Aumia Khundker in conversation with R&B superstar Akon
When Trouble (2004) first hit the airwaves, the world recognised the star in Aliaune Damala Akon Thiam. The album and its many memorable singles quickly pushed him into the spotlight from where he has reigned at the top of the charts, broken records and worked with the likes of Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Whitney Houston and the legendary Michael Jackson.
The celebrity arrived in Dhaka to set the mood for the ICC T20 World Cup opening ceremony and fortunately found some time in his tightly packed schedule to meet the press. One could tell that the press conference was arranged at short notice. The handful of reporters and photographer who did manage to show up found their time well invested when Akon, in his pristine white shirt, finally walked in.
‘I’m always excited about performances’ said the chart-topping star,‘it’s a small show though, just me and my DJ. I’ll be the underdog there,’ he grinned as his audience protested. ‘You’ll get the complete experience when I do a full show next time,’ he reassured us. On being asked about his opinion on Bangladesh Akon, unsurprisingly, raved about the cuisine. ‘The food is amazing. In my opinion that is very important. The first thing you want to know about when you go somewhere new is the food.’ However, the traffic here is another story. ‘I wouldn’t’t drive my Ferrari here,’ he joked as the room broke into laughter. The star further confessed that his knowledge of cricket was piteous. ‘I’m so embarrassed! But I’m learning. I still don’t know all the rules; you can’t catch it all in one day!’
Akon was brought up in Senegal until the age of seven after which his family moved to New Jersey. He feels that his Senegalese heritage is an advantage for him with regards to music. ‘I feel that I was able to add some ethnic melodies to hip-hop and that gave my songs an international feel. I listen to all kinds of music; I don’t put music in one particular box or try to contain myself within one particular genre. In fact, no matter which country you go to, you will find, in their charts, a song with me in it!’ he exclaimed. The hip-hop star also spoke fondly about his family, who he said was always very supportive. ‘My father was a jazz musician and my mother was a dancer.’ Growing up surrounded by the arts, music was more of a hobby for him. ‘I never expected it to become my career.’
When asked what inspires his music, the artist cited his life as what motivates and informs his lyrics and compositions. ‘My experiences are the essence of my work,’ he said. ‘These days I travel a lot so those experiences often become the topic. Travelling opened me up.’ He explained how this is evident in the progression of his career. ‘When I started out the themes of my songs were much darker, paralleling the situation I was in during those times.’ As he started to become more successful, the songs became less intense and lighter. Quite evidently, as he claimed, experience is an essential part of his music. ‘From Konvicted to Stadium’ he quipped with a witty reference to the titles of his albums corresponding with the events of his life.
‘Being locked up was a turning point in my life.’ For it to serve as a reminder, Akon has named most of his work with a particular theme – Konvicted (his second album), Konvict Music (his record label), Konvict Clothing (his clothing line). ‘It serves as two things. First it reminds me of how it all started and second, it reminds me of the position I do not want to be in.’ He views this as a positive thing, he explained.
Although the talented artist can play several instruments including guitar, djembe and drums to name a few, Akon hardly ever performs with them. ‘I am more of a percussionist,’ he said. ‘You’re right, I’m not seen playing instruments that often and perhaps it is because I do not want to be perceived as a musician.’ He believes that playing an instrument is at times restricting because it ‘makes one too much of a musician’. For him music is more about enjoying, ‘I like to have fun with it. My music speaks for itself so I don’t feel that it is necessary for me to perform with an instrument. However, in spite of what he said, the RnB artist gave Dhaka a taste of his percussive talents on the night of the show. We like to think that was special treat just for us.
Next, we grilled the man about his musical ambitions. Having achieved critical and commercial success in music, what’s next for Akon? ‘I have achieved my musical dream,’ he said, ‘it was to be able to one day work with Michael Jackson.’ Although he feels bad that he missed the opportunity to perform with the King of Pop in the This Is It concerts (which he would have been a part of), he still considers himself lucky to at least have been able to work with him. According to the Grammy-nominated artist, the duo had even planned on working on a project together which involved making entertainment universities in Africa. ‘I would still like to move forward with those plans eventually.’
As an artist who says that he has already achieved his musical dream, Akon is now moving on to making films. The upcoming project that his team is working on is called Rise up. ‘We think that Africans and Asians have a great talent in telling stories,’ he told us, ‘I want to take that up to Hollywood.’
On asking him whether he would consider collaborating with Bangladeshi artists, he happily replied, ‘Absolutely.But with whom? That is the more important question,’ he laughed. He seemed very enthusiastic about releasing a full album in Bangladesh. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said, ‘this will happen.’ Just about then, a voice in the crowd, presumably a car enthusiast, piped in, ‘What is your favourite car right now? ‘The Tesla,’ he answered immediately. ‘It is an electric car and it is amazing! I once had someone in a Lamborghini race me and I actually caught up with it in the Tesla. I was shocked! I mean, of course it eventually beat me, but for an electric car to be able to keep up was just amazing.’
With his friendly attitude and easy-going demeanour, Akon left us with a satisfied impression. He appeared to be honoured and excited at the invitation to participate in the opening ceremony. ‘To be so far away from home and get this amount of support from my fans here is a fantastic feeling. I appreciate it very much.’