ZeroGossip: "Love Is More Than Words for Tinatin"

Several minutes ago, a good friend of mine forwarded me a google link to an article by a wonderful journalist, Norm Whitehurst with whom I had the privilege and pleasure of speaking earlier this year when we did our initial interview for his online publication....

"Love Is More Than Words for Tinatin" - By www.ZeroGossip.com

Back in January, I had the pleasure of talking with someone Billboard Magazine touts as one the the 10 fresh faces to keep an eye out in 2008. Her name is Tinatin and she’s not disappointing. The music she puts out is from the heart and you can tell when you hear her voice. Not only that, she’s....gasp....smart! Talented, smart, speaks at least 5 more languages than me (I barely speak one) and is a born performer. She’s just released "Love is More Than Words" which can be found on her MySpace page. And for you, she’s let me post it here. Give it a listen and go add her as a friend. Tinatin will be a star in the near future. Trust me. And if you write to her, she responds. Love her!

From January 2008 ZeroGossip.com

This year will be a breakout year for musical artist Tinatin. That’s according to Billboard Magazine who listed her as one of the 10 fresh faces to keep an eye out for in 2008. In the US, she’s a well-kept secret who’s about to go public in a big way.

Tinatin was born in the Republic of Georgia 23 years ago into a family already deep in the arts. Her father is an architect and painter while her mother is a classical pianist. Now living in New York, she’s working on an album due out this year. Her music is not only enjoyable to hear, but impactful with messages—from the state of the United Nations to HIV, her voice clearly paints a picture for her listeners.

Her single “We the Peoples,” is available on iTunes and will be a part of her album. Billboard calls it, “a penultimate, contemporary anthem honoring the mission of the United Nations, perhaps more relevant than ever, given the flux of worldwide politics… a resonant affirmation that politics actually have potential to unite.” You can’t get a better review than that!

Holliston: There’s a lot of excitement and buzz out there about your music right now. What is it that got you noticed by Billboard?

Tinatin: I think ultimately, especially in New York, it’s a story. If you have a story, no matter how good or mediocre or perhaps even poor, the songs are, A.) it’s the record and B.) it’s the story and if you can put the two together then it can more or less guarantee a buzz. I think New York is based on buzz. Buzz and hype, to me signify New York.

H: The good thing about that buzz for you is that you do have a good product. And you have an album coming out.

T: I’m actually wrapping up with the material. I worked on the album both in New York and in London and initially I started the record in London with Christopher Neil, my producer. When I got to New York, what I realized immediately was no matter how many similarities between the industries in London and New York, at the end of the day a European record is a European record. And in America, unless you do things the American way, it’s very hard to convince them that no matter how good you may be, there is so much out here and you have to do something different. I had to practically re-do a lot of my material done in Europe to make it more suitable together with my team in London (Christopher Neil and Peter Adams) and the US producers, yet keep that European factor there that would make me slightly different from what’s out there.

H: What did you have to do differently?

T: We had to rethink a lot of the arrangements. Some of the production values had to change. For example, as soon as I got here, Christopher Neil immediately got American producers on board such as Bob Iadeluca and FAB, who’s actually a French born producer and songwriter, and he’s already very successful in America. He got them to really listen to the songs and see what they could bring to the table to make it a little bit more American, a little bit more U.S. oriented, yet keeping the same songs that made the record unique. At the same time we didn’t want to go too American so we could still appeal to the European market, thus writing additional material with Chris Neil and Peter Adams – my UK team – in NY.

H: When will the album be released?

T: As soon as possible! I absolutely cannot wait! We’re just wrapping up with the songs. We need a couple more songs and then we’ll be ready to put it out there and see where it takes us.

H: Does the album have a name?

T: Not yet! It was difficult enough coming up with the first single. We had to pick out a song that would not only be a record—a song, but ultimately it would tell a different sort of story about me. I think that’s when we went for the song “We the Peoples” based on the United Nations charter because it tells a little bit about me—my background as a journalist, my attachment toward the UN. To me it’s more than a song. It’s a story. It’s who I am. That song immediately creates an image of me. And based on that, we had to rethink a lot of the songs on the album because I can’t put songs that are too different from it, too girly, or too romantic. It creates a whole concept for the record.

H: What is it about the United Nations that has drawn you to it?

