Impromptu cell phone recordings available on iTunes.
Saidah Baba Talibah will launch her new video, 'Place Called Grace', at the Gladstone Hotel on Aug. 5.
Photo/KEVIN JONES
Leslieville resident Saidah Baba Talibah's first music video is anything but typical, which is only fitting given the unusual set of circumstances around the song's creation.
The video is for 'Place Called Grace,' one of the tracks off her EP 'The Phone Demos.' As implied by the album's name, the album was recorded exclusively on Baba Talibah's cell phone while in a writing session with collaborator Donna Grantis.
The pair made an off-the-cuff decision to record their writing session, but the cell phone was the only means of doing so at their disposal.
"I wasn't trying to be groundbreaking; it was totally by fluke," she said. "I recorded it and then realized I could make mp3s of it. When I played it for people at a party, they said, 'I would buy that.'"
Because of the unusual recording method, the songs on The Phone Demos are not polished or mixed, which gives them a lo-fi feeling reminiscent of early recordings. Once she heard the tracks, however, Baba Talibah was hooked.
"It was the vibe that caught me," she said. "It reminded me a bit of old blues recordings where it's about the vibe you get as much as the sound."
Baba Talibah's career began at a young age. The daughter of famed singer and actress Salome Bey, she was born into a performer's life under the tutelage of an established star who nurtured her talents.
"My career started in my mother's womb," she said. "She was pregnant with me when she was doing Broadway shows, so I was her little dancer."
Baba Talibah studied at the Claude Watson School for the Arts and Earl Haig Secondary School, focusing more on the acting and visual arts side of the arts spectrum, but she maintained a busy schedule with her powerful voice.
She was a member of the innovative independent band Blaxam in the 1990s and has served as a backup singer for a long list of artists including Redman, k-os, Jully Black, Andy Kim and Johnny Reid. She has also worked as a backup singer on Canadian Idol.
Finally recording her own material - a full-length studio album will follow The Phone Demos in the near future - Baba Talibah is living her dream.
"The full-length album will be polished and it'll include what's normally on stage for my stage shows: keys, drums, guitar, a cello, a tuba, a violin, and I sometimes have some horns playing along," she said. "I've always had this dream of building a mini-soul-rock orchestra."
Right now, however, she is promoting The Phone Demos, the tracks for which are available on iTunes. While the response has been mostly positive, Baba Talibah noted that there have been some who have failed to grasp exactly what she was doing when she made the impromptu decision to record the EP armed with just her voice, a guitar and a cell phone.
"When I said 'it's a phone demo,' I don't think some people believed me," she said. "People are waiting for the drums to kick in. I think we've been affected by the polish of music today."
Baba Talibah is also enjoying life in her Leslieville neighbourhood, where she settled a few years ago after growing up in the St. Clair Avenue and Bathurst Street area.
She said the area suits her personality perfectly, and she loves the convenience of having everything she needs nearby.
"I love the fact that the area is growing and there's all these little boutique places everywhere," she said. "Being on Queen East is leagues away from Queen West and I like the low-key, laid-back vibe you get being in the east end."
Baba Talibah will premiere her first video, 'Place Called Grace' at the Gladstone Hotel at 9 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 5.
For more information, or to download tracks, visit www.sbtmusic.com