For the past couple of years I feel like great music has
been missing in action. But since last summer things have started to pick up a
little and music and I have rekindled our flame. As a result I now spent a lot
of time online searching a listening to new and great music that I have stumbled
across by chance or that more than likely have been recommended to me by my
homegirl who is my go to person for music as her recommendations never
disappoint.
So the latest recommendation has been on repeat and then on
repeat again because she is soooooo good. Arima Ederrais her name and if
you don’t know about her already then you seriously need to get to know.
Image sourced from Google
This girl is BAD ASS! If you like Solangeand Jhene Aiko then there is no way that
you won’t like Arima, check out her video below for her track ‘Flow Chart’.
If you like what you hear then it just got better! If you click
here you can download her top quality 10 track
album ‘Earth to Arima’ …. For free!! Or you can check her out on SoundCloud or keep up with this talented missy on
twitter @ArimaEderra.
The first time I heard JP Cooper I was immediately blown
away by his talent , but when I had the opportunity to meet him at the last
Soul Live Birmingham I was in no way at all prepared for the pure level of
humility of Mr Copper or his enthusiasm, love, understanding and passion for
honest music. He is hands down the most intriguingly humblest man I think that
I have ever met.
For a man with a rare yet powerful Soul, it’s hard to
believe that his musical beginnings started in Rock bands which he said helped
to mould his sound and voice that has taken him 10 years to find.
Emerging from a “very white working class” background in
Manchester it was through Coopers exploration of Gospel music and being a fan
of Soul that he was able to find this voice that I just can’t get enough of.
With Musical Influences like Donnie Hathaway,Bill Riversand the legendary Stevie Wonder, Cooper is definitely a man who is
serious about real music. So to find out why Mr Copper is officially my first music
obsession of 2013 keep reading and I’m sure by the end of the interview you'll be obsessed too.
For those that aren’t
familiar with your music, how would you describe your sound.
Wow, you know what I really don’t know. In what I do I try
to be honest, try to keep things simple, I try to reveal as much as I can and I
try and strip it down to the bones and as far as the sound goes… I don’t know,
because it isn’t soul, it isn’t folk, it’s number of things.
What sets you apart
from the other soul artist out there today? It’s probably is because I came from such a different
background, and I mean here tonight I feel blessed to have been invited into
this kind of event, to be accepted. I mean its Soulive,
so for someone to say I feel your soul when you sing, that’s what it’s all
about.
So how would you
explain your background? I grew up in a very white working class area, so I was more
exposed to indie music. I live in Manchester, so the whole Manchester thing was
going on and everybody was in Indi Bands, that’s maybe why it took me so long
to get into soul music because there weren’t many people sharing that. Luckily
over the years I’ve found Gospel Choir, I’ve found other musicians and I’ve
learnt a lot, whereas I used to hide behind my long hair and loud guitars.
Considering you
started out in Rock, is this something that you still delve into or are you solely
Soul Music? I don’t know if I would go back into that, I probably
wouldn’t because I’ve always wanted to do something acoustic, something soulful,
I think it was just finding the confidence to bare that and it took me ten
years to focus on what I had that was special and individual, so I feel like
I’m just scratching the surface now.
Who or what inspires
you lyrically? I don’t really know if there’s been any people that have
influenced me to write. Most of the things are just everyday emotions, things
that I’ve been nostalgic about, things that have moved me in a good way, things
that have moved me in a confused way. A lot of the time when I’m writing I’m
figuring things out, so half the time I don’t know what the songs about when
I’m writing it and then when I finish sometimes it’s a year later that it says
something to me and that’s what’s beautiful about it. I do really try and keep
it simple and I do want to be able to speak to everybody, I don’t just want to
just be able to speak to intellectual people, I want to keep it simple because
I’m a simple guy.
Keeping with the
theme of inspiration and lyrics, ‘Oh the Water’ is one of my favourite songs. What
inspired such a powerful song? I think that when I wrote that song I was trying to speak to
a part of myself that tells me that I can’t do something. I have massive doubt
issues with myself, I’m kind of working them out. It’s about dealing with self-doubt
and not sweeping it under the rug, it’s about facing it and dealing with it and
helping a part of yourself that is being beat on. So that’s what that songs
about, and it’s another one that spoke to me.
If there is anyone
that you could work with dead or alive, who would it be? There are people that I would love to meet, but I would love
to meet and learn from. I’m a huge Donnie Hathaway
fan and I got to support his daughter Lalah Hathaway.
Stevie wonder, what a man,
what a legacy. It would be great to sit down with Bill
Riversjust because he seems like such a great down to earth kind of guy
and I don’t know how he’s managed to keep that, that’s a really big aspiration
to have.
