Aruna Antonella Handa writes original songs that cover subjects important to all of us. She recently responded to the surge in global gender-based violence with her collaborative single, “Have You Seen My Sister?”. The single was part of a song cycle project that included a collaborative performance of 80 artists at Toronto’s Nuit Blanch festival. The single is the result of Aruna reading about what the UN called the “Shadow Pandemic” while she was under lockdown in 2020. Aruna hopes her song will draw attention for much needed evidence-based solutions to gender-based violence both in Canada and worldwide.
The Toronto-based artist writes original songs that blend unconventional music genres. This includes French chanson, mid-century country, traditional and modern folk, tango, blues, Motown, and jazz. Her songs explore her interests through music. They cover personal, political, climate, and conservation subjects such as addiction, elephants, riots, and love. What the songs share in common is their attention to vocal spaces and textual rhythm. Her band, Aruna & The Sirens, is comprised of vocals, upright bass, and drums. This setup allows them to define their sound and “invite textures to the mix.”
Aruna’s musical journey began at a farm auction. She found three pianos behind a barn and composed her first piece after playing all day on them. She would go on to learn the accordion and piano. As a teenager she wrote and directed plays with music as well as directing and performing in musicals. She sang jazz standards with a pianist in Montreal, studied music and philosophy at McGill University, and performed with an a cappella group in Toronto.
Aruna formed her band in 2018. They have performed at clubs such as the Monarch and the Burdock in Toronto and at festivals including Nuit Blanche, Canadian Music Week, and Open Tuning. Their first LP will be released along with the first single from it, City Hotel, in the coming months. Currently, Aruna is planning a tour for the Sisters project, finishing up writing for another LP, and much more.
I recently interviewed Aruna about the collaborative project Have You Seen My Sister?, her new LP covering themes of addiction and recovery, unconventional music genres, her musical journey, her favorite mic to perform and record with, the biggest challenge of her music career, and much more.
Congratulations on the release of your song, “Have You Seen My Sister?”. Tell us about how this song is part of a collaborative project and how it came together.
Thank you. The project has three phases. The first was a collaborative performance with 80 artists who performed my song cycle “Have You Seen My Sister?”, a mix of improvised and scored songs, for 12 hours at Toronto’s Nuit Blanche festival. Phase 2 was a response to UN reports of a pandemic-caused surge in gender-based violence. My producer, David Seitz, and I invited musicians in an open call to record locally and send us their tracks, and we released the single earlier this year. Phase 3 is putting together a tour of the song cycle.
Describe the experience of recording the guide tracks for the project in the studio during the height of the pandemic (the use of isolation booths sounded challenging).
It felt surreal at Jeremy Darby’s Canterbury Studios, as though we were the only people actually moving and working together on a planet that was otherwise under lockdown. Of course, that was not the case, but it felt that way.
You and the band will be releasing your first LP along with the first single from it, City Hotel. Tell us more about the album’s theme, songs, the first single, and what a listener can expect.
The LP traces days of recovery after quitting something. I have had challenges quitting things whether substances, or habits, or even relationships. Musically, there is variety.
City Hotel is a country tune with slide guitar, detailing episodes of racism that took place on the heels of Trump’s 2016 presidential victory. Turns out in every case, the perpetrators were intoxicated. Other songs reveal influences of Tom Waits, post-punk and even opera. We have loads of amazing guest musicians including Doug Tielli on trombone, Roa Lee on gayageum, Dave Eggar on cello…I’ve been extremely lucky with the band’s immense talent and that of the guests.
Explain your production process.
We recorded the bass and drum tracks in two days at Canterbury. We layered the vocals on top and added other instruments once we had the band’s parts together.
Your original songs have influences of French chanson, mid-century country, traditional folk, tango, blues, Motown, and jazz. How do you incorporate these in your songs from songwriting to composition?
The songs sort of come, and then get labelled or categorized post-composition, as it were. I think I’ve listened to and loved those genres including opera and so when I write their influence is hard to avoid. As a band, we have musicians who play jazz, country, opera, and free improv, so we’ve a lot to draw on in our arrangements.
French chanson is quite fascinating, and I found this simple definition: “a French art song of the Middle Ages and Renaissance” but also “a lyric-driven modern song connecting cabaret music in Paris to contemporary pop.” Explain what specifically draws you to French chanson.
