Fine art and music translate to ‘Magic World’ for Mr Nattoo
Published:Friday | April 24, 2020 | 12:00 AMKimberley Small/Staff Reporter
QUARANTINING HAS unearthed many creative responses. For artist Richard Nattoo, soon to be known as recording artiste Mr Nattoo, he has taken a high dive to present his expression, combining the fine art of painting with the popular art of music. On March 29, one day after his birthday, the artist released his first official musical work, the lyric video for Too Much (My Magic World).
As the lyrics, melody and production are meant to evoke personal emotional turmoil through genesis to catharsis, so are the storied paintings that go along with the song.
“When I’m really going through something, the only way to cope with that situation is to create. I was very anxious about situations, things not going well in my life, relationships falling apart,” he told The Gleaner. That anxiety led him to creating the first painting.
“That’s where the story started. As I painted more, as I wrote the story, the story began to help me. Throughout every day, I’d do a painting, and it would either be a summary of the day or it would explain what will happen in the day to come,” he explained.
Nattoo described that production as a 360-degree process, circling around creating the image, then learning from it. There was some melancholy as he felt his storied paintings coming to an end, until he uncovered the perfect punctuation. “When I finished the paintings, is when things reached a peak and I realised that I wanted to create the song.”
As he aims for honest expression, Mr Nattoo got even more personal in the presentation of Too Much. The lyric video was produced using his own writing. “Let me be raw and open, and just feel my feelings and put them out. It was so personal. I thought a font wouldn’t be able to translate. It needed to come directly from me,” he shared.
“I don’t even care if people don’t hear exactly what I’m saying. I just need it to feel good. I realise that people don’t know where to draw the line of what is important to achieve an art. With songs, some people think that lyrics are always the most important thing. For some songs, the feeling is the most important thing,” he opined.
With that logic, Mr Nattoo surmised that the next necessary point of contact would be a live performance, but such stages are suspended for the foreseeable future. The compromise was a live recording, uploaded on April 12.
The live recording was shot by Udemba McLean, who was assisted by LatyKim. Nattoo edited and styled the video.