12 Established 1961 Lifestyle Features Monday, July 26, 2021

rince’s estate will soon issue a sciousness... this is a concerted effort to technology and devices, which he saw the first time. “He said, ‘never in my completed record from the mercuri- really speak about these things,” said “as something that handcuffed people.” career have I taken a week where I didn’t Pal artist’s storied music vault, the Hayes, who co-produced the album. “I But while the album tackles decidedly write a song and pick up my guitar.’” The first never-before-heard album released really dug how raw it was, and as far as weighty topics - “Running Game (Son of release of Prince’s vast trove of music since the musician’s shock death five my production, I just wanted to keep it to a Slave Master)” centers on racism, remains a sensitive subject; the super- years ago. “Welcome 2 America” - a 12- where its raw and I don’t get in the way while “Same Page, Different Book” star was controlling of his work, image, track album finished in 2010, but shelved of what he’s trying to say.” touches on religious strife - the album and carefully constructed enigmatic per- for reasons unknown in the famous vault also includes vintage danceable and car- sona. Doing right by him is no small chal- at Prince’s Paisley Park compound near ‘Liberty and justice’ nal slow jam Prince in the mix. “Hot lenge. Minneapolis - offers a prophetic window For Hayes, the singular artist “was Summer” is a major-key, guitar-heavy, Previously the estate has re-released into social struggles at today’s forefront, way ahead”, like a “sage sitting in the feel-good track, while the sparsely expanded versions of Prince’s milestone delving into racism, political division, Himalayas somewhere”, in foreshadow- arranged “When She Comes” featuring albums, like “1999” and “Sign O’ The technology and disinformation. ing the current moment. “He wanted, I the artist’s falsetto recalls the hypersexu- Times,” along with demos of songs he Melding urgent lyricism with lan- believe, a country that actually stood for al “Dirty Mind” Prince of yore. wrote that eventually became other guorous funk, the pop shapeshifter what it said it stood for: liberty and justice artists’ hits. Prince was never clear about Prince sings of America as the “land of for all,” Hayes told AFP in an interview. Excavating the vault his intentions for his unheard work, but the free / home of the slave”. The artist, “And we painfully know that that’s not the An untold number of songs - upwards he had taken steps to preserve his tapes, who died at 57 on April 21, 2016 follow- In this file photo taken on June 16, 1990, musi- case.” For Prince a key component of of 8,000, per Princian lore - were stored films, scripts and music along with his ing an accidental fentanyl overdose, cian Prince performs on stage during his con- freedom was ownership, according to in the vault under Paisley Park, though Paisley Park compound, leading his could not have known that in the years cert at the Parc des Princes stadium in Hayes: “if you don’t own your own things, some of its contents have been moved to estate - run by his sister and five half-sib- following his death his beloved home city Paris.— AFP you don’t have any freedom.” the Los Angeles climate-controlled stor- lings - to believe he wanted it shared. would explode in furor and protest after The artist was well known for taking age facility Iron Mountain. “It was crazy,” Asked by Rolling Stone in 2014 what he the police killing of George Floyd, a B Free. But if your history only burns / it’s labels to task, famously scrawling “slave” Hayes says of the vault. “All of this wanted to come of his oeuvre after he Black man. better to resist it.” on his cheek and changing his name to music, like all over the floor, all stacked was gone, Prince himself was character- But Prince was a career activist, advo- The album, out July 30, sees Prince an unpronounceable “love symbol” in the up to the ceiling. You have to think about istically nebulous. “I don’t think about cating for the empowerment of Black level “a laser-focused assault on the con- 1990s to protest Warner’s bid to rein in how prolific a cat has to be to have his ‘gone.’” — AFP people in the recording industry and dition of America”, said Morris Hayes, his prolific musical output. Hayes said own vault full of stuff. And I mean FULL beyond. “You go to school just to learn / Prince’s longtime keyboardist and musi- Prince - who didn’t carry a cell phone of stuff.” about what never existed,” Prince sings cal director. “What’s going on with social and memorized necessary phone num- Hayes recalled that in the mid-1990s on the closing track “One Day We Will All media, social justice, and social con- bers - also discussed freedom in terms of Prince told him he had taken time off for

cottish actor Mike Mitchell, who The marina’s manager, Burak starred in Gladiator and Ardahan, who checked the cabin after SBraveheart, has died at the Turkish the actor was inside for a long time, holiday resort of Fethiye, local media found him lying on the ground and called reported yesterday. He was 65. He is medical services. Mitchell’s body was believed to have died of a heart attack, taken to a morgue for an autopsy to the private DHA news agency reported. establish the cause of death, the DHA The actor, who was on holiday in Fethiye reported. — AFP in southwest Turkey, was found dead in a cabin at a marina, it said. Prince’s costumes and his guitar are on display at Paisley Park.

