Touring singer k.d. lang talks protest, Buddhism and other zen matters with Russell Baillie
If k.d. lang has a lower profile these days than she once did, nobody's told Australia.The Canadian singer took the place by storm as she started her international touring for new album Watershed - her first batch of original songs in eight years - across the Tasman before hitting New Zealand this week.First Watershed went to number one in the Aussie charts as the sell-out signs went up on her shows.Then she started generating headlines. A practising Buddhist, she turned up in support of pro-Tibet activists as the Olympic torch made its way through Canberra.Then, when a Melbourne cop gave her car an unauthorised VIP escort to the Rove show after a delayed flight from Perth, the ensuing kerfuffle sparking a police internal inquiry.A phone call finds her in Sydney, sounding quite amused by it all - and pleased at the reaction to Watershed, arguably her best album since her touchstone set Ingenue - which it sometimes echoes in its blend of country, torch pop, bossa nova and heartache.
It sure sounds like you've hit town in a big way - number one album, motorcycle escorts and a protest rally ... I didn't even premeditate the protest but when I realised the torch was going to be in Canberra I really had to go. I'm on the board of directors for the American Foundation for Tibetan Cultural Preservation. It's part of my job - it's actually a bigger part of my job than the music industry so I really had to go and be present.Well you are a torch singer.That's funny.And this tour isn't going to China, is it?No I guess probably not going to China. Not for a while.Over your career you've been known for representing causes, other than just making music. Is this another chapter?It just seems things pop up. I don't represent things that I don't truly live and breathe. I've been a vegetarian for 26 years or something; I've been a lesbian my whole life and I've been a Buddhist practitioner for eight years ... I am in the position I can make social commentary on a major stage and so I do.I don't consider myself a political person, funnily enough. It just so happens that's what happens in this lifetime.Makes you wonder what you did in your previous life.Yeah, I have no idea. It's probably better that I don't remember.The last time you toured in these parts it was on the Hymns album [a covers collection of Canadian artists] with an orchestral backing. This time it's a little more minimal isn't it?It's a five-piece band and myself so it's a more traditional k.d. lang sound. But having played the orchestra it has altered the way I am on stage, just like making country records has altered the way I am, or singing with Tony Bennett. It all adds up.