T: I think that the current climate that I grew up in has been a very exciting period for me. Being 23, I’ve seen quite a bit. I’ve lived through a civil war in Georgia...we moved around a lot. There was a lot that really touched me throughout the years when I was growing up. And when I found the place that really sums everything up for me into one, which is the United Nations, where it covers everything from peacekeeping to HIV-Aids to human rights, the concept of the UN is what really drew me to the organization. There is a freedom to be able to make that little bit of difference as a human being yourself, given the opportunity. And through that and in many ways also through the great idea of author and UN expert, Ian Williams, I decided that if I can work at the UN as a correspondent why don’t I write a song that will appeal to people because ultimately music is the language that is very universal. Everybody can relate to it. Everybody can understand it. Music can click with far more people.

H: With all the attention currently focused on you, how do you keep the buzz alive?

T: I think that’s the tricky part. It’s easy to attract someone to your persona and material but maintaining and sustaining that buzz, unless you have something else to offer requires a lot of work. You have to sit down with your team and say ‘OK guys. We’ve got all this attention on us but what have we got next to give to the audience and critics?’

H: Once the album is released, will you tour?

T: Absolutely. I’m rehearsing with my new band in New York. So once we have our concept together as a band we will start playing some venues both in the US and internationally.

H: Having lived in many countries, does that impact the way you write and the way you perform?

T: I really think it has an enormous impact on the eventual product. Having performed in several countries, that’s when you realize what every audience wants. I think every audience in every country is different. They have different expectations from you, different demands, different tastes...being able to target them all with one record has been the biggest challenge of all. Being able to sit down and say how can we make this universally acceptable...how do we make all these audiences feel they are a part of it...that it was done for them, not just done in a different country and imported. Having that experience of performing before international audiences has been very helpful in determining the final sound of me as an artist.

H: Do you have plans on releasing songs in different languages?

T: Yes I do. Very much so. I think that because I made my debut in France, France can be a very strong market for me. I love their music and it comes down to if you love their music and you incorporate those elements into your music that can click with them as well.

H: What brought you to the United States?

T: When I was little, when I was growing up, during the Soviet period, we were so interested in anything to do with the West. When the first Russians, Georgians, and everyone else from the USSR got a chance to travel, my parents were one of the first to be able to actually go to America through my dad’s work as an architect and painter. And when he came back, told me about it, and showed me the films he took, I was so fascinated by it. And factor in American music and musicians like my all-time idol Barbra Streisand that, to me, means America. America, to me, was the ultimate goal. It was the land that meant everything. If you want to make your dreams come true, no matter how much of a cliché that may be, trust me, this country gives you far more opportunities than anywhere else does in the world. When I got the opportunity to move to America, it was a hard decision at first. But I knew that if I could sustain myself for the first couple of years and attract enough attention to be able to stay here for another couple of years, it would mean there is something here for me. If you make it here, you’re bound to make it anywhere else.

H: And your goals for 2008 and beyond?

T: It all comes down to doing what I genuinely love and being able to share it with an audience that responds. Whether it’s through the album coming out this year, the concerts I’ll be doing, it all comes down to being able to do something I love to do.



Did You Know?

• Tinatin speaks six languages (Georgian, Russian, French, Italian, English and Spanish) and is working on learning Japanese. Domo arigato!
• She taught herself French through books, watching French television and listening to Celine Dion music (and translating her lyrics with a French-Russian bilingual dictionary!)
• Her three most talked about songs include “We the Peoples” (co-written by Tinatin, FAB and Arnie Roman; produced by FAB, “I Pray” (co-written by Tinatin, Chris Neil, Peter Adams, Jane Ryall; produced by Chris Neil and Peter Adams), and “Wild” (co-written by Tinatin and Ayhan Sahin; produced by Ayhan Sahin).
• Her full name is Tinatin Japaridze.

Ladies & Gentlemen: Please Enjoy Capitalism!

12.30 a.m. in New York City and a sudden craving for none other than a shrimp salad sandwich literally caught me off guard. Having had a full day and only one meal through it all (is it possible to get too engaged in one's daily activities and forget to eat? You bet!) I realized a little too late that a quick bite could only help before calling it a day.

What does one do past midnight about getting a very specific sandwich, given that I'm a bit of a choosy eater when it comes to late-night cravings (always has been the case, not a recent phenomenon, that's for sure) ?

