At the turn of the autumn-winter seasons, the presentation of the author's English-Russian album of the Moscow jazz-funk singer Sasha Frid "Phantasmagoria" took place. The disc was recorded on Signon Records and consists of 2 EPs: the first one is completely in Russian and is designed in the style of blues-rock, the second one is in Russian and English, gravitating towards modern jazz and fusion. Sasha Frid, Ilya Kormiltsev, Sam Morgunov, Vanya Nanik participated in writing music and lyrics.
"Phantasmagoria" by Sasha Fried. EP1
Tracklist: "On the minus", "Exhale", "In a dream", "Zero", "Get in touch", "Possess".
Lineup of musicians: Yu. Perminova (keyboards), A. Kan (guitar), D. Belousov (bass, double bass), A. Kotrechko (bass), A. Kulkov and I. Ermakov (drums), T. Nekrasov (saxophone), A. Solovyov (harmonica).
Sasha Fried is one of those singers whose thoughts are carried far beyond the limits of this world. And it is this ability that helps her to create texts full of true love, burning passions and eternal values. You will not hear a direct indication of these components in the texts of the first, absolutely, as well as the second EP. Everything happens at the level of intuition.
Is it necessary to know love in order to learn how to write poetry or compose music about it? The lyrical ballads of "Phantasmagoria", sung in the style of blues-rock - this is what characterizes Sasha herself in the best possible way. A combination of the incompatible. The main theme of the entire disc is love in its various manifestations, but the main thing is that it is love that rules people before other emotions.
The mood of the first EP can be traced by the title of the tracks that the singer invites the listener to follow. The album opens with the song "On the Minus". There are feelings that do not represent a perfect example of a relationship, but still minus by minus gives a plus, which means opposites have a chance to attract each other and try to build their own world.
Moving smoothly along the melodic line of the bass guitar riffs, the mood changes several times over the course of 3.5 minutes. The compositions “Exhale” and “In a dream” are like the last hope to “recognize each other” and fill each inhalation and exhalation with meaning.
The combination of the incongruous characterizes the work of Sasha Frid in the best possible way.
About the vicissitudes of love, about the game and reality, the story of the song "Zero": "Filming ends - you turn into zero." The text and music create a feeling of a lively dialogue between the performer and the listener, involuntarily involved in the whirlpool of an event in someone else's history. However, the desire to get in touch and possess the world of his beloved overcomes torment. The chords of the final fusion composition echo into silence, leaving the listener in thought.
"Phantasmagoria" by Sasha Fried. EP2
Tracklist: Default City Queen, Sparrow, "Phantasmagoria", "Towards", "Sorry, Mom", "Disco", Stop Making Love, "Ballad".
Lineup of musicians: V.Luizo, Y.Perminova (keyboards), A.Kan (guitar), D.Belousov (bass, double bass), A.Kotrechko (bass), A.Kulkov and I.Ermakov (drums), T.Nekrasov and A .Yazykov (saxophones), D.Savin (trumpet), A.Ruznyaev (trombone), G.Gevorkov (percussion), E.Petrova, A.Karpov, O.Weber (backing vocals), A.Soloviev (harmonica) ).
The character of the previous EP is preserved in the first composition of Default City Queen of the second part of the release. Blues with juicy guitar solos in the best traditions of Western virtuosos for a moment makes the listener see the urban landscape of the metropolis in front of him and recognize its invisible power.
Sasha Frid's album "Phantasmagoria" constantly keeps you in suspense. The stylistic diversity of compositions, both instrumentally and vocally, changes from track to track. And now the next one includes elements of country music, and the good old story unfolds right before our eyes.
Modern jazz with a pronounced "brass" section leads the listener through the entire EP 2, interspersed with vocal improvisations of the soloist in different registers. witticism s the recognizable harmonica of Alex Solovyov gives the sound, creating volume and saturating it with soulful digressions.
