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print thisGoapele stretches beyond genre labels
SINGER HAPPY TO LET MUSE LEAD HER TO NEW SOUNDS
By Andrew Gilbert
Special to the Mercury News
Goapele wants to keep you guessing.
Ever since the Oakland-raised vocalist made a splash in 2001 with her serene, self-produced EP ``Closer,'' the socially conscious soul singer has been hailed as an important new voice.
With its mix of smooth grooves and sensuous vocals, ``Even Closer,'' an expanded version of the EP released on her family-financed Skyblaze label, won Goapele a coterie of powerful supporters, including Prince, Magic Johnson, Stevie Wonder, the Roots and Talib Kweli. The title track rose to the top of radio playlists from San Francisco and Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., and Detroit, marking her as a significant force in a rootsy R&B movement that has been variously dubbed neo-soul and underground soul.
But with the release last year of her sophomore CD, ``Change It All,'' Goapele made it clear she wasn't carrying a banner for anyone but her own wayward muse. With influences ranging from Pink Floyd to Sade, the album is the work of an artist who is eager to explore wherever her ears take her. Goapele talked about her evolving sensibility in a recent interview over tea at Yoshi's, where she opens a five-night run today.
``As my perspective keeps changing and I see and experience more, it influences my music and where I'm willing to go,'' says Goapele (pronounced GWA-pa-lay) Mohlabane, who performs under her given name, which means ``to move forward'' in the South African language Tswana.
``I've always loved soul and jazz and blues and hip-hop, but with `Change It All' I started listening to more old funk, old rock and alternative music, just really dropping my assumptions about what my style is,'' she says. ``I opened my mind up more, and it kind of overflowed into my music. This album is a little different, but it was freeing for me.''
At 29, Goapele is a striking woman, with a model's high-cut cheekbones and luminous brown eyes. Unaffected and quick to laugh, she comes to music through her commitment to social justice. Indeed, political consciousness is her birthright, as her family heritage is one of flight and struggle. Her mother is the child of German Jews who fled the Nazis, and her father is South African. They met in Kenya, where she was helping start a school program and he was training with the African National Congress, a front-line organization in the fight against apartheid.
While much of her material explores familiar singer/songwriter tropes of love and relationships, Goapele's songs also reflect her belief that music can be a transformative agent. The melodic title track, built on an unadorned piano riff, makes a compelling musical case for activism's power to heal festering ills, locally and globally. Not that Goapele is a starry-eyed idealist. She and Skyblaze have launched a Web site, http://changeitall.org, that provides a forum for discussion on serious issues, such as connecting the dots between hip-hop's love of bling and the role that the ``blood'' diamond trade plays in supporting brutal militias in Sierra Leone.
In looking to expand her sonic possibilities on ``Change It All,'' Goapele sought out a new cast of collaborators, such as the production team Sa-Ra Creative Partners, who have worked with Jill Scott and Bilal; the Bay Area hip-hop producer Bedrock, best known for his work with Bay Area rapper E-40; and Linda Perry, the former Non-Blond whose second career as a first-call producer includes hits with Pink and Christina Aguilera. Goapele and Perry came together to create the album's most surprising track, ``Darker Side of the Moon,'' the luscious progressive rock anthem that closes the album.
With a national distribution deal with Sony, Goapele seems well on her way to gaining real national stature, a heartening sign that hustling artists can build a national reputation without leaving the Bay Area. But she didn't plan on launching her career at home. After graduating from Oakland's Skyline High School, Goapele made her way to Boston, where she spent three semesters studying at Berklee College of Music. She intended to move to Los Angeles or New York to continue the musical relationships she'd developed with fellow students, but a quick trip back home expanded as she quickly immersed herself in the local scene.
``Time just passed while I was trying to figure it all out,'' Goapele says. ``By the time I finished the `Closer' EP, my family was involved, helping me figure out how people were going to hear it, and how we could keep it from being manipulated. I had some family in New York and L.A., so I was able to make a lot of trips there without it costing too much. We just tried to do the best we could and not limit the vision.''
For her performances at Yoshi's, Goapele will be extending her musical sightlines in some soulful directions, mixing in songs associated with Nina Simone, Roberta Flack, Stevie Wonder and maybe Al Green along with her originals. When she talks about performing at the celebrated jazz spot, her eyes light up.
``I just watched Hugh Masekela here,'' she says. ``I missed Roy Hargrove but I caught Rachelle Ferrell and Me'shell Ndegéocello, and I saw Ledisi with Marcus Shelby -- that was just inspirational. I come to Yoshi's a lot, and I really appreciate that it's so intimate, that you can hear every breath and sound, so I can do even the most quiet songs and it can come off.''
If Goapele was hard to pin down before, she'll be permanently casting aside the neo-soul label if she starts adding jazz and blues to her repertoire. She doesn't seem that concerned about losing the label, as long as the audience gives her music a chance.
``I've been called so many things, and it's probably because I haven't chosen to give myself a title or category,'' Goapele says. ``Just listen with open ears and see what you can take from it.''
Goapele
When 8 and 10 p.m. today-Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m. Sunday
Where Yoshi's, Jack London Square, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland
Tickets $20-$24 (sold out)
Call (510) 238-9200, www.yoshis.com