Back in Russia, at least before the whole "Westernization" period when late-night supermarket, 24-hour McDonald's spots, etc. opened throughout the city of Moscow, solving a simple dilemma like this particular one at any given time of the day, let alone way past midnight, would have been next to impossible. Queuing up for hours on end for bread and butter was the norm back than - that is, unless you belonged to the "foreign" circle of Westerners, whereby you were admitted to the "foreign currency only" specialized stores. But that was far from an easy achievement for a Sovietsky person, therefore, I would have been stuck 20 years ago back in the USSR under these circumstances....

However, we now live in a capitalist society and it is, after all, the 21st century - and plus, this is the Big Apple:

10 minutes after the initial craving, I was already paying for my double-decker sandwich (shrimp salad, naturally - as ordered by her majesty!) with a credit card on the Avenue of the Americas.... And you know something - a decade or so ago, all of this would have sounded like a sci-fi fairytale to my post-Communist regime ears.

But hey, that's what makes all of this so exciting - having had the opportunity to experience life on both sides of the fence. Whereas, I am sure, a lot of you, my readers, have long taken all of these "supernatural" opportunities for granted!

They say you should never forget your roots - and I certainly won't (in fact, I'm growing so fond of the whole pre and post Soviet regime collapse history - at the moment I am literally engrossed in all sorts of literature in any way connected to that era!) - but there's something similar to a quiet relief and silent joy in the very knowledge of being able to live and experience that, which back "then" seemed truly impossible.... Unbeatable, really!

Rocking Russkies: "Oh, Sweet Home Alabama...!"

The other day, a friend of mine from London sent me an email attachment with a subject that read, rather pompously: "Globalization".

"Oh, not again!" I thought to myself, "How much more of this bureaucratic talk can one tolerate without feeling like an amateur politician?"

On the contrary to my initial gut feeling, the video proved an ultimate proof that globalization is, indeed, a phenomenon which is growing by the day - both online and offline.

As you all know, back in the USSR, the Soviet Red Army was quite famous for its impressive (mainly in size) official choir composed of soldiers turned into musicians and vice versa. Even in the 21st century, many years after the Soviet regime collapsed, the Red Army choir is still going strong, performing extensively nationwide to this very day.

Up to this point, it's all very sweet and patriotic, but what about globalization, you may ask? Good point! :-)

Having imagined a very Sovietsky-looking army choir consisting of nicely groomed musical soldiers of the Red Army, how one mixes that group with a Finnish rock band called The Leningrad Cowboys is quite a stretch, no doubt.

And it gets better, too...

Not long ago, The Leningrad Cowboys (remember how Leningrad was initially called St. Petersburg, way before our time, and in the post USSR climate was reversed back to the same identity?) held a concert in Russia for a screaming group of Russian teenagers. As a special "patriotihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifc" flavor for the crowd, they invited the Red Army Choir to join them on stage for a special performance of a VERY unexpected number... "SWEET HOME ALABAMA"!!!

As "To the Point News" agency suggested, one couldn't have made this up - no way!

To see this spectacular video, do make sure you click on this link !

"Where are you from?"

It's a classic question, isn't it, especially in a world capital such as the Big Apple, for example. It's not so hard if you're from an obvious place (e.g. France, Italy, Australia, Japan, etc.) but a tricky "dubious" answer like "Georgia" is nearly always followed by a quick explanatory "the country, not the state!" Otherwise, I'm bound to get bombarded with additional questions, such as " you don't have a Southern twang at all!"

No, not Atlanta, GA - the former Soviet republic of Georgia, that is!

I suppose it was only recently that people in the western world became more open to the notion of Georgia not being Russia but a former member of the Soviet Union instead. Although I have to admit, a lot of the new friends I have made here over the last 3 years that I've been living in the US, have really embraced this cultural exoticism of being a Georgian and even more so, they seem quite fascinated about what it means to be from the former USSR.

A few years ago, saying you were from Russia was a big deal - next to stating that you're an alien, really. Every time I mentioned that I'd spent my formative years in Moscow came as a huge cultural shock to those in the western part of the globe... Not anymore! It seems that the "Russification" of Europe and the US has become a norm in certain aspects, except the problem is that a lot of cliché misinformation tends to go hand in hand with it, as well.

I spent the evening chatting about this with a British friend of mine who happened to spent quite a bit of time in Russia during the last few years - in fact, she lived and worked in Moscow for a while. I am always rather surprised (though I know I shouldn't be - that's the norm, after all!) to hear my friends and colleagues talk about where they come from - very rarely do they ponder over a straightforward question like "Where are you from?" like I do...

Don't get me wrong - I am very aware and very proud of my Georgian roots, but having moved to Russia with my family at the age of 9, I got slightly confused as to which of the two places I could actually call "home" in all confidence and the due nostalgia.

