Music

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Archive"><U><I><U>October Archive</U></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Front Page"><U>Front Page</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Editorial"><U>Editorial</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="GBD:Revelations"><U>GBD:Revelations</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gothla US"><U>Gothla US</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="But Im not Goth!"><U>But I'm not Goth!</U></A></div> <div> Music</div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fashion"><U>Fashion</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fitness"><U>Fitness</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Public Service"><U>Public Service</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><IMG SRC="16c87590.png" border=0 width="135" height="89" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#CC0033" FACE="Berlin Sans FB" >  |    </FONT> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Navel Magazine"><U>Home</U></A></div> <div> Music</div> <div> <B>Traveling the soul: Solace and Jeremiah Soto<IMG SRC="1bb34610.jpg" border=0 width="308" height="353" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="25" VSPACE="10"></B></div> <div> <I>Interview by Eleyda Negrón</I></div> <bR> <div> Gothic belly dancers use a wide variety of music that is not necessarily Middle Eastern.  A musician inspired by Middle Eastern music and the dark emotions of the soul has been an ally for Gothic dancers and many other music lovers.  Solace, and its leader Jeremiah Soto, has been an incredible inspiration for those who enjoy an alternative in music with modern background and deep emotions.  After their successful European tour, Jeremiah talks to Navel about their journey through the Music world.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Navel:     Why the name Solace?</B></div> <div> <B>Jeremiah: </B>Solace is how I describe my music; it's what it means to me. I think everyone can relate to this. When I was young, I felt inadequate and I had no group of people I belonged to. Feeling isolated and alone, music became my solace. The name Solace is also universal, because I see myself doing many musical styles, not just Middle Eastern dance music.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Navel: How did you meet the other members of Solace?</B></div> <div> <B>Jeremiah:</B> I met Tim Rayborn at a belly dance event called Rakkasah West in the Bay area. I asked him if he would be interested in contributing a track to the Kabila Project and soon after he became the first artist to be signed onto EMP. As the years progressed we began working together on recordings and performances.</div> <bR> <div> Ruben van Rompaey was looking for a label to be signed to and he sent me a CD of his drum compositions. Within 15 seconds of listening to his tracks, I immediately contacted him and signed him onto EMP. From that moment on, he has become a great inspiration to the EMP family and a part time percussionist with Solace live.</div> <bR> <div> Kate St. Pierre came highly recommended by Dann M. Torres of CityplaceKnossos when I was looking for a singer for the Balance CD. Kate and I started working together in late 2004, and she has also been the distinct voice on the Nagari CD. It was great to have Kate on the Serpent's Kiss Tour, because she could project her voice while retaining the quality in sound that you hear on Nagari.</div> <bR> <div> Susie Hall was a member in my wife's former tribal belly dance troupe, Devadasi. It just so happened that she knew how to play the piano, and soon after that we recruited Susie for our US tours.</div> <bR> <div> Dave Hall is Susie's husband, and an accomplished jazz drummer. He teaches at the music school, owned by his brother and him, The Music Stand. Dave is impeccable with his arrangements of the Solace rhythm section.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Navel: When a group like yours has members who have their own projects, like Tim Rayborn, how do you deal with them? Do they turn into collective projects?</B></div> <div> <B>Jeremiah:</B> Our projects don't really become collective. We have our own philosophies in regards to how we work on and want to present our music. However, we may ask one of the other artists to play on an album or song, but the work is usually already written, so the guest artist is just adding to the written artist's songs. Tim does record for me when I need an exotic instrument, and he also collaborated with Maduro on `Juno Wakes'. Ruben played extensively on Nagari, as did Tim and Kate. Maduro has created some remixes for me for my new work. All in all, the artists on the label create their own music, although we are all inspired by each other.</div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="1bd6ddf0.jpg" border=0 width="365" height="223" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="20" VSPACE="25">Navel: You guys just toured Australia and Europe in your “Serpent's Kiss Tour 2007”. How was your experience? Any interesting anecdotes?