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Artists / SUI VESAN (SLOVAKIA)
The latest discovery of Slovak music scene would most likely add to the vast gallery of talented musicians, ignored by media and mass audiences, if her CD wasn't played by the world music expert Charlie Gillet on his BBC programmes. Due to feedback from the listeners last Autumn she came to London for a performance and live broadcast. This May she performs in Barbican Centre at the X-BLOC Reunion, along with Iva Bittová, Alim Qasimov, Jivan Gasparyan, Yat Kha, Goran Bregović and other big names from the former East Bloc.
Bio reprinted from an a article by Hannah Skrinar, published in fROOTS magazine, November 2002, N. 233
The singer guitarist from the small town of Banovce nad Bebravou in Central Slovakia, regularly performed at festivals and concerts throughout the former socialist Czechoslovakia, until her microphone was switched off for her inappropriate choice of musical style and lyrics. Her reggae song with the words "if we really wanted to, perhaps we could understand others better" was taken as having political undertones.
Although many things were taken that way during the communist era, it is even more ironic in this case, as Sui Vesan is one of the least political people you could possibly imagine (...).
Soon afterwards, Sui, originally known by the name of Jana Ondrejkova, disappeared into the woodwork. Over the years, after increasingly long intervals, she began to reappear at folk festivals under various pseudonyms. Last year, she gathered the courage to move to Bratislava with her two teenage daughters and start afresh. This change signalled a breakthrough in her musical career and once again she started to perform more regularly at concerts and began work on her album.
On the album, which came out last year on Millennium Records, you don't get the feeling that Sui was under the thumb of a producer. She refused to include any big names on the recording, although her record company tried to persuade her it would help to sell more copies. The dominant features of her music are her improvised singing and the strong rhythms, produced by strumming and striking her guitar, as well as inserting various objects between the strings, such as grass, flowers, thistles and poppy. You can even feel the influence of Arabian and Indian singing styles (...).
She claims not to feel Slovak, nor even a bond to Slovak music, but her staple diet of Moravian and Slovak folk music, as a child growing up in one of the most traditional regions of Slovakia, can be sensed in her voice and melodies. Even as a little girl, she played around with folk melodies, adding trills and intricate decorations, to the exasperation of her mother. When Sui was 15 she visited her father, who was in Syria on a business trip, and was fascinated by the strong rhythms and improvisatory singing styles.
On the album the music is raw, often quietly humorous and just sometimes a little shrill (...)
The young Jana Ondrejkova became a nursery school teacher after deciding to abandon music. The close bond she feels with the world of children is evident in her use of language when she sings. A non-Slovak may not be able to tell that Sui often sings in an invented language she calls "tatlanina". Tatlanina is her original method of inventing words using a mixture of vowels and consonants in such a way that it sounds like a real language (...).
Sui first used this language when she was put in charge of a class of excited two-year olds and she was finding it difficult to calm them down on their first day away from their mothers (...).
Later on in her life, Sui used Tatlanina as a psychological weapon against her abusive husband. When her singing made keep him his distance, for the first time she realised the power of her art (...).
INTERVIEW COURTESY OF BBC
Sui Vesan is causing a bit of a stir in World music circles. Her debut album Sui makes an impact on everyone who hears it. She's from Slovakia but with a style and a startling singing voice all of her own. On some songs she uses her own invented language "Tatlanina". She played her first ever live show in London for World Routes, as part of the London Jazz Festival, and BBC Music managed to catch up with her for an interview. Translation was kindly provided by Hanna Skrinar
Do you remember the first time you started singing as a child?
I used to sing folk songs with my mother as a young girl, we sung harmonies together. My grandad played the violin when I was very small and I always sang harmonies and added things. My mother was infuriated by this and told me that I would never become a singer because I couldn't be disciplined. There was an opera singer in my family but opera never appealed to me despite the fact that I can reach the high notes. Then I had a big shock when I was 14 years old. I went with my Dad on a business trip to Syria. Up to that time I had been listening to the likes of Susi Quatro. I suddenly came into contact with things that were really new to me, religious singing, Muezzins and I was very impressed by the way they could carry on singing, just keep going and that was a very big influence at the time.
