Tanita Tikaram

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: BusyBee Paul
Date: 11 May 10 - 08:14 AM

BWM - Yes he does and luckily I wasn't just "farting"!

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 May 10 - 07:59 AM

I was looking up the Coronation Street bit and found nowt about that. But I did find -

Tikaram is the great-nephew of Sir Moti Tikaram who was the first Lord Chief Justice of an independent Fiji and the world's longest serving national ombudsman.

Well I never!

I also seem to remember Tanita getting some stick at the hands of one of the popular satire shows but can't remember which one.

Cheers

DeG

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 11 May 10 - 07:43 AM

I always loved her rendition of the Stevie Smith poem Not Waving But Drowning

http://www.casttv.com/video/l5d58k/tanita-tikaram-not-waving-but-drowning-video

Nobody heard him, the dead man
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving, but drowning

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way
They said

O no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 May 10 - 02:34 PM

Awright. Very cool. ;-) I'd love to have seen her do a live show.

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 10 May 10 - 02:32 PM

I used to like Tanita a lot. So much so that I even went to see her live at the Manchester Apollo, where she gave a superb performance, with no sign whatsoever of being off-pitch.

Trivia: Tanita always started her shows by playing a recording of the 'Coronation Street' theme

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 10 May 10 - 08:33 AM

BBP - does your boss know you're farting around on Mudcat instead of working? :-)

TBE - Your store of knowledge of soaps exceeds mine by one fact! :-)

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 10 May 10 - 08:24 AM

Tanita Tikaram is the sister of Ramon, famous for not only playing a gay biker in This Life but right now for playing a homophobic thug whose daughter accidentally married a gay Muslim in EastEnders. Versatile eh? Here endeth my knowledge of TV soaps.

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 May 10 - 08:21 AM

She may have trouble staying on pitch, I don't know....I've not seen her performing live aside from a few videos on Youtube which I watched in the last 24 hours. Any takes she did for the recordings would have been done until they eliminated that problem, naturally, and got a good final result.

I find her voice very expressive, with strong emotional content, and I can hear all the notes just fine. The melodies are good. Anyone else could sing those melodies in their own voice, and they would find nothing to complain about, so if someone doesn't like her voice that's just a matter of personal taste.

I've never liked Rod Stewart's voice much, for example, but I know a lot of people love it. I like Bob Dylan's voice (most of the time), and many people don't. So there's no accounting for tastes, is there?

I liked the 2nd album Tanita did best. There's some wonderful stuff on it.

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: BusyBee Paul
Date: 10 May 10 - 08:13 AM

Ramon Tikaram (thank you Google!), actor, brother of Tanita.

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: TopcatBanjo
Date: 10 May 10 - 04:50 AM

"Wasn't she the sister of Someone-Who-Was-Famous-For-Fifteen-Minutes in the pop-music world?"

I thought she was the sister of the nice-looking bloke with long hair who turned up in the TV prog This Life playing the bisexual bike courier?

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: Nick
Date: 10 May 10 - 03:57 AM

I liked her first album.

I watched her singing live though and she had huge difficulty singing in tune which is disappointing and something you tend to expect.

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 10 May 10 - 03:56 AM

"A twist also means to add some extra flavor to something...such as putting a twist of lime in your drink, for example. Sobriety means "the quality or state of being sober".
I think it probable, given the rest of the lyrics in the song, that what she means is, she is speaking of the person she is addressing in the song...she is indicating that she's taking a break from various emotional entanglements with said person (or just generally)...that's the sobriety she is practicing... and that said person's emotional effect on her now is about equivalent to a twist of lime or lemon in her drink that she is choosing not to drink anymore in the first place."

Yeah, I read it as "you're nothing more than a passing sexual fling or moment of excitement" - no doubt she's discussed it publicly at some point, but I don't recall what she's said herself about it - though as said, it would appear she's referring to a woman. Anyhoo, that particular lyric received a great deal of attention at the time. But you're right, at least Tanita actually thinks about her lyrics. I think my favourite lyricist is Momus for his subversive wit - there's an extremely underrated artist.

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 10 May 10 - 03:21 AM

Wasn't she the sister of Someone-Who-Was-Famous-For-Fifteen-Minutes in the pop-music world? Can't remember who, but I seem to remember that's how she was touted in the first place.

I found her voice as monotonous as hell - that low-register singing sounded very contrived and uncomfortable - and she was almost as bad a 'mover' as me, but her songs were of pretty decent quality.

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 10 May 10 - 02:47 AM

I loved this... not as much as Twist in my Sobriety but!!!

