StreetcredMusic:: Tessa Lena, Strange Love in the Time of Kali Yuga.

Tessa Lena, my friend who writes so wonderfully, and has amazing insight that is really hard to find in young artists today, shares this with us::

Tessa Makes Love

Strange Love In The Time Of Kali Yuga::

You live until you are a fully developed, grown-up. And then you start asking questions.
Like, why do I believe in things that I believe in? All those things: love, society, religion, money, death?
Pause it for a sec. I was so smart, so carefree and so lucky, how did pain happen? No, seriously. To me? To me. No.

When my parents paraded their wounds and taught me that life was hard, I laughed. My life was easy, I knew all the answers. They warned me that I should get my head out of the clouds. I laughed.
I moved all the way across the ocean to get away from their gloom, their unfulfillment. Life is full of irony – I repeated many of their mistakes. I turned out to be their daughter.

And when I faced real fear and real loneliness (the type that doesn’t go away after you mutter “Om, Om goddamit!”, my parents’ fears were ever so happy to re-unite with my own. Then I understood.
Through pain, I learned that everything came at a price. I learned  that my freedom was a very expensive thing. I should’ve known that it wasn’t just a metaphor.

So many things have happened since I ran away and into my future. My future has started a long time ago. A simple enumeration of my life’s facts reads like a Hollywood movie – as if I did it on purpose, and it freaks me out. I didn’t.  It was not supposed to be me. My life was supposed to be smooth and easy. Is it the way it works for… everyone?
Wait, God. Why did my parents parade their wounds? And my parents’ parents? And so on, like a Russian doll? From one generation to another, passing a bowl of poison with the best intentions in the world?

My parents… Were they happy when they were younger? Did they also assume that their lives were going to be different? I don’t even want to think about it. I know the answer and it is giving me chills.
“Break the spell,  – I whisper to my heart. -  I should be fearless. I should break free. I will bite, I will love, I will love and I will bite. Because without love, nothing makes sense. And if they try to steal my strength, I will bite like a street dog. I am all worked up. You can unpause...

You live until you are a fully developed grown-up. And then you start asking questions.
Like, why do I believe in things that I believe in? All those things: love, society, religion, money, death? And suddenly, facts hit you like a fist of steel.
You realize that most of the things that you have taken in with your mother’s milk, are a collection of folklore. Random approximations, inaccurate statements seeded with a possibility for love.
Kali Yuga is not a joke.

Your heart is visibly bleeding as your perfect self is absolutely calm and unshakable. You look around. You keep a tally:
Religion::: tampered with.
Society:::a sum of individual dreams and fears. A drive for respect. Beautiful people. Largely clueless, and often envious.
Love::: photo shopped.
Sex:  medicated.

>>And there you stand, agape and alone, as a thousand commercials for panaceas for broken people are trying to invite themselves to the party.
This is not good, you think. And you realize that you are your own god, in addition to the one above. But even that, even that – you have already heard that somewhere, and the privilege cost you $1,999 plus hotel.The speaker was charming.

...And you realize that you are your own god, in addition to the one above. That you are one, and you are all. That you know nothing and it’s a promise.
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 Tessa Makes Love, is #1 on the Reverb Nation Experimental music charts in NYC.
To view all Tessa's articles here on my blog, type 'Tessa Lena' in the search box above.

Photo credit: D. Sharon Pruitt

follow me:: Pete Carma

StreetcredMusic. I'd like you to meet, Susana Raya, Songstress

 'Wind Rose' is the new project of the Spanish singer and guitarist Susana Raya.

Pete, thanks for your support.

 "I have been learning, touring and making music around the world for the past 15 years. Now I want to share my own songs, influenced by all the treasures I have found on my way"

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Considered by the jazz critic and historian Ted Gioia as “the Andalusian Eva Cassidy”, Susana Raya is a songwriter, classical trained on guitar, European awarded winning jazz singer and jazz guitarist, a graduate of the  Conservatory of Amsterdam.

 

Ms Raya has a new creation, and we all can be part of it::

 

 Enjoy this video:

Susana Raya

This wonderful project (album) is being funded here:: 'Wind Rose' by Susana Raya

We will be posting more on Ms Raya, for sure..         follow her here: Susana Raya FB page

 

follow me:: Pete Carma

Tessa Lena, The Past and Future of....The Music Industry.

 Tessa Lena,
...my friend, who writes with a wit and an intellect that I love...here is her, 'Past and Future of the Music Industry'

If I hear another mid-level marketing professional claim expertise in “the future of the music industry”, I am going to have a fit. Then again, if I were selling colored pasta, I would definitely go to every conference and talk about how colored pasta is the future.
Yesterday, I wrote a massive blog on the subject that is still unfinished. In the meanwhile, here is a brief, cursory overview of the “past of music industry” that, I believe, sheds light on how limited and, let me say this out loud, masturbatory, those conversations about the future are.

“Because I think” (bwahahahaha).
1877. Thomas Edison invents the phonograph. He figures that a good way to create a demand for his devices is music records. He doesn’t credit musicians on his records because he thinks it’s not about musicians but about his technology. Initially, there are three big manufactures of devices of this type (although technically, they are different devices using three different types of record). Each manufacturer has a “record label”. They use music because music gives regular people a reason to buy their devices.