I think you summed it up perfectly. I love the troubadour traditions, also associated with French chanson. I used to sing with a Celtic a cappella band, and even as a chapel singer and soloist, I loved modal melodies. When I studied harmony and theory at McGill, the first year we focused on modes (dorian, mixolydian, phyrgian etc), which proved helpful since I studied Jazz materials, and the modes come in handy in chord-scale relationships. With the exception of “Sisters”, which I wrote to be easy to learn and sing in a street protest, my songs tend to be lyric driven. I am also drawn to the French and German cabaret as a tool of social critique.
You write about addiction, love, riots, and the Anthropocene, but also elephants, museums, and outer space. They seem to cover everything from personal, political, climate, and conservation. Describe how these timely subjects are important for you to write about.
I think that many of these topics are important to all of us. I am an artist, so I explore my interests in them through music…I think that I am just trying to figure things out in these songs I write and sing.
How do your songs “share an attention to vocal spaces and textual rhythm”?
I love voices and listening to vocal harmonies, and I am a huge fan of the upright bass and drums. Chris Adriaanse (bass) and Raphael (drums) seem to intuit each other magically. So, while I do arrange some of the songs myself, the songs we arrange together as a band, with Caitlin Holland, Ale Ballon and Lindsay MacDonald on vocals, tend to feel to me like we are constructing spaces, the process feels architectural, with the drums and bass laying the foundation and the vocals defining the shapes, and when it really works, you can just about feel the wind.
Why is the band comprised of only vocals, upright bass, and drums?
We used to play with a pianist; one day he was not able to show up, and we discovered we actually loved the space it left the rest of us. Nearly every band has guitar, and while guitar is amazing, I wanted to explore other options. On the record you’ll hear guitar on songs, like “City Hotel”, but on the record, you’ll also hear gayageum, piano, and cello sections. Not having a chordal instrument allows us to define our sound and then invite textures to the mix.
Tell us about your musical journey.
As a child, I found three pianos behind a barn at a farm auction. Played all day and composed my first piece. Was sent for accordion lessons to prove my interest was not just passing, and then studied piano. I sang in choirs, sometimes as a soloist. I wrote and directed plays with music as a teenager and directed and performed in existing musicals like Panych and MacDonald’s Last Call-a post-nuclear cabaret. Sang with an a cappella group in Toronto. Studied music and philosophy at McGill University and sang jazz standards with a pianist in Montreal. Until then I sang mostly covers, and I didn’t really see the point. When I finally began to write songs that I actually liked, I started to perform again in Toronto, and formed the band in 2018.
What has been your biggest challenge in your career so far and how did you overcome it?
Early on, it was getting out of my own way. Lately, it is figuring out the business side… I’m still working on this one. Finding good gigs has been a challenge too. Still working on that one too.
What your favorite microphone or instrument is when recording or performing with and why.
I’ve discovered that different mics suit different purposes. Most of the album recorded at Canterbury in Toronto I used a Neumann M49. It is an unusual mic in that it is a vocal mic that can also serve as an instrumental one. It was used by Miles Davis almost exclusively on his Kind of Blue LP. My vocal for “Sisters” in my home studio was on an Apogee USB microphone, the mic96. It seems to work well for my voice, which is low with a lot of overtones.
Jane Siberry gave it to me, and I’m so grateful because I used it to record a song on the LP too. (Not saying which one…)
What does it mean to you personally to be an indie music woman artist?
I am exploring the concept of using my new record label, Frozen Lake Records, as a platform to promote my work and that of other independent women artists. I am not sure that the big labels are the way to go if you want independence in your production. But going it alone, with each of us having to learn aspects of the business that previously teams of other people specialized in, is no good either. So, perhaps a compromise is the independent woman artist coop concept. I guess we’ll see.
How do you think women in indie music can be better supported?
In Ireland, they are piloting a Basic Income for Artists. That would be a good start.
What projects, other than the new album, do you have planned for this year?
Finishing the writing for another LP and polishing the writing for another. I am planning a tour for the Sisters project, and I am gearing up for distribution of the LP and singles. And I’m also going to see if we can get some videos together… THANK YOU!
Follow Aruna & The Sirens on Twitter.
Listen to “Have You Seen My Sister?” on the band’s Spotify Artist Page.
For more information about the Sisters project: https://www.aruna.ca/arunaandthesirens