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: alanabit
Date: 10 May 10 - 12:39 AM

I liked her back then. She had a superb band and her first couple of albums were beautifully produced by Rod Argent (he of The Zombies and Argent). There were two unforgettable songs on her second album: "It All Came Back Today" and "Little Sister Leaving Town". The former is probably the most moving account of how memory can suddenly swallow you that I have yet heard in a song. I expected great things to come from Tanita Tikaram, but it seems that she herself had other plans. She is now a woman in her mid forties, so I hope all the normal things a woman might want came her way. Maybe I should get the needle fixed on the record player and get out the vinyl again!

Subject: RE: Tanita Tikaram
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 May 10 - 10:42 PM

A twist also means to add some extra flavor to something...such as putting a twist of lime in your drink, for example. Sobriety means "the quality or state of being sober".

I think it probable, given the rest of the lyrics in the song, that what she means is, she is speaking of the person she is addressing in the song...she is indicating that she's taking a break from various emotional entanglements with said person (or just generally)...that's the sobriety she is practicing... and that said person's emotional effect on her now is about equivalent to a twist of lime or lemon in her drink that she is choosing not to drink anymore in the first place.

Beautifully put, I think.   

My exposure to Tanita was the exact opposite to yours, Crow Sister. I live in Canada. She got virtually no promotion at all in North America as far as I know. There was just one song that got on the radio here in the late 80's...it was "Twist In My Sobriety"...and I would hear it every now and then for about a year, but I couldn't find out who it was, and no one else seemed to know. The DJs, furthermore, usually couldn't seem to even pronounce her name nor quote the title of the song accurately....and that didn't help me to find out who she was either. I finally managed to track down the info and get a copy of her first album and I thought it was just remarkable.

You see...when something is really scarce, you appreciate it a lot more. ;-)

I thought "Twist In My Sobriety" was one of the most interesting and subtle songs I'd ever heard in my life at the time, and I still think so. Nobody else sounds like her. Nobody else writes lyrics like she does. And the music has classical overtones, which is really refreshing in a world of mostly just the same old predictable pop music.

It's not easy to market someone like Tanita Tikaram in North America, because our media has very little interest in ever showcasing anything subtle. They want Brittney Spears or Madonna here. It was quite clear that the local DJs had no comprehension of what Tanita Tikaram's song was about, they were just playing a "hit" that had crossed over from the UK and was accordingly on their playlist. I'm not surprised she did better in the UK and Europe.

Lox : Yeah, those 2 are favorites of mine. I really like "Only the Ones We Love".

Subject: RE: BS: Tanita Tikaram
From: Arkie
Date: 09 May 10 - 07:13 PM

I find a lot of male and female singers voices sound so much alike that they are hardly recognizable. Tanita does have a distinctive voice and one that appeals to me. I have not heard many of her recordings but did like the songs "Only the Ones We Love" and "Harm in Your Hands".

Subject: RE: BS: Tanita Tikaram
From: Lox
Date: 09 May 10 - 06:46 PM

Hey little Hawk,

The 2 tunes I reckon you ought to check out are ...

First

But even better - her best song in my opinion ...

This one!!

Subject: RE: BS: Tanita Tikaram
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 May 10 - 06:39 PM

Pedantry Alert: There ain't no such thing as "very unique", Little Hawk. (One of my little pets)

Subject: RE: BS: Tanita Tikaram
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 09 May 10 - 06:03 PM

Sorry LH, I had to endure Tina being promoted at the best thing since sliced bread during my teens! Never could cope with that monotone vocal of hers - but I do recall the French & Saunders sketch vividly! Othrwise, s a performer, she's alrite, if she's worthy of a piss take by the inimitable F&S, she must be anyway!

Subject: RE: BS: Tanita Tikaram
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 09 May 10 - 05:56 PM

Twist means Sister or Girlfriend - in case anyone's curious :)

Subject: RE: BS: Tanita Tikaram
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 May 10 - 05:40 PM

Here she is doing "Good Tradition" at age 18, backed up by Tom Waites' band:

Good Tradition

Subject: RE: BS: Tanita Tikaram
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 May 10 - 05:33 PM

Heh! They seem to have focused on a number of noticeable aspects of Tanita in that skit. ;-)

I can easily explain what "twist in my sobriety" means. But I doubt that anyone except me and a very few other people (who probably aren't here right now anyway) really want to know.

It's easier to just focus on lyrics that are literal and dead obvious, after all, isn't it? This explains much of what one hears on the radio.

Subject: RE: BS: Tanita Tikaram
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 09 May 10 - 05:15 PM

Ohhh, Tanita!
I Did O'Level Poetry...

Subject: RE: BS: Tanita Tikaram
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 May 10 - 05:02 PM

Dang! It isn't a BS thread, it's a music thread. Somebody please move it upstairs.

Subject: BS: Tanita Tikaram
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 May 10 - 05:01 PM

Here's a singer from the late 80's-early 90's whose records I love. She's got a very unique voice and style, and very interesting lyrics too. Check out the video.

"World Outside Your Window" - Tanita Tikaram