Tvoje Plave Oči

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.

Nocturnal Blue-Eyed Inspiration

After reading this article you will probably take me for a freak. I think I am, but at least I’m a creative freak with a certain talent to learn foreign languages. During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday I woke up in the middle of the night, thinking that I had never truly liked the German verse on “Tvoje Plave Oči“. You know, I automatically visualize a stupid German tourist looking for fun with sun-tanned beach boys! 😉 That’s not what I am. I’m a good girl who would never dare to … Well … 😉

I tried to get rid of my thoughts at quarter to three in the morning, but closing my eyes would not help me fall asleep again. Suddenly I remembered a line from a Croatian rock song I had listened to a couple of hours before: “Ne mogu zaspati” (I cannot fall asleep). I switched on the light, took a pen and a piece of paper to write down my new first verse for track 6 from my latest EP The Muse – in Croatian language! It didn’t take long to search for the words. Seemingly the song lyrics had always been there expecting to be discovered. Not bad for a person who started exploring that kind of vocabulary only four months ago! Somehow it felt spooky and unreal.

On Wednesday I almost believed in a dream. However, it was naked reality as I found a piece of handwritten evidence next to my bed. Happily I also remembered the booking of a trip to film the video for “Tvoje Plave Oči”. Since Tuesday evening it has been fixed and scheduled for June 2016, and for private reasons I will not reveal the settings to you! 😉 Just be sure that after the holiday I will release two new versions of the love song: one version completely in Croatian and “Your Blue Eyes” in English. Yesterday I’ve also made slight changes on the instrumental arrangement.

It’s the first time for me to edit a song which has been released before. Maybe “Tvoje Plave Oči” is a story still waiting for its ending or perhaps I’m in love with its language. In fact, I can hardly wait to produce the video! I know I will look beautiful in it, but never as beautiful as the scenery to be featured in it. By the way, here’s the beginning of all this blue-eyed nocturnal inspiration: The Story Behind “Tvoje Plave Oči“ … Very sentimental, isn’t it?

How I designed the CD artwork for The Muse

While I was arranging a Josip Hatze song for my classical EP Serenada, my forthcoming oeuvre The Muse arrived from the CD factory on Thursday night. After unpacking the parcel I felt like a little kid on Christmas Eve as some of you may have noticed on my Facebook site, on Twitter or Google+. In my opinion the CD looks beautiful and even a little bit better than its predecessor Swinging Berlin! Well, it’s a question of personal taste and I don’t want to sound narcissistic here. Nevertheless, it involves a lot of work to create professional-looking CD artwork. Today I’m telling you how it works.

At first you must find a realiable factory to print CDs at reasonable prices. I always order them at the same company which is specialized in smaller editions. On their website they provide samples having the right measurements for the cover image, the booklet, the inlay and the CD label. Customers can download these samples for Adobe Photoshop – the well-known photo software I’ve always used to design the outer appearance of my music.

As my recent press photos focus on romantic sunsets in Croatia, it was easy to conceive an appropriate layout for The Muse on CD. The booklet conceals one of the marvelous images taken by Christina Katz (please also read “The Muse“ press photos in the making). Page 4 of the booklet and the back of the CD feature my spectacular sunset pictures I personally shot on the beach of Starigrad-Paklenica. By the way, I didn’t need Photoshop to increase the brightness of the colours. When you look at the CD, you will see the sunset through my eyes. Of course nothing will ever be able to compete with the original moment of taking the photos, though!

Until now The Muse has not left my territory, except for one copy: Although it’s a national holiday in Germany, my vocal coach Snezana Nena Brzakovic gave me a lesson this morning. Since she helped me translate the song “Deine Blauen Augen“ into “Tvoje Plave Oči“, she had to be the first one to hold The Muse in her hands. 🙂

The official record release of The Muse is on October 30th. If you preorder it before this date, I will give you my EP Alien Pop from 2013 for free! I decided to sell the EP for 8 euros per copy (plus package and shipping). Soon you will be able to order my music on this website, but you can also contact me via Facebook or write an email to info@godiva-records.biz. I’m going to add my signature to each CD!

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! 🙂

Swinging Berlin Meets The Muse

Recently I’ve revealed plenty of interesting facts about the last muse who helped me finish my forthcoming record The Muse. However, there is more to my new EP than blue eyes, unfulfilled longing and Croatia! 😉

In fact, the whole story started at my Swinging Berlin record release party in the most popular of all overrated capitals. Just as all the other records from my portfolio as a solo artist, Swinging Berlin had been inspired by somebody. Contrary to my expectations, that person appeared at the venue although I had not invited him.

In his presence I felt torn. Inside of me there was a mixture of raging anger and a certain delight to see him again. Yes, when I went on stage, I actually wanted to slap him in the face, but at the same time I enjoyed singing in front of him. He was even naughty enough to take pictures of my performance! We didn’t talk except for saying hello and goodbye.