Traveling the world and living all over a sufficient part of the western hemisphere over the years has really been a blessing in disguise. On the one hand, it is fascinating and enriching for the character and the inner being to be able to grasp the variety and diversity of the different cultures and also making them all a part of oneself in some small way. Yet, not forgetting who you are and where you come from (sounds corny, I know!) is a very important factor for discovering and nurturing one's own identity.

I do feel very lucky to have witnessed at least the tiniest part of the end of a Soviet era as we knew it and the transition into a new more westernized world as we now know it. The silliest things that may come across as trivial to a European or American reader made it so exciting and memorable even at a tender age of 7 onwards: the first grand opening of a McDonald's "restaurant" in Moscow, a pompous event, a ridiculously long queue and insane prices; a first Pepsi Cola invasion; the ability to buy any foreign record (the reign of piracy had just kicked off over there!) at a dingy Gorbushka Park in the outskirts of Moscow, etc. All of that and more made it quite an experience for me - and I think I actually appreciate it more now than I ever did before.

Whenever I go back to either Tbilisi (the capital of Georgia) or Moscow (no need for clarification here!!) I do feel a strange sense of coming home, yet having spent all these years away from the nest, I genuinely don't know if I'd ever be able to go back to square one and settle down back where I started for good... But then again, who knows...

It's becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate the innermost importance and emotional bond between myself and these two homes where, at the end of the day, I took my first steps both literally and metaphorically. Seeing Red Square or any other typical Moscow sight on television is a thrill for me each and every time. And yet, I met a lovely Georgian girl through an American producer that I am working with at the moment and have become friends with, at a bar next to the record company yesterday and I thought to myself, "I know I've been away a long time, but there's something special about two Georgians really clicking with each other miles and miles away from home." I was genuinely happy and proud in a patriotic sense to have been introduced to my compatriot... Oh, did I ever mention that Georgians are notorious for being a little too heavy on the patriotic side? :-)

As I'm writing these words, I can't help but remember that classic line from the Beatles "Back to USSR":



"Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia's always on my my my my my my my my my mind...."

Russkiy Amerikanskiy or Brighton Beach Foreva!

A day spent on the train to and from Brooklyn left quite an impression on me this afternoon. In search of “khinkali” (Georgian dumplings - well worth the schlep!) I also managed to dive into a Russian-American world yet again for several hours…

Every time I visit Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, I am constantly amazed by how un-American, let alone non-NYC it really feels being in the area.

Many years ago, Brighton Beach was dubbed “Little Odessa” by the locals, since many of its residents had come from Odessa, Ukraine. Largely populated by a huge community of Jewish immigrants who left the Former USSR 1970’s onwards, the locals are probably more culturally similar to Russians and Ukrainians than to the earlier Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn.

You will hardly ever hear an English-speaker in the street, and most of the stores and restaurants (if not all of them) are strictly Russian-oriented. I remember a couple of years ago I accidentally bumped into an elderly lady on Brighton and apologized to her in English (we are in America, after all, or are we not?) - she looked at me like I had just landed from Mars and told me to go get a life (in Russian, of course.)

Easter being one of the main Georgian family-gathering celebrations back in the former Soviet Union, I desperately tried to get real “red” Easter eggs this year and called one of the Georgian restaurants in Brooklyn, hoping I could get my dozen eggs for take out. Indeed, they did have the authentic Easter eggs, but because I asked the first question in English and not Georgian upon calling the restaurant, the owner immediately told me off and threatened that because of my non-Georgian attitude, he’d never sell me anything, including the Easter eggs! I took it as a joke initially, but as it later turned out, he meant it with all his heart and patriotic soul!

Although, there are times when I feel so nostalgic, it’s actually quite nice to be able to drop by, purchase a few Russian books and perhaps even some russkiy CDs and DVDs for “some good times”, accompanied by delicious snacks from one of the local stores - can’t go wrong with the food in the area, that’s for sure!

But to live there…. I don’t know. It seems pointless moving all the way to the US and A from USSR to create a local Russian Republic of Brighton Beach in New York. As a dear friend and a writer/journalist I have immense respect for, Ian Williams, once put it: “If you immigrate the country, you need to keep your language yet acquire the skill and knowledge of the culture in a country that you have moved to, yet you do have to maintain your own roots, as well.”

There is a healthy balance of course, but the question is: where does patriotism end and assimilation begin?