PROFILE: SOLSINE

Jeg har enda ikke postet noe jeg har skrevet i forhold til skolearbeid/ annet journalistikkarbeid jeg har gjort i det hele tatt. Men, sist lørdag gjorde jeg og Georgina et intervju med SOLSINE, et nytt up-and-coming production duo, og vi har derretter skrevet en profil sammen, så jeg tenkte jeg kunne poste den, for alle interesserte!

I have not yet posted anything that I have written for school/ anything that I have worked on as a journalist at all. But, last Saturday me and Georgina interviewed SOLSINE, a new up-and-coming producing group, and we have together written a small profile on them, so I thought I would post it here, for anyone interested!

SOLSINE

Ben Johnson and Raphael Zak is the duo behind Solsine, a new up-and-coming producing group with an extensive musical range. Performing together with several vocalists and a rapper, the project has quickly become a group of people who have all “networked together”, as vocalist Nadine describes it. “All of us have a really lively, vivacious and upbeat personality. It is like being apart of a family.”

Their musical style ranges from drum & bass to house. Ben shares that “as producers it gets boring if you make the same style all the time” and that he himself gets bored with sticking to “one specific thing.’’ Solsine’s performances display a collabration of all their genre styles, but  Raphael explains that his favourite to play drum and bass because its ‘‘so high energy.’’

Solsine has been compared to English electronic bands such as Chase & Status and Rudimental, which they see as a huge honour. Ben believes that the reason they get compared to them, is that their sound is “quite mixed up”. He explains that “Chase & Status is across the board, and Rudimental can be different styles.’’

With all of the members growing up with different musical backgrounds, their sound gives a collected charactarazation of the groups personalities. Each of the members have worked in the music industry for different periods of time and several of them grew up in musical families. Solsines rapper, Santego, grew up with a dad that used to DJ when he was younger, and he was “constantly surrounded by hip-hop since [he was] taken out of the hospital.’’ Vocalist Nadine also grew up in a musical “loud and upbeat family,’’ and she plays the piano, violin and guitar, in addition to singing. She giggles that “one of my first memories is singing into a washing machine drum.’’

Ben and Raphael have also been making music for numerous years.  At least for 15 years has Ben 
been making music, “back before mac’s existed.’’ Looking into the techinal side of producing Raphael explains that they now “rely soley on Mac’s”, in addition to using their constantly phones.

“The amount of phone recordings I have just humming”, Raphael explains, and then adds that his very first phone recordings of him ‘humming’, now are nearly finished tracks. Technology has also made it easier for the producing-duo in the sense that it is not necessary with a big studio anymore. As Rapheal explains, the music, ideas and production ‘‘really is alive.’’

Since starting their project mid 2014, Solsine has already played numerous live shows around the London area, in addition to playing at the “Ibiza Rocks Bar”, a place where they would love to go back. As a mutual feeling towards all contributers to Solsine they feel the shows are just getting better and better. Being surrounded by the Solsine team, it is very clear to idenfity the close community they have founded. Nadine expresses how they all ‘‘conspired to get together, there was one magnet in the middle and we all just...’’ *claps*.

Only being in the first weeks of January, a lot has happened already for Solsine. Live shows in Camden and Hackney were this years first, continuing with their Circle EP Launch Party at the Social, the 17th of January. Following their launch, they will have a small Circle EP Tour in the London area.

Looking even further into their future, Raphael says they have a lot of unfinished songs, that they need to get down to completing. “Ben and I are currently sitting on 50 tracks that we need to finish, a lot of them we need to get vocals but we’ve got ideas for them or in their first stages.’’ In addition, there is more talk of a new album during 2015, as vocalist Nadine and rapper Santego ellude to while giggling, unsure if they should share with us the exciting future plans.

Over the course of the few hours we spent there, the little basement bar at The Social went from crowded to completely packed. When the subtle men and sparkly dressed women of Solsine entered the stage, the crowd roared in excitement. As the show went on, the crowd enjoyed their drinks and light danced over peoples faces, all the way to the end.

Before the show, Ben told us that “we tend to play our drum and bass towards the end [of the shows], because it leaves on a high,’’ which seems to be well recieved at yet another show tonight. The crowd dancing, screaming and jumping, it looks like yet another successful gig for Solsine.

Being a big group of people working together, or “a family” as they all describe themselves, they all work with projects of their own on the side. Collectively they have a lot of achievements, such as writing a song for Rudimentals latest album, supporting Laura Mvula and Ella Eyre on tour, and currently being one of the contestants on “The Voice.’’

We expect to see the name ‘Solsine,’ in many more places, and as Nadine shares ‘‘We are gathering momentum. It’s that ball of moss idea, of a rolling stone going down a hill. It’s really weird as one thing starts to happen, we just keep picking up and picking up.’’

Check out Solsine’s Instagram: @SOLSINE

Written, Reviewed and Edited by both myself and Georgina Walker from Notes La Mode. 

LEARNING ARABIC

Jeg har lenge vurdert å skrive et innlegg om journalistikk studiet / alle fagene mine, men jeg vet egentlig ikke om noen er interessert, eller om det er noe spesielt dere ønsker å vite? Så jeg tenkte jeg skulle begynne med å skrive om en av mine fag, som på mange måter er det mest interessante; arabisk.

