GOING NORTH !

Going South: Deteriorate or decline. This expression is generally thought to allude to two dimensional maps where north is up and south is down. However, among some Native Aeericans, the term was a euphemism for dying, and possibly this sense led to the present usage.

And this definition by Dictionary.com suits perfectly. A couple of the definitions of urban Dictionary were really not what I was after, but this gives all its meaning to this brand new adventure! A rebirth of curiosity, "music and smiles".

If going south can mean an unlucky turn of events, then why not grab a couple of ukuleles, a backpack, and head as North as possible, right in the Winter months, and prove that a fulfilling adventure does not depend on palm trees and sandy beaches. 

Between Europe, and my destination the Uke Fest du Nord in Québec, in Iceland Reykyavik, on a little island just outside the centre, a few confessions and a whole lot of anticipation:

"It's been a while since I felt inside, the sunshine, it's beauty and the clouds.

Music and smile, open to the heart which once was too hard and too proud"

The other side of the Cam; my view as I was singing and dancing on the Icelandic shore

"As you can see from this grey silver picture, which like the soul moves in mysterious ways and cares not who does dare put his gaze on this glorious nature, Fortune does speak and to hearts it does whisper"

And of course there's a sort of dress code/thematic-sort-of-thing to go with the frisky stretches I am set to explore:

"So here I am, all dressed up in grey, it's a theme thing, it depends on where I go, you know?

I'll brave the Winter and the storms on my way as I travel through thoughts and snow"

Grey is the colour, happiness is the mood, pretty cold is the temperature

Bla bla bla bla "Yes I know, the words don't count as much,

As what's been hiding behind the soul, and what our human minds can touch,

It's all right,

I'm Going North"

The Ukuleles jump Back onto the Road!

Hop on the train of song and the boat of curiosity, jump on the saddle of discovery, and use whatever other metaphor you want, for Ukulele Road Trips are back!

On your bikes, get set, snow! Little Bike ride in Reykyavik, between flights, and between continents.

Well, as you know, they never really left. They were just recording awesome albums alone in the countryside.

And now, it's almost Winter, and UKULELES ARE COMING. Tum tum tuum !!

Very Bard Trip incoming!

Should be good.

More precisely they are coming to Canada and Iceland ! All is revealed in the introductory "so-what's-going-to-happen-then?" Podcast with Marine HERE. Plus, you know, songs !

To make this new vagabond-ing possible, Ukulele Road Trips is partnering up with CLOUD MUSIC UKULELES! The kind people behind the brand are making sure I get a couple of new fancy ukes for the adventure,  are funding a part of it, and will no doubt provide me with words of encouragement when it gets really too cold in the Northern reaches. So it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, check them out on www.cloud-music.us.

Cloud Music Ukuleles "fly away with the softest melodies". It's not their moto, but I think it sounds good.

So, to sum up what Marine was supposed to help me make clear in the Podcast:

Ukulele Road Trips are flying via Reykyavik (that's in Iceland, and where I'm writing this from) and landing in Canada. We'll then go all the way up to Québec, and then fly back to Iceland. There, another Road Trip begins. Which normally ends in something else than freezing to death. Hopefully something more "singy" and "ukulele-y".

So that's the general outline. Who knows how it will go though.

The only immovable event of it all, and also the crown Jewel of the adventure, the Québec Ukulele Festival where I will be performing with the help of my new ukuleles and of my vocal chords. I will also be giving a Masterclass on how to write songs. And be inspired. And feel the music as you write, and, you know, that kind of stuff. Exciting times! That's the 18th and 19th of November 2016 by the way.

The first ever edition of the Uke Fest du Nord! Privileged AF* to be a part of it!! (stands for French Absolument Formidable*)

So saddle up! At this point in time, I'm exactly like you. Not too sure what to expect. But it's just Canada and Iceland in November and December. What could possibly go wrong?

Do join the gang of these ukes&Ion this upcoming adventure ! And your sweet gesture of getting my albums as gifts for your family will keep me warm in any field of snow. I do thank you for that very much.

Hop hop!

All aboard.

woooosh.

Recording the Albums: Care and Chaos

What a few months it's been!

Not in a "look at all these countries we've visited!" kind of way though. More in a "oh goodness, an end product has been achieved! Look at that!" kinda way.

Yes, the title is a slight giveaway: the Albums are out! They're alive! My babies. You may have seen various phases of this painful birth on facebook, twitter, the PLEDGE page where I tried to get my money back through crowdfunding, for the acoustic foam I bought.

Quick catch-up so there's something resembling a transition between the last Ukrainian post and here: I flew home, Christmas was nice, then I recorded the albums, alternating phases of determination with phases of falling flat on my face. So, life, basically. But with solo Album-recording.

Here's a little breakdown of how it went.

Step 1. Location

Location, location, location! The Jort-Studio Balcony. And only window.

Choosing a place to record your album is a bit like picking a house to raise your child. Where it's done will define the existence of the thing. How it grows up, what sound it has, if it behaves well and eat its spinach, and, if it has a nice relaxed feel to it when you stop, and attentively listen to it.

So, I thought, best do it in LA, America, Eldorado of producers and quality music engineers! I could hire a small orchestra and a brass band. Conduct them myself....