After all, I was happy about having created Swinging Berlin. Furthermore its muse had the magical power to fill me up with even more inspiration. In August 2014 I wrote “The Muse” and its German version “Die Muse”. It took a while to arrange the track because my motivation had almost reached point zero …

Last winter around Christmas destiny gave me another worthwhile encounter which resulted in “Sasha”, but afterwards all my attempts to compose more music were meant to fail. I was no longer satisfied with the outcome of my endeavours!

One morning in January I woke up before 5 a.m. without being able to fall asleep again. Thus, I was wondering where to travel in summer … What a great coincidence! A couple of hours later my holiday was booked out and I would never have produced “Deine Blauen Augen” / ”Tvoje Plave Oči” if I had slept till dawn. Well, life is full of surprises sometimes. 🙂

“The Muse“ press photos in the making

During the production of a new record I always wonder how I should present myself on the cover. On Swinging Berlin I used to be a pink object of art who is hardly recognizable as the person behind the mask. In 2014 I had already been aware of the fact that my appearance would change on the following EP. But in which way? Honestly, I had no idea!

If you read my previous articles, you may remember that I suffered from a lack of inspiration until summer. In addition, parts of my equipment got broken without my fault and it took several weeks to get them back from the repair service. A couple of days later I went on a holiday in Croatia as you know from the article “The Story Behind ‘Tvoje Plave Oči’“.

When I took a series of sunset pictures at the beach of Starigrad-Paklenica, I wouldn’t visualize how they might look on the cover or on the press photos for my new EP The Muse. I was merely thinking of the muse who triggered off the fire to complete my record!

Back in Berlin, I wrote the songs “Deine Blauen Augen“ / “Tvoje Plave Oči“ and “I’m Gonna Fly Away“. Finally I realized that my artwork for The Muse should be connected with Croatia where my creativity had flourished more than I could ever have dreamed of.

So I contacted the photographer Christina Katz who had also taken my press photos for Alien Pop in 2013. In the beginning of July we met for a photo shooting at her studio in Berlin. In comparison with my former productions, I wore very light and natural make-up while posing in front of Christina’s green screen. Of course I had already chosen a couple of holiday pictures for the background. During the session I imagined how I would smile at the muse if he were standing next to the photographer. Never again will I see him in this life, but the simple thought of looking at each other evoked a sparkle in my eyes.

After the photo shooting I selected the best pictures for a photomontage. Eventually Christina took me back to my most romantic sunsets of this year. If you buy The Muse on CD, you will also be able to enjoy them in the booklet.

Međunarodne muze ujedinjenje na jednom albumu

Berlinska pjevačica i kompozitorica, Anna Aliena, 30. listopada 2015., objaviti će svoj 5. EP album nazvan The Muse. To je album ispunjen osjećajnim, višejezičnim baladama.

Berlin, 26. kolovoza 2015. U proteklih nekoliko godina, skladateljica Anna Aliena je često svoju glazbu nazivala „alien pop“, što je i naziv njezinog trećeg EP albuma iz 2013. Njezin 5. EP album The Muse (Go!Diva Records, datum izlaska: 30. listopada 2015.), označava promjenu stila: Na ovom album, umjetnica iz Berlina se usredotočuje na emocionalne balade u stilu valcera. Iako njezine pjesme više nisu prodorne kao one iz prijašnje produkcije, te je čak ostavila i svoju ružičastu periku iz Swinging Berlin (2014) u garderobi, Anna Aliena i dalje ostaje vjerna svojem stilu. Njezin teatralan mezzosopran krasi sve njezine uratke koje je objavila od 2011.

Pjesme na albumu The Muse okrenute su prema procesu stvaranja glazbe. Zato kompozitorica pruža iskren uvid u svoje inspirirajuće susrete s muzama. Primjerice, tu je „Sasha“, kojoj su upućene tri slavne ruske riječi i nekoliko trenutaka ljubavi. Ljutnja, melankolija i žudnja za novim mjestima (traka 5: „I’m Gonna Fly Away“) mijenjaju se, baš kao i jezici teksta. Štoviše, muze dolaze iz tri različite zemlje. Vokali se isprepliću s orkestralnim aranžmanima koji imaju brojne dionice gudača, te relativno malo udaraljki. Glas je taj koji priča priču o ljubavi, žudnji, patnji i samoj glazbi.

