We recently connected with Yana and have shared our conversation below.

Yana , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Covid has brought about so many changes – has your business model changed?

Covid impacted the lives of everyone in all walks of life, without doubt. The creative industry suffered greatly as they were basically the first ones to close and the last to reopen. The effects could and in some cases still can be felt to this day, What it meant for me? Well, since we could not play live, each artist was forced to find a different way to maintain the career. I have to be honest here and take my hat off to all my colleagues who did livestreams, often on weekly basis, during the pandemic. I only did a few of pre-recorded shows and it was a strange experience that also taught me a lot. But in my opinion, nothing beats the immediate reaction from the audience when you perform. Livestreams can’t substitute that, no matter how hard you try. Another thing the pandemic brought into my life was the feeling of being more open to remote collaboration. I’m usually pretty cautious who I work with but this was the time of new adventures, new roads, new horizons. One of the remote collaborations I did during this time was being one of the group vocalists for Nashville artist Debra Lyn. It was a great learning curve too and I’m very pleased with the result. And grateful for the opportunity.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a singer/songwriter based in the Czech Republic in central Europe. I play the guitar and my lyrics are usually in English, I rarely write in different languages but as for now there’s one song partly in English and partly in Spanish. I don’t believe in the boxes but if there’s anyone who cannot live without it, my music could be described as atmospheric folk with Celtic influences. This is because Ireland is my spiritual home. My happy place. The place where my heart lies forever. I think we all have a place like that and it doesn’t really matter whether we live there or not. Home is where the heart is, as the saying goes.
I have two major releases to my name as of 2023. My debut EP “Distant Shore” came out in June 2020 and my debut full length album “Journey of the Soul” was released in April 2023. All my releases have been recorded in Ireland in AP Studios Dublin, featuring a great variety of mostly Irish musicians. But again, the location isn’t that important as I’m fortunate enough to call these talented people my friends and they were kind enough and agreed to be part of this adventure.
It needs to be said I never saw music as a career for myself but the fate intervened amd changed my perspective and the entire direction of my life. After Fergus O’Farrell, singer and frontman of Irish band called Interference, suddenly passed away in February 2016 it made me realize how fragile and short life can be and there is no point in waiting for the right time because it may never come. And at the end of the day we regret thinigs we didn’t do instead of those we did. Ferg was a dear friend and remains my greatest inspiration, not only in songwriting but in life in general. He had his own struggles but remained incredibly positive and that is something you have to have in you.
I’m generally an optimist myself, always trying to see the brighter side of life. And feel very grateful to be able to do this. In fact, my first serious song was a tribute to Ferg, called The Book of Your Life, written with my good friend Liam Oragh and featuring the mighty Colm Mac Con Iomaire of The Frames on the violin. This song remains my most personal to this date and I can safely say that everyone involved is very proud of taking part in it.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

This is something a lot of fellow creative souls will surely relate to. I am talking about the lack of support from your family. Dealing with them not taking your art seriously, not respecting it. What do you do? It can surely be discouraging but as a Capricorn I have always been pretty stubborn in my decisions and once I made up my mind there is no point in trying to explain to me this is not the right way. Well, people have tried but I am always doing what I feel is right for me. Don’t care about other people’s opinion anymore. I think once you put yourself out there with your creative endeavours, you have to be the first one to believe in your work and keep going regardless. The road might be bumpy but it is a very rewarding one and full of experiences you cannot experience anywhere else. And with the family? Well, you cannot change people’s minds and force them to be on your side. It took me a long time to realize it but that’s actually OK. Because the non-sayers will motivate you even more and keep you going towards your goals. You have to follow your dreams while you still can.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media, in my opinion, can be a very tricky and nasty place. There have been a few seasoned colleagues complimenting me on my work on social media but if I’m perfectly honest I don’t really know what I’m doing. I just let myself be guided by sort of a common sense and I simply post things that feel right to me. I don’t place that much faith in likes and that sort of thing because these things are temporal and people’s taste can change very quickly. My only advice is to always stay honest and always be yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yanamusic.eu/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yanaceol/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/yanaceol
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfaQ-xFImKtqsy41UzbC56g
• Other: https://yanaceol.bandcamp.com/

Image Credits
personal photo – Jiří Vondruš additional photo 1 tp 3 – Jiří Vondruš addtional photo 4 (mixing desk) Dave Keegan