MP3 Jennifer Filzen - Sirena

A terrific debut CD with pop, dance, techno, folk, and blues influences. Check it out.

11 MP3 Songs
POP: Pop, URBAN/R&B: R&B Pop Crossover



Details:
From the time she could speak, Jennifer Filzen has been singing. Over time, she moved from performing popular standards to creating her own lyrics, drawn from her life.

As a child, her musical talents wowed friends, family, and ultimately, professional choral groups that featured her performances throughout the East Coast. Trained in opera and jazz, her passion for different musical genres has allowed her to blend eclectic influences into one unique voice. Her vocal power and nuances reflect her love for Bossa Nova, Folk, Flamenco, World Music, Jazz standards, Classical, and contemporary popular music.

Singing wasnât enough! She nurtured other talents as well, namely dancing and drumming. For more than 20 years, Jennifer has performed many different styles of dance, and was the drummer in her first band, âThe Blandâ.

Destined to be a singer, however, Jennifer is finally turning her first love and talent into ambition. A combination of destiny and determination led her to begin work on her own musical expression, while partnering with guitarist, Antonio Tinsay, and one of the San Francisco Bay Areaâs top producers, Vince Hudson.

Her sound, developed with guitar pro Antonio Tinsay, blends clean, acoustic quality with sensual and soulful vocals. When their work is combined with Vince Hudsonâs talents, their music gets toes tapping and fingers snapping. Jennifer Filzenâs powerful voice and lyrical sincerity are just a few of the qualities that will draw you to this emerging artist.

Here is an article about Jennifer Filzen from HIU Magazine, May, 2007:

Hitting the Right Notes

Jennifer Filzen has always loved singing, but lately her interest in music has amplified dramatically. In 2006 she sang in The Big CAHUna Band at NAHUâs Convention in San Francisco. Then she started writing lyrics. Then she met a musician and formed her own group. Now sheâs releasing her first album of original songs this month.

Itâs been a big year.

âI kind of fell into this,â she said. âIâve been singing since birthâI went to college on a music scholarship singing opera, then I ended up getting an education degree and getting a masterâs in history. But I missed the whole creative side. So after I finished my masterâs degree, I started doing more creative things like jazz singing and jazz and tap dancing. Iâve been formally trained in opera and jazz, but I like everythingâpop and jazz and hip-hop.

âThe thing that really got this whole thing rolling was that I went through a divorce. I needed to purge some emotions, so I started writing poetry for the very first time in my life. April of last year was the first time I ever wrote poetry.â

While surfing on Craigâs List, she noticed a musician who was looking for a female lyricist with a unique voice. She responded and soon met him at Starbucks, where their styles clicked. That was May; by summer, theyâd started working on composing music.

All of their work is the guitaristâs original music and Filzenâs original lyrics. Soon after meeting, the two found a producer with 20 years of industry experience. Filzen stepped into the recording studio for the first time on September 11 to begin work on an album.

âIt comes pretty easily to us,â she said. âWhatâs so amazing is itâs come together so easily, especially for someone whoâs never done this before.â

The 11 songs on the album range from jazz to folk to techno to dance, upbeat and introspective, a collage of styles and moods. âItâs everything but country,â say says. âAnd I donât really do rap.â

Every song is dominated by Filzenâs clear, smooth tones. Sheâs been called âa happier Alanis Morissette,â with other listeners comparing her to singers from Sheryl Crow to Jewel to Norah Jones and Joni Mitchell.

âI apparently have a unique enough sound that nobody tells me the same one,â she said. âPeople ask what kind of style it is, and I say itâs hard to put myself in any category and harder to fit my music into one.â

She calls her music âinspirational.â

âIâve gone through some stuff, and hereâs what Iâve learned from it,â she said. âIâve learned to let go. Iâve learned a lot about love. Itâs all positive stuff.â

The order of things, she admits, is âa little backwards.â She and her guitarist have created an album before creating a band. Other than the guitar, the instrumental parts of the album are added electronically. But after the release of the album, Filzen will begin assembling a full cadre of drummer and bass and organ players. By fall she hopes for live performances with a full band.

In the editing process now, sheâs been focusing more on polishing and promoting the first album than creating more music.

âItâs easier to write something when youâre sad than when youâre happy,â she said. âAnd Iâm really happy right now. I do want to work on a second album, but everything you do has its ebb and flow. I went through this huge rush of creativity, and now that creativityâs going to start taking a backseat to promoting.â

She started a record labelâAsilomar Recordsâbecause she didnât want to wait for an existing label to discover her. (The photos on the album were taken in Asilomar Beach on the Monterey Peninsula. âAsilomarâ means ârefuge by the seaâ.) The first album is called âSirena,â which is âmermaidâ in Spanish. Filzen realized two years ago that, working with supplemental benefits, she was losing out on the entire Latin community because of the language barrier. So she started taking Spanish.

âNow that Iâve improved my Spanish, Iâve improved my business,â she said.

Sheâs threaded Spanish through her music as well, though itâs only a light smattering.

She credits her family for instilling a sense of adventure in her. Her mother, Lydia Hawke, is an author with three books published, one of which is in the process of being turned into a feature film, âFiretrailâ, scheduled for release this summer.

âI thought, âMy mom has followed her dream⦠so why shouldnât I be following mine?ââ

To find out more about Filzenâs music or to order a CD, visit www.jenniferfilzen.com.


Tags: pop