the War. They tried imposing rules dictating how and
when you could play music. It’s written in ” The Bass Saxophone” by
Czech author Josef Skvorecky.
1 You were not allowed to Scat
2 The double bass had to be played with a bow.
3 Tunes had to be in 4/4/ time only.
4 You were not allowed to syncopate.
5 Mutes for trumpets were banned … and so on…
Q: Did it work?
A: Of course not. It popularized Jazz, took it underground, made it more popular. (Nina laughs like Lauren Bacall.)
Q: Why have you waited so long to do an album?
A: You have to practise living long enough for the stories to be real…then you can sing the songs.
Q: Why did you choose to cover Don McLean’s “Vincent” ?
A: I have always loved Van Gogh’s paintings and the lyrics to “Vincent”.
It is a song about beauty misunderstood and madness. I felt there was
never enough space in Don’s or other people’s versions, to really do
the lyrics justice.
Q: When did you first start to sing?
A:
When I was 8 years old , I was being attacked by a drake (my
Grandmother kept geese) , instead of running hysterically away I stood
my ground and bellowed. He stopped in his tracks. He listened. Not a
discriminating audience but I had his attention.
Q: Who are your musical influences?
A: Such a long list… Vocalists I love: Nina Simone, Nina Hagen, Bessie
Smith, Peggy Lee, Rochelle Ferrell, Rosemary Clooney, Eartha Kitt, Jessye Norman, JoniMitchell, Rickie Lee Jones, KD Lang, Ruby Hunter, Pink, Tom Waits, Tony Bennett, Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell, Andrew & Niahm Strong, Aaron Neville, Sting, David Bowie, Bono, Angelique Kidjo, John Martyn…
Q: Favourite Car?
A: I’m not a fan of cars but I quite fancy George Clooney’s electric Tesler, almost as good as a gypsy caravan parked by a beach.
Q: How would you solve the Middle East?
A: Paratroop Reggae Bands into the area. Once Reggae takes hold, anger has
no hope. I heard Edward De Bono proffer a solution: just get Israel and
Palestine to vote in each other’s elections, that way they’d get
Governments that wouldn’t want to hurt their neighbour. Brilliant.
Q: Why do men start wars?
A: Creation Envy.
Q: They can’t give birth so they…
A: Create Havoc…Yes.
Q: Who are your Heroes?
A: The Lady with her shopping trolley of possessions who can still smile
at a stranger. Nelson Mandela, Hildegard de Bingen, Mother Theresa,
Arundhati Roy, Tim Flannery, David Suzuki, Bill Mollison, Fred Hollows, Victor Chan, Dr Ian Fraser.
Scientists , Inventors, Doctors, Politicians, Artists working for the
greater good. Anyone who volunteers their time in community. People who
can forgive. Indigenous Australians getting their voices heard, their
stories told, who are putting right the white wash of history. Lowitja
O’Donoughue and Archie Roach…
Q: Do you really keep carrier pigeons?
A: I breed them to send letters to people from the past.
Q: Did you ever hear back from anyone?
A: Yes I got a letter from Jesus saying ” Lord protect me from Religion”
Q: Your worst night’s sleep ever?
A: In a treasure Chest on a beach in The Seychelles after too much Absinthe.
Q: Was the treasure still in the chest?
A: I didn’t think so but when I got back to the boat someone noticed I had
an imprint of a gold dubloon on my back. I never found that beach
again.
Q: Pets?
A: I keep an un-caged Macaw that has been welcome
to leave for ten years. It sings Miriam Makeba’s Click song in the
Xhosa Language.
Q: Does it speak?
A: Yes it does an impersonation of Michael Caine in “The Italian Job”.
It stands next to the open cage and says
” You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off !”