Duncan Bridgeman called MAG from Sevenoaks, Kent, a peaceful, middle-class corner of the UK. It’s worlds away from the remote global climes he and Jamie Catto (Faithless) travelled to for their second One Giant Leap project. “People have lovely Rhododendrons in their gardens here, but no carrots or potatoes,” he says. “We rely on supermarkets. If the food supply broke down, it would be a very different place.” If his words have gravitas, his tone says ‘seen it all’; Bridgeman spent years producing commercial music (“you produce a lot of shit to pay the bills”) and needed something more. 2002’s One Giant Leap — a travelogue documenting the world’s oneness of spirit through image and film, was a triumph. But where this used music to illustrate unity, the follow-up is squarely about conflict and contradiction.
“For What About Me? we wanted to look at how we (the world) are unified by our collective madness – on a global level, down to the family and then the individual,” he says. “We wanted to show what’s going on, and hopefully inspire people to think about the world we’re living in. Music makes this message palatable.” Interweaving commentary from figures as diverse as academic Noam Chomsky, comedian Stephen Fry, author Eckhart Toll, Sir Bob Geldof (above right) with music footage shot around the globe, What About Me? succeeds in documenting our battle with the world’s madness, through war, capitalism, organised religion and more. For such potentially portentous subject matter, it’s provocative and entertaining. Journeying to Asia, Brazil, The Middle East and nine African nations, Bridgeman and Catto recorded with 50 different musicians wherever they could, in villages, streets, houses; they even recorded Chinese rappers in Tiananmen Square (avoiding the prying eyes of authorities).
“When I take my music around the world and get people to join in, it’s an epiphany every time,” he offers reflectively. “It still amazes me how well the concept works. People from different places playing the same piece of music is something you’d never think would work!” Bridgeman has obviously come a long way from producing Transvision Vamp albums in the ’80s. What has One Giant Leap taught him?
“Our belief in money as a solid, dependable force has been pulled away. Maybe a belief in God is easier? A lot’s been perpetrated in the name of God, but there are many visions of God. Eckhart Toll says ‘If you try and talk to God before you realise your own madness inside, you then transmit that madness onto God.’”
What About Me? is available on DVD now.
