Author: Anna Aliena

The Wall by Anna Aliena: Don’t mind the language

Have you watched my new music video “Sanjam (Snovi lete)“ yet? It’s the fourth and last track on the brandnew Anna Aliena EP The Wall which was released TODAY! It’s available for download at Amazon, iTunes and other stores. Please don’t mind the language – I sing three of the four tracks in Croatian. You should be used to it by now. The first time I did it was in summer 2015 and somehow I wasn’t able to stop.

Quite a long time I suffered from a severe lack of inspiration. I wasn’t even in the mood to come out with my previous EP Secret Garden. Then I met the ambassador of … and suddenly I felt a strong urge to write the title song “The Wall“ which shall also be featured in a music video this year.

The ambassador between walls

My personal interaction with the ambassador lasted for a while, long enough to empower my creativity. “Ljubav ubija“ (Love kills) tells the outcome of the story of “The Wall“ which deals with invisible walls between people. Sometimes they are too thick to be torn down and sometimes people don’t feel at home “U ovom gradu“ (in this town). As a result they start dreaming of imaginary lovers (“Sanjam“, I’m dreaming) …

The cover of the Anna Aliena EP The Wall

In January, when all the material was composed and recorded, I discovered a picture from my Zagreb adventures. I had taken it at the art park in December and somehow it reminded me of my feelings connected with the ambassador of the country I will not mention: colourful steps between two walls leading to a pair of crying eyes. What’s behind the wall? If you have no connection to the place, you have no idea that the stairs end at Strossmayer Promenade, a romantic patch for lovers I have always walked alone or with friends.

A strange encounter on an airplane

By the way, the story of the Anna Aliena EP The Wall has a peculiar sequel: When I was on an airplane last month, the ambassador was sitting in the row in front of me! Fate or just coincidence? He pretended not to see me, but after landing there was no chance to ignore me any longer. We changed a couple of meaningless words, the representative of the unnamed state blushed and grinned like a little boy from kindergarden. On our way to the terminal he avoided me. At least I will write a song about the incident sometime!

The making of the Anna Aliena music video “Sanjam”

Finally it’s out now! It was a long way and lots of work because I had to visit plenty of places to shoot my brandnew music video “Sanjam (Snovi lete)“. You don’t know what these words mean? Well, once again it’s Croatian saying “I dream (Dreams fly)“.

This slow ballad captures a love which has not fulfilled. A bride is walking through an empty church. No bridegroom will wait for her at the altar. This was the hardest part in the making of the video. At the end of February we suffered from minus degrees in Germany and inside the church it wasn’t much warmer. So I was freezing like hell in my bridal dress!

After the church scene I got a terrible cough which lasted for more than one week. How I hate to stay in bed during the day, but that’s what happened to me. My “wedding“ made me sick!

Credits: Anna Aliena / Go!Diva Records

Plitvice in the music video “Sanjam“

Luckily I had completely recovered when I flew back to Croatia in the middle of March. Do you remember my very special incident at the Lakes of Plitvice? It’s actually not the reason why I returned to the breath-taking national park which was still covered with snow.

Room 228 is in the past – this time I was lodged in a real luxury chamber at the picturesque hotel village Ethno Houses Plitvica Selo. If you ever travel to Plitvice, you should stay there: It perfectly fits the natural surroundings because it’s built like a traditional village of the Lika region.

My wooden room looked like a honeymoon spot. It was not only cosy, I also had a huge jacuzzi in my bathroom. I felt happy and sad at the same time – how I would have loved to share that room with someone. Somebody to love … Nevertheless, Plitvica Selo inspired me to film some new scenes of the „Sanjam“ music video – the lonely bride in the matrimonial bed.

The next day I went for a walk at the lakes of Plitvice where my camera caught all the tremendous waterfall scenes including a rainbow above a deep cascade. Spring hadn’t started yet, not even in Croatia. A guy from the hotel told me that the snow in front of the reception had been three metres high by the end of February!

