Susanna Wallumrød (Of Susana and the Magical Orchestra) will be performing at this years Big Ears. Her quiet warble has the propensity to draw an audience in and leave them breathless. Though she performs in several groups, it is her voice that adds the distinct, standout nurturing the songs need to shine. Having played all over the world, it is a rare treat to have her stop in on her short US tour. h she took a few minutes to talk with us about her many projects, Big Ears and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy.
Traveling the world to play your amazing music gives the audience a chance to connect with a personal side of you, often more in depth than most people would show to their piers, much less a wide audience. To you, what is it about your music that allows you to accomplish this form of communication, even when the language barriers don’t allow for direct understanding?
Oh, that has to be the music. And I would say the beauty of music as an art form. Music is a universal language for everyone that can hear or feel the vibrations. We come to a listening situation with all our different worlds, contexts and references, and if we’re open-minded, the experience of music can take us somewhere new. Or not, of course. Don’t mean to sound like a ‘new age’ freak, but I really love music as a form of communication, even if it can be different and more abstract and mysterious than other forms of communication.
Your various projects are vastly different. Often with overly talented individuals, sticking to one genre proves impossible. Why do you feel drawn to so many styles when it comes to performing and what is it about them that calls to you? (I know that is just like saying, why do you love music, but everyone is drawn to what their drawn to from a different space.)
I am glad you say that! There are differences, some quite big, between various music I do and have done, even though there’s a big part of me in all of it. It is important to me to stretch out and move in several directions with my music, and I spend a lot of time figuring out what the music ‘wants’ when I have written something new. Or at least trying to find out what will bring out the best in the music or a song. I find it challenging and interesting to place my voice and music in various environments.
On “Someday,” What was happening in your life that inspired this? Has that time come for you?
The songs are always inspired by a hybrid of things going on around me; might very well be something I read about, and is certainly not ‘my own story’. ‘Someday’ is about a journey, wanting to leave, needing to leave and I am very fascinated by traveling in space, so there is somehow a science fiction backdrop here. The song is also about the hope for a situation to resolve and that time comes and goes all the time I guess, in different ways.
Looking forward, who would you like to work with and what would the project be? Is there anything new coming that you can talk about? Anything special planned for Big Ears?
Back in 2009, Jenny Hval (who’s also playing at Big Ears) and I did commissioned music for a festival in Norway, and later this year we will release the music on my label SusannaSonata. I have also recently been working with the dutch artist, Jessica Sligter, and we will be playing at a festival in Norway right after the US trip. The concerts at Big Ears depend on a lot of practical issues, so I am not sure about exactly what will happen. It will be good music one way or the other.
Finally, imagine you are sitting with a group of your friends and bandmates. You are reminiscing about your travels. Tell me your, “I cant believe that happened to me/us” story. Good, great, all together exhausting, what is it that still leaves you in awe?
The touring and traveling we have done together with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy has been full of extraordinary music experiences. Every concert has been unique and I feel very lucky to have been a part of that. Last year we did a small tour together in Scandinavia, and I was playing an in-store at a record shop and was joined by Bonny, The Cairo Gang (Emmett Kelly) and last but not least, John Paul Jones, on mandolin. Pretty surreal and very good memories. (Even if I decided to play a rather new song on my own, and had to make several tries at it cause I couldn’t find the right key…. Things can happen in a live setting.)