EP 2 is a collection of Sasha's revelations about everything that worries her day after day
Phantasmagoria by Sasha Fried is a collection of songs that are ahead of their time. Always inspired by the second wave of funk, the singer sought to find her own style. This applies to both vocal performance and instrumental parts, therefore, performers in demand on the modern music scene took part in the recording of her first album of author's songs. Such a creative collaboration turned out to be a success in the form of "Phantasmagoria", declaring its right to the title of one of the best modern jazz releases of the outgoing 2016.
Photo by Gulnara Khamatova
Sasha Frid is a young jazz-funk singer who represents a new take on classic funk and soul in Russia. The artist's repertoire includes hits by Aretha Franklin, Mary Jane Hooper, Cheryl Lynn, Lynn Collins, as well as rhythm and blues compositions by Janis Joplin and Cream in funk versions. Sasha is supported by her numerous band, which includes a guitar, double bass, saxophone, trombone, keys, drums and a trio of backing vocalists.
The debut concert of Sasha Frid was sold out at the Shakti Terrace club last winter with the participation of the famous jazz musician, trumpeter Vadim Eilenkrig. From the picture, it looked like either a performance by the Grammy-winning band Chicago, or a jam by black New York bluesmen, where the young beast Fried burns, flames and soars around the stage, like Iggy Pop and Scissor Sisters combined.
During the current spring-summer season, Sasha performed with a solo program at many venues in the capital - from the "Workshop" to the Alexei Kozlov Club, sang at the "Night at the Museum" in the Museum of Moscow, the "Chiffonier" festival in Gorky Park, took part in the action "Morning World of Yoko Ono 2015" at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, gave a joint concert with "Sense of Sound" and Groove Etiquette, and also went on her first tour to St. Petersburg. At the presentation of the project in the Durov club, which took place in mid-May, the singer presented a duet with the fashionable disco-funk band Guru Groove Foundation. In early July, Fried sang as the opening act for the famous American musician David Brown (Brazzaville) and at the closing of the Voices European Film Festival in Vologda.
From childhood, Sasha was extremely active, inquisitive, albeit restless - she dreamed of saving African children and working as a journalist in hot spots; she played tennis and the piano, sang in the choir of the vocal ensemble, but due to the same restlessness, Fried the egoza was kicked out of the circles. Her serious passion for music began at the age of eleven, when a curious girl found Jamiroquai and Marvin Gaye albums among her father's records. To sing a duet with Jay Kay is still one of the singer's cherished desires. Also among Sasha's musical preferences: Barbra Streisand, Tom Waits, Dinah Washington, David Bowie, Serge Gainsbourg, Gil Scott-Heron, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Etta James, Jill Scott, Moby, Stevie Wonder, The Doors and Zhanna Aguzarova.
However, having matured, Fried opted for a less extreme profession and entered the Moscow State University at the Faculty of Art. The girl received a well-deserved red diploma for the qualifying work "John Cage and the visual art of the second half of the 20th century." In parallel with her studies at the capital's university, Sasha studied vocals at the Signon pop studio, where the artistic director of the school, Alexei Moskalev, who later became the singer's producer, drew attention to the extravagant soloist.
Sasha Fried: "Fanny Brice is the person I aspire to be!"
It is impossible to remain indifferent to the talented singer and pretty girl Sasha Fried. Her strong sexy vocals and wild energy raise even the most modest listener to dance, and her beauty, inner charm and girlish spontaneity captivate both men and women on the spot. This girl not only performs the golden hits of jazz and funk, but also, having an encyclopedic knowledge of all the compositions and performers she takes on, acquaints the sophisticated Moscow public with a huge layer of the “black” musical culture of the last century. Russian funk princess Sasha Fried talks about her favorite teachers, "funny and sad" pop music, idols and self-improvement in an interview with Jazz Map.
Sasha, where and how did you receive your musical education? What can you tell us about your music teachers?
