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"What would you later wish you had done now?"

THE FIVE LIFE LESSONS FROM TAMINO

1. Don't compromise

'How much of human life is lost in waiting?' Ralph Waldo Emerson once wondered. Especially when you are young, you have to go for your desires and ambitions. You have to dare to dream and dare to make those dreams come true. It prevents you from regretting all the lost opportunities one day. So regularly imagine how you will look back later today: what do you wish you had done now? And then do that. That is why I am now taking a break from my education at the conservatory in Amsterdam to concentrate completely on my music. If I continued to combine both, I would do everything half – then I would only be half a version of myself.'

2. There is no such thing as wasted love

‘Love makes life and without love nothing matters. So don't be afraid to love. There are things you can only learn about yourself by allowing someone else into the most intimate places of your heart. It fascinates me how something so abstract and elusive is the most beautiful thing that can happen in a human life.'

3. Take stick insects as pets

'Walking branches are simply the best insects on earth: it is a branch and it walks. I find that incredibly funny. A friend of mine once had it in a jar. When I visited him, I always thought they were fantastic to watch. The next stick insect I come across, I'll take it with me.'

4. What you radiate, you get back

'When you face life with confidence, things fall into place faster than if you are guided by fear. People are also less likely to walk all over you. The same goes for the stage. Since I'm a bit more sure of myself, I'm able to get my music across better. If you have an idea of who you are, you attract the right things. It's pretty crazy how that works.'

5. Put the screen away and grab a book more often, unless you're reading on your tablet

'There is so much to get out of books… I also enjoy film, but I rarely feel that a film has an impact longer than the day I saw it. A book, on the other hand, can stay with me for years. Palace of Desire by Nagieb Mahfouz, for example, tells a sad, but very beautiful story about how some things are simply not predestined, something that doesn't have to be a bad thing, because then other things can happen.'

'The collection of short stories Mirrors of the soul by Kahlil Gibran is also inspiring. Gibran's romance is anything but naive. He uses romance as a protest against a cruel, indifferent world. What Charles Bukowski has written seems to be the opposite of romance, but somewhere under the drink and his walk from one woman to another, I think a romantic soul was hidden. I read his work as an investigation into that kind of life – although I don't want to copy his lifestyle at all (laughs).'

INES MINTEN

Tamino is a singer, guitarist and pianist. He was one of the three winners of De Nieuwe Lichting by Studio Brussel. His first single, 'Habibi', is a hit on radio and internet. His first EP will be released in May. He will present them in AB (15 and 16/5), in Trix (26/5) and at Rock Werchter (30/6).

“Fame is dangerous if you’re going to look for your self-worth in it”

When Tamino's second album Sahar comes out on Friday, he will be on tour in the United States. Ticket sales are going well, and also in Europe many venues are gradually becoming too small for the Antwerper. "I briefly enjoyed the illusion that I was living a normal life."

By Inge Schelstraete Photos Aleksei Benuchi Saturday September 17, 2022 at 3.25 am

Sahar is the moment just before dawn, but we meet in a sunny café garden. Birds are chirping on the interview tape; the moment carries as much promise as the dawn, and Tamino (25) is zen. “The weather is nice, I've had a good summer, I'm looking forward to the album that’s coming out and I’m standing with a more assured heart in the buzz that’s about to come in comparison with last time."

More assured than before your debut? You were the pinnacle of self confidence back then. "It just seemed that way. I never cared much about what others expected of me. In elementary school I had super long hair for which I was laughed at every day. It did hurt, probably, but not enough to cut it. In that way, I wasn't worried about the first record, but the buzz around it did overwhelm me."

Wasn't Pukkelpop a boost? The Marquee was in ecstasy, you on the other hand looked more surprised than triumphant. "It had been three years since we performed in Belgium. The response from the public was overwhelming. Partially it was also the collective gratitude that it was possible again; listening to music, together, with a lot of people. We had played one concert before that, in Istanbul. It didn't go as smoothly as it did a few years ago, but we knew that beforehand. But it was a fantastic audience and it was nice to feel that connection with them."

