YAHZARAH

Interview 1 June 2002 (Part one - below) and 16 August (Part two)

Interviews Menu - Interviews

16 August (Part two)

L&S-Anything to say to the UK? Any chance of a UK deal, or a UK visit maybe?

Y-Well, I won't say because I don't want to limit what God can do. I would love to come to the UK and
deliver a Yah performance. Whenever you want me tocome and give a show, I'll be there.

L&S-Tell me about the album-how it came about, thepeople involved.

Y-It was a situation in place where I kept pestering Chip Shearin. when i was a student at North Carolina
Central University. Chip kept telling me I wasn't ready so I went out on my own and did a couple of
projects and of course Chip blasted it. But it got the fire lit under ass Chip's ass that he needed to
produce me. The project was initially supposed to be somewhat of a small project, but as time went on, it
grew into something special. We started shopping the project around to different labels but after a while
Chip decided that he wanted his own label and he wanted me to be his first artist. There were many
people who've worked really hard to get this album out there to the people through the ups and downs of the
label. But I believe everything worked now we that we have a major label (Warner Bros.) distributing the
project.

L&S-You wrote a lot or at least co-wrote a lot of the material. Tell me about that.

Y - I had a really good opportunity for God to pour songs into me. I say God poured the songs into me
because most of the songs were freestyles. I had no idea what would come out of my mouth. Chip also
brought some talented people in to help me write "Rooftop" and "Firefly".

L&S-Chip Shearin. He produced the album and was/is heavily involved in most everything. Tell me about
him.

Y-Well chip is an accomplished bassist. he's played for artist such as Madonna and Toni Braxton. He also
played bass on "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang. And more than being just an accomplished
bassist, he's a very good producer. He created a synergy and family environment that made me very
comfortable to sing. To get that kind of synergy, you usually have to shag the producer or their musicians,
but I was fortunate enough to sidestep all of that. Chip was always honest about the album and what
direction he wanted to take me vocally.

L&S-He spotted you while you were in college?

Y-I was taking a music industry class under Chip at North Carolina Central University. Chip was a professor there.

L&S-What about the label-is that Chip's or yours? Are there any other artists involved?

Y-No, Keo isn't my label. I'm just their first baby. At this particular time, There aren't any other
artists on the label but I know Chip is building plans to get talented aritsts as soon as possible.

L&S-What was working with Bob Baldwin like? I just go a hold of his new album. Do you see yourself in a
jazzier arena?

Y-I won't limit myself to doing just one type of music. I've been trained both classically and jazz, to be artistic. I would be remiss to say that I would go into a jazz area right now. Honestly, my heart is in a funkier place. Bob and I didn't get the chance to work as close i'd have liked. I was on the road when he did most of his tracks so they were already
laid out for me. The times I did work with him, he was very humble and honest. I hope we got to work closer in the future.

L&S-Have you done many gigs to promote the album? Big up yourself!

Y-I've done too many to count at this point. The one that sticks out is the show I did in Chicago. Only
250 people were expected to show up but over 500 were there and the club had to close the doors. It was a
two-show deal and the crowd was so into both shows. Plus, they knew all of my songs! It was a great
feeling to be received like that.

L&S-Any current artists you like?

Y-I love Omar, a UK import. I would hope someday we'd get to work together. My newest campaign is for
Tweet. To be honest, "Oops!" isn't an adequate representation of her. There's a new artist by the Timdaybe from New York who's doing some good work. And also an unknown producer named Damion Reed who's putting it down. Also, people like Bilal are creating a presence in the industry that's based on being vocally pleasing and instead of just visually, and they can't be denied.

L&S-What does the year ahead look like? What plans do you have?

Y-I plan to knock 'em dead and not be denied and allow God to work through me to heal the world through my
music. And to keep people's heads knodding and asses shaking for eternity. [laughs]

Anything else you'd like to add?

I'd like to thank Soul Brother Records for putting me on their complilation album. I found it in Cologne,
Germany and I cried when it saw it. Also, I can't wait to get to the UK and put it down with a Yah performance that you'll never forget.

1 June 2002 (Part one)

L&S - Starting at the beginning -- you were born in Washington, D.C., and moved to North Carolina and you're still there. Is that right?

Y - Yes, I was born and raised in D.C. And I recently moved back there, although the move is probably
temporary.

L&S - Tell me about your upbringing, and the move and how this built your musical career.

Y - Well, let's start with D.C., and my family. I am my mother's only child and 1 of 6 girls on my father's
side. My whole family has been blessed with a great deal of talent. My grandfather was a music teacher
who played an array of instruments, my grandmother a concert pianist, my mother has a beautiful soprano
voice and at one time played violin. Also, my uncle was a child prodigy pianist, my biological father plays guitar and sings and my stepfather plays jazzflute. So you could say I was blessed to have good genetic
beginnings. My stepfather used to be a DJ in the late 70's at Howard University and had a wide collection of
music from Parliament/Funkdelic to Flora Purium, so I was blessed with a well-rounded love for all music. I
didn't start singing in front of large numbers of people until I was seven years old. I was so small,
they had to pick me up after I sang so the [church] congregation see me. I believe the church is a crash
course in soul that you can't live without, and those years had a great deal to do with my sound.

