20 April 2010, 16:45
On April 15, one of the world’s most popular rock musicians, British singer and the Smokie’s original guitarist Chris Norman, gave the first concert at the Sports Palace in Kazan.
Chris Norman, this year turning 60, performed in Kazan within his Russian tour. Before Kazan, the singer and multiinstrumentalist played for audiences in Tyumen and after Kazan went to Samara.
Before the concert, Chris Norman answered questions from journalists at a news conference by Tatar-inform and the Sabantui concert agency. The author of the best question for Chris Norman, sent to the Tatar-inform’s website, Engel Ismailov, was awarded two tickets to the rock star’s concert.
At the end of the meeting, the singer was presented a cartoon of him, at which Norman joked the picture looked more like Rod Stewart but appeared to enjoy it.
Q: Chris, have you been to Kazan before? Have you had a chance to look at the city’s sights?
A: I was here last year, travelling through. Unluckily, I practically saw nothing of the city, only on the way.
Q: How do you select the cities for your Russian tour? Why is it that you don’t perform in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg this year?
A: I had concerts in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg before the New Year, about 6 months ago, so it is kind of early to go there.
Q: Is Russia just another country in your tour itinerary for you or is it more than that?
A: Russia is different from all other countries in the world. Russia has character. Russian history has lately seen cataclysms that have been imprinted on it.
Q: Does the audience in Russia differ from listeners in other countries?
A: Not really. But the thing is I do not understand Russian, and when you have no contact with the audience, it is quite difficult to perform.
Q: Do you have plans to release DVDs or CDs after the Russian tour?
A: No. In fact, a DVD did come out last year after the German tour. And I do not plan to release more discs in the next few years, or else they will be too many.
Q: Chris, would you share out the secret to your many-year success on stage.
A: There is no secret at all. I have had serious swings throughout my career. If I had a secret, it would only have been climbing up.
A singer’s career depends on the goal they aim for. You do your job and expect success to follow. So, you have to work and never stop at what has been achieved.
Q: Chris, you were gifted your first guitar when you were seven. You practically cannot play the standard instrument at this age. Did you use the guitar as a harp then?
A: I used it is a bat (laughing). I would put it on my lap and play with my thumb. I began to really play it when I was 13.
Q: There is a group in Russia, called End of Film, that has re-sung your song Alice. Do they perform the thing by themselves or have they bought the right?
A: I never knew anything about it.
Q: Is that to say you are lenient on people breaking the copyright?
A: If somebody stole my song and it turned out to be a global hit, I would make some noise about it. Otherwise, feel free. Besides, it was not me who wrote the song.
Q: Are the emotions that you have on stage now different from the ones 20-30 years ago?
A: Possibly, at the outset of my career I was more nervous at concerts, anxious to know how listeners would take my work. Now I have a better feel of the audience. And my emotions are more personal.
Q: You have toured the entire world with your concerts. Are there countries you have not been to?
A: I have not been to India with my concerts. I do not understand why, but they have not seemed to be keen to invite me to perform. I have not gone on tour to China either, it is being negotiated.
Q: Where would you like to spend your vacation?
A: I would not say I know how to rest. The thought of doing nothing for 2 or 3 weeks kills me.
Q: How comfortable are you to have one of the world show biz’s largest families? Despite his phenomenal career, Chris considers his five children who have placed him among the world’s top five fathers to be his greatest achievement. In the autumn of 2001, Norman’s fist-born Brian was killed in a car crash, paining the singer so much he could not work and was silent for the next several years.
A: I have never really thought about it. All my children do music. Three have organised their own group and I do everything to help them.
Q: What groups of today are worthy of your notice?
A: My children listen to Coldplay, Linkin Park – and so, correspondingly, do I.
Q: Are Smokie going to reunite?
A: We have no plans to restore the group’s original line-up. So, the answer for the moment is no. Aything can happen though.
