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Pioneering progressive rock band Nektar has just released a new concept album "The Other side." An interview with original member Derek "Mo" Moore. "Everybody put such an effort into doing it right. We wanted everybody to benefit from it."

Derek Moore

Pioneering progressive rock band Nektar has just released a new album titled The Other Side. This sweet collection of songs will stimulate the juices of Prog rock fans everywhere and preserve the bands place in the history of the genre. Although some members were playing together in the mid 60s, the band became Nektar in 1969 when guitarist Roye Albrighton was asked to join. Setting up shop in Germany, where the people wanted to hear experimental music, Nektar honed their progressive writing skills and began to thrive. They pumped out numerous albums and started achieving moderate success. The album Remember the Future brought them success in America and the rest of Europe as well. They began to play major venues and festivals on both sides of the Atlantic ocean. Some of the bands they would share the stage with include, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Wishbone Ash, Uriah Heep, Lou Reed and many others.

After the passing of Roye in 2016, original members Derek Moore, Ron Howden and Mick Brockett decided to complete some unfinished music that had been written in 1978. They put together a top notch band that includes Randy Dembo, Kendall Scott and former member Ryche Chlandra. Ryche, Moore and Howden were key songwriters on the new project. The resulting album The Other Side has just been released and Nektar is currently on a US tour. I spoke with Derek “Mo” Moore about the making of the album and the history of Nektar.

R.V.B. – Hi Derek… thank you very much for taking this time to talk with me. Congratulations on your career and the body of work that you have amassed up to this point. I guess it all culminated with this fantastic new album that you have out. I know there are reasons that you got back together. Can you share them with me?

D.M. – When Roye died in 2016, they tried to put a band together in Germany. It was Ron and Klaus (the keyboard player) and a few other people. Klaus gave Ron an ultimatum – “Basically I’m going to be the band leader and I’m going to choose the music.”Ron said “Woo… slow down. I’m the original member.” He left the band and he came over here and asked me to help him put a band together. So I called Ryche Chlanda - who had played with us in 78 - and he was up for it. He had his own band Flying Dreams. We met at the studio in Hamilton, where my friend John Buck Kerlin has a studio. He let us play there for free. We clicked immediately. I called Mick Brockett up and see if he wanted to come. Mick was a key lyricist… he and I wrote most of the lyrics with me on the old records. Then I called Randy Dembo to be the bass player. Ryche suggested that we should use his keyboard player from Flying Dreams… we should try him out. We did and he’s awesome.

R.V.B. – I saw Kendall Scott perform once with Project Object. He is a good player.

D.M. – Yes that’s him. He’s an awesome, awesome keyboard player.

R.V.B. – I hear the very solid keyboards on the album.

D.M. – We started putting the music together that we had wrote from 1978. We started feeding pieces of it to the band. I call it “Boxes.” You put the boxes together and arrange the boxes how you want them.

R.V.B. – You mentioned you hired Randy for bass. Aren’t you the bass player?

"Mo" at work in the studio

D.M. – Yes, but originally I was putting the band together for Ron. Randy plays bass, 12 string and bass pedals. I found myself being sucked in with the music. It was so damn good. I decided I would do it with two bass players. I’ve always wanted to play with two bass players and playing with Randy is a dream. We put the band together and took it out on the road… and it sounds great.

R.V.B. – I see that you are in between legs on tour.

D.M. – Yes. We just finished the first leg. We go back out on the seventh of February. We’re heading upstate New York and New Hampshire. Then we come home for a few days and then go back out on the road.

R.V.B. – You mentioned that you had this material back in the 70’s and you reworked it. Was it a collaborative effort in the studio? Did you expand upon riffs? Some of those songs are very intricate to the point of being of epic proportions.

D.M. – We had a lot of the music already done. We had to brush it up so we took it in sections… a section (box) at a time. We built what became “The Other Side.”

R.V.B. – That’s an amazing title track.

D.M. – I love it. Everybody had input but we wrote the original music that it came from. We shared it all with the band. Everybody put such an effort into doing it right. We wanted everybody to benefit from it.

R.V.B. – A couple of the songs on The Other Side were personal for you. They were written for your wife, I understand.

D.M. – I wrote I’m on Fire for my wife before we were married.

R.V.B. – There’s a specific line in one of the songs, that caught my ear… “Love is part of Living… Love is part forgiving.”

D.M. – That’s in Love Is. If you look at the whole album… you’ve got I’m on Fire… he’s singing to his wife/girlfriend or whatever… aren’t they in love. Then she passes and you get Skywriter. It’s a story of a guy who is writing letters in the clouds, hoping that his wife/girlfriend/mother or whoever he loses - is very flexible - and hopes that they can read it. What you don’t know at that point is he’s learning to fly at that time. Now we get to the journey to the other side. It’s a musical journey to the other side. The whole thing is a musical journey. That’s the 18 minute epic piece of the trip to the other side and back. Then you get Drifting… where he’s just floating in space. He’s learned to fly and he’s sees her eyes. The song has an amazing feel.

