words & images Sven Carlsson

Swedish soul vocalist Tingsek, Canadian hip-hop and soul producer and vocalist Slakah the Beatchild, and Vancouver’s beatmaker and vocalist Ebrahim linked up for some creative studio sessions in Slakah’s Toronto in May 2010. The result was an outburst of creativity in the studio, and a greatly promising three-leg tour of eastern Canada. Beatnik caught up with the trio when they hit Montreal.

It’s nearing 3 AM at Club Salla Rosa, and the party that Tingsek, Ebrahim and Slakah got started with their performance is vitality personified; salsa, jazz and soul music is thumping through the walls. Eager to finish off the fiesta they initiated, the trio are deliberating over their band name before letting the festivities continue.

A few suggestions have come to mind – The Three Stooges; The White, the Black and the Brown Guy (“the ultimate label-bred boy band,” says Tingsek) – before Slakah’s publicist Alyse suggests BET, a nod to Justin Bieber’s recent award nomination and an acronym for Beatchild, Ebrahim and Tingsek.

As the suggestion sinks in with the group, Slakah lays eyes on his publicist. “Alyse… Alyse,” he says as he slowly turns a thumbs-up into a thumbs-down and laughter ensues. Enjoying the creative freedom, whether in terms of moniker, sound and collaborators, these three independent artists are making the most of their current situations.

There is no doubt that the trio owes its formation to a new musical reality in an ever-changing industry. “The internet has become the bridge between us,” says Ebrahim, whose youtube videos (as Eebsofresh) had Slakah and Tingsek, themselves connected through MySpace a few years ago, staring at their computer screens in amazement.

“There are a lot of things that are bad about downloading and technology,” says Tingsek. “But there are a million things that are great about it – the fact that you can just hook up over the internet and send your music around the world. That’s so crazy—I work with people from around the globe every day.”

While the internet provided the natural means of communication between Slakah, Tingsek and Ebrahim, there was no inevitable bond between the musical styles of each artist. Slakah and Tingsek are both familiar in the realms of soul music, and both have an affinity for working with hip-hop artists, but their organic production relies more on live instrumentation than Ebrahim’s improvised drum-programming and beatboxing.

The three styles mixed comfortably and productively in the studio, though, and perhaps that even surprised the trio themselves – originally intending to perform solo sets on the same bill for the tour, the trio ended up sharing the stage after Ebrahim warmed up the crowd with his trademark, on-the-spot beatmaking.

Any creative differences between the three ended up adding to their interaction. “We come from different worlds, which is just a good thing,” says Tingsek. “Eeb is a studio man. I’ve watched his stuff on youtube and seen a lot of his performances and I’ve been blown away.”

“We complement each other and we have such a great chemistry that we can do this already – we’ve hardly performed together,” adds Slakah, who is the “middle man” between Ebrahim and Tingsek. The three lead vocalists had no problem sharing a stage in Sarnia (Slakah’s hometown), Toronto and Montreal, producing a live show that came together as if it were second nature.

“It’s such a different feel to perform alongside lead singers,” admits Tingsek. “It just makes all the difference. We haven’t even had to rehearse the vocal routines we’ve been doing!”

Feeding off of each other’s creativity, Tingsek, Slakah and Eeb recorded 3 songs in 4 days, ‘The War Within’ being one of them.

That furious pace of production is likely to slow down, but the trio will continue working together “as we have so far – over the internet,” and we will likely see an EP or an album from the three, as well as more joint tours, in the near future.

Clearly blessed to be in each other’s presence, Ebrahim expresses the sentiments of all three near the end of our conversation. “It’s been such a great experience,” he says. “Now I just want to push myself further. You can’t find a better musician and person than Tingsek, and Slak… he’s my big brother. These two guys are two of the best musicians out there, no stretch, no exaggeration.”

“And he’s sober!,” adds Slakah the Beatchild, and the crew is all-smiles as they head off to enjoy their night in Montreal.

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Tingsek: Website, Twitter
Slakah: MySpace, Twitter
Ebrahim: Youtube, Twitter