o the uninformed eye Paisley Park, Prince’s home and studio in subur- Tban Minnesota, could be anything - an abandoned mall, a government com- pound, a utilitarian office building. It’s only the 11-foot purple love symbol stat- ue, the unpronounceable glyph the artist famously went by during a dispute with his label, that gives the 65,000-square foot complex away as belonging to the artist beloved as Prince. The Cordouan lighthouse is seen at low tide on June 10, 2021 off the coast of Le Verdon-sur-Mer, Situated just off the highway leading southwestern France. — AFP photos southwest out of the Twin Cities in the municipality of Chanhassen, Paisley Joseph Teulere in the late 18th century. Park served as the virtuoso international Describing it as a “masterpiece of pop star’s creative and literal home, a maritime signaling”, the committee sanctum where he spent nearly three Prince’s shoes on display at Paisley Park. added: “Cordouan’s monumental tower decades before he collapsed in an eleva- is decorated with pilasters, columns tor there, dying soon after of an acciden- modillions and gargoyles. “It embodies tal painkiller overdose. that those spaces remain just his” - as is Prince’s genius is really second to none,” the great stages of the architectural and the storied vault where he stored troves he said. technological history of lighthouses and of unreleased music, Maguire explained. And to watch him perform there? “It’s was built with the ambition of continuing Exhibit rooms house Prince memorabilia difficult to articulate; I don’t think there the tradition of famous beacons of antiq- including gold records, flashy costumes, are enough words in the English lexicon attered by the wind and swell for uity, illustrating the art of building light- motorcycles and a “purple room” that to fully do it justice,” Maguire continued. 400 years and nicknamed the “king houses in a period of renewed naviga- pays homage to his seminal album “You just got the sense this guy could Bof lighthouses”, France’s Cordouan tion, when beacons played an important “Purple Rain.” move mountains by his gifts, and he was beacon on Saturday won recognition role as territorial markers and as instru- The 12,500-square-foot soundstage, very generous in terms of sharing those from UNESCO. The lighthouse, which ments of safety.” designed for concerts and tour gifts with us. The compound continues to will be added to UNESCO’s World The increase in its height in the late rehearsals, is now backdropped by a hold live music events and also has host- Heritage List, is the last to be inhabited in 18th century and changes to its light giant screen that displays archival Prince ed artists’ recording sessions there, France and only the second after Spain’s chamber at the same time were also Prince’s microphone is on display. concert and video footage, with many of including the likes of Beck. La Coruna to win the plaudit from the noteworthy, the committee said. They his instruments and concert attire on dis- “Part of what it means to continue to world heritage body. “attest to the progress of science and Sunlight streams in from the glass play for visitors. In another room the foster Prince’s legacy is just that - to con- Cordouan was built at the very end of technology of the period. Its architectural pyramid that crowns the complex, where museum is putting on a special exhibi- tinue to make this an active creative the 16th century and stands in the forms drew inspiration from ancient mod- white doves watch over the breezy atri- tion, showing hundreds of Prince’s cus- space,” Maguire said. In 1985, two years Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the els, Renaissance Mannerism and the um painted with blue skies and fluffy tom-made shoes - including heels, plat- before his complex opened, Prince Gironde estuary in southwestern France specific architectural language of clouds. With four recording studios, a form sneakers and roller skates-in all released the song “Paisley Park” on his in a “highly exposed and hostile environ- France’s engineering school Ecole des soundstage and a club, Paisley Park for their fur-lined, glittering, iridescent, hand- seventh album “Around The World in a ment”, according to UNESCO’s World Ponts et Chaussees”. —AFP years hosted artists including Madonna, painted glamour. Day,” describing a utopian community Heritage Committee which announced its Prince was a mainstay of Minneapolis’ that was as much spiritual as it was tan- decision on Saturday. The lighthouse Miles Davis and Patti LaBelle, also hold- ing concerts and impromptu performanc- cultural scene, regularly hosting surprise gible. “Love is the color / This place was designed by engineer Louis de Foix, concerts with little notice at Paisley Park. imparts,” Prince sang. “Admission is and was later remodelled by engineer es to the delight of fans. The estate was a site of pilgrimage even before the And years before he directed the muse- easy / Just say you believe. Paisley Park artist’s death at 57, and today has taken um, Maguire was a fan in the crowd. “I is in your heart.” — AFP on new life as a museum. think the accessibility that we had as Faced with a tax burden following folks who lived in this community to Prince’s passing, his estate looked to monetize the compound. Six days a week fans can take guided tours at costs ranging from $45-$160, depending on the experience. Visitors must seal their cell phones in special pouches at the entrance, and much of Paisley Park pro- hibits photography, a bid to stay in line with the artist’s wishes. “Prince always preferred that you experience things here at Paisley through your own lens, rather than your camera,” Mitch Maguire, the complex’s managing director, said during a visit by AFP. “Prince was really good at creating an aura of mystique.”

‘Move mountains’ Prince’s living quarters are off-limits completely - “there’s something that I The “love” symbol outside of Paisley Park, Prince’s home and studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota Lighthouse keeper Thomas Dalisson, 38, cleans the lamp of the Cordouan lighthouse. think is really reverential about ensuring on June 30, 2021. — AFP photos