From the Sidelines to Front and Center
When Audiogram started getting serious about putting out the album, the guys started buckling down and finishing up. The biggest challenge came when they actually had to pick a name for the band, which Haworth says was the "toughest thing in the whole project."
How Magneto got its name has become something of a
legend to the band members. It become something of a
joke, with several different stories in circulation.
"The truth of it is, I wanted something that was the
same word in both English and French just so it would
translate. Mario came up with a list - he and his
son went through the dictionary picking out names.
In French, you'll call a tape recorder a magnetophone,
or a magneto."
Haworth learned later on that the word also had other
associations. For one, Magneto is a comic book
character. "We found that out later. We also
found out that in the 70's it was a Mexican boy band,
kind of along the Menudo lines. I kind of liked that
reference; I thought that was pretty cool too. People
would mistake us for a Mexican boy band," he says,
with a touch of sarcasm.
Until now, when asked by the press about the name,
the guys would generally see how far they could pull
the interviewer's leg. "At one point I told somebody
from some newspaper that Magneto was a 17th century
Prussian king that walked around with one bare foot.
On CBC radio I told a woman that it was an Aztec god
that had a sect that Mario was a priest in," he
laughs. (While he got away with it in the first
instance, the CBC reporter figured out he was
putting her on.)
Guest artists Les Frères Diouf add a touch of Africa to
the album. Two percussionists from Senegal, Haworth cannot
talk highly enough about their work. "They are just
amazing - they are phenomenal musicians, they are
phenomenal singers, and they are also phenomenal
human beings."
Middle Eastern and Indian influences also appear
on the album. "I listen to a lot of music in general,
and I do enjoy a lot of stuff from other countries. One
of the beauties of touring with Lhasa [with whom Haworth has toured in Europe], World Music in
France isn't nearly as marginal as it is here. The stores have huge World Music sections,
and when you're doing festivals there's a lot
of world music stuff around. I love Mexican music, I
love African stuff. I love Arab stuff - the saz is
a Turkish lute that isn't really Arab, but has a
somewhat Eastern feel to it. A lot of stuff
sneaks through."
Photo ©1997 Paula E. Kirman.
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