R.V.B. - That song proves that “prog” can be slow and driving. It’s got a driving tempo that just hits you in the chest. You can’t help but feel it.

D.M. – Oh yeah! It’s sort of in 9/8 - 5/4 - 4/4.

R.V.B. – Beautifully executed. You say you did that in one take?

D.M. – The first take… that was it. The only thing we added was the vocal and the piano underneath it. Everything else was live. That’s exactly how it came out. We didn’t touch it. Then comes Devil’s Door… which we did in 1974. We wanted to do a tribute to Roye. We finished that song which is the journey to the devils door and back. You don’t want to go there.

R.V.B. – I understand you used a clip of Roye playing live on it?

D.M. – We were in the studio and I said“Lets listen to the 1974 version, so we get the feel and the pace of it before we go in to play it.” So we played it and it sounded awesome. It had the panning from our sound engineer Vinny… who has also passed. Roye’s guitar was crystal clear. I said to the guys “Why don’t we just use this. Why don’t we break in and play it through the headphones and just play to it.” Everybody was into that… “Let’s do that.” So I called up Roye’s wife Lyn. I said. “We’ve got a piece of Roye’s playing that we’d like to put on the album.” I told her, I didn’t have to ask her but I liked to have her blessing. I liked her to be with us. Right away she said “No problem… do it.”

R.V.B. – That was the right thing to do.

D.M. – We had this feeling that Roye was in the studio with us. It was really “The other side.” The last part is the Light Beyond. It’s the light that you see before you die. It comes out of that into the voices of the dead. Then it goes into Look Through Me… which is a beautiful piece. It’s talking about looking inside the person that’s singing. Then the last one is Y Can’t I B More Like U. The whole thing is a story of “The other side!!!” It’s a concept album.

R.V.B. – You have peaks and valleys that are radio friendly and songs that are deep. I do hear some pop prog that could be appealing to a radio station playlist.

D.M. – Oh yeah. It wasn’t done that way specifically. But I agree with you. It’s definitely radio friendly. We didn’t write it to be radio friendly. When we wrote it… that’s how it came out.

R.V.B. – I noticed The Light Beyond seems to be showcasing Kendall Scott. There’s a lot of nice keyboard work on there.

D.S. – Absolutely! He is an awesome keyboard player.

Founding member Derek "Mo" Moore. Photo by Avraham Bank

R.V.B. – How did you get involved with the bass. Why not the guitar, the violin, or the saxophone?

D.M. – If you go back to 1962… I was playing piano with a band. The bass player left. It was either play bass or you didn’t have a band.

R.V.B. – That’s one way of getting thrown into the fire.

D.M. – Well being a keyboard player, I know all the chords and arranging of chords. I can stand behind a keyboard player… look at the chords and know what all the notes are in the chords. I play bass sort of like a cello player would… very musical. That’s how I like to play. Now… with the new band… with Randy being a bass player and me – if you’d like, being a melody player – together we sound awesome. If you listen to Skywriter - with the different melody basses going up and down – and you listen to I’m on fire… which is two basses… you’ll hear the drive. I’m driving it with a Fender and Randy is rocking it with a Rickenbacher. Together, we just feed off each other.

R.V.B. –It’s a very interesting concept. Back in the 60’s in the UK, there was a lot going on. The Beatles were hitting… The Stones… The Kinks… what drove you to the progressive side of things?

D.M. – We went to Germany to play for the American troops. We played for the American troops in France.

R.V.B. – Were you doing covers?

D.M. – Yeah, we were doing covers. We were doing a lot of soul… and some pop music. We had two girl singers. We were just working the bases. The Germans weren’t really interested in the pop music. They were interested in anything that was new. So we were able to experiment, and they loved it. When Nektar formed in 1969, we decided to do a whole new type of music. So we wrote the music that you heard back then. We started with Journey to the Center of the Eye. The very first song we did was Good Day. All the stuff that’s on Sounds Like This, was stuff that was left over from Journey to the Center of the Eye. We wanted to get this stuff out of the way so we could write Remember the Future. Sounds Like This was a place where we could put all these songs that we had written. We had written these songs over the previous couple of years. It was a very prolific band.

R.V.B. – Who were some of the bands that you might have been teamed up with through the years, as you played live?

D.M. – We played with Blue Oyster Cult, The Mothers of Invention and Wishbone Ash. Some of these tours didn’t work out too well for us because they were headlining and they would cut out the light show and the sound check. Our band was awesome at the time so it was hard to follow us. Another band we toured with was Uriah Heep. We toured through Europe to Germany with them. They were great guys but they didn’t like playing with us because the audience were still shouting for us after we had gone on. We ended up playing after them. Then they didn’t want us to play any more… they just paid us. We were huge in Germany by then.

