Here is a Q&A with singer and performer Elena Grau. She talks about her experiences in music.
Where did it all start for you getting into music?
My first contact with music was with folk traditional music from Valencia (Spain). I was only 7 years old when I learned to play a small 12 string instrument called bandurria and I became a member of a group of traditional music until I was 15 years old.
When I was 16 I became the singer of an orquesta, kind of a cover band very common in Spain, and this was my job until 2020, playing in different towns and venues.
Elena Grau - Phoenix (Original Song)
Who are your influences?
Hard to say… my parents loved music so there was always something playing or somebody singing… My favourite band when I was a teenager was Roxette. I grew up listening to 80s pop music, like Tears for Fears, Crowded House.
I was very curious and I discovered progressive rock, my favourite bands were Spock’s Beard, It Bites, Queensryche. Later on I started to listen a lot to rock bands such as Whitesnake, Aerosmith, Deff Leppard and all of this combined with Spanish music. I enjoy a lot the classics that my parents used to listen to and I love copla.
How do you decide what songs to cover?
Most of the times a song gets stuck in my head for no apparent reason. I need to connect in one way or another to the song and this is hard to explain because sometimes there’s simply no explanation. It’s like love at first sight, it just happens!
How important is it do you feel it is to listen to current music as well as music from the past?
Most of the people I know normally don’t like current music because they think that the music they listened to when they were younger is better. I think any generation needs something to identify with and it is normal that we don’t like it as much as the music we already know, but it doesn’t necessary mean that it’s worse. I love to listen to new things with fresh ears and try to see the good in each song and there’s a lot to discover!
Do you feel it is important to watch other acts perform and to watch other live music?
Of course! There’s nothing like live music! And some artists may have not caught your attention but you get to see them perform and you immediately love them (or the other way around). You can also learn so many things…
Finally what tips do you have for anyone starting out when it comes to performing live?
I’m no good advising. What works well for me is connecting with the songs and also singing them over and over again trying to fix as many details as possible. I trained my voice for years getting to know as well as I could how it works, where it sounds nicer, louder, more clean.
The more confident you feel with your instrument, the less you have to worry about it so you can concentrate in what really is important: connecting to the song and to the audience.
Hope this helps!
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