Josip Hatze

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!

Serenada: Seven Croatian songs

The release date of the Serenada album has finally been set: It’s on April 15th, 2016. My first classical EP contains seven chosen Croatian songs by Josip Hatze:

1. Ljubav
2. Mio Si Mi (originally “Mila Si Mi”)
3. Cvati, Cvati, Ružice
4. Večernje Zvono
5. Serenada
6. Kiša Pada
7. Suzi

Yesterday I had a photo shooting with Christina Katz who had also taken the promotion pictures for The Muse. I wore one of my elegant dresses from Daniel Rabe who is my favourite Berlin designer. My pink era is definitely over! Now it’s time for class and quality. I hope you’ll also like the outcome of my latest photo session.

In order to give you a first impression of my forthcoming record, I made a short promotion trailer containing snippets of all the seven tracks. I truly love singing in Croatian! Today my Serbian teacher Nena announced to provide me with more Croatian repertoire next week. Is this the end of ‘alien pop’? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure: Times have changed and I’m not the same musician I used to be five or six years ago. If I’m meant to continue my musical career in Croatian, I see no reason to protest! 😉

My first video from the Serenada album is going to be released on March 13th: I decided to sing “Suzi” on it, a song dedicated to a tear. I also have plans to film a “Serenada” video which will be out on April 15th – on the day of the digital release.

Serenada Gets Ready

More than three weeks have past since my last article, but I’m still alive. I’ve just come home from Planet Earth Studios where I recorded another two songs for my classical record Serenada. As I had mentioned before, it’s a collection of songs from the Croatian composer Josip Hatze. Thus, the entire record is sung in Croatian which is a beautiful language in my opinion.

Originally Serenada was meant to contain five songs, but in the meantime I also discovered “Mila Si Mi” (I changed it to “Mio Si Mi” to refer to a man) and “Kiša Pada”. Both songs fit my story of unhappy love to be revealed on the record. Pretty thoroughly did I choose the tracks and compiled them in the correct order to develop the story. If you have listened to music from Croatia before, you might have noticed that it tends to be very emotional. By the way, longing and unrequited love is also a popular topic in Croatian rock music.

However, let’s stick to my classical record Serenada now. A few days ago I shot the music video for “Suzi”, a song dedicated to a tear. It’s a very gloomy little film in black and white to correspond to the lyrics of “Suzi”, the last song on the album. The video will be out in February or March. As soon as I know the release date, I will tell you more. So take care!

Happy New Year – Plans For 2016

2015 is almost over. I hope it was a good year for you despite the difficult political situation. For me the past year has brought a lot of musical and personal changes. In 2014 I definitely had more gigs than this year, but after all I decided to focus more on quality venues than being on stage as often as possible.

During the first half of 2015 I suffered from a slight lack of creativity. Some song drafts remained unfinished and unpublished because I simply didn’t consider them as good enough to be thrown out on the market. Due to surprising inspiration during my summer holidays (please read The Story Behind Tvoje Plave Oči), I suddenly had a strong urge to complete my EP The Muse differently than expected. I started to learn a new language, got rid of the pink wig connected with the Swinging Berlin record and said goodbye to a number of false friends.

After the making of The Muse I felt particularly attracted to the classical songs from the Croatian composer Josip Hatze. Thus, I started to arrange five tracks to be released on my first classical EP Serenada (learn more on Preview Of A Classical Record) next spring. In the meantime I discovered two additional songs which shall also appear on that record. In January I will film my first classical music video called “Suzi” (To A Tear). By the way, I have a brand-new quality camera to shoot overwhelming static and moving pictures!

In summer 2016 it’s fixed to go to Croatia to produce a breathtaking Tvoje Plave Oči video. I’ve already written a new first verse in Croatian (eventually I’m able to do it myself) and translated the song into English and French. The three new versions will be out on July 1st, 2016. As usual, I may also compose a series of new songs on which I will experiment with lyrics in different languages. Which language do you like most in connection with my voice? Before wishing you all the best for next year, I’m asking you to answer another poll:

HAPPY NEW YEAR! FROHES NEUES JAHR! SRETNA NOVA GODINA! BONNE ANNÉE!

Preview Of A Classical Record

In 2010 I made my first attempt to produce a classical record. Some months before my separation from the duo ShirayasDream we released an EP called ”Kleiner Vogel Liebe”. All the tracks were written and composed by my colleague Oliver Höhne and me. From time to time I listen to my old repertoire to convince myself of my continuous positive development as a singer and composer … Of course I would do many things differently nowadays!

Now it’s time for another classical EP. At the beginning of this week I started to arrange five songs by Josip Hatze. After my love song “Tvoje Plave Oči” on my forthcoming record The Muse I feel like singing more Croatian repertoire. I really love the sound of that language!

Hatze (1879 – 1959) was one of the most prominent Croatian composers. He came from Split and wrote numerous songs like “Suzi”, ”Serenada” and “Ljubav”. His music strongly attracts me because it has great moments of operatic drama. I chose five songs to depict another moving story of love, the pain of love and longing. On my Hatze EP I will make use of vast orchestration to build a perfect ground for real operatic singing.

On my previous releases I haven’t shown the entire capacities of my voice. As I’m most interested in challenges, the time is ripe for guiding my listeners to new grounds. I’m probably the first German singer to record Hatze’s music. It’s also quite uncommon to be so ambitious in learning his language here in Germany. Nevertheless, I have never followed the masses – I do it my way! 😉 As a musician I can only concentrate on repertoire which has found the way to my heart.

Thus, I’m extraordinarily optimistic to present you my classical EP Serenada next spring. It might be out on my birthday in March. I will also film a gloomy music video to promote “Suzi”, a song dedicated to a tear. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, please feel free to listen to Lidija Horvat Dunjko’s interpretation in the YouTube video. In my opinion she’s a very marvelous lyrical soprano.

Before you will be allowed to hear my own version, I’m looking forward to the release of my ballad EP The Muse on October 30th. Soon you will be able to preorder the CD on my website. I’ve really done my best to create beautiful artwork for it! 🙂

Anna Aliena

Singer and composer