R.V.B. - Was the Germans a rough crowd to please?

D.M. – They were great for us. They lapped up everything we wanted to play for them. They enjoyed every minute of what we played.

R.V.B. - Did you tour the States?

D.M. – Yes. We toured the States in 74 behind Remember the Future. We toured behind Recycled… we toured behind Down to Earth.

R.V.B. – Do you have any memorable shows that might have stuck out in your mind?

D.M. – All the East Coast shows were great. The biggest concerts we played to were in St. Louis. The first time we played there we did four sold out shows at the Ambassador Theatre. That was 3,000 a night. The second time we played St. Louis we did two sold out shows at the Keil Auditorium, with is 20,000 a piece. Kansas City was big for us… Chicago was big for us… New York was big for us. We played the Fillmore in San Francisco and the Santa Monica civic in LA… great gig

R.V.B. – The Fillmore must have been a good place for your light show. Were you aware of the light shows used by other groups in the States?

D.M. – We knew where it was happening and what was happening…but we were very focused on what we were doing.

R.V.B. – How was the experience of performing at the Panathinaikos stadium in Athens?

Panathinaikos stadium in Athens

D.M. – That was great. There were 60,000 people there. We used to jam with Vangelis. As you probably know, he did Chariots of Fire and a lot of different stuff. His brother Nico was putting on this show at the stadium and asked us if we’d like to headline there. Greece was starved for Rock and Roll music back then. It was just incredible. It was like being The Beatles. We had people mobbing our cars downtown. It was scary how people wanted to get to us. We had a huge following down in Greece. We used to jam with Vangelis at the Copa Cabana in Athens. He had a band called Forminx. He wanted Ron and I to join the band Aphrodite’s Child with Demis Roussos. We opted not to do that. I don’t know why we opted not to do it but maybe we should have.

R.V.B. – Well you can’t look back on things. You made a decision for a reason.

D.M. – That was it.

R.V.B. – What kind of gear did you start off with and how did it change through the years?

D.M. – I have the same guitars as I had back then. Ron had Ludwig drums, which he still owns. He’s playing Ellis drums right now. I have a Rickenbacker… which I’ve had since 1971. I have a Gibson EB-2… I’ve had since 64. I have a Fender Jazz Bass. I have a doubleneck that I’ve had since 74. It’s a one of a kind made by John Birch. He called it his “Rickenbircher.” It’s an 8 string bass on the top and a 4 string on the bottom. I use a Galleon Kruger amp and GK cabinet with 4 x 10’s now. Roye used an Epiphone Sheraton and a Hiwatt Amp in the old days. Today Ryche has a Parker guitar for the new stuff and a Schecter hollow body for the old stuff.

R.V.B. – I noticed you had some work done on your Rickenbacker.

D.M. –I worked with Larry Fast on it. We took out the high end of the back pickup. It had too much treble. We rebuilt that part. Then I had two Fender pickups put in the middle of the two Rickenbacker’s. So I could add bass or treble as I wanted.

R.V.B. – I saw some extra knobs on the top position of the guitar in the picture.

D.M. – That’s the two controls for the fender pickups – for the bass and treble - and the other is a volume control for the whole bass. I have it locked in the “on” position. I don’t use it as a volume control. I use the volume control for the other pickups. Basically once I get my sound, it applies to all the basses I play. If I’m playing the Rickenbacker and I need more body, I kick the Fender pickups in. It’s an awesome bass. It almost plays itself.

Nektar live in concert

 

R.V.B. – How did you wind up moving to the States?

D.M. –We’d run out of places to play in Germany. We had reached a point where there were about 8 to 10 gigs we could play. We were too big to play the smaller ones. Today we’re doing smaller gigs… but sometimes three or four shows. I kind of like the intimacy of it. We decided to come to the States because we were big in the States and we had lots of places to play. We would never run out of places to play. When we had come over here, I figured at some point the band would split up. I wanted to be here in the States. I didn’t want to be in Europe. So we brought everybody over to the States. Roye left and went back to Europe. Tommy – our stage manager – went back to Europe. Everybody else stayed here. Most of them are still here. We’re in New Jersey because back then, there were very little taxes in New Jersey. Now we’re one of the highest taxed states in the nation. We all came here legally. We got our green cards and applied for citizenship.

R.V.B. – How was your show at the Iridium?

D.M. – Awesome!!! We played four shows in three days at the Iridium. They were all full and everybody loved it. We played approximately two hours on the first two days. The day we did two shows, the first show had to be 65 minutes on the early show and over two hours on the last. It’s hard to stop playing when things are going well.

R.V.B. – You grew up in a time period that was very special. It’s hard to give it up.