When the record comes out, Tamino will be back in North America, with fifteen solo performances in Canada and in the US. "It’s lovely! I'm happy to be able to celebrate the release by performing. I'm going to embrace that. It's very exciting: it's a dream to go there. I wasn't the kind of kid who dreamed of America, although a lot of things I thought were pretty or cool came from there. And the shows are going great as well, some are already sold out."

"Also, in Europe we notice that in some cities we have to start thinking about larger venues. The European shows sold out really fast; it’s time to start thinking bigger."

Belgians tend to think too small rather than too big. We don't go further than our wallet allows us to but we often miss the momentum because of that. "It's funny, I'm surrounded by Western Flemish: PJ (Maertens), one of our producers, Ruben (Vanhoutte) the drummer and Floris our monitor man. I notice that, with them, this is often not the case. They’re really hard workers and not easily satisfied. I already noticed that with Filip Tanghe, Balthazar's sound engineer. He helped us a lot at the beginning of our career. It could always be better."

You also see that with Stromae: don't settle for 'good enough'. "The Belgian music scene is doing very well for that matter. Everyone appreciates quality and also invests in that. This should be self-evident, but even big international bands sometimes come here without a sound or light engineer. They even tour without a sound table. Can you believe that? In my opinion, you notice that quality difference on festivals where Belgian bands perform between international bands. They’re just… better. Bands that play a lot at festivals, like Oscar and the Wolf or Bazart, definitely have that mentality of 'it's allowed to be a bit extra.'"

Angèle His biggest fan was on stage at Pukkelpop: Colin Greenwood, also Radiohead's bassist, encouraged the audience to applaud longer. The two have mutual friends in Antwerp; when they came, in group, to his performance at the Rivierenhof, Tamino and Greenwood became acquainted. Shortly after, the bassist started performing with him. Is he a permanent member of Tamino's band now?

"We've never had another bass player, so I'd say he is. He played on the first record, on seven out of ten songs on Sahar and has toured with us a lot. I don't know if he will be able to tour with us this fall though: Nick Cave has asked him for his own tour. It’s not a sure thing yet but Cave's bassist is ill. It will depend on his health whether Colin will tour with us, but we’ve already arranged a replacement for the fall."

That must have been difficult? "(laughs) To be honest, I thought it was really cool. Our bassist, who is already the bassist from Radiohead, will play with Nick Cave; it’s an okay reference. I'm already very honored by everything we've been able to do together."

Angèle sings with you on 'Sunflower', how did that collaboration come about? "She invited me a year ago to get to know each other and to write something together. I went home with a very good feeling back then. "Sunflower" is inspired by a Greek myth about a nymph who falls in love with the sun God Helios and turns into a sunflower by constantly looking up at him longingly. I made up an extra character: an ordinary boy who is in love with her and starts taking care of her. I thought there was something tragicomic about that: they both want something that they can't reach and the better he takes care of her, the more she grows away from him. Someone had to embody that flower and I thought of her because I knew our voices sounded beautiful together. I'm also comfortable with her, which is important when you place another voice on your song."

"I'm an overthinker. That even worsens on tour: it is one chain of plain days with extreme peaks in the evening. You create a certain pattern that you feel in your body and of which I don't know if it's very healthy"

But in your first group you were a 'little dictator' who even wrote down the drum and bass lines. How much do you direct someone who has to sing? "That wasn't necessary at all with her. She has an immensely crazy lyrics-empathy. As soon as she puts on her headphones, she's totally in the zone. For me, it takes longer. Especially in a clinical setting, like a studio. She also works hard: she came back from New York, where she had performed on Madison Square Garden with Dua Lipa. She was jet lagged, but she immediately made time to get to the studio. In a few hours, she tinned it and went to sleep. People underestimate pop stars sometimes because they have the feeling that pop hits are being forced on them and that they haven't discovered those themselves. But there's a reason why Angèle is where she is."

Grieving an idol In 2018 and 2019, Tamino was omnipresent, but with the lockdowns, he disappeared from sight. His last performance was in the Masonic Lodge in Los Angeles: a fake-Egyptian temple on Hollywood Forever; the graveyard where Fay Wray, the gangster Bugsy Siegel as well as surf-guitarist Dick Dale are buried. “A very nice place. We had two sold out shows there. We were able to do the first one, but the venue was half empty because so many people were scared. That's the moment we knew; it's over."