So there you have it ladies and gents, a little insight in
to who this magnificent artist is and where he came from! I definitely recommend
you keep a close eye on him and if JP is coming to a town near you, not going to
see him live is not an option! But for the time being check out the video below
of JP performing ‘Oh the Water’ Live atSoulive
back in February, and if you look closely enough you’ll see a little shortie in the front row who looks like she’s in pure heaven … yep that little shortie is moi
and if heaven feels anything like I felt during that moment then boy, I better
be on my best behaviour!
To see more quality Artist’s like JP get yourself down to
the Rainbow Warehouse, Digbeth Birmingham on May 11th for round 3 of Soulive! I for one canny wait!!
This Wednesday if live music is your thing and you are looking for somewhere to celebrate the mid week, I Luv Live Birmingham at Oh Velvet Bar on Broad Street in Birmingham city centre is the place for you.
Image sourced from Google
This month I Luv Live Birmingham is bringing forward an great line up of talent.
The night is set to be an entertaining one with the likes of London rapper Shystie, Bobii Lewis and Birminghams own Allysa Rochelle, Safone and more.
So if you're in Birmingham on Wednesday April 24th at from 7.30pm, get yourself and some mates down to Oh Velvet Bar for a night of live music.
On Friday night my friend and I braved the cold weather and headed
out for the night on a little adventure. My friend had signed up to Sofar Sounds(Which
I had never heard of) and discovered that an event was taking place that night
in Birmingham. For those that aren’t familiar with Sofar Sounds, it’s this amazing, fun and exciting movement for real music lovers
that takes place in living rooms all over the world. It’s like a top secret
operation, you sign up to the mailing list and when a gig pops up that you want
to go to you confirm your attendance and then the day before the event you are
told the address, but not the names of the performers, as they remain top secret
until minutes before their they perform on the night.
This was my first Sofar Sound experience and it was pretty cool, I
had no idea what to expect but i thought it was really amazing how music brought so many
people together. However as a lady who doesn’t stick to one style of anything I
can see how if you are not an open minded person when it comes to music,
culture or art this may not be your kind of thing, as you have absolutely no
way of knowing who the acts are for the night or what the genre of music will
be, so what you get just may not be suited to your musical taste. But if you
are open minded, happy to go with the flow and love to hear new music from new
or underground artists in very intimate and personal surroundings, I would definitely
say to sign up to their mailing list and give it a go.
You’ll meet some really cool
people who do some really amazing things, my friend ended up talking to a
musician who had spent some of his years touring with TheRolling Stonesand I ended up being completely wowed by the hosts of the
night Cannon Street, two sisters with beautiful
musical talent (who also performed) and their parents who were gracious enough to
open their home to a bunch of random music lovers for the night.
I will be traveling later this
year in the three different parts of the USA and
there is one State in particular in which I am dying to experience some live
music, and that is down in Mississippi down in New Orleans! So I will be keeping a close eye on Sofar
Sounds gigs because I think this would be the ultimate place to attend a Sofar night.
But if Sofar doesn’t happen to have anything in that neck of the woods come
July, I’m more than happy to soak up the music it the infamous bars of New
Orleans with great company, amazing food and life changing events that will
become life long memories. And besides, there are plenty other cities all over
the world waiting for music lovers to attend their Sofar Sound nights
hosted by some of their most generous citizens.
Love Sara (A little lady who loves live music). xxx
I hope you’ve been having a great Bank Holiday weekend.
The past few weeks for me have been great but also very trying.
I’d started to feel like I was losing my sense of self and inner light as my
new job, which I love but is also very intense, had started to seep its way
into almost every aspect of my life… even my sleep, and if there is one thing
that I don’t play around with, it’s my sleep. So as you can imagine when this
happened it was time for me to take action and regain control over my life. This
hasn’t been an easy task to do because as much as I tried with all my might, my
laptop still found itself in my backpack for a weekend away from the office to casa
del Sara. But as an attempt to remember and restore all the other things in my
life other than work that are important to me, particularly my dreams and
aspirations I’ve started reading Paulo Coelho’s‘The Alchemist’for the second time.
If you have not read this book before I strongly suggest
that you make it a priority to add it to your collection because this is a book
like no other.
Sometimes in life we get so caught up in the here and now and the rat race, that we forget what it is to have
dreams. ‘The Alchemist’will restore your faith
in the good of the world, the people in it and the dreamers who are brave
enough to believe in and seek the euphoria of their dreams.
If you are anything like me … a bit of a dreamer and spend a
ridiculous amount of time in your head fantasising and mapping out all these
fantastic ideas about what you would like your life to become, but then procrastinate
when it comes to making them happen, then read ‘The Alchemist’. It may just be
the push you need to realise that your dreams can in fact become your reality.
Have a good week lovers and remember to always believe in
and pursue your dreams no matter how big or small.
