“I think every encounter with any human being is worth giving your full energy” – Jayanti

I believe I’m going to label 2011 the year of the “check this out” music discovery app. Hundreds of submissions hit the inbox every week, but when someone who you trust their musical sensibilities sends you something with the instructions to “check this out” everything else moves down a notch or two in the queue. Such is the case with Rotterdam based singer/songwriter Jayanti. I’m glad I followed instructions and I hope you will be spurred on to checkout her music, her total artistry from this very candid and thought provoking series of interviews. Make sure to check back for the conclusion that you don’t want to miss coming up this Friday Sept. 30th.

GFM: Tell us a little bit about your influences…

Jayanti: My mom and dad separated when I was a year old… but before that when my mom was pregnant my dad would play the drums, cause my dad was a drummer. He would be practicing all day and it would drive my mom nuts. But I liked it, because at a certain point they both told me that we would have sort of a game: He would do something on the drums kind of a rhythm, a simple rhythm on the drums and I would kick back. I would kick the same rhythm back to him. And then he would do it again and I would kick back. So I believe that would be the absolute start of everything. (more…)

It was very apparent when I was interviewing Tracy Cruz that she is an artist concerned with the purpose of music as a healing force to unite humanity. She is grounded, humble and quite simply: talented. At the end of our interview please check out the video for “Love’s Galaxy”. Also, Tracy’s latest project Universoul Symphony is out now and I encourage you to pick up a copy here. And without any further adieu…

GFM: I wanted to start by asking you to take us back to the beginning when you started taking voice lessons… and specifically your experience with participating in vocal competitions, I wanted to hear from you your thoughts on getting a solid musical foundation and how does the experience of competing from a young age impact you today?

TC: My mom really encouraged me to take vocal lessons, my mom and my grandma both loved to sing and they really encouraged me to pursue my passion for singing. I had met with a vocal coach Greg Farbizio at Darrell Leffler’s Academy of Music who I met when I was 12 and from there on he taught me the basics of singing and helped me to develop my style. I told him that I always loved R&B/Soul music so, he taught me a little bit of classical music and musical theater but then we really focused on R&B/Soul because he knew I really loved it.

My mom and my vocal coach encouraged me to go outside the studio and they really allowed to express myself in a different way, a way that I could interact with people. That interaction helped me to build a lot of sensitivity to musical expression. I was really able to dig into the essence of the songs that I was singing and tap into that really sensitive core and take that with me when I perform and share that on stage. I use that to try to interact with people, inspire people, move people and make them cry. I think taking vocal lessons and being in vocal competitions allowed me to have a better foundation. It allowed me to believe in my self more, I was very shy. (more…)

Disclaimer: You do not have to watch this video here and torture yourself if you do want to, it is solely provided for context.

Music doesn’t belong to any one particular person… it’s a form of expression we’ve all been given – Steveland Morris (more…)

MJ and Stevie… what more can you say but enjoy!

*Cue Kriss Kross* The subject of this editorial has been on my mind for a minute… wrote a song about like to hear it? Here it go!!!

Add me, confirm me, follow me please
If you have a little time can you rate how I sing?

I had to stop after those two lines to write this. But seriously, what I’m ranting about today is the ever present (especially as it relates to music) “I’m about to do this or that” that you cannot escape from on any social network whether it is a “celebrity” or someone who aspires to be. I have certainly been guilty of using that phrase, I still probably use it from time to time but my problem is the incessant “I’m about to-ers”. You know the folks that out of the 24hours in each day that we’ve been allotted 18 of those hours they are on Twitter or Facebook talking about what they are going to do musically. Oh they are out there… some successful and some not so, some talented and some not so. (more…)

I posted this particular clip for a few reasons…

1. We are going to get into the music of Stevie today on Facebook to help pay tribute to an incredible icon of music, so that side will be covered.

2. Stevie is so much more than just a musician, which is part of the reason that his music is timeless.

3. Please no one take a offense at this next statement that I’m about to make… but did you see the competition that Stevie was up against to win the Grammy? That speaks volumes and I’m going to leave it right there.

Happy Birthday Stevie!!!

From the entire GFM Family!!!

Happy Monday!

Yeah I know I’m actually up to 1984 in Stevie’s catalog. I’m not really stuck in the 70′s. This song just happened to be on my mind today. I often wax nostalgic here but really from the standpoint of trying to point into proper context what it was like to grow up with this kind of music on the radio as the norm. What I often wonder about now is are we creating not just music but history? Yes this music has the undeniable sound of 80′s digital synthesis but also has a wonderful melody, beautiful harmonies and a pulse that drives. There’s a story here. I like stories, everyone likes stories, there are stories that have been with us thousands of years. What stories will they tell from 2011?