Anwar

Monday 30 June 2008

Beyond first impressions, beyond compliments, and way beyond talent, Anwar Robinson is heading straight for the top.



Vocalist Anwar Robinson and writer Kimberly Raymond
If you’ve ever watched American Idol, you’ll know that when many of its contestants are voted off, so is their fame. Being voted off leads to a downfall, right? Well, not in Robinson’s case. This phenomenal musician’s fame is just augmenting. It was an honor to attend the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC)’s 13th Annual Community Partners Concert. The first half of the concert featured the New Jersey Symphony, but after intermission, the brilliant Robinson stole the show. It was amazing seeing Robinson up on stage being accompanied by the New Jersey Symphony.

Robinson’s repertoire consisted of a few jazzy songs, a few Broadway musical selections, and an original composition. Before Robinson sang his original composition, Chosen, he mentioned that his mother asked him to write a song for breast cancer and Robinson admitted that he didn’t know what to write.

“It was a year after my mom had asked me to compose what was to become ‘Chosen’,” said Robinson. “The day was her birthday and I just sat and God gave me the chord progressions and the words flowed like fresh water. All of this happened in less than two hours.”

Chosen is a beautifully poignant masterpiece. In this song, Robinson was backed up by three lovely vocalists. The performance brought tears to the eyes of Robinson’s fans. After Robinson’s final performance, he received a standing ovation and was summoned for an encore. Robinson modestly walked back onto the stage and made his way to the orchestra piano. With the exception of the spotlight on the piano, all the lights in NJPAC’s theater were turned off. Everyone, from the smallest infant, to the eldest adult, was at the edge of their seats listening intently as Robinson sung from his heart. The emotional encore was a song Robinson created for his father who was murdered in 1998. The song was indescribable.

In 2005, the year Robinson was voted off American Idol, I interviewed a few of his fans. When Valerie Carrington, a math professor of DeVry University and Sherry Sooknanan, a vocal teacher in Washington, were asked how they would imagine Robinson to be off stage, they both responded, “the same.” Indeed, off stage Robinson is the same modest person he is on stage. After the show, he put off his interview because he wanted to first greet all the members of his family. No matter where fame is taking him, Robinson remains genuine and sincere to who he is and where he came from.

As people exited the theater after Robinson’s final performance, many satisfied comments could be heard. An elderly woman in the fourth row of the orchestra seats remained seated, as if in awe, for a while after Robinson’s tribute to his father. Then, as she stood up, her sole comment was, “that was definitely worth the money.”

Without a doubt, seeing Robinson perform was worth every penny and more. Robinson said he can be expected in the New Jersey/New York area in mid-July or late August of this year. I know I will definitely want to be first in line to see him.

Robinson was asked if there was anything he wanted to mention to his fans, and he responded: “The words ‘thank you; can’t encompass how grateful I am to have supporters of my art. I hope that my life and work has inspired greatness and that I can continue to make a positive impact in the world.”

- Kimberly Raymond

The last time "Idol" contestant Anwar Robinson graced the stage of America's biggest talent show, he was kicked off -- on the day before his 26th birthday. However, the Season 4 singer has kept quite busy since his boot, juggling music, theater and film projects. Robinson is currently hard at work in the studio for his new album, "Transparency," but he took some time out of his hectic recording schedule to catch up with Idol Tracker.

Q: What are you working on in the studio right now? What else do you have coming up?

AR: I am really excited. Just a little history: I’ve recorded two albums. One was a cover album and the other was some R&B love songs from "The Truth (About Love)" collection. They really didn’t release those pieces to the public although they were available for a limited time to listen to on MySpace, but we didn’t do an official release. As of now, we’re working on "Transparency," which is due out in September. We are going to release two summer singles via online, iTunes and such and it is very R&B-pop. We are very, very excited about it. We’ve been working on it for the past 2 1/2 months and we are well into it. I can’t contain it, it’s so crazy. This is the most exciting time I’ve ever had working on a project before.

Q: How long have you been planning the album? You’ve been involved with a lot of different projects over the past few years.

AR: I’ve been so fortunate. I don’t often do it, but sometimes my manager will remind me to just look at my résumé and look at every opportunity as an important part in moving forward. Sometimes I forget, especially when I’m entrenched in the work and when I’m so concerned about getting the work done or what the work is, they have to remind me to be thankful and fortunate that there are [these] opportunities.