I was also listening to gospel singers like LaSun Pace Rhodes, the Clark Sisters and Kim Burrell. I firmly
believe that a great deal of the high-voiced soul and R&B singers you hear today were listening to them
also, because I hear them in [today's singers] voices. In my early teens, I started studying classical
music and would continue to do so until I graduated from high school.
I started attending the Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts in 1994 for voice and ended up also
studying dance and theater in my spare time. I truely learned work ethic and discipline at that school. I
wish everyone could have had that type of high school experience. While there, I became a member of two
groups; one with some older kids from Howard University called ENTYME. We were the best co-ed
group that never got signed. They introduced me to soul and shaped a great deal of the YahZarah you know
today. And a group at my high school called Hidden Image helped me hone my skills as a lead singer. In
that band, I also did a great deal of my [own] writing.

And now we come to North Carolina. I know you thought I would never get there. (lol) The [high school]
group, Hidden Image, brought me to North Carolina Central University. All of us had applied to different colleges but [NCCU] was the only one that accepted all eight of us and with full scholarships at that. And it didn't hurt that they had a devine jazz program, which is what my major interest was in. So we took our caravan to NC and there started the years of living, loving, learning and growing that would produce YahZarah and later, "Hear Me".

L&S - Are you full-time or do you do anything else?

Y - Yes, I am full-time. Other than my work with Erykah [Badu]. And it can be lean sometimes but it
gives me the flexibility to perform and create as I need to. Nothing worth anything has ever happened
without a little sweat and sacrifice.

L&S - Who were/are your influences?

Y - As I said before, many of the voices of the church like Kim Burrell and Karen Clark-Sherd. Soul singers
like Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. Most current influences include funky folks
like James Brown, George Clinton, Chaka Khan, Sly Stone, George Duke and Frank Zappa. In fact, those
are the people who are truely influencing the shit out of my music and shows right now. The music is gritty
and reeks of old church sounds that I feel in the pit of my stomach -- the kind of stuff that makes your
nose wrinkle up.

L&S - Tell me about the name.

I met my father when I was fourteen years old and I have mad love for him. When we met, he named me after
my now deceased grandmother, Nana Yah Agynocomah. She passed when she was 103 years old and I was never able to meet her. But I've been told I have her spirit. Well, in 1998, I was starting the beginning of my
adult puberty; that time where a woman is emerging from the cocoon of a little girl to womanhood. And to
mark those changes, I wanted to shed everything that was old and embrace the new me. So I revived my
Nana's name and added Zarah, which is the Arabic translation of my grandmother's name on my mother's
side, Sarah. So with Yah meaning "Queen mother" and Zarah meaning "Blossom and brightest star", I became YahZarah, "Queen mother is the brightest star". It was the start of everything I wanted my transition
into womanhood to be. Your name is your confession. The conformation [for me] is my birth name, Dana,
which means either "brightest star" or "Danish boy". I go with "Brightest star". (lol)

L&S - "Hear Me" is your first album isn't it? Have you done anything prior to that, recording wise?

Y - Yes. I did some recording with my first group ENTYME, that was ahead of its time. And some
recordings with my last group, Hidden Image, both of which were very good and helped my growth. I
sometimes go back and listen to them to see where I've come from.

L&S - You worked with Erykah Badu -- How did that come about? Where did that take you and what was it like?

Y - It really was a wild situation that manifested my job with "E". In the summer of '98, I got a call from her now music director, Eugene Young. He and I were in the group ENTYME together and he told me that
Erykah needed a soprano and that she wanted somebody from Texas (her native state) and he wanted somebody good. He asked could I be in Dallas on a Sunday. I jumped at it, but I was basically broke, so my mother and I emptied out our purses and pockets and put together enough money for a stand-by flight. I tried out for "E" on a Monday and was on the road having learned 14 songs by that Wednesday. And the rest is
4" years of history. Thank God she loved my voice. I had no way back to D.C. (lol)

L&S - What was Erykah like and is there anything likely in the future for you two?

Y - Erykah is a devine soul who I have had the pleasure of watching grow over this four-year period. She listens to Earth and then sings. Tour with her gave me the chance to watch someone evolve firsthand. I love what her music did for me and does for others. And to speak of the future, we'll see.

L&S - Is there any connection with N'Dambi or Karen Bernod?

Y - I had the pleasure of working beside N'Dambi on tour and she is a powerhouse of talent as werll as
just a good spirit. It was a joy to work with her. I never got a chance to work with Karen, but her rep
precedes her and y'all already know she's on her shit. I can't wait to hear more.

L&S - You, or the album is very much in the nu-soul arena. Is that where you see yourself or is that
direction partially driven by the Erykah thing? Don't get me wrong. I think your style fits very well into
this but wondered whether you saw yourself somewhere else perhaps?

Y - Firstly, let me break this down so that it is forever broken. I worked for and with Erykah for a
long time and in fact, I own up to the fact that the influence is there. But I say that loosely because I
believe that at the end of the day on my project, you "Hear Me". I would also say that this first cd could
be neo-soul if we must put it in a box. But the truth is, I see myself going somewhere else. The beauty of
"Hear Me", is that it and its sound is only one chapter in the book of what I have to give and the next chapter, I guess you'll have to wait and hear. I"m most definitely it deeper into something that will make your back arch, your neck jerk, and your ass shake a little harder. I think you'll evolve with me.

L&S - How's the album done down at home and abroad.

Y - There's been some interest in the UK, but I don't know how this has translated into sales. But some UK
outlets were/are stocking it.

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