</B></div> <div> <B>Jeremiah:</B> Australia is one of the most beautiful countries we ever visited. The people were nice and supportive and the food was great. I don't mean to offend any vegetarians, but kangaroo meat is delicious. Matt Stonehouse was our percussionist in Australia and his talents were above and beyond all of our expectations. I think our favorite phrases were “knackered”, which means full (food) and/or worn out by `intimate activity', and “I reckon”. We also enjoyed singing the Smurf song to our friend Trisna in Melbourne to her bright red, embarrassed disapproval. </div> <bR> <div> Europe was fantastic, especially Ireland, Germany and Poland. We saw so many beautiful places, visited several cathedrals, and spent a lot of time viewing the countryside from our train trips between cities. It was overall very breathtaking. We met amazing people in every city, and give thanks to our promoters for taking such good care of us. </div> <bR> <div> There were a couple of stories, including our flight over story. We flew Aer Lingus (it's funny already). When we boarded the plane we noticed that the flight attendants were a little on the curt side. My wife and Tim remarked that they all seemed to be a little on the `plain' side with their hair pulled into severe buns and their conservative uniforms. For some reason the crew found it entirely amusing when we would be ordered about by the flight attendants for meal times, closing the window shade, sleeping, etc. They literally would come by and bark an order. The crew hypothesized that Aer Lingus was actually a secret training program for the notorious nuns known to teach at Catholic Schools. We also didn't have the usual personal monitors as are found on most international flights, we all watched `Norbit' on the way to Dublin (“How you durin?”). As we found out on the flight back home, Aer Lingus does have some attractive, kind flight attendants. We also had the personal monitors that let you watch TV, movies, videos, listen to music, and play games. We figured the other flight attendants were just pissed, which also means drunk if you are talking to English folks or Aussies, at being on the old plane. </div> <bR> <div> Another story that comes to mind is when I got food poisoning in Madrid, Spain. There was a group of ten of us and we all split a five liter container of sangria, while playing a game that Ruben invented with our daughter Falyn. Every time someone initiated the game, we all said “HEY!” then had a drink. We ordered many tapas, including a dubious order of sausages. To this day, I am not sure if it was the sangria or the food - I'll just say that the toilet was getting its use out of me!</div> <bR> <div> Barcelona, was a beautiful city and the response there was overwhelming. We packed a 450 seat venue, which topped off the tour in a very good way. Thanks much to Eva and Maria Rosa for creating such an amazing event that we could be a part of.</div> <bR> <div> The food, the hospitality and the friendships made on the European leg of the tour were phenomenal and we all look forward to going back one day!</div> <bR> <div> <B>Navel: To decide to go on tour and also have several activities, you need to have a solid fan base. We know that there are many belly dancers who follow your work - is your musical target JUST belly dancers?</B></div> <div> <B>Jeremiah:</B> In the beginning, the target was just Belly Dancers, because they were the only ones who were listening to what I was doing. I realized in 2000, after Ahsas was released, that people in modern dance, gothic clubs, gothic belly dancers, and even the figure skating world were showing interest in my music. Now, our target audience still includes Belly Dancers, but it also includes anything and everything that is world and electronic music. We are also expanding our market to include more music fans in general. Fans who appreciate Dead Can Dance and other eclectic artists may also be interested in Solace. I am exploring more electronic ventures with my own music and with signing artists. Maduro is an example of the electronic element within our artists, and I am working on Bhangra/Bollywood electronica with a slight hint of industrial in my own music. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Navel: When looking at your musical influences listed on your website, which go from Smashing Pumpkins to Missy Elliott (believe it or not), one notices a heavy Goth influence. The fascination with the deeper and darker feelings is also reflected in your 2006 work “Nagari”. Why the fascination with the “dark side”?</B></div> <div> <B>Jeremiah:</B> I just have to say that Missy has the hottest beats and isn't afraid to make it funky. She also uses great sounds and doesn't limit herself to the usual hip-hop palette of sounds. As for my musical influences and music, I like music that has emotional content, which I guess does look a bit brooding. As for my own writing, I don't consider it the “dark side” per se. I think it's more my alter ego. It's an extension of my negative feelings, my struggles, and my insecurities. These feelings coalesce into these melodies and rhythms. To put it plainly, I write music that moves me emotionally or physically. It's an outlet for me to express these feelings that I find difficult to express in another way. I suppose it seems dark to some people, but I think we all have these feelings. I just write them into music.