By: Natasha Archary
One of Ireland’s most versatile singers, Camilla Griehsel joins Brenda Sisane on The Jazz Standard to share more about her global ode to the universal mother with her collection of songs on Mamasongue.
South African bassist, Concorde Nkabinde joins Camilla to detail how Mamasongue, the collection of songs from distant lands came to be.
Camilla Griehsel was born in Sweden and her love for music started when she was just a little girl who used to be called to sing in front of family and guests at home.
“I was always kind of wheeled out, I suppose I always had a voice and I used to be wheeled out at my parent’s parties to sing in front of grown ups, from when I was very young with my sister.
I always loved singing, my middle sister and I used to sing a lot together, making our little recordings on cassette tapes.
So, yeah it started very early on and I went to music school at the age of 10.
I spent 6-years in a class with 30 children singing and doing concerts and I’m very grateful for that beginning because music was very much a big part of my life.”
Camilla Griehsel’s love for music started at a young age
Camilla sings songs from around the world that transcend the constraints of culture, time and place to show that through performance, a song’s true meaning can be deeply felt, regardless of language.
“I am drawn to the universal emotions in performance. As we travel from culture to culture, we’ll find parallels in the way music resolves into nurture, love and joy from keening laments to the comfort of a lullaby. From a mother’s tongue comes the primordial language of song beyond words.”
On Mamasongue, Camilla has been joined onstage by some world-class musicians, including pianist and West Cork based collaborator Maurice Seezer, Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu, Donegal percussionist Éamonn Cagney, South African bassist Concord Nkabinde, pianist and arranger Cormac McCarthy, and Diego Joaquin Ramirez and Graham Hopkins on drums.
Listen to the conversation on The Jazz Standard:
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