|
Overview FAQs
- How did this CD come together?
- Sounds like you produced this CD?
- How did you come up with the CD Title "Natural High"?
- Was it difficult to find the musicians for "Natural High"?
- And what about a band?
- How did you compose the music?
- How was it for you to come all by yourself as a stranger into this country and create from scratch all this music, basically with total strangers?
- Sena, are your lyrics strictly autobiographic?
- What is the message of "Natural High"?
- The next step?
- How did this CD come together?
An invitation for a marriage ceremony brought me to New York. Since years I had that secret dream to move to New York, basically because of the pulse of the music, but I could not just leave everything behind, unconsciously I was waiting for the right moment. In 1998 I was invited for 2 weeks to my friend's marriage in NYC - I stayed 3 months, and wherever I was walking around, from Bronx to Harlem to Brooklyn, all kind of musicians crossed my path and gave me their phone numbers. Back in Munich, watching all these sad and frustrated faces in the streets- even young people looked at me with these un open face-expressions - I wrote the lyrics to my first German Rap "Freiwillig". With the help of musician and composer/arranger Roykey Creo this piece turned into my very first recording session, and with the English lyrics of "Freiwillig" I flew again to NYC, this time with the goal to really find a musical partner who wants to work with me and develop my vision. Jake Smith from Zahmbee Karlt Records in Detroit, who had seen one of my performances in Munich, introduced me to the producer/arranger and musician Hardgroove. After some meetings I decided to record with him "Freiwillig" in English: "We gotta reason why we are here" The cooperation went well and Hardgroove convinced me to pull out some more lyrics and create more songs. He also gave me a professional insight into songwriting, which was new for me, it is a different construction than writing poetry, you need repetitions of hook lines and a chorus and a bridge and the piece cannot be longer than 5 minutes to get airplay and the words must be simple ... it was not easy for me to write within all these restrictions, my spirit has a problem with rules and regulations ... I am closer to Zappa than to Doris Day, and I could not fully get my point across, but it was an interesting first experience, it was the beginning of my dream come true, and "Natural High" is the result of all of that.
All in all we recorded 9 songs for "Natural High" One song is not on this CD, I will release it soon, it's the one and only cover song I ever did , its called "pass it on" and as you can imagine there is a huge story behind it. Some other time... We recorded the CD in the Manhattan Center Studios in NYC in 2000/2001, I had the luck that the Studio Management liked me and they gave me the night and holiday rates when nobody worked except us. Check the credits page there you will find more names. But to get a visa and find my way around in NYC was a long story, I had many seas to cross and it took me until 2004 to get this CD manufactured. Everything is in divine order and sometimes "good things do come if you believe and wait"...
[ back to top ]
- Sounds like you produced the CD?
Yes, that's what I did, I am a true indie; and now in 2004 , I was ready to form my own label and publishing company. Some things need a little time to grow. I needed time to grow into it
[ back to top ]
- How did you come up with the CD Title "Natural High"?
When I was 15 years old, I got into these heavy dope circles. Imagine, I went into a catholic school with nuns, (another strange idea of my parents, because they thought that nuns are serving and teaching selfless...) and to balance myself from these hypocrites I was interested in some wild guys who were dealing all kind of drugs, anyway, his people always got very protective towards me and when they smoked a spliff they said "no, no not you, you are natural high" and they passed the joint on as if I was a baby; you can imagine that made me curious because forbidden things are exciting, right? I then tried it alone , practically stole some hash out of the guys pocket and smoked it at home, I just wanted to figure out what it is all about...they were in shock when they found out, and as I do everything a thousand percent I did that too, later I tried LSD and then Cocain and then, with 18 by chance and without knowing what it was I sniffed "H" and immediately felt the danger , and knew that it's not gonna help me grow, and after doing it for a while I had a pretty good idea what was going on and willingly stopped the whole stuff from one day to the next. Man, I had a bad cold turkey, but that's another story and at least I know what I'm talking about and I also know the cure to get out of such a situation. My curiosity and my self love was the cure. There was no doctor involved. There exists no short cut to enlightenment, you have to walk the rocky road, there is no paved highway to heaven... and since back then, no matter what physical or psychical pain I experience I never take any drug, not even a pain killer.
That is why I am natural high ... not always though... sometimes I am an angry woman, confronted with lies I can get real mad, but that can change easily and under the anger I am ...natural...high
I have written some more verses for this tune, but Hardgroove thought them too edgy, so I gave in; but when I perform I will give you the whole picture
[ back to top ]
- Was it difficult to find the musicians for "Natural High"?
No. The solution was right in front of me. For my Munich recordings I had hired my friend Arsene de Souza for the African percussions and voice and singer friends like Toi Kirby and her daughter Diamond and Gary Williams, who also trained with Bennie Gillette, and Roykey organized the studio and introduced me to Martin Kaelberer, and Man, I think I drove them all crazy because I knew exactly what I wanted but did not have the vocabulary to express myself like someone who is in the business for a long time. But they liked me and so they listened to my explanations. I knew that this is just the beginning and there will come a day where I swim like a fish in the ocean, this was just my first swimming lesson...self taught ... again ...
The moment I entered NYC it all started to fall in place.
All these pieces of a puzzle that puzzle me every single day suddenly started to make sense.