D.M. – I stopped playing in 78. We got back together in 2002. We did NEARfest. We did Town Hall in New York. We did Adirondacks festival. We did a festival in Germany for 20,000 people. We did a gig in London. Then I stopped playing again. I had not played since we got together again in 2018. We started playing with just the three of us… me, Ryche and Ron. It just clicked so well. It felt like I stopped playing yesterday and started playing today.

R.V.B. – It’s like riding a bike.

D.M. – It’s like riding a bike but the only difference is when you play a lot, muscle memory takes over. So your fingers automatically know where they’ve got to go. Through your inner conscience you have to play the music. You have to think it… listen to it… just play it. It goes right out of your ear and into your hands. That’s the thing that you get from playing over and over and over. Once I had my fingers in the right place, I could just watch my fingers playing it. It was really weird. I feel like I’m playing well… the whole band is playing well. I feel like I haven’t really been away.

R.V.B. – When you started playing, who were your influences?

D.M. – We listened to Vanilla Fudge… Timmy Bogart is a good friend of mine now. We listened to a lot of The Beatles. The Beatles, in my mind, were the forerunners of prog music. They’re the ones that experimented on our behalf. They are the ones that wrote their own music and made it acceptable to write your own music. You learn how to, by doing it. We write all the music first, then write the lyrics afterwards. We’ll listen to the music and the lyrics will just come to us by osmosis. It’s an amazing process. Me and Mick will write it in my office. I walked to the other side of the house to get a cup of coffee. As I walked away, a line came to me. I ran back in the office and said write this down. We write everything down. Then we pull the words together for the songs. For Devils door, we invited Ryche to do it with us. Ryche is a brilliant songwriter and caught on right away to our method.

R.V.B. – He spent a little time with Renaissance, I understand.

D.M. – He was with Renaissance for 3 years… and then his own band Flying Dreams. He’s in his 60’s, so he’s been around the block a few times, brilliant guitarist. When we were playing with him in 78, I had no idea he was only 21 years old. His voice was a little thin back then but now, he’s learned how to attack the song. He’s incredible. On YouTube, Drifting is getting a lot of play. The album just came out today. I got a notification that on Spotify there was 11,050 streaming hits, and it only came out today.

R.V.B. – You’re off to a good start.

D.M. – We’re definitely off to a good start. We’re getting a lot of activity on our website for the vinyl record. It’s only available on our websites or at the concerts for now. It’s very thick and high quality vinyl. It weighs 1 lb 10 ounces. It’s a double album and the sleeve is heavy cardboard. Boy does it feel good. It’s a gatefold. The artwork is done by Helmut Wenske, who did all of our album art. He’s almost 80 years old now. I got a hold of him and he said he’s not painting anymore because he’s crippled with arthritis. I said “I’m looking for something for the new album.” He sent me the front cover, the back cover and another picture. It couldn’t have been more perfect!It was exactly what I was looking for. He and I were born on the same day… a few years apart. He’s five years older than I am. It was just like he was with us all along. I said “That’s it… that’s The Other Side.” Our tech guy Jay Petsko put the rest of the cover together, he is another genius we have around us

Artwork by Helmut Wenske

R.V.B. – That’s the beauty of vinyl. You can hold it… you can look at it… and it’s interactive. You have to put it on the turntable and slowly put the needle down.

D.M. – You can read the words along with the songs. They mean something. Today, the kids download something and they don’t even bother with that. I have to say… vinyl is coming back.

R.V.B. – Vinyl is making a big comeback.

D.M. –A huge comeback! We printed up 1,000 pieces. We’re trying to get it distributed by Amazon. I’m trying to get it distributed through Cherry Red… who is distributing the CD. The album is 105 minutes. It’s a double album. It’s splattered vinyl, so each one is different. The label is a piece of the light show. It’s a work of art. We recorded this down by the shore at Shorefire Studios with Joe DeMaio who is an awesome engineer. Joe knew one of the best mastering engineers in the world Leon Zervos. I contacted him and asked him if he was interested in mastering the album. He jumped on it. He said “Yeah… I’d love to work with you guys.” He mastered the CD..  the vinyl… and the single individually.The CD jumps out at you. The Cd’s got so much space around it. The vinyl is so warm. This was done in Nashville… the music capital of the world. Those guys really made sure that everything was right. I’m actually blown away by the album.

R.V.B. – How do you feel about your accomplishments in music as you overlook your career?

D.M. – I feel we contributed. I feel we led the way for a lot of people. We had a lot of high end people who were following us. There were pieces on Pink Floyd albums that were taken direct from us. I know Pink Floyd were big fans.When we played Town Hall in NYC, Nick Mason was at the show. I know Iron Maiden were big fans. I know Rush were big fans. A lot of the big bands liked what we were doing. Although we weren’t as big as them, they liked what we were doing. I thought that was pretty special. We were just plodding along, doing our own thing. I would say yeah, we influenced people. We didn’t set out to do that. We set out to do our own music. We were around before prog music. When it became fashionable it became prog music.