Credits: Anna Aliena / Go!Diva Records

The waves of the rough Adriatic Sea

I continued my journey to the rough Adriatic Sea. Bura and yugo were raging at the beaches of Opatija and Krk island. The sun tried hard to break through the thick clouds, sometimes successfully. The Baltic Sea wouldn’t be much different in autumn and now waves crashed against the concrete beaches of the old Austro-Hungarian seaside resort. They inspired me to catch even more scenes for the music video since yearning can be just as violent …

Credits: Anna Aliena / Go!Diva Records

I left Opatija to see a nice German-Croatian couple on the island. We drove around and ended up in Baška. In June 2016 I was hiking in the mountains next to the holiday spot which is always overcrowded with tourists during high season.

Last month I witnessed the most powerful sea storm I’ve ever experienced on my journeys to Croatia. While I was leaning on a wall to film the waves of Baška, a cat jumped up to kiss my face and cuddle before it suddenly vanished.

Credits: Anna Aliena / Go!Diva Records

The tunnel of dreams is real

If you wonder about the tunnel in the video, I must admit that it’s not in my head, but in Zagreb. Grič tunnel was a bunker in World War II and now it’s often used for art exhibitions and festivals. During the most beautiful European Christmas market visitors can find creative decorations inside the tunnel.

The rest of the music video was made in my flat in Berlin. How do you like it? Please have a look at it on my YouTube channel and let me know your honest opinion if you feel like it!

69, 69, let’s do it: How Anna Aliena invented “Numbergirl”

Today I’m a bit nostalgic because it’s been a long time since I released my very first EP Silly Little Boys in 2011! One of the five songs seems sillier than the others because it contains one special line: 69, 69, just do it! Well, I must admit that the rest of the “Numbergirl” lyrics is only slightly more sophisticated than recent German schlager. For one reason: I, Anna Aliena, am the author! 😉

Let me be your number girl, at school I was so good at maths. Nonsense! I hated school, I was extremely lazy and at the end of grade 10 I was so bad at maths and physics I almost had to repeat the school year. Luckily I knew the number 69 even in those days, otherwise it might not have found its way into my song.

Numbergirl in the making: “Just f***ck!”

Credits: Anna Aliena / Go!Diva Records

If you expected a dirty tale from my youth, I must disappoint you, though. The true story behind “69, 69, let’s do it” is just a harmless episode from a holiday with no triple X in it. In June 2011 I visited Budva in Montenegro with my ex. Quite a picturesque place by the Adriatic Sea: stone houses in the old town, loads of tourists, even more Russians and several newly constructed buildings which do not fit the stone houses.

Right in the middle of this beauuuutiful scenery there was a beach bar playing techno music. Not just beats – the track also had an intelligent verse. “Just f***ck”, a guy steadily repeated and my ex was SOOOO happy about it. He was grinning like a sil… uh’m charming little boy and then he advised me to make music like that.

Only a couple of days after the holiday we split, but I decided to commemorate him. Thus, I wrote down the words: 69, 69, just do it. My ex and I stayed good friends for a while and of course he felt flattered because of my masterstroke.

Why I blurred Enrico Ludwig’s vocals

I never liked the idea to have my own voice on the 69 part. For that reason I asked Enrico Ludwig to record the line for me. He was a young man with musical and poetic ambitions in those days, so it wasn’t necessary to ask him twice. Yet after the recording session, I wasn’t quite convinced of the outcome which sounded too effeminate in my ears.

I actually wanted a masculine voice and therefore Alex from the studio had to blur Enrico till the original got unrecognizable. Maybe my own vocals would have been similar after editing, but who knows … Here’s the music and some of my paintings!

Music video shooting: The lonely bride

I finally got married! No, I’m just kidding. I just dressed up as a bride to shoot a scene for a new music video. Almost one year ago when I had an interview with my friend Maik Stockmann from Radio Rainbowcity, he came up with the idea I eventually realized. The marvelous bridal dress, the romantic veil and the white rose bouquet cost a tremendous fortune to make me the most beautiful bride you’ve ever seen! I better not tell you the amount of money which was spent on my amazing princess outfit … 😉 I decided to leave that to real princesses!

