For every Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, Vincent Van Gogh, Leonardo Da Vinci or in modern times Prince
that passes through the annals of time, their contemporaries and the general
citizenship of the day have tended to regard them as perhaps eccentric, out of
the ordinary or simply misunderstood them. As time passes by, and in sadly
many cases, Prince being one of the few exceptions, people have not realized
their creative genius until they have left this life. ISSA, the artist
formerly known as Jane Siberry, an icon among the students of Avant-garde
music, could easily be included among the
group
of artists that I have mentioned and for all the reasons that we have stated.
Although ISSA, (a name that she adopted in 2006), enjoyed much commercial success with her music, throughout her career, you would find it extremely difficult to mount a case that commercialism serves as a motivation for the music she creates today. The singer, songwriter, and philosopher penned an astounding thirty-three new songs between 2006 and 2007, while living in Belgium, England and Canada. Her concerts are not so much concerts, but are much more like attending a mind opening new age awakening, merged with mystical musical ballads, drawn on the canvass of life. She incorporates into her music, elements of jazz, folk, world music, cabaret and classical forms. Often elements of several of those genres can be found in any one tune.
In 2006 when she changed her name to ISSA, and gave away or disposed of most of her earthly possessions, including her home, she began to live a nomadic life. Most scribes began to focus on how out of sync these behaviors were for a native North American. When Riveting Riffs sat down to converse with ISSA in late November we felt there was a more important story to be told, that being who the woman is behind the outstanding music that she authors, and how that naturally flows from her own life. Join us for a few minutes as we introduce you to one of the more captivating and supremely talented individuals that this magazine has had an opportunity to speak with.
In recalling the time period in which she wrote thirty-three songs, ISSA says, “At thirty-three, I stopped and started to go back. I hadn’t listened to any of them since I had written them. When I say written, I mean the structure and everything, but not the words finished. The rough words were finished, and the essence of the song was completed. After I wrote the thirty-third song, I went back and started arranging them, and building them up higher and higher. I still have work to do with some of the some songs, but most of them are ready to mix as soon as I sing them.”
Weighing her words carefully ISSA says, “I was quite curious, because I couldn’t remember a lot of them (the songs). It was like someone else had written them, and I didn’t recognize that it was necessarily me, which is nice, because I get bored very quickly. I wrote the melodies one bar, or (in some cases) one note at a time, so I could get as close as I could to what I heard in my head. That is how I heard music when I was young, and I didn’t know how to translate it, so I got into writing folk songs. (Now) I am actually closer to the original music that I have always heard (in my head). Some of the melodies don’t repeat at all, it is just one long melody and I like that. Once you get to know them (the melodies), it is sort of like holding your breath under water. I like that. I personally think that you can dumb down for so long, and it hasn’t been true to our natures. When I see kids today being stimulated, I think that dumbing up is in the air more than dumbing down, and I am glad to see that.”
