We were lucky to catch up with Sariyah Idan recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sariyah , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
The life of all creatives is full of risks, we take them every day. Sometimes they are big, sometimes small. As a musician and performing artist I try to take risks every time I perform, which is about four days a week. But whenever we take big risks it’s vital that we pay attention not only to the outcomes of the risk, but to the relationships we build. Relationships are golden. Sometimes we take a big risk and over the course of years we get to see just how important that risk was… Here is story about a big risk I took.
In 2017 I was living in Los Angeles and had started recording my album BREAKING SHADOWS that I’d written and demoed in my studio apartment with me playing all the instruments. I loved working with the coproducer I’d connected with, but I was running into both creative and financial issues working with her. I really wanted to put klezmer horns on the album over a soul/hip-hop vibe band, but finding klezmer players that I liked in Los Angeles was proving difficult, plus the cost to work with this coproducer was higher than I could afford for the whole 17 track project. In addition I was feeling really uncomfortable in Los Angeles and wanted to create avenues to move out of the city.
I had a friend living in Berlin, had spent a little time there investigating the scene, and knew it was less expensive to record/live. I also knew there was a great community of klezmer players and live soul/hip-hop musicians. So I worked a bunch of extra shifts at my day job as a massage therapist, and in February 2018 I sublet my apartment to a Canadian/Persian filmmaker coming into Los Angeles for a program, and left for the cold dark days of Berlin’s winter. This was the BIG RISK. My goal was two fold, first to find musicians and a studio to potentially record, second to build connections in Berlin to potentially relocate there.
The full story is long, complex, and involved a fiasco flight due to British Airways guitar policy on short haul flights which caused me to buy a return flight to Berlin in July 2018. But in short on that first trip I found some great players through a few jam sessions, found a community space recording studio through some other artists, recorded one song in early April, and developed some close personal and creative relationships. In July, I again sublet my place in Los Angeles so I could return to finish mixing that first track, continue creating in roads in Berlin, and work on some recordings in Portugal with Rita Senhor who I’d met at the studio where I first recorded.
When I returned to Berlin in the summer I discovered the engineer I’d worked with had just been fired from that studio and there was general drama. I was a bit confused what to do and took a step back from pushing forward. As soon as I shifted my attitude to “lets just see what can happen”, my friend Cedric Till, a hip hop artist and stellar human being, invited me to a recording session with Andy Schlegel his long time engineer. Andy took an interest in my music. I really appreciated both his skill and empathic understanding of my material and process. He ended up mixing that first track I’d recorded, and in summer 2019 after a successful crowdfunding campaign I returned to Berlin to record the bulk of the rest of the album with him.
BREAKING SHADOWS released in fall 2019. In winter 2020 I was planning some tour dates to celebrate the release, both in the US and Europe… and lockdown hit. I was pretty crushed. The pandemic created so much change, and also opportunity for both creativity and healing. In fall 2021 I moved to New Orleans, demoed a new album. In fall 2022 I returned to Berlin for some shows and to visit my community there. Andy Schlegel again took an interest in my new project and proposed he come to New Orleans to make it happen.
Now, four years after that first big risk trip to Berlin, Andy Schlegel has just left from New Orleans where we recorded my new project called GLITTER & BLOOD. It’s definitely a follow up to BREAKING SHADOWS but is a bit of a different sound as I have grown both personally and musically. Plus it’s the first time I’ve written and recorded material in New Orleans, a city with a rich musical history and a vital musical present. It’s also a further articulation of my creative collaboration with Andy Schlegel as engineer and coproducer of the project. This recording process was intensive, the music is dynamic, varied yet cohesive and transformational. This new album would not have happened, and definitely not in this way had I not taken that first big risk trip to Berlin in winter 2018…. I will soon be setting a release date for this new project and will hopefully have many opportunities to tour this material.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I am singer-songwriter, performing artist, workshop facilitator, and artist coach. As a child and teenager I was a professional dancer and singer in New York; I then got involved in theater and spoken poetry, various forms of activism, teaching inner city/incarcerated youth, and working as a massage therapist. In the background of all of this I was practicing music, playing songs, and seeking to articulate my own authentic voice.
Authenticity is super important to me, both as a performing artist and as a mentor/coach. I believe authentic expression is how we up-level the vibration of harmony and justice on the planet. It brings me a sense of both freedom and purpose to be in this kind of expression myself; it brings me a deep sense of joy and satisfaction to empower this kind of expression in others. I do this through group workshops and through one-on-one music mentorship as well as artist/project coaching. More about these offerings on my website on my website under the educator tab. I am also offering discounted packages through the fundraising campaign for my new album! The campaign is on Indiegogo and in my link in bio on Instagram. These packages are for one-on-one online music lessons/mentoring, and artist/project coaching for any discipline of creative expression.
