As the multi-talented China Moses prepares for her appearance in Beirut, organiser of the event, Karim Ghattas from Liban Jazz talks to the diva. 

You’re only 30, yet you’re a VJ on MTV, a soul and R&B singer; your path is quite unusual and full for the young woman that you are. Tell us about yourself.
I’m my mother’s daughter [Dee Dee Bridgewater]. I come from a musical universe…‘This One is For Dinah’ is my fourth album, and my first jazz album with the label Blue Note. I also love television, and the show that I present on MTV I present without acting, without any particular know-how. I pass in front of the camera as if there was no camera, I talk about what I love without putting on airs, I talk about music.

‘This One is for Dinah’ is a vibrant homage to a singer that you say is ‘bigger than life’. While other jazz singers usually pay tribute to Billie Holiday or Nina Simone, you chose Dinah. Why?
Dinah Washington is one of the most moving and most powerful voices of jazz and of black music, but she didn’t get very famous because she was on the edge of the system, and also perhaps because she wasn’t very pretty and she was wilder than the others. My mother paid tribute to the other two sublime singers that you mentioned in your question and Dinah was really my singer; a way to differentiate myself!

You’re very communicative. Is the stage a different world to you?
I get overexcited before going on stage. I always find the preparation day for the concert, the rehearsals and the rest way too long. I need to sing, to be close to people, even to be with people. On stage like in life, I invest myself completely with all my resources! Music is a language, and I need to communicate.

If you could sing with a musician of your choice, who would it be?
Mine [laughs], without hesitations. There are too many musicians that I love and respect, I couldn’t mention only one or two of them.

You like fashion, and it shows, Who are your favourite designers?
I’d give anything for a shopping day in Paris or New York… or Beirut, which apparently is a fashion capital. I’m really excited about seeing the Lebanese women whose elegance and refinement I always hear about. This is my first time in Beirut, but besides my concert in Music Hall (which I’m dreaming about), I have every intention of going shopping and going out every night of my stay! The question about my favourite designers? Christian Louboutin for the shoes, you’ll see the rest on stage!

Do you have any new projects you’re working on?
Singing, singing, singing!

Interview: Karim Ghattas (Liban Jazz)
Translation by: Valentina Chiarini

China Moses will perform at Music Hall on June 12.