Wake up and Shine

Normally, during a first date, you try to get to know each other. But my first date with SERENDIB, which is his artist name, was totally different! I got a complete analysis of the song “You can call me Al”. I was not sure what to do with this information. But when a date ends in a serenade of your favorite song in the car, with perfect guitar accompaniment, you know this guy is a keeper! Filled with curiosity (and with unimportant information), I decided to check out his own music.

I let my Bestie hear some of his songs. “Look Frouk, I dated this guy and apparently he can sing, what do you think?” Frouke definitely has more understanding of music, playing in a choir and studying singing herself. She replied surprised: “well that is perfectly in tune!”.

Things progressed and we went from one date to another.

When he asked if I wanted to come to the recording session, I immediately said yes. Music is our “silver lining”. The navigation system guided me to Resound Studio in The Hague, where my presence was hard to keep unnoticeable.

I was a little late (suprise), so I entered to finding the guys already in the middle of a very creative process.

Vocals recording with Prabath Nanayakkara and Nadeem Ishaak at Resound Studio …..
Recorded some Mandoline and Slide Guitars too….Looking forward to the finished song !! (Anand Mahangoe)

You see my artist through the window? He is standing in a sound-proof room. Whatever he sings, comes directly into Nadeem’s computer, where he can edit it.

I always thought that singers just sang the lyrics. But today I learned that that is not the case. Having played drums, guitar and accordion myself, I know a bit about music. But I had no idea about singing. Apparently. every note has a specific pitch. When Nadeem played an E on the piano, SEREDIB produced the same sound with his voice. I was shocked! Yes, apparently he knows what he is doing!

I heard immediately that it is a going to be a very creative song, with the use of many different instruments (props for Anand). But also a lot of complicated second (voice) parts. These guys were not going for mediocre! Whenever a part was not 1000% to everybody’s liking, the poor guy had to sing it all over again. Poor him!

But for me, it was a good thing, since I could enjoy it more^^. And with all the joy and laughter involved, they did not seem to be very poor after all.

When the voice part was to everybody’s liking, the session was concluded. Time to celebrate and go for a drink! We ended up in a nice place, where the bartender mixed his first Espresso Martini for me. Unfortunately, there where no nacho’s. And whenever Astrid wants nacho’s, she will not rest until she get so. Knowing my urges, we drove all the way to the beach where we munched our nacho’s and dreamt away about music and lyrics.