Looking at my snapshots from the shooting you may wonder: Where’s the bridegroom? The honest answer is that Anna Aliena shall always stay single as artistic and personal freedom will fade away as soon as there is a man. Nevertheless, the last song on my forthcoming EP The Wall deals with dreams of love and longing in a state of loneliness. Thus, I play a lonely bride in an empty church walking to the altar with no-one next to her.

Credits: Anna Aliena / Go!Diva Records

The church in the music video

It wasn’t a big deal for me to get access to the right setting for my video! In former times I regularly played the church organ during services, I still do it on Christmas Eve. So I merely travelled back to my home planet, asked for the church key to practise the organ. In reality I didn’t touch the Instrument. I quickly changed clothes and started filming. Due to sunshine outside, the light was great, but all in all it was a very icy experience. At the moment we have minus degrees in Germany and the heating in the church was switched off! However, I can be stubborn and totally disciplined whenever I work on my ideas. So I forgot the cold air, played my role and now I’m satisfied with the outcome.

Credits: Anna Aliena / Go!Diva Records

Anna Aliena: the name is program

After the shooting I felt a bit proud of myself and so I posted a bride selfie on my WhatsApp status. Sometimes I do not think properly because my status is also visible to certain family members (and non-members!) … So what! The video will be tremendous and I’m the best-looking bride in this family although I have no wedding plans in real life.

Credits: Anna Aliena / Go!Diva Records

EP cover „The Wall“: a picture from Zagreb art park

This year I’m going to release two EPs – that means nine new Anna Aliena songs! Secret Garden shall make a start on March 26th and The Wall will follow two weeks later. I’ve already revealed the covers on my Soundcloud account. When I showed my artwork for The Wall to my friend Max and to Alex at Planet Earth Studio, stay immediately had associations with the Berlin Wall without knowing each other. They both asked me where I had taken the picture in Berlin. I laughed as I shot the photo by accident at Zagreb art park at the end of last year!

Credits: Anna Aliena / Go!Diva Records

A coincidence at Zagreb art park

EP cover “The wall”

I was enjoying the marvelous Christmas season in the capital of Croatia where I’ve been a lot of times since January 2016. The city has an extremely positive energy which is great for my soul whereas Berlin is just the opposite … The sun was shining brightly on that December afternoon when I was climbing from Ilica, the longest street in Zagreb, to its medieval upper town Gornji Grad. During that little walk I crossed Zagreb art park which is full of colourful street art. On a warm evening in June 2017 there was also a flea market and a small theatre performance at the lower part of the park.

Credits: Anna Aliena / Go!Diva Records

When you ascend, you’ll reach a passage of steep stairs. At the very end of it I managed to catch the cover photo for The Wall though at that point I had no plans to turn it into album art for my music. However, Zagreb art park perfectly fits my forthcoming EP because it contains three songs in Croatian and only one track in English.

Yesterday I returned to the place and took some more pictures. Afterwards I went to Grič tunnel, an amazing bunker tunnel from World War II which is nowadays used as a passage and cultural event space. Right in the middle of it I filmed a video sequence and hopefully I will find more video spots in March. I’ll always be back, destiny gives me no choice!

Envie de Voyager: a travel music video

Have you ever heard me singing in French? I think you haven’t because I didn’t feel like sharing the music video “Envie de Voyager“ after I had made it in March last year. I only felt like travelling and that’s what I did. Although I had promised to release my EP Secret Garden on May 1st, I kept it locked in the closet. Dissatisfaction with my music or inferiority complexes were not the reason for my withdrawal from the scene – I simply wasn’t in the mood to produce myself and to show myself in public!

“Envie de Voyager“ is a very meditative song reflecting my love of travelling. Once again my video production led me to Croatia – in spring I visited Istria, Kvarner, northern Dalmatia and the capital Zagreb. In Pula, Rovinj and on the island of Pag my camera came to action.

