I know Queenie Sataro since 2002 when I joined mp3.com as an independent artist myself. Since then we've become really good friends and I can tell she's not only a talented musician but also someone who is fighting hard for her music and she's also helped others writing articles about being an independent musician. An ethereal voice also nourished by the love of fantasy and delight! Her music will make you soar and fly, her long-awaited release "Dream of flight" is slowly taking shape, and from Nuevas Musicas we want to send strength and encouragement and also make her work more known among NM readers

Prikosnovenie is an independent french label known as the "fairy label", it's been a while now that it's been in touch with us as member of NM in order to promote their musicians. The taste of their releases and selection of artists is undeniable and this little australian jewel, Louisa John Krol is among them. It was recently also due to a recommendation coming from another talented friend under Limohe label and also fae artist when she pointed me back to the art and music of the australian singer Louisa John Krol. Louisa gently sent her promo kit and music to NM and wow! I was blown away by her amazing voice, and felt like sharing the concept of "storytelling" that I do also try to seek. She's not only archieved it already but also offers an innovative way to create an atmosphere strangely magical yet still blurred by the essence of a daydream. A reference for fairy music lovers with sparkles of mistery and lore. Absolutely recommendable for music lovers, you shall see why this talented artist has become so popular in her circles having her music feature in press all over the world!! Aside, a lovely and charming lady herself!!

Last year, here in Spain I went to have a coffee with one of the distributors of my album. In the middle of our chat he told me about an album from a german singer he thought I would like because he considered to be close to my kind of music and thus he gifted me a copy of Angelzoom album. I listened to it thoroughly and thought that it was really different to what I expected and being fair with it I have to say it was brilliant in its unique and very own way. I was indeed very grateful to find out Claudia Uhle's voice and music, reaching the heavens with sometimes miraclous high pitch. Some would say that the voice is not powerful, but it reaches easily notes that are difficult to conceive for other singers and I thought that it's precisely the delicacy and tender way to do it so which makes her really special. So my friend was right, I did love it and I'm glad I could manage to make her reply a few questions for NUEVAS MUSICAS. I really encourage the readers to listen to her and support her music by purchasing her album who features not only her original music but also some covers of well known songs approached so differently that she has almost made them her own. There other highlights like the collaboration of Apocalyptica, Joachim Witt and Mila Mar to name a few. Deep feelings and a great melacholia...!

This is the first time the "Three faery wishes fest" is celebrated in en mystic England. The past year took place also the first "The Faery ball" that will be repeated next 26th October in The Acorn, Penzance (Cornwall). As an attendant and as an artist and performed invited to the festiva... how could I explain the magic that was floating in the air? Not even the bad weather could do really do nothing against the warmth of all those people gathered and joined by the love for fantasy and for fairies. The wonderful place itself invited everyone to a new encounter with all those invisible creatures we believe in when we are children. Aside from myself (Priscilla Hernandez) people could enjoy a wealth of performances highlighting Daughters of Gaia, Mediaeval babes, Soul Path, butterfly thunder, Circulus, Beck sian and many others as well as visual artists like Myrea Pettit and Chris Down and the supporting presence of media devoted to the fairy art like Fairies World and Fae Nation. With such atmosphere and even if the weather was a bit rainy, the fireworks, the fire fairies and all the different performers made their best to create bonds and the deep longing to repeat the experience next year. The dates for upcoming 2007 have been already confirmed for the 20th-22th of June. Are you going to miss it?

(Pendiente de traduccion a castellano)

I first met Steven Cravis a couple of years ago in mp3.com, which was in those times the biggest platform for emerging artists in internet. His cd was one of the best selling new age albums there and it was easy to find out why... I'm glad we maintained a friendship since, but during all this time Steven has go on archieving his goals and spreading his art over the net... Here you have a chance to get to know him a little better.

Priscilla Hernandez:Coud you introduce us to yourself and your music... which is the best way to describe your compositions.

Steven Cravis: I play both acoustic piano solos and multi-track synthesizer music. My style is a meditative fusion of Classical, Jazz and Ambient. My style is simple and childlike yet mixed with a mature ability to convey a profound sense of heartfelt emotion, like beams of light that pull at the listener's heartstrings.