Then, I remembered reality. And keeping that in mind, I opted for a tiny village, in the Normandy countryside, where there was an old house I could use for the neat sum of nothing, nothing being here my renting budget.

Yes the village, was tiny, but there is a "boulangerie" there, where bread is sold from 10am to 2pm, and then from 4pm to 7pm, so that's something. Sometimes they have croissants too. Yeah, I know, right?

So we all headed to the Region of Calvados. No orchestra, no Brass Band, but me, my ukuleles, my guitars, a trumpet, a viola and lots of little percussiony thingies.

STEP 2. PREPARING THE STUDIO

Of course once you know where you next of kin/musical production will become and grow as a physical reality, you'll want to make the place as nice, or as okay-ish, as possible!

Enthusiasm, reporting for duty.

So a room was chosen. Without electricity or heating. Who knew that that would later turn out to be a problem in Winter/Spring, in Normandy?

Anyway, this is where cleaning comes into play. And here's how, from experience, I would suggest you do it:

First of all, you might want to take the big carpet out that hasn't been washed in decades, then try to hoover it, and notice it makes no difference. Then you might want to try and wash it with water and stain remover, only to notice you've bleached it and that it will never ever dry outside. Then confront reality, roll it up, and shove next to the pile of wood in the garden and never use that carpet again, which would have been great for sound-excess absorption. Whatever that means.

Genius.

After the carpet issue is sorted, and the cobwebs and insect mass graves have been dealt with, it's time for professional sound-proofing. This is to make sure the room sounds good when you play music in it so that the microphones pic up a nice sound, which doesn't sound like a boarding school's toilet.

Don't let the fact that you only bought 50% of what you needed in acoustic-foam, spending your whole "equipment" budget in the process, get your spirits down. You're now ready to move in, realise the electricity and heating don'work, find a really long cable, and then, finally, to start recording. Candlelit and with a big Winter hat. Almost like they do it in L.A. I'm guessing.

This acoustic-foam isn't going to stick itself onto the walls!

STEP 3. FEEL LIKE GIVING UP

STEP 4. DON'T GIVE UP

Alternate between steps 3 and 4 as you continue through the process.

Even though it's crazy-lonely in that village and the cold is getting to you, remember, you've no choice, because somewhere between 5 and 20 people have already pre-bought the album on that Pledge website, hence financing 50% of the foam. Probably by mistake, but it changes nothing: throwing in the towel is no longer an option.

STEP 5. RECORDING

This got pretty eventful.

First of all, I must say, recording without heating, with the door sort of opened to pass an electricity cable through it, light by candles, could be thought as poetic. Something to inspire the soul into pouring its romance and experiences through vocal chords and microphones. It could be. Of course, it wasn't, it was just cold. But that shouldn't matter. It could have been!

NIght recording shift. A light had been installed on month two by the studio-electrician.

Month four was getting a little heated, both with the weather, and also between recording musicians and staff. The string players got in a tiff with the trumpet players, and the percussionists annoyed the ukulele players by constantly tapping on things with their fingers. The producer was feeling lazy, and the sound engineer slightly nervous. The editor even told the PR guy to go [redacted] himself with a [redacted] [redacted] flavour. The most worrying thing is, I was doing all of these things, alone. So I was having to keep up with all these arguments in my head. A mix of solitude, and overcrowded...-ness. Thank goodness, as all these arguments were imaginary and in my mind, it actually never got too crowded in the studio-space.

STEP 6. SPENDING WAAAAY MORE TIME ON IT THAN PLANNED

Spending much more time with the recording process of course, and also, spending time coming to terms with the technical side of things. Fights between the sound engineer, the web-platform guy and the track-editor-person came to be at this point. But, the good thing about imaginary arguments, is that they're easier to solve. You can just imagine solutions.

No caption necessary

STEP 7. PFIOU. AND YAY!

Every step that lies before you in life, is your teacher.

Yes that's true, it does sound a bit like a crummy cat poster. But it's sort of right too. I'll keep it simple and say that recording 24 songs alone, for two albums [VOLUME ONE, later renamed and shuffled around as Uke full of Song, and the Rômania Album] in the solitude of an old big house in a old small village, is a treasure chest of painful, empathyless, crude teachers. So merci bien to them.

Very much like with  a child (and I'm guessing here), giving birth to an album can be painful, noisy, and a bit messy, and not go accordingly to plan. And even if you do your best, it turns out a lot of the end-result is strangely out of your hands. All you can do is give it your utmost, your kindest smiles, and your deepest love.

The difference being of course that giving birth and parenthood is NOTHING like making an album and my metaphor is really, really dumb, and I apologise, but, it's not like more than 2 or 3 people will make this far down here anyway.

What I meant was, pfiou. And, YAY !!

Inside the Jort-Studios. Or Jort-Studio, singular, as it's one room.

Photo taken by the cameraman of the Team.

Pictured: the entire crew, and all musicians involved in the recording of VOLUME ONE/Uke Full of Song and of the România Album.

[Volume ONE/Uke Full of Song and the România Album were recorded in Jort-Studios from March to June 2016]

Sunset behind the Jort Church, where live&acoustic versions of a few songs were recorded (bonus tracks on the România Album)