Was there a lot of Western pop music around at that time? What music influenced you?
When I was growing up there was a big Russian influence and I hated it. We were forced as children to sing Russian songs at competitions and I had to sing in a choir and I absolutely hated it. I had never heard much Western music before I went to Syria, I brought back lots of CDs. For example I had never heard the Beatles before then. The trip was a big influence for me spiritually as well, for example when I came back I cut up my clothes and started belly dancing. Arabic music is fantastically complex rhythmically, the musicians can copy rhythms they heard a minute ago. I try and integrate this into my music in some way. But I was sad about the fact that the Arab world was so different from Slovakia and the terrible lives, terrible conditions that people had there, along with the beautiful music they made. Then a few years later I discovered Indian literature which was the biggest influence on me. I loved the mystical world that it represented and I began to see the world in a different way. For example I looked at the sky and I could see it smiling. Reading this literature made life seem more beautiful and more full of joy to me. I don't want to copy any of this music, I want to integrate it all together somehow.
You found it difficult to sing when Czechoslovakia was a communist country. At one concert where you performed the microphone was turned off.
It wasn't so much a problem with me as with anybody who didn't conform. We were told what to do and what to sing at these concerts. I was in a band where I played guitar and flute and sang the words "If we wanted to we could understand each other better". Before the concert I had already been told that I couldn't sing it. My band went on quite late in the day. I saw how everybody in the audience was so terribly bored and they were all singing these Russian songs and kind of stupefied. So I thought well I'll just wake them up a bit, so I sang the words and suddenly the microphone went a bit fuzzy and they turned it off. But that wasn't the only problem I had during communism. Even at work, I was a primary school teacher but I was unemployed for a long time, I went from school to school because I was slightly different. My kids were followed at school and asked whether they went to church, that kind of thing.
You stopped singing in public for a long time. Why did you stop and why did you start singing again?
I got married when I was very young. I thought that if I wasn't going to do anymore singing I might as well have some kids. And creativity would go through them somehow. I had a rough time in my marriage. I stopped music completely. Another thing that made me stop was that when I was 18 I could imitate all kinds of singing styles. I could imitate heavy metal singers and all kinds of different people. My friends were always asking me "sing that song by that singer". I suddenly realised that I had this power and then I thought that I was betraying herself, and this imitation was coming into my own music and I didn't want that. Being quiet for so many years really helped me because I was searching for my own voice for a long time. After I had kids I realised that this gentle voice coming right from my heart is what suits me most. I am getting on a bit now and it's taken quite a long time for me to realise that!
How many years did it take you to find her own voice?
(Much counting of fingers and discussion) Eleven years. I didn't sing at all publicly for 11 years. My daughter Lucia helped me a lot because I had to sing for hours and hours to get her to sleep. Sometimes she was crying, and I had to use my musical memory and improvise.
Tell us more about the invented language you use in some of your songs: Tatlanina.
It started when I was a teenager when I was at school. I was a bit more embarrassed then, my friends thought I was singing in another language, they thought it was Italian. Then four or five years ago I wasn't embarrassed anymore and it came out naturally and freely. It wasn't intentional, I was just doing it for myself when nobody was listening. Everybody should have their own language. It's very much linked to emotions. It's like someone in the sea calling out to be rescued. I usually sing Tatlanina with my eyes closed somewhere in the country where there are very good acoustics.
What do you want to do in the future?
I am a very slow developer. I want things to carry on as they are, with very long pauses between concerts. But I want to devote myself completely to music now. I realise it's my calling.
Discography
Suí, Millennium, 2001
Internet
http://www.sui.folk.sk
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