NM:If you had to pick one track of yours... which one would it be? Tell us a bit of the story behind it

Steven Cravis: One of my tracks "Father" from my solo piano CD True Reflections has a short and simple, but somewhat deep, (to me) story: I had been living on my own in early adulthood, only about 15 miles from my father's home, but hadn't been talking frequently with him because I thought he was dissapointed in me, or angry with me about how I was proceeding with my life. There was one night where I was feeling so badly about the dynamic I perceived that I called him one night to come to a bus stop halfway between where we both lived. He drove out to talk with me late at night and when I told him that I thought he was angry and dissapointed in me, he told me quite the opposite, that he was very proud and loved me very much. I was so relieved and touched by, not only that he came out late at night to talk when I was down, but by his affirming that everything was 'okay', that I immediately sat at the piano when I got to my apartment and wrote the song 'Father'.

Priscilla Hernandez:You're a skilled piano performer... when did you actually started to play the piano?

Steven Cravis: I started when I was 7. I liked to go hit the piano that was in our house growing up and play random notes. I asked my parents for piano lessons. NM:What artists are you listening to lately? SC:Interestingly, one of the artists who's compositions grab my attention the most when I listen to a TV broadcast radio channel here, from MusicChoice, called Soundscapes is Liz Story. I think she's created highly interesting and unique rhythms, chords and melodies with her piano playing.

Priscilla Hernandez: I follow your great success in the online musician world since the mp3.com times... Being so long in the internet... what is your impression about internet and its possibilities

Steven Cravis: SEARCHABILITY: I think, for anyone searching for new and interesting music, that the internet is becoming indexed much better than before. The search engine companies, like yahoo, google, msn, etc... actually appreciate and act on feedback from users to improve searchability. For example, I was checking on my internet presence within a nice site called Answers.com and when I pointed out to them that some of my iTunes buy buttons were not available for their site (something which was my own fault at having released different versions of my artist name such as Steven Cravis for one album and 'Steven Cravis Piano & Soundtracks' for another album) they actually fixed their own search code to include a broader search when any name is typed in the search box! The internet is constantly changing which is why I check on these things and try to keep up with the changes. Another example of the searchability with music is how you can go to the site Pandora.com http://www.pandora.com and type in your favorite artist, and then find similar artists (Ironically I'm mentioning this and haven't put myself in their database yet, but will in the near future SOCIAL SITES: Since social sites like myspace have been so successful, I expect many more social sites to do what Myspace and Snocap recently did, making it possible for musicians to sell music to their fans, right from within their music page on the social site. TECHNOLOGY: I think we can expect new dimensions of technology to come out in the next several years that are 3D (3 dimensional) performance recordings. People love youtube video so much, they love to watch motion and hear music. I expect there to be new holographic media, or virtual reality helmets that let people feel like they are very close up to a performer or band. This is something that may become available through the internet, but first it's probably going to have to be physical media, just like there are DVDs and CDs before downloaded movies.

Priscilla Hernandez:You're involved with a few projects and websites yourself regarding the promotion of artists and also piano players. Tell us a little bit about them.

Steven Cravis: NewAgePiano.net is the biggest and most recent collaboration between me and WIERZBICKI.org We just wanted a web site that focused on the many great pianists worldwide who continue to put out very interesting solo piano music. The site features information, site links, audio and sheet music downloads (by artists who choose to give something for free) The site also has a very nice videos section, and artists who join can opt into allowing song(s) to be used by multi media students for a competition called the Swan Lake Moving Image and Music Awards http://www.swan-lake-award.org/.

Priscilla Hernandez:Future projects? things on the making?

Steven Cravis: I'm working very hard on one new solo piano album (at least 11 songs) for and may be releasing my first Electronica album (10 or more songs) all for release by early 2008. I also hope to do a long distance collaboration with singer songwriter Queenie during 2007 (http://queeniemusic.com/ ) of at least one really cool song with her for either iTunes or free download at http://www.download.com/stevencravis and http://www.download.com/queenie it would be lovely if you can send a personal greeting to Nuevas Musicas too and feel free to add any question you consider important.

Priscilla Hernandez: Oh certainly, I do worship Queenie's music (also her friendship) and it will be a great pleasure to enjoy your collab. Good luck!