R.V.B. – It didn’t have a name back then.

D.M. – We had a different direction for every album. They were all conceptual albums. Through Recycled… then we did Magic is a Child. Then I left. There was not an album as a concept until this album. I consider this album as the follow up to Recycled. It’s the first concept album we’ve done since Recycled.

R.V.B. – You did a very, very good job on it. I think it’s fantastic.

Original founding member Roye Albrighton

D.M. – We’re coming to My Fathers Place sometime in the near future. The show at Daryl’s House is going to be streamed live. It’s going to be a four camera shoot. With these intimate gigs, you feel like you’re playing in your living room. Every show we’ve done so far has been an absolute knockout. We played in Baltimore at the Orion. There was only 80 people but God was it a great sound there. That place was built for sound. It was a recording studio. They recorded it on 24 tracks so we’re gonna mix that and get that out. The Iridium was great. We played Roxy & Dukes. I thought that’s not gonna be very good. We slowly did it last minute. I think we only had about 40 pre-sale tickets sold before the show. You were scraping them off the ceiling. We had to stop people from coming in.  The guy told me he had never seen so many people in his club.

R.V.B. – I’m glad you guys are having success. You worked hard and came out with a good product. That’s the byproduct of it.

D.M. –I agree with that. We’re all so happy with the result of the album. We did it how I wanted to do it. I’m still old school because I have not been around with the new stuff. We did it live. Every basic track was live. I think that’s what makes it coagulate. That’s what makes it sound different. I’m really, really excited about it. I really feel in my heart that it’s going to do something.

R.V.B. – You won me over and I listen to a lot of music.

D.M. – We’re getting rumblings from Europe… I hear… that we might be in for a prog award.

R.V.B. – I think that album is strong enough and worthy enough for an award.

D.M. – I said when we recorded it “This album is going to get recognition.” I just felt it in my bones. The studio was awesome. The engineer was awesome and everything just fell into place for us. We rented a place over the summer. We had Pro Tools at the house. We’d record in the studio and go back to the house and listen to it. We’d go back the next day. We did that for 12 days. Then we went back and did another 12 days… edited and added tracks. We added things to the tracks that we felt were missing… pieces that I had heard and played that weren’t on there. I wanted them on there. We did a lot of the vocals during the first 12 days but we added some more vocals. We did some parts of The Other Side where there were no vocals and I heard vocals. I wrote some lyrics and emailed them to Mick and conferred with Ryche, we just did it. It was great.

R.V.B. – Which tracks do you sing on?

D.M. – I sing I’m on Fire. I sing backing on SkyWriter. I sing the low harmony on all of The Other Side. I do some harmonies on Devils Door. That’s about it.

R.V.B. – The collection of songs is a fantastic piece of art. Congratulations on its release. Thank you for taking this time to tell the story behind the making of it. Good luck on the second leg of your tour.

D.M. – Thank you for having me.

Interview conducted by Robert von Bernewitz

This interview may not be reproduced in any part or form without permission from this site.

For more information on Nektar visit their website nektarsmusic.com

Special thanks to Billy James at GlassOnyon promotions

For more information on this site contact Robvonb247(at)gmail(dot)com

Composer and singer/performer Sangeeta Kaur has released a new album titled Compassion. Sangeeta explains "I wanted each song to be filled with choir. Kind of like a classical version of an oratorio, but a New Age version of sound."

Sangeeta Kaur

Sangeeta Kaur is a composer and opera trained singer/performer of Vietnamese descent. Coming from a hard working immigrant family, Sangeeta achieved her high level artistic status through similar values. Although her parents were not musical, she found out early in her childhood that music was for her. Beginning by singing at school and exploring the violin, she soon began to take a serious interest in music. This love of music and the arts carried through her college years and she is now a professionally trained opera singer and composer. During the late 90’s, a friend introduced her to yoga and this had a major effect on her creativity. She began to fuse the two, as well as her Buddhist influences, into a new and exciting unique art form of New Age and operatic crossover music.

Today she has numerous albums to her credit and has composed an award winning Opera titled “Niguma.” Her latest release titled “Compassion” is a wonderful collection of songs that features her mixed influences. This finely produced album contains world class choirs, crystal bowls, tasteful instruments and of course top notch vocals. Sangeeta explains the process of creating the album “I wanted each song to be filled with choir. Kind of like a classical version of an oratorio, but a New Age version of sound… using crystal singing bowls… using human voice as a healing quality. It was an experiment, creating rhythm with the choir instead of them singing everything sort of legato and lush. I was trying to create pulse… rhythm with the human voice.” I recently spoke with Sangeeta about the album and her career.

R.V.B. – Hi Sangeeta… how are you? I see you have a 917 number… did you live in New York at one time?

S.K. – I did… yes.

R.V.B. - Where did you grow up?