Når jeg skulle velge min "optional module", trykte jeg impulsivt på "arabisk", for 20 ekstra studiepoeng. Mens nesten alle vennene mine valgte et annet "språk", "shorthand", bestemte jeg meg for å prøve ut noe jeg lenge har ønsket. Mens jeg bodde i Qatar fristet alltid tanken om å lære arabisk meg, men jeg kom liksom aldri rundt til det. Når jeg kom tilbake til Norge, hadde ikke akkurat skolene mine slike språk å tilby, så etter en stund glemte jeg det litt ut. Men da jeg så det brede utvalget av språkene som tilbys på Roehampton, tenkte jeg at jeg bare måtte dra nytte av det!

Jeg antar at det å lære et nytt språk aldri er lett i begynnelsen, i hvert fall var ikke det tilfelle for meg. For min første time kjente jeg ikke noen andre som hadde valgt arabisk, og jeg visste egentlig ikke vet hva jeg kunne forvente meg. Jeg var fortsatt blond da, og når jeg gikk inn i klasserommet følte jeg at jeg ikke hørte hjemme der i det hele tatt. Min klasse besto nesten bare av arabere, som enten kunne alfabetet eller språket litt allerede. Og der kom jeg, som følte meg stolt over at jeg kunne noen få fraser som "velkommen"... Så ja, de første ukene var litt vanskelige, det å lære et nytt språk med et helt nytt alfabet og en ny måte å skrive.

Men det som er utrolig gøy, er at det bare tok noen få uker, og så begynte jeg faktisk å forstå mer og mer. Plutselig kunne jeg lese hele avsnitt på arabisk (uten å forstå alt av det selvfølgelig, men likevel), og jeg hadde lært meg å skrive alle bokstavene (hver bokstav har fire ulike former). Jeg kunne presentere meg selv, og jeg tenkte på hvordan det ville være å komme tilbake til Qatar og å kunne snakke arabisk med folk der. Fordi, selvfølgelig, er det en av de store grunnene til at jeg valgte å ta arabisk. Landet som alltid ser ut til å ha noe å gjøre med valgene i livet mitt, landet som introduserte meg til arabisk språk og kultur. Jeg kan ikke vente med å komme tilbake der i påsken, og prøve ut ferdighetene mine. Akkurat nå, er den eneste ulempen med arabisk timene mine, at det får meg til savne Qatar så utrolig mye. أفتقدك قطر

I have considered writing a post about my journalism course/ all of my subjects, but I don't really know if anyone is interested, or if there is anything specific you would like to know? So, I thought I should start by writing about one of my subjects, which in many ways is the most interesting one; arabic. 

When choosing my optional module, I impulsively ticked for "arabic", as an extra 20 credits. While almost all of my friends chose to take another new "language", shorthand, I decided to try out something I had wanted for a long time. While living in Qatar, the thought of learning the arabic language always tempted me, but I never got around to it. Coming back to Norway, my schools didn't really offer other languages than german, french and spanish (how I wish I had been better in spanish!), so after a while I kind of forgot about it. But when I saw the wide selection of languages offered at Roehampton, I thought I just had to take advantage of it!

I guess learning a new language is never easy in the beginning, at least it was not the case for me. For my first class I did not know anyone else who had chosen arabic, and I did not really know what to expect. I was still blonde back then, and when I walked into the classroom I felt like I did not belong there at all. My class consisted almost only of arabs, who either knew the alphabet or the spoken language already. And there I came, who had previously felt good about myself because I knew how to say a few phrases like "welcome"... So yeah, the few weeks were a bit though, learning a new language with a new alphabet and a different way of writing. 

But the fun thing is, it took a few weeks and then I actually started to understand. I could read whole paragraphs in arabic (without understanding all of it of course, but anyway), and I knew how to write every letter (every letter has 4 different forms). I could introduce myself, and I imagined how it would be coming back to Qatar and being able to speak arabic with the people there. Because, of course, that is part of the reason why I take this course. The country that always seems to have something to do with my life choices, the country that introduced me to arabic language and culture. I really can't wait to go back for easter, and try out my skills. Right now, the only downside about my arabic lectures, is that it makes me miss Qatar so incredibly much. أفتقدك قطر

LEKER SUNN

3 av 4 eksamener er nå unnagjort, og jeg er enda nærmere slutten på videregående. Det føles deilig å ha skoleplan og planen klar, men dette gjør og at jeg slapper veldig av i det siste, så jeg håper jeg klarer å fullføre muntlig eksamen med glans før det er slutt! Ellers har jeg slitt veldig med hodeverk de siste dagene, og da frister det ikke med tunge måltider, men mat som er lett å spise og lage. Etter litt pasta til middag har jeg kost meg med litt frukt - vannmelon, grapefrukt og jordbær med sjokolade - og et glass med hjemmelaget jordbærjuice. Nå skal jeg prøve å se litt gjennom journalistikkbøkene mine, som jeg ikke har hatt tid til før nå siden alt annet har tatt opp tiden min i denne perioden. Forhåpentligvis får jeg litt tid nå, og jeg tenker og å ta med noen av de til ferien min i Qatar. Det er bare 15 dager jeg reiser i dag, så herlig!



Tenkte jeg kunne legge ut oppskriften på jordbærjuicen om ikke så lenge, siden jeg ikke fant en eneste oppskrift når jeg selv skulle lage det, og bare prøvte meg litt frem!

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