If a musician is truly gifted, there comes a time when their music and career become not only legendary but iconic. Taj Mahal is one of those musicians. With more than 50 years in the music industry, he has garnered three Grammys, nine Grammy nominations and numerous screen, TV and composer credits.
If you are a fan of quality black films and remember the 1972 movie Sounder, then you have heard Taj Mahal. Mahal composed and wrote the entire soundtrack with traditional black rural “roots” music. The vinyl album is considered a collector’s item and fetches high prices.
But how do you define Taj Mahal’s music? A man, who sings, plays guitar, piano, harmonica and banjo can touch a wide variety of musical genres and he does. Mahal is a world traveler and a world musician. At a Mahal concert he will often start off with traditional West African Sukoos rhythms, then move to reggae, funk, and country and then the blues. Wherever he plays, the venue always sells out!
Mahal is one of the first generation of black artists who crossed over but never crossed out. He received the 1997 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album for Señor Blues, 2000 Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album for Shoutin’ in Key, 2006 Blues Music Awards Historical Album of the Year for The Essential Taj Mahal, 2008 Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album for Maestro.
Mahal is part of a rare breed of musical intellectuals. He has degrees in agriculture and an honorary Doctor of Humanities from Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. On Feb. 8, 2006, Mahal was designated the official Blues Artist of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Mahal calls the world home. He was born in Harlem, New York, in 1942, his mother migrated from South Carolina and she had a degree in early childhood education. His father’s people immigrated from St. Kitts around 1902. The family moved to the Springfield, Massachusetts, area for better jobs. But he also had family in the south Caribbean. His father was a composer and classically trained piano player. “In the tradition that the Caribbean people do, to allay prejudices they learn how to play classical music very well, then they go out and play their own music,” says Mahal. There was always music in his house.
At the age of 72 he is still going strong with a large family, busy concert schedule and a magnificent home in Hawaii. Rolling out spoke with Taj Mahal and asked questions not only about his career, but also about the collective state of the black community.
