Music videos

Anna Aliena wedding scene music video

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!

Plitvice in the music video "Sanjam" by Anna Aliena

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!

Adriatic sea in Opatija

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 …

Bay of Baska on Krk island Croatia

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.

Waves of Baska Krk island Croatia

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!

Anna Aliena music video shooting

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.

Anna Aliena music video Sanjam

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.

Anna Aliena Sanjam video

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.

Anna Aliena wedding scene music video

Credits: Anna Aliena / Go!Diva Records

Anna Aliena Envie de Voyager music video

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.

Anna Aliena Envie de Voyager

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!

Crikvenica, Croatia

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!

Josip Hatze Suzi

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!

Buy, Buy For Christmas

Finally the Christmas season has started. Shopping centers in the cities and a huge mass of online shops lure us to buy as many Christmas presents as possible. They’ve been promising special bargains and disgusting discount codes to get our money. Of course, Christmas symbolizes love as long as you give what merchants love most: your salary. If you haven’t received a Christmas bonus from your employer, I strongly recommend you to look for a new job to purchase more presents in 2016!

Well, let’s change the topic quickly. In November 2013 I came up with a Christmas present for my fans. It’s a Christmas song called “Buy, Buy For Christmas” which was exclusively released at my Bandcamp site – FOR FREE! It not the typical Christmas carol like “Jingle Bells” or “White Christmas”, but my personal attitude towards the Christmas business.

For the video I filmed a couple of sequences at a gigantic shopping temple in Berlin. Some big brother must have watched me because a security guy suddenly appeared, asking me to delete the material. I pretended to follow his order and claimed to be an innocent village girl who had visited the majestic capital of Germany for the very first time in her life. By the way, the man is visible in the video! 😉

If you are religious, please don’t feel offended by the Jesus picture. God’s son has also been exploited as an idol for the Christmas money-make machine. Hardly anyone celebrates Christmas for the sake of Jesus’ birthday! Nevertheless, I wish you to be surrounded by your loved ones to feel happy and loved during the holidays. Indeed, it’s a very nice custom to give presents to other people if the presents come from the heart such as my song “Buy, Buy For Christmas”!

The Making Of “I’m Gonna Fly Away“

At the beginning of July I thought that my forthcoming record The Muse was finished after writing “Deine Blauen Augen“ / “Tvoje Plave Oči“. However, I had itchy feet to travel again even though my holidays in Croatia were over. After almost ten years of living in Berlin I’ve had a feeling not to be at home here any more. Suddenly I was humming the chorus melody …

I guess I might have been inspired while skating at Tempelhofer Feld, the former airport of Berlin. When the weather is fine, I often go there and pretend to be an airplane to take off. You can see it in the music video of “I’m Gonna Fly Away“. This summer I’ve also spent a lot of time at the lakes of the city. For a while I withdrew from the art scene, watching magnificent sunsets instead. In fact, nature is the only true artist! After my holidays I was simply craving for peace and quiet to reflect on certain things in my life. In such moments I wrote these lyrics:

I’m Gonna Fly Away

I fell off the swing in the city of dreams
I crashed into the dirt of the streets
How I tried to be an artist
searching for love!
For art they would not pay
and love was just for sale

I’m gonna fly away from here,
away from the capital of superficiality
I’ll stay away, away from you, dear
’cause you are not my friend
and I won’t come again

I was digging the scene in the city of dreams
I was digging for a cake in the cream
From station to station
I’ve been running for the train
My inner child is calling
to escape from the rain

I’m gonna fly away from here …

My song will fly from the southern sky
where the crystal sea is clear
And I’m gonna sing in foreign words
The sun will shine on me

I’m gonna fly away from here …

While making the video, two friends of mine assisted me at the camera. What would I have done without Albert Ewert and Ralph-Joachim Edler von Görbitz! I could not have filmed myself on the swing or during the skating episodes at Tempelhofer Feld! So I’m really grateful to them for their help. In my opinion they did a great job!

One Saturday morning in late July I went to the visitor platform at Tegel airport. Surrounded by families with little children, I recorded film material of planes during take-off. Holding my camcorder, I felt a slight pain in my heart. How I wished to be on board of one of those planes! Instead, I travelled just a few kilometres to shoot a beautiful sequence at the shore of lake Wannsee.

Now the video of “I’m Gonna Fly Away“ has been online for two weeks. Since its release on YouTube I’ve observed special popularity in Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia. After the recording at Planet Earth Studios sound engineer Alex said, “This sounds like a song from the Balkans!“ Well, some coincidences just happen without a reason …

On the EP The Muse “I’m Gonna Fly Away“ was chosen to be track 5, the link between “Deine Blauen Augen“ and the Croatian version “Tvoje Plave Oči“. One thing is for sure: I have to fly away in order to produce my next video!