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Feature: BLANCAh [Interview + Podcast]

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Born into this world with a love for all things creative, it was only a matter of time before we saw BLANCAh spread her wings and shine on an international level. This Brazilian artist started her professional music career as a DJ, back in 2000. Since then, her natural talent and interests have quickly progressed allowing her the opportunity to explore and refine her skills. She is often found touring Europe and Brazil, often giving live vocal performances to compliment her DJ sets.

As a matured artist, BLANCAh is now well established and has cemented her music identity with a multitude of skill and talent. Her commitment to stay true to her roots, has really pushed her need for creative expansion and has in fact, strengthened her ability to stand out from the crowd.

Hi Blancah, thanks for sitting with us today! Tell us more about your story. How did you discover electronic music and what led you down the path of wanting to be a producer and Dj?

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about my work and my life. Well, when I get into the University I was invited to work on the University Radio Station. There I learned a lot about music selection, understanding different styles of music, that was a real school to me. There I was introduced to the "electronic world" for one friend. He shows me some Trip Hop bands like Massive Attack, Portishead and Faithless. This was my first contact with synthesized songs, electric batteries and dark melodies. No house, no electro, no trance, but trip-hop. I fell in love with that style and until today I bring some references to my productions.  In the same period, I was invited to play in a new Club which was opening in my city. There I played all kinds of music, pop, rock, samba and again, I learned a lot about keeping the flow in a dancefloor. The House music and the Techno comes later. Step by step, year by year I developed my taste, refined my ears until being here, making my own music with my own identity. In 2008 I did my first class to learn how to make electronic music at home and I get into the "Black Whole" of Music Production in which I never get out.

Brazil is well known for it’s love of electronic music, how has living there affected the music you make?

Honestly, I don't feel that Brazil influences my music. I never used any Brasilian reference in my productions like percussions or Latin flavors.  I was born in the South of Brasil, the best place to live in the electronic scene. For years clubs like D-Edge, Warung, Terraza, and many more bring to us the best DJs from every corner of the world...what created a step by step an enthusiastic and educated audience. I was growing inside clubs seeing my idols playing and I feel that my music has influences from this experience more than my homeland.

Tell us, what does a studio day look like for you?

My studio is in my home so I practically live inside there. My favorite times to work are early in the morning and night until dawn. I use to respect my feelings when I'm creating. Sometimes I feel more into search new sounds in my instruments so I spend much time trying and trying. Sometimes I know exactly what I want and my process becomes more precise. Sometimes I just want listen to references and get inspiration. My pets make me company every time and bring me joy.

Can you name five tracks that were influential in your musical development?


https://youtu.be/GffsvqGRGnM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAUiHImStdI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp9XLqF-oQw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r30D3SW4OVw

Looking back over your discography, what would you say was a pivotal point in your career? Is there a release that stands out which really helped establish you?

Definitely the pivotal point in my life and career was when I become BLANCAh, around 2014. That was the moment when I decided to bet on my own music, my compositions, and my convictions. My first relevant release was called Birds with 4 original songs but was in 2015 with my song  "Ripple Effect" released in a VA that I caught the attention of Big artists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNczBw1dkLE

You’ve recently released your ‘Sobre Saudade e Desalinho’ on Lost On You. Tell us what the project means to you and your inspiration for it.

I was born on an island, surrounded by the ocean all my life. Until today I live in front of the Ocean and this connection with this blue immensity can represent many different feelings. Longing is one of them. "Sobre Saudade e Desalinho"  its a poem I wrote about the discomfort of longing. The first three lines of the poem name the three songs on the EP.

Why did Lost On You feel like the right home for this project?

I've been following the "Lost on You" releases for some time and they are really consistent.  Also, the intentions behind the label about help kids in Africa make this project super special. It is really important to keep in mind that Art, Music, all these human expressions, more than just entertainment,  still an instrument of protest, fight, revolution, and must be used to make this world a better place to live.

What’s a piece of gear that gets used on every track? And what are some of your favorite studio tools?

My DAW is based on Ableton Live. I love my Moog minotaur to make my bass lines. I also love my Toraiz to make some synth sounds. And my favorite VST still Diva.

Tell us more about your private life. What do you like to do when you’re not working on music and what is your favorite place to be?

