KT Tunstall on the message of The Singer: ‘Music transcends language barriers’
Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall has been busy crafting tunes for a new gig-theatre piece about the odd-couple pairing of a has-been busker and a deaf artist. She reveals to Danny Munro why The Singer resonates so personally with her and talks about the need to feel as well as hear music
KT Tunstall won’t be in Edinburgh this August but she’s had a big hand in a piece of work that will be. A Fringe performer herself in the early stages of an impressive career, Tunstall has come full circle and composed the music for The Singer, a Traverse-bound musical theatre work that’s close to her heart.
‘I kind of blindly jumped in because there were just so many things that were relevant to my life in this one show,’ says Tunstall of her motivation. Zooming in mid-tour from the outskirts of Austin, Texas, Tunstall sets out the storyline in which Andy, a ‘washed out’ Glaswegian singer, has his perspective altered by a punter he encounters while busking. ‘A guy stops to listen to him and it’s clear that the guy is deaf. At the end of the song he says, “you’re really good.” So Andy’s like, “how would you know if you can’t hear?” And he says, “no, I really like your rhythm, but your lyrics are crap”.’
An unlikely musical partnership forms as a result of this curt interaction, as Andy learns through his new friend Joe about the ways deaf people interact with music. It’s a message that resonates strongly with Tunstall whose brother has been deaf since birth.
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‘I’ve got that first-hand experience of growing up next to a deaf person and being really aware of how they get ignored and how they get ostracised,’ she says. ‘And I like to think of this play as the singer-songwriter experience of being ignored, and getting a deal, but then getting dropped and feeling no one will listen to you. It’s like the kind of pop culture version of the deaf character’s life.’
Taking on the role of Joe and breathing life into Tunstall’s score is Jamie Rea, an award-winning deaf artist who blew the ‘Suddenly I See’ singer away with his creative process. ‘He loves the feel of music, Jamie as a person, and also Joe, his character,’ she explains. ‘He’s actually using a Roland SPD-SX and has this really cool thing that looks like a jet pack that’s buzzing him; it buzzes his body in time. So he’s playing the beats and then Andy, who’s played by Dylan Wood, is bringing the voice and the chords.’ The result of their partnership is music far superior to Andy’s solo busking work.
Tunstall believes the inclusion of deaf actors is essential to helping others to understand more about their lives. ‘I’ve had an amazing experience myself, travelling the world, playing gigs, and it’s incredible to me when I go to South America, or to Japan, and I play my songs and I can tell that people don’t speak English, they’re not necessarily understanding what I’m saying but they feel the song,’ she muses. ‘And I think to really show audiences that music transcends language barriers, you don’t get that in a more intense way than with this show.’
The Singer, Traverse Theatre, 4–30 August, times vary; main picture: Claire Harrison.