Tijekom odmora u Hrvatskoj, svjetska putnica Anna Aliena, otkrila je ljubav prema hrvatskom jeziku. Na kraju svog putovanja, napisala je pjesmu koja se zove „Tvoje plave oči“ („Deine Blauen Augen“). Ova lagana i sentimentalna šansona, dostupna je u dvije verzije. Učiteljica pjevanja Snežana Nena Brzaković i obožavateljica Nina Čović, prevele su originalni njemački tekst u hrvatsku verziju „Tvoje plave oči“, koja je već očarala brojne slušatelje u cijeloj bivšoj Jugoslaviji.

Prikladno uz pjesmu, Anna Aliena je odabrala naslovnicu CD-a na kojoj pozira uz zalazak sunca uz more. Sa sanjivim očima zamišljeno gleda u daljinu. Ne zna još tko će biti njezina sljedeća muza koja će se pojaviti na obzoru. Međutim, pojavljuje se i zraka svjetla s neba koja joj daje novu inspiraciju. Štoviše, ima plan vratiti se na stjenovitu hrvatsku obalu kako bi snimila spot za pjesmu „Tvoje plave oči“.

30. listopada 2015, The Muse će biti objavljen na CD-u, te dostupan za digitalno preuzimanje.

Kontakt:

Go!Diva Records
A. Senger
Jagowstr. 35
10555 Berlin
Njemačka
info@godiva-records.biz
http://www.godiva-records.biz

Posjetite Annu Alienu na:

http://annaaliena.com

O nama

Go!Diva Records je osnovana u rujnu 2011. godine, kako bi surađivala sa snažnim ženskim vokalima i skladateljima koji žele sami stvoriti put na kojem se će stvarati glazbu. Djevojke koje potpišu za Go!Diva Records, potpuno su odgovorne za cijeli proces stvaranja pjesme, poput skladanja i pisanja teksta. Dopuštamo im da izraze svoje individualne ideje koji ne moraju odgovarati zadanim okvirima. Štoviše, naša uprava ih i potiče na takvu vrstu kreativnosti!

Go!Diva Records se stilski specijalizirala za elektronsku pop glazbu. Glazbenica Go!Diva je nadarena, samopouzdana, seksi i ženstvena bez snažnog osjećaja potrebe da se dopadne svakome.

Našim umjetnicima se daje prilika za samostalan odabir izgleda, frizura i šminke. Čak i ako Vam se ne sviđa, i dalje ćemo nastaviti raditi na našem motu „Girls Go Diva!“

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!

The Story Behind “Tvoje Plave Oči“

… is a story about unfulfilled longing and two people who liked each other too much when romance was forbidden. It would be unfair to tell you who this person was and under which circumstances we got in contact. We accidentally met during my summer holiday in Croatia. He also loved singing.

In the evening before my departure he asked me to sing a duet. He had chosen “My Way“ from Frank Sinatra. Since we were not allowed to be together, the union of our voices turned out to be the highest level of togetherness we could ever experience. So we kept on singing. In our songs we finally touched very gently and tenderly. We looked at each other intensely. He had such a charming smile, sensual lips and sparkling blue eyes. How much did I want to hug and kiss him!

When the music was over, we withdrew to our hotel rooms at the Lakes of Plitvice. I will never forget my room number 228. For a little while I was waiting for him to knock at my door. In fact, he wanted to know my room number before we wished each other goodnight. In the same breath he had revealed to me that he was lodged in number 202 …

At first I was wandering up and down the room, still hoping to see him again. A couple of minutes later I was almost determined to steal into his room and show him all the things my voice had merely insinuated. However, my courage had left me before I was able to start. Thus, I tried to sleep in vain. As far as I remember, I was crying a little. The pain of parting weighed heavily on my heart.

Suddenly I received a very clear idea of a melody and the original German version of the song: “Deine Blauen Augen“ (“Your Blue Eyes“). In June I had a very poor knowledge of Croatian. “Hvala“ (thank you), “molim“ (please), “Dobro jutro“ (Good morning), “Dobar dan“ (Good afternoon) and “Dobra večer“ (Good evening) were the only things I could say in that language. I took my diary and a pen to scribble the lyrics while singing very low volume. My voice was mixed with tears anyway … Eventually I was calmed down by my own songwriting and fell asleep.

A couple of hours later I returned to Berlin. It was cold and raining. So I locked myself in my cellar to arrange the song which was given to me in beautiful Croatia. After all I felt sad and creative at the same time. My vocal coach Snezana Nena Brzakovic translated my German lyrics. As she is from Serbia, I asked my Croatian fan Nina Čović to proofread the text. Nina changed a couple of words, then I went to the studio and recorded the track at the beginning of July.

Even though my heart suffered from a little scratch, I’m grateful now. “Tvoje Plave Oči“ has brought me lots of new fans and a loving memory. In addition, the translation has motivated me to learn Croatian. It’s a difficult language, but I like the sound. I also intend to return to Croatia to make a music video for the song. When I’m back, I would like to express myself properly in Croatian …