S.K. – I grew up in California. I went to Boston for my grad school and then I moved to Europe. Then I moved to New York after that.

R.V.B. – I guess you were in the city somewhere.

S.K. – I started in Astoria. Then I went to the upper East Side and then to the lower East Side.

R.V.B. – So you’ve been around. I understand you are going to Iceland. My daughter just returned from Iceland about a month ago and came home engaged.

S.K. – No kidding??? Amazing!!! Were they there for the holidays?

R.V.B. – No… they got a deal they couldn’t pass up. It was like $2,300 for 8 days for airfare and hotel.

S.K. – Did they like it?

Sangeeta relaxing in the Blue Lagoon

R.V.B. – Oh yeah! It was cold there but they went to the hot springs and saw all the sights. She came back with a diamond ring on her finger.

S.K. – OMG!! Hahaha

R.V.B. – Are you going there to perform or just a vacation?

S.K. – My husband and I are going to go there for Christmas. We decided to dis’ everybody and just go and have a quiet time.

R.V.B. – Good for you. You’re gonna get away from it all.

S.K. – Yeah!!! Every year we’re here so we wanted to do something totally different. Then we’re going to fly to Vienna to see in the new year.

R.V.B. – Very nice! I have to say that in the past week I have been become a big fan of your music. It’s fantastic!!! It’s groundbreaking… it’s new… it’s different, and that’s what really appeals to me.

S.K. – Thank you.

R.V.B. – You crossover to different genres and it’s very, very interesting.

S.K. Thank you. My team and I really worked hard on this, by not listening to others who say “You have to stay within the genre.” We didn’t listen. Hahaha

R.V.B. – You tried to take a different path with Compassion as opposed to Mirrors?

S.K. – Yes… it’s completely different. I feel the first album called “Niguma” had similar elements – with the full and bigger sound – Niguma was the first album after four years of releasing. I wanted it to be free and experimental. I basically had musicians come in - they heard the tracks maybe once – then we improvised through the entire thing. We cut pieces together that were really beautiful. The second album Ascension was more orchestral. We had orchestra’s, bands, gospel choirs… you name it. With Mirrors I thought “Let’s just make it really intimate.” It was very simple with just a few instruments. “Let’s see how that goes.” I really loved the process. Then I was yearning again for the orchestra. I wanted the big sound, because I come from the operatic background. I said “Let’s go back to the orchestra.” With Compassion, the big difference was that we incorporated two big choirs. I wanted each song to be filled with choir. Kind of like a classical version of an oratorio, but a New Age version of sound… using crystal singing bowls… using human voice as a healing quality. It was an experiment, creating rhythm with the choir instead of them singing everything sort of legato and lush. I was trying to create pulse… rhythm with the human voice. It was quite experimental for me and honestly, it’s one of my favorites. I really loved the outcome of the production of it.

R.V.B. – It is very nice. One of the songs that caught my attention is Transcendence. Can you tell me about the making of that track?

S.K. – If you listen to some classical music you’ll get some pieces using one line, like maybe a string section playing one melodic line. They keep on going and it builds up with maybe the woodwinds coming in with that same melody. It’s almost like a round. “Mary had a little lamb…” So I wanted to create this feeling of a round. I would start a round and then the choir would start… then the men would come in. It was really taken from this classical, traditional style and brought into this contemporary rhythmic feel. We didn’t really have a lot of instrumentation in it. It was mostly choir, holding ground, and some piano. So it was pretty bare. I wanted to create that sound with the choir. The choir can hold the hypnotic meditative pulse by growing and progressing into the piece. It opens up with this large, lush, classical type vocals, that kind of just explodes. The experience of Transcendence to me is our soul transcending into higher consciousness. It may mean something else to others. It’s this very subtle, gradual growth. It’s very meditative and it can grow into something very complex. It’s like an explosive awakening. Some people interpreted it as a death and re-birth… it’s also that. When you are awakening, you are having a total re-birth. You die and then go to this higher realm. It’s interesting to hear other people’s interpretation but it’s definitely about transformation and transcending to a higher place.

R.V.B. – It’s a very beautiful piece.

S.K. – Thank you

R.V.B. – How did the track Compassion wind up being the title track of the album? I know it sends a good message. Everyone should show some compassion at some point in their lives. Did you want to convey that idea?

S.K. – Yeah! Sometimes you get into that mode when you’re just tired of hearing the news. All the tragedy… left and right… war… sex trafficking… suicide… sometimes it’s a little overwhelming. For the album, I wanted to create something that, even if it’s one person who hears it… a teenager maybe in a point of turmoil - that might make a decision that’s not so great - it might just change their mind for a moment, and change their perspective. To plant that seed in sound current in the world with compassion. Really caring and loving each other, and see past the hatred that government, people and society create. Put into our heads that we’re so simple. If we can just learn to trust one another… just to plant that seed of compassion into the world. With Compassion, the first thing that came up was the Dali Lama’s main mantra - that he teaches in chants - “Oh mani padme hum.” I thought “If we chant this, we heal ourselves from lifetimes before and after.” It’s a mantra that can really awaken our souls. It can awaken our consciousness. I thought to use that and have the choir sing that over and over.