“Rent” was so off of my radar when that came to me, and I almost didn’t do it. I wasn’t looking at auditioning, and it was just a great opportunity. Great tour, got to go to Japan, Canada. I got to see a lot of people I had met and performed for on the "Idol" tour a couple years back. Then I got to star in “Godspell” up at Syracuse Stage, which is a very reputable music theater company. All the time, recording started to become secondary. When I came off the "Idol" tour, that was the primary thing I was doing -- and appearances -- but then once I started going back out on the road with the shows, recording became secondary. But now, it’s my primary focus again so I like how things have come full circle.

Q: How have these various projects in between influenced the music you’re working on now?

AR: I hadn’t had a chance before to reflect on what my sound was. My sound was whatever I was asked to do. ... When I was on “Idol,” I was required to cover other artists’ songs, I was never allowed to do my own material. ... So now, I get the chance to say well what is my sound, and that’s been a great process in discovering that. It’s not easy at all. I don’t think it should be easy. It’s not been easy in terms of the solution comes right to you; it comes from trying a lot of different things and seeing what works and just being really open and flexible, which I’m learning to be because I’ve had to do that before. I’ve always been able to just, 'Oh, I know that song, let’s just sing it.’ So there is a difference between being a singer and an artist.

Q: Where are you going to be out promoting the record this summer?

AR: I will definitely be out doing a lot of promotion during the summer. It’s to be announced. Actual locations are not in place yet, but it’s being planned as we speak. A lot of radio promotion and a lot of online promotion and appearances just to get the buzz out, get the work out. Just to see who's listening, to see who’s out there, who wants it and meeting those people where they are.

Q: On “Idol,” your birthday unfortunately happened to coincide with when you left the show, but what do you have planned this year?

AR: I actually don’t have anything planned for my birthday. ...Once, I did a birthday party which was really special. Vonzell Solomon came up to New Jersey and was a featured artist and lot of my friends performed and my family was there. Last year, I had a nice impromptu celebration in Washington D.C. One of my engagements led me to be part of the Cherry Blossom Festival so a lot of my close friends came down to celebrate last year. This year, I don’t have anything planned except to be recording on that Tuesday. I think that’s one of my favorite things to do so if I am in the studio, I’ll actually be really happy and grateful for that.

Q: How often are you in the studio during a given week?

AR: At least every other day. Once we start recording, and we have been for the last two weeks, it’s been every other day. I thought it was going to be twice a week, you know, working on songwriting and development some of the other days, but now they are starting to pile on top of each other. I have to get my rest and my gym time and make sure that I eat enough because yesterday I was in the studio for 6 1/2 hours. We recorded a song, we reviewed another song, and I began learning a third song, and I had to sing them all. I had to perform them several times over so it was as if I was singing for a 2 1/2- or 3-hour concert. It's fine, I don’t mind being in the studio that much, I actually love it. Especially when great things are coming out of it, it’s very rewarding.

Q: Sounds like you don’t have a lot of time to watch the new season of “Idol?”

AR: I’ll be honest; I watched my first full episode all the way through while it was being broadcast, not on YouTube. I actually watched the show when they did the songs from the year they were born and it reminded me of when we did on our season. I think it’s a difficult category because you’re going back to reflect on a time when you ... were just an infant and you almost have to think what were your parents going through during that time or what was being played on the radio when you were either being conceived or coming into the world. I really enjoyed many of the performances. I thought each contestant put a lot of thought into what they did, especially to the point where the judges were moved to consider using their save, which is all new; they didn’t used to have a save option. They considered using it for the first time, which was very moving to see how emotionally invested everyone is this year.

Q: What does it feel like to look back on “Idol” considering how much you’ve changed since then and how much the show has changed, especially this season? What does it feel like to be a part of this part of pop culture?

AR: It is still surreal. I still have to be reminded at times that I was a part of it. ... You went through it so you don’t really realize the effects of it. People can tell you but ... I wasn’t at home with my family watching it ... I was on TV. There’s a totally different perspective. I’m grateful for it, though, it gives me a chance to live a dream of being a recording artist and having a fan base that’s built-in. That’s priceless, actually priceless.

-- Kate Stanhope - LA TIMES