As a music artist my goal is to invite audiences into their closeted feelings, to be poetically honest in my lyricism, and to honor both my musical influences and my ancestors in the sound of my music. Honoring the sounds of my Ashkenazi ancestors is one reason why I ended up in Berlin in the story I just shared. Whether playing solo or with my full band my music is a blend of acoustic soul with a lot of world folk, Latinx/Caribbean, and hip-hop flavors. For me honoring both the sounds of influences and ancestors is a form of cultural activism. Recently I’ve also been focusing on musical expression as a form of healing and tapping into voice as part of my spiritual practice. With this I’ve begun improvising and looping layers of my voice as an offering for a Sunday yoga class here in New Orleans with Speakeasy Yoga NOLA. I post a bunch on Instagram about my journey as an artist, as well as local and concerts and tour dates, those are also on my website and Bandsintown page. And folks can find my most recent album “Breaking Shadows” on all major streaming platforms, or on
Bandcamp for folks without a corporate streaming subscription.
As a workshop facilitator I focus as much on fostering community as I do on the craft of writing and performance. My twice monthly online women’s writing/performance workshop, MoonWrites has developed a sweet international community of both serious writers/performers and less experienced writers who come to tap into their personal truths in a supportive community of women. It was featured in The Social Connection Project, a partnership between Eventuate and Marsai Martin. Flash Poems is another online writing/performance workshop I offer based on my own #morningpages practice. This workshop has a fairly meditative quality, helps participants to tap into their subconscious through writing/expression, and produces short potent and polished pieces of writing. They can take the form of poems, affirmations, song lyrics etc. Folks can find out more about these workshops and register on Eventbrite.
I would love to hear from you! What does “authenticity” mean to you? How do you feel when you express yourself authentically? I’d also love to know how my music effects you! Feel free to DM me on Instagram, or drop me a line through my website.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Pay for art. Digitization and streaming have given most people access online to music, art, video, and information for little to no money. And this is really cool, but we still live in a capitalist society and we all need financial currency to keep our lives afloat. Money is really just a form of appreciation that keeps energy in circulation. When we give appreciation to an artist they can pass that on to some one else keeping their own lives in motion and sustainable. In other words, when you like something that someone makes, buy it. Many folks will spend a ton of money (if they have it) for big name famous music artists, fashion etc, but they don’t want to pay for their friends band’s show, or buy a piece pf art from a local painter at the art market. Investing in the creative expression of people around you helps them to thrive and to continue being a part of your ecosystem. If you dig a music artist put their album on repeat on your favorite music platform while you sleep (volume on or off) and help them rack up those pennies a play while also shifting the algorithm in their favor..
Digitization has also created both more and less access; we need to be careful and respectful regarding how we use it. More people have access to tools for creation than ever before, and this is awesome! This includes music, photography, videography, digital support in designing all kinds of things. But this is a double edged sword because while it gives more people access to be creative it does not necessarily create greater access to be “legitimized” as having “made it” to a place of being worthy of pay, and then with so many creatives we start thinking we are all in competition with each other. We all have the power to support creatives with our monetary appreciation when have those resources. I believe we all can have our audiences and not be in competition IF we all prioritize being patrons of the art that we consume.
In addition, I think it’s really important that we are mindful about capturing people’s creative work without permission or pay. Most people have devises in our pockets that can videotape and photo capture all the time. When we like something we tend to want to capture it on our phones and then share it in social media etc. But is that actually helpful for the creative who’s work we’re capturing? In my opinion, if you don’t have the funds to pay someone for their work but you have access to see it or experience it in some way, then just enjoy it in the moment and move on……. Truth be told I have a particular bone to pick about this because I make a good amount of my living playing on the streets of New Orleans; it’s a fascinating job. Some people are extremely generous, and others want to videotape me and keep it moving. My request is if you videotape or photograph me make a contribution and in addition make sure you know how to both find my music online and how to tag me in your social media posts so other people can follow my work.
On a larger systemic level, I would love to see more granting programs by the US government. Europe is so much better at supporting the arts. If we took funds out of the military and prison industrial complexes and instead put it into granting programs to support innovative arts and creative ideas we would have a more thriving creative society.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Moving the energy. As Martha Graham said, “…there is only one you in all time. This expression is unique.” In any form of art or creative work I believe it is our divine duty to allow that which moves through us to come out of us, to be articulated into expression so that the world can have it. This is often highly rewarding for the creative, even if we do not like what we make, but moving it through and out of us helps us to “keep the channel open” as Martha says; it helps us to be free. I find that sense of openness to be rewarding in and of itself. But on a larger level we have no idea how our art, creative ideas, innovative businesses etc. will impact other people and give them meaning. I personally think bringing meaning to the lives of others is one of the most rewarding experiences in human existence.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sariyahidan.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sariyahidan/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SariyahWorld/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/sariyahidan
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/sariyahidan
- Other: https://igg.me/at/SariyahNewAlbum https://www.eventbrite.com/o/sariyah-idan-31136640393 https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/sariyahidan/breaking-shadows https://sariyahidan.bandcamp.com/album/breaking-shadows https://www.bandsintown.com/a/8358948-sariyah-idan
Image Credits
1. Zackary Kanzler 2. Zachary Kanzler 3. Selfie 4. Liz Bretz 5. Selfie 6. Steve Rapport 7. Selfie 8. Anonymous