Nigerians can easily make music – Cherita Brent

Cherita Brent, a famous African-American artiste, visited Africa for the first time, last month with members of her band Heart Society as part of the American Music Abroad program. She spoke to Weekend Magazine this homecoming and her work. Weekend Magazine: How did you get into music? Cherita Brent: I started playing music in church […]

Cherita Brent, a famous African-American artiste, visited Africa for the first time, last month with members of her band Heart Society as part of the American Music Abroad program. She spoke to Weekend Magazine this homecoming and her work.

Weekend Magazine: How did you get into music?

Cherita Brent: I started playing music in church at the age of eight. My mother is a piano player and a singer. One day the regular drummer was missing and my mother said, ‘baby I need beats. So, get on the drums.’ She just made me get on. Apparently, she knew in her heart that I was musically inclined because she had also been playing since she was six. She trusted me to get on and we’ve been playing together for 24 years now.

WM: What does that feel like?

Brent: Amazing. Even in my 30s, when I look at her on the piano, ‘I’m like that’s my mother.’ When I hear her sing, I tear up. I cry, I get emotional. We really, really do connect with music. I know where she’s going when she’s playing and she knows where I’m going when I play. She hates playing with other musicians. She’s like ‘I want my baby on the drums and that’s it.’ I think music has connected my mum and I, than I ever thought it would.

WM: What kind of songs do you do?

Brent: I play a lot of drums, I do R n B. Playing with Teneia in the band, I have been playing rock and folk but I love playing gospel, jazz. I listen to all kinds of music. I downloaded some Tanzanian music, some African playlist on my iPhone because as a musician, you can never stop learning.

WM: Do you sometimes feel the different genres that you play, conflict?

Brent: Maybe not conflict. I think my playing what I listen to, influences how I play it. Being here and learning African beats, when I get back to Mississippi, I am going to use some of those beats, maybe in the gospel music and it just turns out my pastor is Nigerian. He’s going to love it when I get back to church and I am playing Nigerian beats. I think as a musician it helps to be well vested in the different genres or in a bunch of genres; that way you can adjust, wherever you are. Sometimes Teneia and I may be playing rock or hip-hop beat and switch to jazz. That’s how it I playing with Nate my other band mate. As a musician it really does pay to have a wealth of knowledge when it comes to different genres.

WM: What did you know of Nigerian beats and music and what’s your appreciation of them?

Brent: I appreciate the feeling that comes along with Nigerian and African music. You may not have a full drum set, but if you have a tambourine, your hands and your feet they are going to make music. They create maximum sound with minimum instruments. In America, we’re privileged. We always have sound and a lot of big instruments. But when you get to Nigeria, if you have your body and your heart you can make music.

WM: You first visited Tanzania before Nigeria. What specifically did you learn with Tanzanian music and dance?

Brent: Complex time signatures and different rhythms. Typically, you have time signatures 4, 4 or 5, 4 or 6,8. When I was listening to the students in Tanzania play, they were doing some time signatures I wasn’t familiar with and I was struggling to count and keep up. I need to learn more. I thought I was a pretty decent knowledgeable musician, but I see now that I have a lot more to learn.

WM: What does music mean to you?

Brent: Music to me breaks barriers no matter what language you speak or what you look like. When you hear music, you feel it and you will find some kind of connection. There is a chance that it is hypnotic in a sense. Forget about all of your difference and you just connect through music.

WM: There are a lot of people who started out in church but have gone on to circular music. What has kept you singing gospel?

Brent: My mum makes me come to church, period! [Laughter]. It doesn’t matter where I am, when I get back, she’s going to ask, ‘are you coming to church, Sunday?’ I’m serious. So, I’ve been forced to church all my life but, I enjoy it. I enjoy playing with my mother because one day, mama won’t be here. So, I just look at it as quality time and enjoy it. I would not rather be anywhere else.

WM: Have you got other siblings doing music?

Brent: I have got a younger sister who is a dancer and a cosmetologist. This is all from my mum. I wrote a song for her recently and I am currently working on an album for her. I owe all of my musical influence to her from talent shows when I was little, she would accompany me on the piano sessions. She’s just been by my side, all the time.

WM: Nowadays people comment about musical lyrics being empty. Is this a view you share?

Brent: That is so true. I miss old school music when the lyrics were suggestive. Now, the music is just in your face, more disrespectful. I tell the story of when I was about to quite playing drums and performing before I met Teneia. She doles out original music. When I was playing, they were singing other people’s music. When I met Teneia, I was like ‘oh these are her personal testimonies. She’s telling her own stories and sharing her personal experiences.’ She inspired me to want to play again. So, lyrical content is so important. When you look inside yourself and at the things that are weighing you down, you can put them into music and in a way that other people can relate with.

WM: You were a part of the military band. How was that experience?

Brent: I was trying to go to college at 18 and heard that there was a military band. I also heard that they would pay for tuition and give a monthly allowance to be in the band. My mum said, ‘No, you’re not going because I don’t want you to go to war.’  They said to her, ‘she probably won’t go to war. She’ll be playing at parades.’ So, I joined. It taught me discipline, among everything else. I had to finish a three-month basic training which was complete hell. At the Navy School of Music, I learnt different genres. Even now people ask me if I am in the military. I guess because one has a certain disposition, people assume you have to be in the military to have that.

WM: Apart from your mum, who’s impacted on your music?

Brent: I am a huge fan of prince. It hurt me when he passed. I had recently seen him at a live concert. I saw his commitment in all the songs he wrote. But to see him live, how he went from bass, to the piano to the drums, was amazing. Prince seemed to me a very, very hard worker, as somebody who was committed to himself and not worried about what other people thought about him. He would come on stage and give his all. He made a huge difference for me from a musicianship and a showmanship stand point and personality.

WM: What do you consider your biggest goal yet to achieve music wise?

Brent: Coming to Africa! Just to have international exposure. Coming from Mississippi, you can imagine, we’re like in a hole. So, to get this exposure, and see that there are other things you could strive for as a musician and you can draw inspiration from, is wonderful. Ending up on late night tv playing with the band, playing at Coachella, at the Grammy are things we would like to accomplish. However, ultimately, it is impacting people.