+ about Steven Cravis

Visit Steven's official website

Get to know more about Steven's albums available

Keltia is indeed a very particular artist. Her dark music is inspired by the the dark side of folklore that nourishes her music full of myths and legends, tribal chants, strange vocals almost summoning a vision of gothic fantasy very difficult to classify in a single genre, maybe sort of celtic-gothic. Keltia's project began in 2002 when Keltia, the leader of the group, started to perform alone with her harp in Belgian festival and concert places. She sings mostly in french and all the tracks of her debut studio album (published by the new label LimoHe music) are unique, strange and hers in many aspects accompanying herself with a Celtic harp that spices her compositions with an enchanting sound of a "classical" instrumment but approached differently. From here I want to encourage her in her carreer, and hopefully to meet her one day (if possible in a stagem being an artist myself dwelling in the realms of dark fae it really pleases me in particular to feel the vibe of this genre going ahead with such wondrous talents as this one in particular is). Thus I want to see her live one day enjoy what I do not doubt it will be a very beautiful performance. So here we go with some questions with her.... Step into Keltia's world!

Priscilla Hernandez: Your music has a shadow of dark faery spice and folklore. What lead you to
dive into this genre? What genre would you place your music in?

Keltia: Oh that’s a really good question but it’s not easy for me to give a precise answer. I guess folk, traditional cultures and myths were a part of my education. In my childhood, I used to read a lot of fairy tales and as my parents like celtic and folk music in general, I’ve listened to it a lot since a young age. As far as I remember, I’ve always been fascinated by ancient cultures, middle ages and so on… All that must have left a mark on my mind and my imagination which lead me to create this kind of music. But it’s really hard to tell… You know I didn’t really choose a genre when I began to compose.

But to tell you in what genre I would place my music is really impossible for me. I don’t really like to place my music into a kind of storage space with a label like “heavenly”or “celtic dark folk”. When I compose a new song, I don’t think about respecting the rules of a peculiar genre and some of my song’s can’t be compared with each other. Listen to “1666” and then to “Judas”, I don’t think it’s possible to find a storage space which could contain all the elements in reference with a specific genre contained in these two songs.

Priscilla Hernandez: You play celtic harp... when did you started to perform and how was you
ended up doing so?
Keltia: I began to play the celtic harp in december 2000. And I made my first real performance in april 2002… My father is the promoter of a celtic festival which first edition took place in 2000. During this festival, I had met a great belgian harpist who became my teacher. He learned me to play the harp in a “traditional way”, studying traditional tunes from Ireland, Scotland and French Britanny. But I ended up using the harp as an accompaniment instrument for the songs I wrote. In the same way some musicians use a guitar or a piano as a support for their voice.
But you know, I think almost every little girl dreams one day of playing the harp. It’s such a magical instrument!

Priscilla Hernandez: Which are your music influences. What musicians do you admire?

Keltia: I guess I’ve been influenced by much more artists that those I can name here. Anyway my principal influence is with no doubts Kate Bush. I’m fascinated by the way she has to bring archetypal figures to life. Just look at her on the sleeve of “Hounds of love”, bending a bow. She’s no more a singer, she’s just Artemis, ancient Greek goddess of hunting. I really admire her capacity to take possession of our deepest beliefs and embody them. By the way, it was the subject my high school thesis.
Lisa Gerard from Dead Can Dance, Tori Amos and Björk have also left their mark in my musical style. But don’t think one can name all their influences. We’re always influenced by things we hear.

Priscilla Hernandez:Why the name 1666 for your debut album?

Keltia: I must confess that we chose this name especially for the fact that people would ask this question! There are many reasons, the first of them being that “1666” is the name of one of the last track of the album. The second is that I wanted to name the song with a number because numbers are mysterious and said to have some magical powers. The “666” of “1666” brings a dark note to the album.

But 1666 is not a mere number, this is also a date. In 1666, London went under a great fire which lasts for 3 days and destroyed a great part of the city. Strangely this fire made few victims but is said to have stopped the epidemy of plague which was about to deluge the city. These fact has stirred my imagination as an exemple of the merciless power of destruction of natural elements and in the same time their power of purification.

Priscilla Hernandez:How are your live performances?

Keltia: I always try to give some life to my shows. Not just playing the tracks from the album but trying to share my personal world with the audience. I like to dress with long skirts and corset, to put some ivy leaves in my hair.
I have just bought a headmike that allows me to move more on stage. I play electroharp and acoustic harp on stage so I’m now able to move from one to another without carrying the mike.
My two musicians, Seesayle and Wiz, play a lot of instruments and care about all technical aspects of the show so I can really concentrate on acting and performing.
Priscilla Hernandez: What is your music dream?

