Originally from Tatarstan, a highly autonomous state in the Russian Federation situated in central Russia, Zulya Kamalova now lives in Australia with her band, the Children of the Underground. Zulya and her band fuse Tatar, Russian and Western traditions in their musical stylings and as a result the music they create draws on three different languages and defies classification as well as description.
OiP: What’s the secret of blending so many cultures together in music?
Zulya: It comes from the song. For instance, a song that I wrote in more of a Mexican waltz feel, we’ve included some rhythms that go with it from that part of the world, but at the same time, it’s done in English and the musicians bring all these different nuances into the music. What we hope for is that we bring these influences in from various parts, but in such a way that it is not obvious what it is and the more you listen to it, the more you find layers in the music that come from these various influences.
OiP: What role do the different languages play? How do you decide if you want to sing a song in Russian or in English?
Zulya: I haven’t actually sung in English very much up until now. I wanted to make a Tatar album and then I wanted to make a Russian album, and the last album brings all my different influences, my three identities, together – the Russian, the English and the Tatar.
OiP: What do you capture in live performance that an album can’t?
Zulya: It’s the energy. If you have heard or seen music performed live and then bought an album of it, it doesn’t capture the energy of the live show. When you watch a show, you are affected by the energy of the room and the musicians improvising. So, live albums don’t often work because the audience isn’t there and while you listen to it you might remember something, but it doesn’t capture the live-ness of it.
OiP: What do you think is the universal, what do people pick up even if they don’t understand the words?
Zulya: People always find something that resonates with them if it comes from the heart, and I know that’s a bit of a cliché. I might be explaining things and saying this means that and that means that and they get something completely different out of it. That’s what I find particularly fascinating, often people say ‘that’s a song about that’ or ‘you put that into it’, and I didn’t at all. It feels like I become a channel that these emotions come through and it resonates with others in a different sort of way.
OiP: So, if somebody doesn’t understand the language, can they take as much away from a song as somebody who does?
Zulya: Sometimes even more so. I listen to a lot of music in foreign languages, and I don’t necessarily understand what it’s about, but it moves me in whatever way I resonate with the music. When you actually understand your attention goes to the words, that’s inevitable. You concentrate on the actual words and what the song means, but if you don’t understand the words, you just go into it as a whole and travel places and are not limited by what the words say.
Zulya and the Children of the Underground will headline the World Music Carnival, presented by Kulcha, and perform at 7pm November 17 at Quarry Amphitheatre. Tickets available from www.bocsticketing.com.au.