For the last six years, I have been educated at the Signon School of Vocal and Performing Arts. I went there five years ago on the recommendation of a friend. The first teacher kicked me out for being late, and he was also an ardent fighter against smoking. so our relationship didn't work out (laughs). Then I had five more teachers: it was very difficult to find my own until I got to Galina Leonidovna Filatova, a jazz singer, one of the first in the Soviet Union, and very, very famous in musical circles. The first lesson she gave was about the blues. She asked questions: what is blues, what is jazz, how do you understand this, what is rhythm? And she began to read all this to us, showed the film "Blues School" - about how harmony is built. Introduced a new subject “Harmony. jazz harmony. Blues scales” - I have been actively going there for the third year already, but I will probably stay for the second year (laughs). She taught me the right sound, the right breathing, with her I began to find my own sound. My director and music producer Alexei Moskalev also pays a lot of attention to the search for my sound. Lesha and Galina Leonidovna are the most important teachers for me: how much these people give me - I can’t get at any university!
What accomplishments are you really proud of?
When I was studying vocals, Alexey and I decided to make it a professional project. We came to this in five years in small steps, and over the past two and a half years - to conscious serious work on the preparation of a concert program. And now - to active artistic activity. I am very proud of this process and its results!
Personal musical tastes and passions - what kind of music did you like 10 years ago, what has changed now? What is closer stylistically? What great names influenced the formation in the profession?
Until the fourth grade, like all children, I listened to what I heard snatches from my classmates, because until the age of 14 I was forbidden to watch MTV: my grandmother stood and checked what was on my TV. And they didn’t let me on the Internet under any pretext - my family is so conservative! Of course, I was adored, spoiled, but I had restrictions on some things. Until the age of 16, I didn’t even leave the house alone, I went to the subway with my grandmother - such a hothouse child ... But one way or another, information from the outside still leaked to me. Until the fourth grade, it was "Inveterate scammers", "Hands Up" - it was fashionable among my peers. At the age of fourteen, I began to study vocals in a children's ensemble, where my teacher, in order to develop a taste in me, let me listen to The Beatles and read the "yellow book": biographies of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple and AC / DC. With him, we sang children's songs by Michael Jackson from the time of the Jackson 5. So my taste began to form ... And my preferences in music do not change now, they only expand: I study what happened in the 20th century - this period is most musically interesting to me. And all this, of course, is not isolated from culture: I'm not so much interested in the biographies of musicians as in the atmosphere - what happened in a particular cultural environment ... When the question arose of what I should sing in Signon, I discovered Etta James and Aretha Franklin. And this music was not like anything: not pop, not soul in its purest form ... It's funk! A huge layer of culture that I discovered for myself at the age of eighteen ...
Who is the ideal, idol, role model?
Ideal? Idol? Yes, there is such a word - "idol". For me, this is not a person, not a living person, but a character. For example, the heroine of the film-musical "Funny Girl" Fanny Brice performed by Barbra Streisand. Here is my idol! When I don’t understand what I’m doing and why, when I have questions about who I am in this world, I always review “Funny Girl”, and each time I find many, many answers for myself. Fanny Brice is the person I aspire to be!
In general, about culture - what do you read, do you watch TV, what recent movie made a strong impression? What was the last musical event (concert, performance) you attended, what did you like, remember and impress?
The last time I was at the play "Cavalry" in the Meyerhold Theater Center. A modern production according to Babel: very extravagant, defiant, striking, sometimes wildly unpleasant, somewhere touching ... This is such a modern performance. My acting teacher taught me the difference between theater and performance theatre. A mixture of electronic music, video installations, theatrical action... By the way, the beginning of the performance was laid by John Cage, about whom I wrote my thesis. At the Black Mountain School in Seattle, with Schoenberg and Cowell, they began to make performance art: one played the dissected piano, the other recited poetry, someone danced ... And now there is a classical theater where they put on productions without such experiments - and this is , like a performance in Meyerhold: the action is associated with electronic music, there is absolute nudity on the stage, the actors tell about the event as it really was, without embellishment. The young guys-actors also struck me: they are all no more than 22, but how they play it all! The boy dies and screams: "I'm running out!" - an incredibly strong word ... A young boy ends - it was said so from the inside! Now there are a lot of such venues where performance productions are preferred, although many people do not like this trend, but it is extremely nice for me.