Music video production in Croatia

In the video you can see the amphitheatre of Pula, among the six biggest Roman theatres in the world it’s number six. Especially the old town of Rovinj gave me a heart-warming experience: the picturesque harbour, the colourful houses and the narrow streets which have attracted numerous artists. I enjoyed the sunset at the beach, the clear blue sky and suddenly felt cured from my Berlin winter depression.

Credits: Anna Aliena / Go!Diva Records

I’m an extremely lucky person to be able to travel whenever I want. I’m not bound to high season when the beaches on Pag are packed with tourists. In Pag, the main town of the island, it was completely deserted during my stay even though the sun wouldn’t stop shining and the blue of the crystal clear Adriatic seemed much brighter than in summer.

During the video-making I had a great view on the harsh and bleak Pag landscape. As bura storms often blow from the Velebit mountain range, hardly anything can grow on the light brown rocks. Nevertheless, the turcquoise sea created a fabulous contrast I particularly enjoyed in that scenery!

Almost no Anna Aliena in front of the camera

Almost I wouldn’t have appeared in front of the camera. In those days costumes and make-up were so unimportant to me. Thus, I wore regular jeans, one of my usual everyday jackets without exposing my face to the lens. In fact, you might wonder if the Croatian tourist board had asked me to film a couple of places in Croatia for them, but nothing of that kind has ever happened to me. Now please have a look at the result and tell me your opinion in the voting below the video! By the way, the Secret Garden EP will eventually be released on March 26th. Really, I’m not kidding this time!

Alien Pop & Gloomy Sunday FOR FREE at Bandcamp!

I’m still alive and make music! In fact, I’ve never stopped, but for quite a while I didn’t feel like showing myself to the world. Thinking about the future of my musical style and other things, I’ve finally come to the conclusion that music was my first love and will always be. So I’m back again!

During my absence my single Gloomy Sunday (2012) and the EP Alien Pop (2013) have disappeared from the download portals like iTunes, Amazon etc. However, I hadn’t found out before Friday night! Sometimes musicians are naive and during the time of the production I was in touch with a guy from a small net label who published my records without asking for money.

A certain time after the online releases I’ve never heard from him again. He vanished from social media and it wasn’t possible to contact him via email any longer. I haven’t even seen a single cent from download sales!

Nevertheless, Gloomy Sunday and Alien Pop will come back to the stores around February 25th. In the next two weeks I will give you the possibility to get both records at my Bandcamp site – FOR FREE unless you are willing to pay for my work.

Gloomy Sunday: 2 new versions of an old Hungarian song

In 1933 the unknown Budapest bar pianist Rezsö Seress (1899 – 1968) was deserted by his fiancee. Grieving for his lost love, he composed a melancholic melody called “Szomorú Vasárnap“ (Gloomy Sunday) and suddenly became world-famous.

Yet fame had a negative side effect for him because the song inspired numerous listeners to kill themselves and radio stations banned “Gloomy Sunday“ from their programme.

I didn’t use the English translation of László Jávor’s original lyrics like Diamanda Galas, Heather Nova or Björk. In „Gloomy Sunday (Suicide Drive)“ I remember 2009, probably the darkest year of my life. Hysterical synthesizers lead you to the deepest abyss of my soul. Luckily I didn’t fall, but later I committed suicide in my song.

„Gloomy Sunday (Lovers In War)“, the second version on the single, tells the story of a devastating relationship which inspired me to shoot a gloomy video at Beelitz Heilstätten, a former hospital for lung diseases near Berlin. Only the ruins have remained and they look like a battlefield!

Alien Pop: the celebration of a genre

Outer space is much more colourful! On Alien Pop I celebrated extraterrestrial extravagance to the fullest. The first song „Floating In Space“ was a tribute to the great Klaus Nomi who had died 30 years before the release on August 6th, 2013. If you are familiar with his music, you will recognize a few similarities to his song “Total Eclipse“ in the chorus.

On track 5 I honoured a second big idol of mine: Freddie Mercury. Its title “The Show Goes On“ responds to Queen’s “The Show Must Go On“, but it also reflects my own attitude towards music. Well, my music has changed over the year’s, but wouldn’t it be boring to stay the same forever?