He returned to Antwerp. "At first, I relaxed. I enjoyed being at home and enjoyed the illusion that I was living a normal life. I've read a lot: it keeps me healthy, especially on tour. I can really escape in a book. What else… certainly not cooking, but I can make a top 10 of the best takeaway restaurants in Antwerp. And I got my driver's license. Passed on the first try!"

And you learned to play the oud, the eleven-stringed Arabic lute. Did that mean playing until your fingers bled?" "An oud has nylon strings and they are a little nicer for your fingers than guitar strings. But several hours a day. I took lessons, because an oud requires a lot of technique. I felt respect and the need to learn it the right way. It is a hierarchical world; oud masters are highly regarded. But it's never been my ambition to become a virtuoso on any instrument."

Would you have found the time for it without the pandemic? "I think I would’ve enforced that time. I was very happy that I was allowed to go home. (laughs) It was time to gain other impressions. It was a really bizarre switch: from performing every day, to sitting at home and doing absolutely nothing at all. But the drive came back naturally. After two or three weeks, I started to feel like making things again and songs came. A lot of songs."

Was a rediscovery of the ordinary life also a part of that? In 'Fascination' you say to someone: 'I always needed bigger words.' Do you think you live too much inside your head? "Definitely. I’m an overthinker, and a little too indifferent towards the little things in life. This worsens if you are in an extreme situation, like a tour: it's one chain of plain days with extreme peaks in the evening. You create a certain pattern that you feel in your body. I don't know if that pattern is very healthy."

You don't like that people think that all songs are about yourself. "When you write a song, you hope that people can place something in it that’s important in their lives. I too like having some background info on songs though. For example: I read Leonard Cohen's biography last year. But you can't dissect songs from needle to thread. Sometimes that background information is also disappointing. Kahlil Gibran, the author of The Prophet, has always been a great inspiration. He was an idol of mine in my teenage years. But as I get older, I find it more difficult to have idols. You realize that everyone has their flaws. About Gibran; I now know that he felt a constant battle: people saw him as the prophet from his book and he didn't want that, but he did have divatraits and a messiah complex. He also had a drinking problem and didn't treat people all too well."

MeToo has also made it clear that there are no heroes: when an idol falls from their pedestal, there are often feelings of grief because the illusion is shattered. "I'm totally following that. I still admire Gibran's work just as much as I used to. Maybe even more, because I now know that he couldn't be the person he described either. In my opinion, you have to distinguish the artist from the human, to a certain level. Dehumanizing people who have done wrong doesn't solve anything. Forgiveness is also one of our most beautiful traits as human beings, in my opinion. Which we’re collectively abhorring."

Is 'The First Disciple' also about Gibran? "It's about fame, amongst other things, yes. We used a picture of myself as a kid for the song, a lot of people think that it's about me because of that, but I'm just as much looking at my idols from back in the day, because I now know more about fame. Fame is dangerous if you're going to look for your self-worth in it, and I think a lot of famous people do that at some point. It's also about the scission when you realize that how people see you is very different from how you see yourself."

The record talks a few times about believing and trusting, not in a religious sense. As most beautiful sentence: “There's common sense in being a heathen” in 'Only our love'. "(laughs) A 'heathen' on there is indeed not a non-believer in a religious sense, and if I say 'god', I don't see an anthropomorphic god. I think that's a very outdated idea. But you can believe in the good of humanity. Bringing a child into the world is an act of faith to me. It's a huge act of trusting the people around you; an act of faith. And as beautiful as I think that faith is, I struggle with it. I tend to be more distrustful. That's that anecdote from "A drop of blood" where kids bully me. If the first contact with people outside of your family is disappointing, it puts a dent in your confidence."

“That thought often returns, because I really want to believe in people. The "you" in that song is my optimistic self I'm singing to: "Show yourself again." I liked that about ‘Human Kind: A Hopeful Story’ by Rutger Bregman (‘De Meeste Mensen Deugen’ in Dutch, almost literally translates to ‘Most People Are Good’). You can probably find scientific arguments that contradict Bregman, but you notice from the success of his book that a lot of people want to believe that. That alone makes you look at life differently already."