Then radio becomes a thing. People who sell radios start competing with people who sell record players, both use music as an incentive to sell their devices. Eventually, two broadcasting companies (i.e., people who sell radios) buy two leading manufacturers of record players, while Thomas Edison goes out of business.
Radio people also figure out to make money on ads while attracting listeners with music.

 In the meanwhile, vinyl becomes a thing. People who sell vinyl start competing with people who sell radios. Then tape recording devices, then CDs and CD playing devices, then Apple, then developers of torrent technologies, then streaming companies. Seems like throughout recent history, every single technology used music simply to sell their shit. To every single one of them, artists are a “resource”. Bigger artists are a more expensive resource. Artists with less clout are a faceless mass.
Spotify. #thatsongwhen campaign. Awwwww. Bullshit! They try to leech on the idea of freedom and fuzzy feelings, too, while they have absolutely nothing to do with generating it. They are a DEVICE. A MACHINE. A ROBOT.

(I am not touching publishing and other income streams here because it would take me another day to type. But seriously.)
Reason I am taking the time to state the obvious?
For one, I believe that the world is not in its best state, and it can be made better, and secondly, I believe that in order to fix any problem, one needs to get to the bottom of it and address the way things are talked about. Anything can be justified with words: abuse, environmental pollution, disrespect, genocide, dehumanization. Masters of the words are masters of the business models. It’s been done since the dawn of mankind, and the only way to resist verbal predators is to not budge.
Bad language creates fog. Stating the obvious in simple language removes fog, it’s as simple as that.
The naked emperor is not very strong.
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 Tessa fronts the experimental band: 'Tessa Makes Love'
...........they are currently #1 on Reverb Nations Experimental charts in NYC.

follow me:: Pete Carma

'Artists in New York', Part XV, Songstress, Keren Botaro

My 'Artists in New York' series...Part XV
Some of the wonderful women in my 'Artists in New York' series, I tracked down after seeing them on youtube, or seeing them live...some have contacted me as a result of them seeing my blog. And some, I have met under circumstances that just seemed to be fate.

This wonderful songstress fits the 'fate' scenario. When you walk in to a kitchen and there she sits,
that's fate!

 Keren Botaro

I can usually tell within 8 seconds if someone is cool or not, she not only passed the 8 second test, but the jackpot for me is her music. She has the voice, and the style that I love. She's a 21st Century songstress with just enough ole school brashness to make it all work!

                                                   'Artists In New York'
Keren Botaro:

Pete... here's my story:

"Israeli girl, moved to Boston after my family relocated from Israel (I joined them two years later since I was on tour in Europe at that time), after about a week in Boston, and because I visited Time Square a year before and vowed to come back, I decided to move to New York City, so I packed a suitcase and got on the bus. Thirteen years later I'm still here, singing, writing, performing (A lot) and living all kinds of versions of the dream I had when I first moved here".

"Living in NYC, this melting pot of art, culture and people, brought me experiences that led to so much growth both personally and artistically. I was able to go on tour with Alicia Keys as an opening act, I was introduced to acting and took a 2 year conservatory with the renowned William Esper, which influenced my entire singing and songwriting style". 

Keren Botaro

"My music is a mash of so many styles because I've lived in two different countries and traveled a lot, so my musical influences are very eclectic. I love blues and soul, classic rock and jazz (I front a 17 piece Big Band orchestra), and so I try to combine as many of these styles as I can in my songs. 

To me, the emotional component is the most important aspect of a song so I always start with that.

Most of the songs I write come from personal experiences and actually become a piece of my life, like a photo you can come back and look at. I love performing and I do that a lot here in NYC. Connecting with people in a live setting is my favorite thing to do".

                                              Enjoy, Video:: Keren: 'The Only One'

I ask two questions of all the artists in this series>

1. If you were leaving Earth and could only take one album with you, which would you take?

Keren: 'If I had to leave Earth and were allowed to take only one album it would probably have to be "These Songs For You, Live" by Donny Hathaway. It is an amazing live album by one of my favorite artists and it completely changed the way I approach songs.

2. If you could work with anyone, who would you choose?

Keren: If I could perform with anyone it would be Johnny Cash. I don't know why but I just love him!! I mean, besides the fact that he is no longer living on this planet (small, minor obstacle), ever since I discovered him and his music I was transfixed. I feel his earthiness and his truthfulness and his simplicity and pain. so yeah...Johnny Cash. 

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Keren has a couple of gigs coming up:: Thursday Dec 11th, 2014

                        Rockwood Music Hall, NYC  11PM

                                          

               and::       Sunday December 21st, 2014  9 PM at the Shrine, in Harlem 

Keren also performs with her band 'Keren and the Sugar Daddys' and with New York Big Band!

Get her schedule on::  Her FB page, here 

Or her web site;  Keren Botaro, HERE

 My thanks to Keren, for letting my readers get to know another of the great talents NYC  has to offer!