It's impossible to disconnect my private life from my professional life. I'm a workaholic. My studio is in my home. If I'm not making music I'm working on my artistic concepts. All my visual identity I did by myself since the beginning. My photoshoots, my graphic works, everything around BLANCAh is made by myself, and it demands time and creativity. I use to engage my close friends to help me to realize my crazy ideas, like the photoshoot and the video for "Sobre Saudade e Desalinho". To me is really hard don't thinking about work. My mind just don't stop. My favorite place to be is at my father's house. He lives on a small farm close to the River. I like to put my feet in that cold water to recharge and refresh my soul. But even there, inside the water, I think about work haha.

How much of an influence does music outside of the electronic spectrum have on you?

A lot. I'm addicted now to a Brasilian rapper called Fabio Brazza. I spent hours listening to Rap last days. Also the classic singers in Brazil like Milton Nascimento. Or the beautiful Argentinian artist Mercedes Sosa. All these songs have a hard influence on my sensibility as a human being. Many people think that "influence" means copy, or get really close to the original. But influence is not just about stylistic results, more than this, is about energy, feelings...is more about how do you feel absorbing the world around you.

The industry and how fans discover new music has changed dramatically in the last 10 years or so. How do you discover new music nowadays?

Most of the time, sharing music with friends. My friends, they know me, and they are precise every time showing me new artists or sharing songs. As a DJ, I like to search on platforms like Beatport, Bandcamp, and Spotify.

There are a lot of factors which affect the perception of an artist other than his music these days, social media for one, how much emphasis do you put on stuff like this? and what are your thoughts on the current state of the industry?


Honestly, I would love to just sit in my studio and make music. I'm really communicative person, I like to talk with people, to me it is easy to make videos showing my daily life, sharing my thoughts about everything, inviting people to be part of my world, but if I could choose, I chose to have a low profile style. It looks quite impossible to adopt a low profile style these days because of the pressure of our new age world. These are to me a really strange moment in human evolution.

Social media is a double-edge sword. The most important thing is to keep a critical sense, eyes open to understand what are the true intentions behind each post or profile. The industry is full of shit "artists" built by marketing projects spread by social media. In my social media, you will see just my Music, my work, my pets, sometimes my friends, and sometimes my politic position. There's nobody taking care of my profiles, I do it by myself. I answer every message by myself. If BLANCAh follows you, it's me following you and not a robot. I'm 100% honest with my audience on social media.

What can we expect from you for the rest of the year and to begin 2020? Any releases or special dates you can tell us about?

I'm really excited about my new album which will be released in May.

How long did it take to produce the album and what inspired its creation?

Hi Guys, my pleasure be part of the Elements series, thanks for this opportunity.
I spent 2 years devoting my energy to this album. In between travel, gigs, tours, all my free time was dedicated to composing these 12 songs at my studio.
The main inspiration to compose the album is still related with the artistic concept behind BLANCAh; the Birds. For those who don't know, BLANCAh is a bird, born as a bird, and everything that I produce is related to birds in a certain way. In 2016, I released my first album called NEST which told the story of a bird that was afraid to leave the nest until the moment it took off to face the world. Now, 4 years later, I'm releasing Arias of Sky - the environment of this bird. So, Arias of Sky is basically a testimony of love, hope, relationships, and all these things that define our way of being in the world. It is possible to feel this vibration right in the first song, Afago (Cuddle or caress in English) where I chose parts of messages exchanged by WhatsApp with friends, relatives, my parents, people I love and who are an important part of my life. So, the whole album is a journey into my intimate universe, my personal sky.

Why did you feel that Renaissance Records was such a good home for it?

There couldn't be a better home for this album. Last year, I made my debut on Renaissance with my EP Cold Lights and our workflow together was just perfect. The team behind the label is extremely professional and committed to making artists like me feel happy and comfortable during the whole process that involves one release. Moreover, the history of Renaissance was written through the release of great albums over the past twenty years. Since The Masters Series until the The ReMix Collections signed by renowned artists as Hernán Cattaneo, Sasha, John Digweed, Faithless, Tale Of Us and many others. So, it's a kind of tradition mixed with expertise that makes Renaissance the perfect home for Arias of Sky and for BLANCAh as an artist.

BLANCAh’s ‘Arias Of Sky’ album is out on Renaissance Records on 8 May. Pre-order at https://ffm.to/pre-ariasofsky

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