5 Questions with Cali
CALI P is as intentional as he is free-flowing when it comes to creating his musical projects. His latest, Vizion, is a collaborative album with Berlin producer TEKA, which was released on vinyl on January 28. The special edition is an intentional amalgamation of genres that reflect his migration to a more universal and cross-generational sound. Yet, his process remained organic and welcoming, evident when he recorded the song Hit Like Gunshot, which arose from the social issues Cali P observed worldwide while stuck in the Gambia in 2020 due to the travel restrictions of the pandemic.
The vinyl record bears 23 songs (inclusive of remixes) and five instrumentals. The Swiss and Guadeloupean reggae star delved into creating the project in this week’s Five Questions With.
1 A catalyst for ‘Vizion’ was your own vision to create a new sound. Do you have a name for this sound?
I don’t; I wasn’t even looking for a name. It’s just making good music and doing what I feel like. For me, it’s not to put myself in a box or genre or anything. I come from a sound system culture. It’s reggae music; it’s dancehall music – that’s what I represent for in the four corners of the world. But then again, I feel like we experiment as musicians. We are unlimited … It just so happened that I found a really good producer that gave me a sound of something that I feel could go into the future and build with in terms of quality and good music while still finding my roots in it.
2 What was your favourite part of working on the album?
Being in the studio in Berlin. I remember when TEKA and I started vibing in the studio, he told me, ‘Yo, Cali, put down the phone for just five minutes and let’s just listen to music and focus on that’. This clicked to me. I just put away the phone and didn’t take it up for the next three days, and then we had nine songs. That whole process of just writing, recording, and him being very quick in understanding my way of working… made it a good vibe.
3 Tell me more about working with TEKA.
The influence of the both of us working together is also bringing different worlds together. I personally can feel this very much in the outcome of Vizion, and how we made the videos and pictures because on my side, in my culture, we are in Jamaica, Africa and Guadeloupe. By recording in Berlin and having TEKA on board, we also wanted to show a next side of the two of us which is the Europe side. All the videos you’re seeing in the Vizion project were done around Berlin and Zürich to show a different thing, and it’s also part of the vision at the end of the day.
4 What made you decide to remix some of the songs?
We had recorded all our songs, and the album was done, and then we had a lot of time and space because we didn’t release the album right away. During that time, I spoke with different producers, TEKA spoke with different producers, and then all of a sudden, we got the idea that maybe it would be nice to still involve other musicians and producers for remixes… . For example, I was in Guadeloupe, where I recorded my dad (Marso) and other percussionists on certain songs. We recorded Addis Pablo, Augustus Pablo’s son, who did some nice melodica on some songs. I recorded a song with Shanique Marie, who is a friend of mine from the Equiknoxx family who I’ve worked with closely over the years, so it was really to involve more of the people in our circles on this nice project.
5 What’s next for the ‘Vizion’ project?
We’re just really concentrating on the vinyl. We did the remixes and also worked with a few people that do animation and artwork, creating designs and drawings, so we’re working with that, but the next step might maybe be an NFT, who knows. Maybe that’s also for a next musical project.