Keltia:That’s a difficult question. Few months ago, I would have answered you: “making an album which I would fulfil my expectations” but “1666” has satisfied this desire. For the first time I can listen to a track and say “Oh yes! This is exactly how I wanted it to sound like!” which was not possible before because I hadn’t anybody to help me with it. In fact, having few experience I just wasn’t able to achieve the results I had in mind. Fortunately I met Seesayle and Wiz who have about the same musical references as me and who were able to understand what I was struggling to make!

Now, I would like to make my music known to more people, to reach a greater audience abroad. So my goal would be to sign a contract a musical distributor who would make my albums more widely available.

Priscilla Hernandez: Future projects?I’m composing and working with my musicians on new songs related to the same mythological theme for maybe a new show Keltia: and, eventually, a new album but I don’t want to say too much about it because it’s still a bit too theorical! But if I can achieve it, it will be very interesting visually and musicaly, I think!

More about Keltia:

Official website: http://www.keltia.info

Listen to her in myspace: http://myspace.com/keltiamusic

+info about her album 1666 in NM (click the cover)

Traduccion al castellano pendiente en cuanto podamos. Se buscan voluntarios.

We are going to publish new interviews this weekend... The artists for this weekend are:
- Steven Cravis
- Keltia

If you are an artist and want to be interviewed here please contact us with the "contact" form. Thank you.

Greetings

Justin Elswick aka Sleepthief has become well known after the release of his wondrous album "The Dawnseeker" . In a short time his project has gained recognition world wide. This is one of the cases where I honestly think this reaction is what the well done work really deserved. I would dare to say we shall know from him in the near future and certainly he's already rather busy so we're grateful he took a little time to reply this little interview. This is one of the cases where I honestly think this reaction is what this work really deserved. I met Justin a while back in his myspace page, and I was surprised not only by the quality of his music but also because of his humble and gentle personality. From NM we wish him all the very best. Philo C. from our friend site En el Aire often airs his music so remember this name next time she showcases. So, do you want to know more...?

Genre: Downtempo, Ambient, Ethereal, Female vocalists, Soft Electronica

P.H: Where did your artistic name come from?

J.E: The name "Sleepthief" came to me when I was working very late one night on a song. I had been trying to think of a name for my project alias, and for almost a year, I could not find the right name. Then, on this special night, I thought "this music is stealing my sleep time...it is such a sleepthief." That was it! I knew that the name would be perfect.

P.H:How would you describe your music? What inspires you?

J.E: I would describe my music as cinematic, yet very intimate and personal with classical, celtic, world, and electronic elements. As far as inspiration, I think that first and foremost, human beings in general inspire me. I love that we can do so many things. Every person is imbued with talent and beauty. I also love film, literature, photography, traveling, music...all of those things provide me sources of inspiration.

P.H: How you build up a new song?

J. E: I usually just sit down and write it on piano first. After that, I program string parts and percussion. Then, I go into the studio with Israel Curtis (my co-producer and engineer), and dump the tracks and basically reconstruct them.

Have you got a favourite theme in "The Dawnseeker"?

I guess my favorite theme is one of open-heartedness. I think that each track conveys something special to the listener....the words and music together form a message that I think reveals aspects of my heart.

P.H. The cd is full of collaborations with wondrous female vocalists... tell us a bit about the experience.

J.E. I am a big fan of good female vocalists. Many of the singers that appear on THE DAWNSEEKER are artists that I respect and have listened to for a long time. Each of them has unique vocal beauty and style. In approaching each of them, I tried to be respectful--although it was a bit intimidating at first! In the end, I have become good friends with almost all of the vocalists...and I respect them even more.

P.H:Tell us a bit about your current and future projects

J.E: Currently, I am working with Israel Curtis and Caroline Lavelle on a full-length side project. Caroline will be performing all of the vocals. It is a combination of all of our styles and I think it will be very striking. I am totally honored to work with Caroline as she has been a favorite of mine for years. Also, I am working on the new solo album by Roberta Carter Harrison (of Wild Strawberries and ATB).
I am writing new tracks for SLEEPTHIEF II as well.
Oh, three tracks from the DAWNSEEKER will also be appearing on a special compilation called BEAUTY that will be released in the next few weeks. And, I am putting together a compilation of female artists that will be released by my label, Neurodisc.

P.H.: Which is your favourite album ever?
J. E. :Watermark by Enya. I think it is her best work, and also the album that most influenced me as a musician.

Thanks!

PH: Thanks to you Justing, for letting us know a bit more about you!

Justin 's music is also accompanied by music videos.

Watch EURYDICE music video in YOUTUBE