Behold the MA YEMA Choir!
To sing together, that is where I come from! My origin. When I compose songs, there are always quite a few voices besides mine. And I like choirs that intersect, interfere and intertwine. Arranging the vocals is such a treat for me, very inspiring. As are singing together with these ladies! I have been collaborating with them many times before.
HANNA, right from HOYA, the first album, in the Pleiadian Suite. TESSAN, from Omine (the second). JENNY came in later as a singer, but as she and Lasse has Nilento Studio together and all albums in the Pleiadian Suite have been recorded or mastered there, she indeed has been around for the whole suite. KATARINA, entered with Breathe Out. KARIN, was a newcomer, singing with me for the fist time on MA YEMA.
They are all sooo very talented, skillful and experienced. It was a true blessing to spend a week singing together with them. As these songs were created in the moment they were recorded, the usual or average time periods or structures are not in place. It is different from what we are used to in western music. So it was quite a challenge to record the choir parts. We had to think, not in bars and beats or part B, C, bridge or something like that, but in time frames, seconds and milliseconds. Without Lasse directing us from the control room, we would have been lost in time and space. It was challenging but very, very fun.
Read more about MA YEMA – here
And The Pleiadian Suite – here
MA YEMA is the concluding album, focusing on the elements, in Malou Bergs The Pleiadian Suite; HOYA (Earth, Body) OMINE (Heaven/Air, Soul), AMAONA (Water, Feelings), ALIGNMENT (Ether, Intuition) and MA YEMA (Fire, Energy). Besides that there is BREATHE OUT (Christmas album, a compilation. Yay!!)
All songs on MA YEMA, except ”Sola Me”, were created by Xavier Desandre Navarre, Thomas Hellsten and Malou Berg in the moment, as they were recorded.
“We started from nothing.
We had no structure,
no form,
no chord changes,
no melody,
no lyrics
no initial idea.
We had nothing at all, to hold on to.
Together we stepped into the unknown, unsure
following the flow,
embracing the notes that arrived
the waves of musical lines
the rhythms that came.. and went
the melodies, the lyrics.
We followed the flow.
And these songs were born.”
Credits:
Malou Berg, Lead vocal, vocals
Xavier Desandre Navarre, Bowls, percussion
Thomas Hellsten, Keyboards, grand piano
Lars Nilsson, Flugel Horn, Vocals
Sweden Music Session, Strings
Tormod Tvete Vik, Director
Hanna Wanngård, Vocals
Therese Andersson, Vocals
Jenny Nilsson, Vocals
Katarina Milton Almgren, Vocals
Karin Celander, Vocals
Johan Ivarsson, Vocals
Edo Bumba, guest percussion on A Meia To (Ocean) and OmaO (Earth)
Music: Malou Berg/Xavier Desandre Navarre/Thomas Hellsten
Lyrics: Malou Berg
* The song Sola Me, music & lyrics by Malou Berg
Vocal Arrangements: Malou Berg
String & Harp arrangements: Tormod Tvete Vik
Production: Malou Mountain Music AB
Publisher: Malou Mountain Music AB/Stiggy Music AB
MA YEMA album released Oct, 21 2016
by Nilento Records
Distributed by Naxos
Recorded in Sweden 2012 at Nilento studio, Gothenburg
Sound engineer: Lars Nilsson
Assisting sound engineer: Michael Dahlvid
Edited, mixed and Mastered 2015: Lars Nilsson at Nilento Studio
PRODUCED BY MALOU BERG AND LARS NILSSON
Photos: Elisabeth Landberger
Graphic Design: Katarina Di Leva
Video full lenght, to A MEIA TO (Ocean) by Petra Lindholm
Video full length, to WATER by Maria L Hallengren
VIDEO-snippet, a series of six short videoclips, one for each song, created by Jack McGuinness
C & P 2016 Malou Mountain Music AB
All Rights Reserved
MA YEMA – buy your CD here:
Naxos Direct
Malou Shop
For more information, send me an email: info@malou.se
Love & Joy
Malou