Now go to Bandcamp, download the tracks and convince yourself:

https://anna-aliena.bandcamp.com/album/gloomy-sunday
https://anna-aliena.bandcamp.com/album/alien-pop

Video-making in Croatia – finally!

I’m gonna fly away. Yes, finally! One whole year I had to wait for my return to Croatia to make the “Tvoje Plave Oči“ video on some islands in the Adriatic sea. While writing this, I’m sitting on a train, listening to Croatian music.

I’m still thinking of the muse who turned me into this sentimental crooner. In secret I was even hoping to see the person again, but apparently destiny has had different plans in store. To be honest, I cried a little although I have a couple of reasons to be happy now: crystal sea, clear blue sky, my camera, a beautiful dress and three new versions of “Tvoje Plave Oči“ (the snippets are available at my Soundcloud).

The original version started in German and in the first chorus I switched to Croatian as my voice teacher was unable to translate the lyrics of the first verse. Last autumn my Croatian had already been good enough to be able to add the lyrics I actually wanted:

Pjevali su priće o ljubavi na moru
Romantične pjesme bude jaku čežnju
Onda počelo je putovanje
Moje sunce bio si ti
Moja radost, moja muza
koju tuga će ljubiti

No idea what these words mean? Google Translater may surely help you! 😉 After all this dull waiting I’m really looking forward to producing the video though there will be no blue eyes in it. But who knows … Life if full of surprises!

Serenada EP And Video Out Now

Recently I’ve talked about it in several articles, but yesterday it finally happened: My first classical EP Serenada was released. The album contains seven Croatian songs by Josip Hatze. Apparently I’m the only German singer to arrange and sing this kind of repertoire. What an honour!

Cover of “Serenada”

In March I gave you a first impression of my work: the video of the last track “Suzi”. Last Saturday I filmed another video of the title song “Serenada”. Do you remember under which circumstances I had written the ballad “Tvoje Plave Oči”? In August of last year I provided you with some insights of a night of unfulfilled longing at the Lakes of Plitvice. The lyrics of “Serenada” perfectly fit the emotional state I was captured in. So I made up my mind to show you this episode of my life in the video. To be honest, I didn’t wear such an elegant velvet dress at my hotel room. I also left out the tears which are just as meaningless as the hormones producing the feeling of being in love. In the end only music remains.

Yes, I’m really delighted about the new EP Serenada! It’s my masterpiece, the first record to show you the true abilities of my voice. I’m not sure if I will ever go back to ‘alien pop’. For now I simply know that I will make a video of “Tvoje Plave Oči” in June. Maybe I will be inspired once more in Croatia even though I’m so through with songs about unrequited love! By the way, in the meantime I recorded an English and a French version of that song. The French version “Tes Yeux Bleus” turned out to be my favourite! Whatever happens after that: I will definitely focus more an the classical type of music like modern opera.

Suzi From Josip Hatze: New Music Video

My first classical music video is out now! “Suzi”, the last song from my forthcoming Serenada EP, was written by the Croatian composer Josip Hatze (1879 – 1959). It’s a song dedicated to a tear based on the lyrics from Milan Begovic. Last summer I started to discover Croatian language and music for very personal reasons. These personal reasons do not count any more and I’m really grateful to have widened my cultural horizon. Soon I will sing more repertoire from Croatia. I’ve also been planning concerts with the brilliant pianist Zeljko Vlahovic, my dear friend from Zagreb.

“Suzi” is the saddest song from the record, the ending of a story about unrequited love. For that reason I also made a gloomy video in black and white. Here’s the text for those who understand Croatian:

Tiho suzu oko spušta.
Gorka suza k’zemlji pada.
Oh, padaj, padaj, gorka suzo,
Oj, meleme moga jada!
Što bih da mi tebe nije?
Ja bih jadan brzo sveo.
Oh, padaj suzo, žali nade,
Žali blago nesuđeno!