I didn't go to the cinema for a very long time, but I plan to go to the latest film by Roy Andersson, "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch, Reflecting on Existence."
About self-improvement - what strengths can you highlight in yourself, and what do you have to work on?
Everyone has to work! I don't think I have one strong point. I try to develop myself all the time, every day! You can't be 100% sure, you have to work on yourself. I try, I want to do something good, improve and be better, more interesting... Probably, this desire to develop is my strong point. You have to work on laziness: it’s hard to lose weight, go in for sports, achieve musical harmony ... Every year it’s more and more difficult to persuade yourself - there are a lot of other interesting things around, but you need to force yourself!
Where do you see yourself in five years, what goals do you set for yourself?
I see myself as a successful woman, happy, loved, perhaps a good mother and an improving successful artist!
Share your creative plans: are there albums, singles coming up, with whom would you like to collaborate, maybe perform together, record, well, and on what venues to perform? And if there are plans to take part in Russian or international competitions?
Now I'm working on a new concert program: before there was a lot of jazz-funk, and now there will be more blues. We are working on author's material with the composer, in the fall we plan to release the first EP with a couple of our own songs. We are also negotiating with one DJ: we want to make a more electronic disco-funk project. And, of course, I will continue to develop and work on myself!
Interview prepared by Maxim Vertuzaev / Kushnir production
Sasha Fried is a very mysterious and extraordinary singer performing songs in jazz, funk and soul style filled with charm, flirting, intelligence and aristocracy. Her music makes the listener not only share his impressions, but also takes him to a virtual cinema world with a unique plot and soundtrack, in which literally everything is performed to musical words and notes that make this action magical. Alexandra's music program is based on songs by such world performers as: Arecha Franklin, Lyn Collins, Janis Joplin, Ella Fitzgarald and many others.
The performer Sasha Frid is very eccentric and ambitious, but the manner of her jazz-funk performance amazes many with its impeccability. In addition, according to many music critics who note her perseverance and hard work, she has great prospects of becoming a real jazz star. If you want to get a lot of drive and dance exhaustion, then you just need to buy tickets for her upcoming concert. After all, the music performed by Sasha can not only exacerbate all emotions, but also help to break loose in order to run to save the whole world.
In the summer of 2016, all secular Moscow came to terms with the fact that Nikita Efremov (29) was no longer a bachelor - he (19), the daughter of businesswoman Svetlana Zakharova and a student - then - of the British Higher School of Design. But the romance lasted only a couple of months - Sasha moved to Paris, entered Parsons, and Efremov only occasionally reminded himself of himself with photographs on social networks.
A year has passed. Sasha came to Moscow for the summer holidays and plunged headlong into working with Marina Dolidze's Wisdom brand - now she produces and stylizes shooting and is engaged in SMM. Efremov also did not waste time - he not only managed to star in several films, but also started a new romance. Ironically, this passion of Nikita is also called Sasha.
Jazz singer Sasha Fried (26) does not appear in gossip columns, and she has only 2.6 thousand subscribers on Instagram, but what a voice she has! On Monday, a new couple came to (15), but after a couple of shots, chacha moved to Calicano, and the next day Nikita came with Sasha to, organized by Nadezhda Obolentseva's Club 418. And it seems that Sasha is well acquainted with all the friends of her famous boyfriend, which means they have been dating for quite a long time.
And Yefremov literally returned from Georgia this weekend and, judging by the photo on Fried's Instagram, she went with him. We rested with soul: we went to the Tbilisi Open Air festival, studied local flea markets and dined in the most fashionable Tbilisi establishments. In general, be that as it may, there is no official confirmation of their romance yet (but will it be?), But they are a beautiful couple - it's stupid to deny it.
