The Thirteen Questions
By Kalent Zaiz
KZ: Hi Hargo, it is a pleasure to have you sharing your time with us. The world is having an emotional, physiological, and economic situation right now. And it is almost impossible not to talk about it. As a human and as an artist, with all of the challenging times now with the COVID-19 and the race situation what message would you like to share with people?
Oh my God, wild times we are in! As an artist it’s been bewildering for me, more than anything, to have basically all gatherings of more than 20 people be restricted. Of course I understand why, but as someone who makes music and does live events it’s been a major shift in my approach to keep sharing my music. I released an album only a few weeks before COVID really hit here in the U.S. I played two shows and then… boom. No more shows. I have to say I was a bit depressed for a while. But it’s not personal, we’re all in this boat together. That brings me to my thoughts on this as a human… For the first time in recorded history we are all, basically everyone on this planet, affected and unified by a common experience… COVID-19. There is so much fear and hardship, isolation and struggle happening… and everyone is relating to it differently. But we ARE all dealing with it. I think COVID is showing us how fragile our systems really are, how unsustainable our way of living has become that pandemonium can break out after a week of no toilet paper! My hope and prayer is that we can embrace and recognize that we’re all on this giant spinning rock together. We are one people. And it’s up to us to decide HOW we want to live and build our culture from here forward.
KZ: Every human has an interior fire full of questions about what they want to be or become. When and how did you discover yourself as a musician and what is your message as a musician?
I knew I was going to be a musician after the first 3 chords I learned on guitar at age 7. When I started singing and playing music with my mom & dad (they’re both musicians) it was the best thing ever as a kid! My message… it’s always evolving. I write very intuitively, usually something just flows straight through and I don’t necessarily know what a song is about until part of the way through writing it. The common themes though are usually lessons I’ve learned through the ups and downs of life. Things I feel: love, doubt, heartbreak, disillusionment, hope, empowerment. I think empowerment more than anything. I believe in people.
KZ: Congratulations on the release of your album “SATURN RETURN”! How many songs are there? And for those in our audience who don’t know you just yet, how do you call the genre or genres of the music that you sing?
Thank you! The album was the culmination of a time of huge growth in my life, some really tough years between 28-30 y/o. There are nine songs on the album and I put them in sequence to share the experience I went through in my own Saturn Return. For those who don’t know what that is… Saturn Return is an astrological phenomenon of the planet Saturn coming back to the position it was at in its orbit around the Sun when you were born. There’s about a two year window when astrologers say we go through a huge shift in our lives. This happens between age 28-30, because it takes Saturn about 29 1/2 years to go around the Sun. It’s a time of looking at how you’ve been living up until then and really preparing for stepping into a deeper and more authentic role in your own life and in the world.
KZ: What is the message behind the lyrics and the visual representations?
KZ: Does your music talk about your personal experiences? How did you overcome the different challenges in sharing your and other people’s feelings?
KZ: In regards to your composition, are there any other musicians which have inspired you?
KZ: What is life without music for Hargo?
KZ: What are some songs you’ve listened to that are very therapeutic for you?
KZ: What keeps you busy when not involved in music?
KZ: What does the rest of the human race mean for Hargo?
KZ: Name your three favorite singers or musicians and why?
KZ: Do you have any major plans that you would care to share?
Today’s quote.
“Don’t confuse language, color, and culture with ignorance. We came to this world to grow together” Lesson learned!
Life is great. that’s right! We’ll see you in the next installment of: “The 13 Questions” by Kalent Zaiz.
