For the curious
Charlotte Adigéry
Who are you and what are you doing right now?
I am Charlotte Adigéry, as far as I know! I make music, I tell stories and try to portray life through my eyes in all of the roles: as a black woman, as a Belgian-Carribean individual, etc. Right now I am in my car in Belgium recording this interview waiting to go on a tv show, haha. And probably more interesting: right now we're finishing our debut album!
Can you tell us a little about your history as a music maker and creative thinker.
My mom is a singer as well so music was always very present in our household. Music has always been a way to communicate for me: with my mom in a playful way but also later in life. At one point I was tired of trying to fit in the society, constantly looking for my place - while I knew music was what I wanted to do. It's not an easy choice but it was my choice and I decided to really explore that to the fullest. My mom was there throughout the full journey, supporting me in all of my choices. I started to do some backing vocals, studio sessions and what not. Around the age of 23 I wanted to make something myself so I started making my own music: very much a hit and miss type of approach, learning the ropes while playing around. I've been working on two projects ever since: WWWater, which started as my graduation project - I studied music - and then the project under my own name with Bolis Pupul under the wings of Stephen and David Dewaele (DEEWEE, Soulwax, 2manydj's).
French-Belgian-Caribbean, how do these different cultures influence your music?
It gives me a rich mixture of inspiration to dig out of. It's a lot of fun! Ironically, my mixed background and complex story made me very insecure as a child and now turns out to be a very rich and inspirational part of who I am. I started to consciously dig into that and write from the perspective of all of these roles, from all of these heritages. I write in English, in French, in Créole, maybe one day in Dutch, who knows! My Carribean music influences also seep through: rhythms, styles and so on. Plus: the intuitive approach to music, using music as a ways to communicate, that's very Carribean to me and the way I was brought up.
For the last 18 months we have been listening to 1,618 at least once a week - what does the name refer to?
Haha, I've seen my streams go up! Thank you for listening. It refers to the golden ratio, the perfect ratio that you can find everywhere in nature and beauty. It's my cynical way of finding beauty in imperfection, as I say in the song: " Have a look at my asymetrical face, admire my asymetrical gaze". That's real beauty, it's way more interesting than symmetry to me.
When did you become interested in meditation and what do you gain from it. How often do you meditate and do you follow a practise or method?
It's been a long journey! I remember going to the library as a 14 15-something year old and I remember an artist - I think it was Sting actually? - who said he was a buddhist. I ended up loaning some books about buddhism and that was a very interesting discovery. It felt very liberating. At that age, I was completely identifying with my thinking and felt very restless so being able to broaden the confinement of my brain really helped a lot. Through friends I then got into Edgar Tolle and that really changed my life - I know it sounds dramatic, but it's true. It took me quite a while to really dedicate my time and efforts towards it, it requires dedication, but I always felt it did a lot for me personally which is why I persevered. Now I do it twice a day and I feel closer to myself, I feel more present (not all the time, but more often) and feel like I'm living life more consciously. I always say your head and your thinking is the attic, but then you have the whole house underneath... so every now and then you need to go down and check out what the rest of the house has to offer. I do transcendental meditation - David Lynch has a couple of really interesting videos about it if you want to learn more about it. It's about transcending your conscious mind and going into your subconscious mind and also emptying your emotional luggage that you carry with you everywhere.
What podcasts, albums, exhibitions or books are currently inspiring you?
"Grand Hotel Europe" by Ilja Leonard Pfeiffer. Very interesting book about Europe is very much clinging to its past and is not as relevant as we as Europeans tend to believe. In terms of music I'm very much into the soundtrack for High Maintenance - I got into the series since they featured a song of ours (Paténipat) on their last season and I absolutely fell in love with the entire series including the soundtrack. Lots of greats discoveries in there! The last podcast I listened to was the talk between Louis Theroux and Michaela Coel which was really inspiring - I also adored This May Destroy You. "Invisibilia" is also on my to-listen-to list and Heavyweight is probably my favorite podcast ever. A series that I'm currently binging is "How To With John Wilson".
What’s next for you?
You'd have to ask Corona! I don't know... but what we would like to do is release our record and tour the world.. In the meantime I'll meditate and accept what's coming.
Tell us about something?
I really like flowers.
Tell us about nothing?
Sometimes when you don't know the answer to something, just be silent and it will come to you. Silence holds all the answers and all the frequencies so sometimes it can be an answer.