..................and stay tuned here for more from this 'Artist in New York'

follow me:: Pete Carma

                

StreetcredMusic: Tessa Lena, On Derogatory Words.

Sometimes you go about your day and do normal, everyday things, and then there is a sudden crack in the context and you think, wtf?

Like, a juxtaposition of that trashy Nicki Minaj video I quoted recently, and a print ad inside a philharmonic program: "Luxury holiday crafted for travelers with a passion for the arts, music, conversation, and theater". And how is class warfare a conspiracy theory?

While the ghetto folk (quote) "sit on their big butts and stare at the titties", the sophisticated folk are having gently curated, vanity-flavored conversations. Both are mercilessly leeched and guided into impotence. 
Yikes!

On a side note, if I were a hypothetical, sci-fi evil tyrant filled with contempt for nature and indigenous, non-Roman cultures, I would be very pleased with celebrated individuals of African descent publicly jumping up and down like lobotomized clowns and calling themselves "RICH NIGGAZ" and "BOSS NIGGAZ" (that be a quote from Nicki Minaj's official lyrics video). Just saying.
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Tessa Lena:: Tessa Makes Love is #1 on Reverb Nation's Experimental Music Charts in NYC!

Follow Tessa:: HERE

Follow me:: Pete Carma

Great Book From, The Maestro, Cidinho Teixeira

The book: Brazilian Rhythm on the Keyboard is from Cidinho Teixeira

....if you are familiar with the Jazz scene in New York City, or if you are a musician this book is a must have for you.

...I met Cidinho through my friendship with Greta Panettieri, the one and only, 'Diva'.
...Just this last week in NYC, they were united for two sets at The Zinc Bar, where they were residence for years on Sunday, 'Brazilian Nights'

...at 72 Cidinho was brilliant as ever, a great show.

The book is an invaluable source of the genius and experience of a master, Cidinho.

link to,  BOOK

..here is a sample of their work at hand...Vocals Greta, Keys, of course, Cidinho Teixeira,
Itaiguara Brandao, bass, and Mauricio Zottrelli, drums.

 Here is a video of the maestro::  Cidinho

You can get the Book Here


                                                            

StreetcredMusic, Introducing, 'Fond Of Rudy'

I came across a band from the UK, this week, 'Fond of Rudy'.
I thought they would be a good fit with what I do here, support young independent artists.
So, here they are::

 'Fond Of Rudy'

Matt Ahwal: from the band...
  "Okay sooo 'Fond Of Rudy'…between the four of us, we mix together a blend of Rock, Indie-Pop and slightly Alternative music. We're a band of four members (Matt, Paul, Tom and Billy) and every individual draws different musical influences to the 'Creation Station' let's call it…haha.

Billy's drums and Tom's bass provide a solid cement for our music, which is layered with further live percussion and synthesized samples.   (All of our own work of course!)

Once described as "Wolf like" vocals with a hint of reverberated harmonies, breezy riffage and keys are placed on top of the rhythmic base, which creates a unique sound for our music. Although saying this... what genre our music can be best placed in, we leave down to listeners…we don't particularly know ourselves! 

Already in motion are plans for the release of our debut EP, with a campaign for the release 'TBA' and kicking off shortly…watch this space! 

A big old rethink to our outlook and performance has been ongoing over the past year with some exciting new sounds being produced as a result. We hope to portray these new sounds to new/old/live audiences with the release of the EP. ...One step at a time. For our next challenge…a campaign and the studio!"

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 That's the 411 so far, now enjoy their music, and as Matt said, you'll be seeing more of them here!
       
                                        Fond Of Rudy, video:: 'To Be Mine'

follow: 'Fond Of Rudy' HERE

follow me:: Pete Carma

Tessa Lena, On Rebellion?

 We gave them the idea that consuming is an act of defiance.” These words from The Target Shoots First are burning in my blood, making me desperate that I am here on this Earth, face to face with a million awful and lovable zombies. A couple of days ago a friend posted on his Facebook, “I am a Rock’n’Roll rebel”. When I read this I became angry, because rebellion has been sold to the rats. Please, honey. Shopping at Trash and Vaudeville is not rebellion

 'Tessa Makes Love'

 I grew up in the Soviet Union and I remember the slight feeling of danger associated with alternative clothing or non-government music. But here on the East Coast, a rocker outfit is not a risk factor. What rebellion? Co-branded liberation is an oxymoron. Those bastards set a profit margin on everything including love and punk rock! What do I do?

It feels like I’ve lived for a hundred years. I’ve seen this story so many times…shiny eyes, early college, do the band thing, cool friends, face reality, need money, get a job, realize that the band thing was just a fun thing to do, and be totally cool with it. I am all grown up, I don’t think there is anything wrong with this story because it only means that they can live without it for now but…

But zombies!
When I hear high school kids bring up fashion rebellion, I see a boring marketing room and cynical people talking about zombie strategies and a tasty bottom line.
No, honey, you are not a Rock’n 'Roll rebel. You are a sweet child who has been lied to.

 Follow:: Tessa Lena    and on :: Facebook

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