check it out, nicely written, from a malaysian newspaper:
http://www.star-ecentral.com/news/story.asp?file=/2008/11/23/music/2615404&sec=musicFor a while, this half-Malaysian singer was a bright spark in the music world but fame was never a priority for the individualistic singer.It's easy to dismiss the 1980s as a decade of cold, synthy music, certainly when compared with the sheer vibrancy of the late 1960s and 70s. However, some of the warmest voices I ever heard emerged in the 80s. Indeed, I dare say that having grown up with Suzanne Vega and Tracy Chapman, I feel more of an affinity to their music than I do to that of icons like Joni Mitchell or Carole King.
Another talented artiste who made a massive breakthrough in the 80s (if only to make an immediate, and permanent, home amidst the ranks of singers with a small cult following) was Tanita Tikaram. You may not remember this half-Malaysian, half-Fijian lass who was born in Germany and grew up in Basingstoke, England, but I recall a time when her music reigned in college dormitories.
Tikaram (whose brother Ramon also enjoyed fleeting fame as an actor, playing alongside Sarita Chaudhary and Naveen Andrews in Kama Sutra) was a teenage prodigy. Her debut album Ancient Heart (1988), recorded in and around the time she was doing her A-Levels, is, in fact, the masterpiece she is most remembered for.
Combining a deep, world-weary voice with erudite lyrics and lush melodies, Tikaram burst onto the scene with a collection of songs which still ranks among her finest.
From the dark, brooding Twist in My Sobriety to the joyous, violin-driven singalong Good Tradition, the incisive Valentine Heart and the inspired World Outside Your Window, the album showed a confident girl who arrived immediately with a voice that transcended her influences.
Co-produced by keyboard legend Rod Argent (who, as a member of The Zombies, penned Time of the Season), the album was intimate and warm, and won her a legion of fans.
Ancient Heart sold over three million copies worldwide and nearly found a place atop the UK album charts, but Tikaram was never cut out for fame. Despite threatening to become an MTV favourite with her innovative videos, her determination to work on her own terms soon resulted in an almost deliberate “toning down” of her career.
Even though her second album The Sweet Keeper contained gorgeous moments like Little Sister Leaving Town and It All Came Back Today, it was widely dismissed as a disappointment in comparison to Ancient Heart.
Unabashed, Tikaram produced Everybody’s Angel (1991) and Eleven Kinds of Loneliness (1992) in quick succession. Unforgettable songs like Only the Ones We Love, Deliver Me and Love Don’t Need No Tyranny seemed to fall on deaf ears, and the talented young lady, still only in her early 20s, took a break to travel the world.
A sojourn in San Francisco saw her make a cameo in 1994’s lesbian flick Erotique, but she made it clear she was not going to follow her brother into the movie world.
Lovers in the City, her 1995 “comeback”, saw Tikaram with more “hip” backing grooves to the almost uniformly excellent material. However, even though it was clearly her best album since Ancient Heart, it seemed like her erstwhile fans weren’t keen to ride the Happy Taxi with her!
Since that time, Tikaram has been particularly low-key. Besides the odd guest appearance, she’s cut The Cappuccino Songs (1998) and Sentimental (2005) albums, but has mainly concentrated on living life on her own terms, in London.
It remains to be seen if this talented artiste, now aged 39, will ever regain her footing, but she’s already crafted enough gems to be worth chasing after.
Martin Vengadesan, a music lover and history buff, combines his two passions in his fortnightly column. If you have any interesting stories you want him to research, do drop him a line.