R.V.B. – How did you come about getting this choir?

S.K. – There are two choirs. One is from the Hungarian Studio Orchestra and Choir. We also worked with the Hungarian Studio Orchestra on the entire album. The studio choir is really amazing. I had them do the more traditional classical arrangements. We also had a local choir from LA that’s called Sterling Ensemble. Each singer is there for the love of music but they are all professionals… educators… professional singers… choral conductors. Many of them have Doctorates in music. They are some of the best teachers out there. Their musicianship skills, versatility and pitch are just incredible. I was so lucky to find them in LA. We used them for the more contemporary songs like May the Long Time Sun.

R.V.B. – How did you get started with music? Did you come from a musical family?

S.K. – Not really. My parents are both Vietnamese, so I came from an immigrant family. Like you hear all the time, they were just trying to survive, make ends meet and put food on the table. Music wasn’t very prominent in the family. It was just my calling. I was very sensitive to sound and music, since I was young. I loved singing and I loved imitating vocals. I loved the way the voice works… the breath, and the body works… the muscles involved. To me it was an amazing and fascinating thing. So I was drawn to it as a child. I enrolled myself in music courses, children’s choirs and violin classes. When I needed a violin, my parents got me a really cheap old one. It was just like kind of “Okay… just let her do it as a hobby.” They didn’t realize that it would become a professional endeavor.

R.V.B. – It’s great that through hard work, from the humble beginnings, you got to where you are. How did you get involved with yoga?

S.K. – Years ago, a friend of mine had invited me to a Yoga class at a 24 hour fitness center. I think it was 1998. (Hahaha) At the time, we didn’t have the massive amount of Yoga centers that we see now on every corner. I tried it and I just remember passing out and blacking out… I wanted to vomit. I mean it was like the worst thing.  (Hahaha)  But when the energy settled, I felt amazing. I kept trying. I’m that kind of person, that if it doesn’t work, try… try… try. So I took a few classes and during the summer, I was doing an opera intensive course. It was a 10 day course away from home. There was an opera singer teacher who was Indian. Her name was Priti Ghandi.

Sangeeta practicing yoga

She’s an amazing mezzo-soprano who also teaches yoga. So I had yoga classes every single day during my opera intensive. Now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense. To me, singing is yoga. It’s the same concept… your brain has to work the same way. In order to do these sounds and that you have to do these postures, that has to connect to the breath. The combination of yoga and singing came together at a very early stage for me. All is perfection. Today I’m still doing music and yoga together. I’m bringing some of the teachings and the sacred yoga philosophies into the music. I just never stopped and was completely hooked. It has really transformed my life… the way that I think and the way that I sing. As my yoga passion deepens, so does my singing. I can really relax more… I can open up. I’m connecting to thoughts, rather than my fear. “How do I sound??? What are people going to think???” It soon became clear to me that singing was service… my way of serving. I see it from a different perspective.

R.V.B. – I know you wrote your own opera… did you do any classic roles that you may have enjoyed in your learning years?

S.K. – Yes! I sang a lot of Mozart operas… Richard Strauss… Wagner. I sang for a Japanese opera company when I was in New York. I did a lot of professional work in the opera world. When I was in New York, I remember my deepening of Tibet Buddhism. My practice just skyrocketed. I went to a profound place in that practice, while I was singing and hustling. I wanted to start my own opera company. I went to the nonprofit office and small business bureau and filled out all the paperwork. Then something happened where I had to move back to LA quickly.
But I knew the opera that I wanted to do. It was always in my mind. It took about another seven or eight years before the idea and possibility actually came about. The opera company never happened but the Niguma opera did happen. That was it for me. The experience, outcome and the feedback was way beyond everything that I ever imagined. It was a miracle that it really happened in the way that it did. I truly feel that everything beyond that point has been a bonus in my life. I feel that I achieved something that my soul came here to do. It’s not done yet but it was such a big event that I was like ”Wow!!! Everything now is just a gift and a bonus.”

R.V.B. – I saw some of the videos and it looked like a very nice production. Speaking of video’s, I watched A Prayer to Answer all Prayers and I found it very touching. What’s behind the concept of this video?