Jake from Detroit - who had seen one of my performances in Munich 2 years ago- introduced me to Hardgroove, and Hardgroove ( who worked with Chuck Davis' Public Enemy, David Byrne, Confrontation Camp, Marc Anthony) introduced me to two amazing keyboard players: Victor J.Burks (who was on tour with people like Whitney Houston and Blackstreet) and Selan Lerner (who at that time was working with Freddie Jackson, Chico de Barge and Amiel Larrieux), meanwhile he is well known as Selan for his own projects; Hardgroove also introduced me to a guitar player who was perfectly right for what I wanted : Brad Craig ( he worked with Nasty Facts and The Coats)
Through another producer for whom I had written some lyrics I met Sky Williams and we clicked and I asked him if he would like to lay a track on two of my tunes, Sky played this old school funky keyboard that I wanted (Sky had worked with Sly Stone, and was a band Member of Wilson Pickett)
For "we gotta reason" Hardgroove introduced me to percussionist Bobby Allende (who played with Tito Puente and Marc Anthony) and to drummer and percussionist Gregory Latty, and I explained them also what rhythms I wanted.
During my nightly excursions, performing as a spoken word artist, and listening to many bands I chose Dawoud Kringle (Sitar) and Miri Ben Ari - (Violin) who meanwhile became a first grade hip hop violinist. I recorded Dawoud on my dat in my living room because he had no time to come to the studio, and we pasted him into the mix...everything is possible if you really want it , and if I want something I am on a mission, some people can sing a song on that.
[ back to top ]
- And what about a band?
The way how I function is, I do not want to be stuck to a band at this point, it's too early, I want to create a whole program and then choose the musicians; I have to plan a strategy for my tour where I hire the musicians that fit best, I want to have the freedom to always work with different musicians and make every CD different, according to my growing experience as a singer/songwriter.
[ back to top ]
- How did you compose the music?
As I said, with a little help from my friends...
Landy on guitar and effects was the first with whom I started to experiment to transform some poems into songs, that was in 1996/97, where I developed my spoken word performances; (there exists a really experimental CD with a lot of dynamics where he plays crazy guitar effects, while I cry, scream and shout; at that time Arsene de Souza got both of us into playing percussions what I did very well as a kid in ballet, but this time 't wasn't any more Carl Orff but African polyrhythms, on Drums and cowbells; and in Winter 1998/1999, after I came back from a New York visit, Roykey Creo created the carpet for my first German rap, "Freiwillig" and I drove him crazy in the studio because I had this exact thing in my inner ear but was not yet able to express it, Man, I never did a rap before in my life, not even to mention a tune, I was a poet and actress transforming into something new, and I tried with all my heart to get my point across - with all the willpower of an aries , he never experienced anything like me in a studio, that's for sure, his face expression at some times could have made me a new tune, anyway, this first ever recorded piece #9 is a little stiff from my side, but I wanted it on "Natural High" because that is how it all began ...
With "Freiwillig" -which translated means "voluntarily" I went back to NYC, with the goal to find one or more real musical partners to work with, someone who voluntarily wants to work with me because he/she loves my poetry and my voice and is inspired by me and sees the bigger picture and shares my vision...
When I met Hardgroove, I basically first wanted to get the English version of "Freiwillig"done, and I had tons of other poems that I wanted to transform into songs, "sweet magic" was the first, an it went so well and easy that Hardgroove wanted me to pull out some more lyrics - I have 2 suitcases full of half finished poems - and he asked me "what do you want your Music to sound like" and I was all over the place because I love so many different singing styles, so he said:" what is your market, your target" and I said "EVERYBODY, young and old, black and white and green and yellow and red" and he explained me that I must be realistic. OK , that's a hard one but one thing was clear for me, it has to be funky, and it must groove.
I pulled out my favorite tunes and when I said "Sly Stone" Hardgroove said "and what about Funkadelic", when I said :" Prince" he said "do you know Bootsy Baby", when I said "Sade" he said "you're too edgy" ( I did not even know the word, I had ja also a little language problem) ...so when I said "yeah, Zappa!!! " he said "first learn the simple song structures" When I said "I want to sing this here a capella" he said something similar to " a toddler cannot climb mount Everest in a day". He is an aries too, and I learned a lot from him (as he probably from me...)
[ back to top ]
- How was it for you to come all by yourself as a stranger into this country and create from scratch all this music, basically with total strangers?
I see myself as a guest on this planet, so I make every place my home;
and as I grew up as the only child between my parents and grandparents, I know how to get along with scary and exciting tasks like being the "new one" or "bloody beginner" and believe me, I know how to get my point across, with all the emotions I have up my sleeve.
I was used to work with strangers as an actress, where you immediately have to open up and jump into intimacy , cuz by hesitation you do not accomplish anything.
When I started to work with Hardgroove and explaining him what kind of music styles I love, and while I pulled out my lyrics we had these long philosophical, political and personal talks, and we got to know each other good enough to create this co-operation. He knew how I wanted the songs to sound like, I created the lyrics and sang the melodies and he knew what kind of musicians to introduce me to. He never brought anybody into the session whom I did not like, they all came in the right moment and filled in the right space
And anyway, are we not all strangers somehow, at the beginning?
[ back to top ]
- Sena, are your lyrics strictly autobiographic?
Naturally, cuz I'm for real. Everything I express is my experience and personal point of view. I share with you my pleasure and my pain...even my mistakes...hopefully the older I get the more wisdom I will pass on...
[ back to top ]
- What is the message of "Natural High"?
As the title already tells you, its all about walking the rocky roads of live in style which means we have to be true to ourselves and keep it real, then we will succeed staying positive, by leaving sad experiences behind, by working them out, by watching what we speak and think, by letting go of fear and despair, and by making peace inside we are moving on, jumping faithfully into the new dimension because we are here on this planet for a reason, and if we learn to walk truthfully, we will conquer all challenges and trials and stay vibrant, then we are naturally high, cuz remember: good things do come if you believe ... and that is what I wish every body -including myself- to remember at all times
[ back to top ]
- The next step?
right now I am having this new project in front of me, my follow up CD, and you will see and hear the development, and I will share with all of you what I experienced and learned in these past years and I will take you with me to the next level...let me surprise you...
[ back to top ]
|