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Navel: There is something special when a belly dancer performs to live music. Does Solace do live performances often, or is it mostly concert-like performances?</B></div> <div> <B>Jeremiah:</B> We perform both with dancers and at concerts. There is something magical when the right dancer and the right song come together with live music. We enjoy having dancers perform to Solace Live, because it can add a beautiful and interesting element to our shows. It's also enjoyable to captivate an audience sonically and allow them to experience the music without other stimuli. In concert-like settings audiences can connect more with music, because they can focus on their own experience of the songs, how the music makes them feel, and the story playing in their head when they hear it. Just listening lets you have your own interpretation of the music.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Navel: What is Solace's next goal?</B></div> <div> <B>Jeremiah:</B> We are looking into the possibility of touring in country-regionplaceJapan and the East Coast. My wife Rachel and I will be returning to Europe in May 2008 to do a short workshop tour. I am conceptualizing some new musical projects and pre-producing them to see what works. I would like to do more work in the remixing world. If there are artists out there interested in having their songs remixed, I would love to work on them and add my spin to it. </div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="1ab20200.jpg" border=0 width="288" height="288" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="0">Navel: Solace's 2007 CD is Moon Moth Mixes.  Tell us more about that project.</B></div> <div> <B>Jeremiah:</B> My wife, Rachel, commissioned this work and co-produced the CD with me. She found it tiring and frustrating to spend class time starting a song over several times, or became bored with music that was the "perfect tempo". Rachel realized that there was a need for a new concept in CDs for instructor use, and so she thought about what would work in class and workshop situations and could also be utilized as a practice companion. We created five 12 to 15 minute tracks, each with a different tempo and feel. The songs are consistent in tempo throughout the track, but progress like a DJ mix to allow a dancer or student to drill without interruption. There are slow, medium, fast and taxim paced pieces for any and all levels of dance, whether it's Tribal Fusion or Oriental. Each track is also indexed several times at significant music changes, so you can find parts of the song that you like easily.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Navel: What is Solace's next big project?</B></div> <div> <B>Jeremiah:</B> I am currently working on “OPIUM HEAD” which is the Bhangra/Bollywood electronica I described before. I am working on a limited edition double CD with special packaging. If you are curious to hear a taste of the next Solace, you can purchase the single “Sleeping Sober” on our website, <A HREF="http://www.empcds.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.empcds.com"><U>http://</U></A><A HREF="http://www.empcds.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.empcds.com"><U>www.empcds.com</U></A>. We are also working on another compilation CD to follow the success of Strange Flesh, as well as a more Arabic version of Moon Moth Mixes. We are also working with a company in Europe to manufacture and distribute CDs to our European fans. You can look forward to exclusive European releases, tracks and artists in the future. In addition, a Japanese label named Ahora just released a compilation that features all of the EMP artists called “Very Belly Dance; Neo Tribal”, <A HREF="http://www.ahora-tyo.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ahora-tyo.com"><U>http://</U></A><A HREF="http://www.ahora-tyo.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ahora-tyo.com"><U>www.ahora-tyo.com</U></A>. Unfortunately, it's only available in Japan.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Navel: For you, Belly dance is…</B></div> <div> <B>Jeremiah:</B> An expressive art form that celebrates the marriage of movement, music, and community.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.soundsofsolace.com/solace/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.soundsofsolace.com/solace/"><U><I>http://www.soundsofsolace.com/solace/</I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.empcds.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.empcds.com"><U><I>http://www.empcds.com</I></U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>