S.K. – On this video, I worked with a really talented director from France - who now resides here in Los Angeles - named Fabien Martorell. When I gave him that song, he had some ideas and I had some ideas. We knew that we wanted it to be a short film… not just beautiful images, but a story as well. It actually had a touching, impactful story, and was very simple. For me, I love incorporating children in my work. I love bringing them on the stage… bringing them on the screen. They’re so pure. I think that most adults – when they are around kids – change. We come back to a very pure place ourselves. I thought that that was a really good formula… a formula to really reach people’s hearts. The little girl in the film is my niece. We were going to audition a bunch of little girls but one day my niece came to my birthday and without any fear – not timid at all – I asked her if she wanted to sing Happy Birthday? She was young and tiny, but she said “Okay.” She grabbed the mic, in front of about 300 people, and had no fear. So I said “She’s it. We don’t need an audition… we’re going to used Claire for this.” She did such a great job. When she was home, she didn’t memorize her lines, but the story was in her mind. When she got on the set, she just tuned in, because she finally saw the lady that she was imagining in her head. It became so real and she never missed her lines. I think she thought it was a real scene. It was so real for her. It’s one of my favorite music videos… for sure.

R.V.B. – You’ve performed in quite a few prestigious venues, in your young career. How was the experience of performing at the Sydney Opera House?

Sydney Opera House

S.K – It was like a total dream. The first time that I was walking up to it with my crew, I was like “I can’t believe I’m doing this right now… this is crazy.” It’s a historical theatre and a historical landmark. Just to be in the space is truly an honor. I look at those moments as signs from the universe that I’m on the right track. Life is about magic… to really embrace those moments and not be intimidated or afraid. It’s given as a gift to you. I see that every time I’m in one of these massive amazing venues. I’m being told “This is your work… this is your job… just hang on to it. Enjoy it, embrace it and just love it.” It’s really magical.

R.V.B. – I’m sure it is. In the arts, you cannot rest of your laurels. What are you working on these days?

S.K. – You’re so right (Hahaha) I try so hard to do nothing. (Hahaha) For 2020, I wanted to try something different. I’m constantly looking for new ways to learn. I’m trying new ways of expression and collaboration. I can announce now that I’m working with the very well known producer Narada Michael Walden. He’s such a wonderful person. His production history is with Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Aretha Franklin... what pop industry considers the top diva’s. It’s quite a different direction for me. What is really amazing is that Narada listens to what you are doing… he listens to what your mission is… what your vocal capability is, and then he tests you. He will keep you comfortable and push the envelope at the same time. He stretches your abilities and sends you in different directions, to see if you like it. We’re working on an EP. We’ve tracked a couple of songs now. His spiritual background is very strong and that’s what drew me to him… his career and his talent. It’s important to me to collaborate with other artists who have the same values and have similar paths. You don’t have to say as much or explain yourself. They just kind of get it.

R.V.B. – Is your husband involved with music also?

S.K. – He’s a retired engineer but has been a musician his whole life. He’s a classical guitarist and also sings. He’s used music to educate university students in business. He’s taken music to another level. We met when he had already retired but production and being in a studio was not new to him. He really has a great ear and eye. He acts as my behind the scenes manager. He has given me incredible support and tells me what I need to hear, which is really important.

R.V.B. – You need somebody like that. Do you teach at all?

S.K. – At the moment, I’m not teaching as much, but a couple of years ago I was taking a lot of students. I was teaching in Orange County and Los Angeles. I really love teaching. A very dear search teacher Yogi Bhajan says “If you really want to perfect something, teach it.” It’s very true. Once you teach, you see and hear things from another angle… you feel from another angle. You really become a master. In the last couple of years I’ve just been so busy with collaborations and projects, I had to put it aside. But I know that I will go back to it. I love sharing knowledge with people. I do teach yoga once a week to the Vietnamese community. I’ve been doing that for about 8 years. There’s a small community center where I hold my class.

R.V.B. – Very nice. Did you every have any problems with the fires in Southern California?

S.K. – No. I’m in Marina Del Rey. We can see the fires sometimes but we are very close to the sea. A year or two back we had very bad air quality from the fires. We had to evacuate until the air cleared.

R.V.B. – We keep an eye on the west coast and just can imagine how bad it is for some people in California. We’re kind of spoiled here on Long Island. We don’t have earthquakes or bad fire issues.

A scene from the opera Niguma

 

S.K. – I was in Sag Harbor, Long Island a few years ago during Super Storm Sandy.

R.V.B. – That was a very bad storm. We were without power for 10 days.

S.K. – The waves were massive at the shore. There was a lot of damage to the coastal homes. Some cliffs were entirely wiped out.

R.V.B. – Sag Harbor is a beautiful town.

S.K. – Sag Harbor is adorable.

R.V.B. – Thank you very much for taking this time with me. I’m 100% sold on your music and can’t wait to spread the word.

S.K. – Thank you very much.

Interview conducted by Robert von Bernewitz

This interview may not be reproduced in any part or form without permission from this site.

For more information on Sangeeta Kaur visit her website sangeetakaurmusic.com

Special thanks to Beth Ann Hilton of The B Company thebcompany.com

For more information on this site contact Robvonb247(at)gmail(dot)com