The world keeps spinning for Julia Fordham

by Gary C. Devilles, Correspondent, Manila Times

Like the troubadours of yore and the romantic poets today, renowned pop-jazz artist Julia Fordham reminds us once again of our myths and ideals about love, warning us of what love may cost, and promising us of the grandeur love brings. This season of romance, Ayala Malls brings Fordham to the Philippines in a rare concert series.

Fordham has recently completed her tenth album, China Blue, which marks a high point in her 20-year career. "I started at 16," she says, "joining bands and playing music and dropping out early from school to concentrate on being a musician." Her first album, Happy Ever After, was an instant hit. Listeners all over the world immediately liked her songs since these captured the essence of the eighties—the enigmatic and flimsy relationships as expressed in the song Invisible War and the innocent musing or the reflective stance of people back then in Where Does The Time Go.

In China Blue, we encounter Fordham seeking once more an inner dialogue with herself only this time more cognizant of a world that has changed dramatically. She says this album speaks of a sense of personal completion and one of the songs included, titled For You Only For You, strangely articulates this experience of moving on and taking hold of one's emotions. As the song goes, one may cry like a river over and over again for heartaches. But one should remember that a sea of love runs deep in veins. The singer intimates that the capacity to love almost always outweighs the pain of broken relationships and unfulfilled desires. She echoes what philosopher Roland Barthes said about lovers and beloved—that the beloved may be privileged to be desired and adored but ultimately it is the lover who becomes more in touch with his humanity.

When Fordham was asked about what she could tell Britney Spears if she will be able to talk to her, she says she only has sympathy for her. "I would want Britney to run away from the maddening crowd and the media that constantly make a circus out of her life. Actually I don’t like to read gossip magazines especially if the stories in them are painful." Fordham understands what it meant to be under the brutal surveillance of a watchful eye being a public figure herself.

She reminds us not to be overwhelmed by the world we live in and that despite the "bad hair days" or what her sister would call as "cake days", one should be reminded of the palpable fragility of our existence that is better spent with someone who really matters as expressed in the songs, Holiday and I Want To Stay Home With You. Fordham confesses that she loves the simple things such as afternoon tea with friends and family at home. "I have this wonderful set of tea cups," she volunteers, "and my house is this cozy space with wooden floors and ceiling, located near a hill I always love to trek."

The Manila Times asked Julia her reason for releasing China Blue via NovaTunes, an independent Internet company. "The world is constantly changing," Julia opines, "and one cannot just fight back or ignore such force. We all know that a lot of recording companies are closing and this is creating a tremendous pressure over artists to be more creative in terms of marketing." The songs in her album can be bought by downloading them.

Regarding the viability of this marketing strategy, she says that the problem of piracy is one that cannot be easily solved by simply promoting the original. In the age of mechanical albeit digital reproduction, the challenge for the artist is still to be able to sell as this is a source of livelihood without totally controlling the very instrument of production. After all, the success of an artist can also be gauged from the "replicating potential" and "reinterpretation" of his or her work.

Fordham lauds local singer Nina for doing a very good job in her rendition of her Love Moves in Mysterious Ways. This for her is also a measure of an artist’s popularity. Ultimately for Fordham, such marketing strategy of releasing work through the Internet is also a philosophical and political conviction on her part as an artist that strives to be independent with only her audience in mind. She feels her commitment to music and the people who love her should not in anyway be hindered by the business aspect of the music industry.

There are ten songs in this album that tell us who to love, what to do if betrayed, and how to cope if we fall out of love. Indeed, we are constantly in love— searching, longing, losing, and pained by love as the song The World Keeps Spinning tells us. The hypnotic and seductive poetry of Julia Fordham in this collection also discloses that despite the overwhelming feeling of being in love, the world continues to spin beyond the reach of time, with no finality, but with a future that we can only call an assurance. One poet says that the heart is a landmine, and in the Glorietta Mall as Julia Fordham croons everyone with China Blue, bidding us like lost lovers and absent friends, with a breeze that sends a sad tune as the song goes, our hearts explode from within.