(no subject)
An Interview with Tarja Turunen:
What´s the most difficult thing overall to sing the way you do - for example, reaching the highest octaves or something...?
"No, not at all... Actually reaching your own harmonious and stable well-being, that is. When you are performing as an opera singer, you also have to be natural with yourself and with the whole situation. In order to reach that, it normally takes many years to become one with that kind of situation where you are supposed to perform in the front of 1000-or-so people. It simply isn´t that easy as one could imagine in the first place. If there´s some tension in your body while performing, it´s nearly impossible to sound natural. And learning to sound natural, it´s the most difficult process which takes years - and it has taken even years from me to learn that. This also varies on a daily basis, depending on where you perform or in what mood you are at that time, for example. Last week I had a concert in Romania and since then I haven´t been training my signing at all. Even this week´s break is too long for my voice and I should start rehearsing my voice again soon in order to get it back into good shape. If you don´t train your voice regularly for a quite long while, then your talent to be able to sing, gets rusty. That´s how it simply goes..."
So what do you think of them honestly... I mean Evanescence?
"Well... hmm... I see it as a rather positive thing after all, even if I need to point out they have simply nothing to do with Nightwish´s music. They do a very different thing musically compared to us and I also need to say they are more like a ´product´ in the true sense of the word that was built up by media when the time was right for their type of band. And with that massive promotional organization they had behind them at that time, it was never meant to fail. The timing was absolutely right for them - and nowadays they have become a damn huge name all around the world. But it´s only a positive thing because it seems that finally people are not thinking that conservative way in the music business any longer. And hopefully this more open-minded thinking amongst people in this business is here to stay from now on, keeping the doors open for bands similar like them, y´know. I think that there are always some closed doors inside the world of music that just need to be opened by new bands in order to achieve something different and unique musically. For example, we have been quite a ´gate crasher´ here in Finland by our very distinctive sound as there are no other bands around here in Finland that could sound like us. Just think of all those other Finnish (metal) bands that have also done something unique musically much before Nightwish that have also succeed in doing their own thing without copying or ripping off some other bands musically. I think this is one of the strongest reasons for all that why Finland is such a known country globally as a very Metal-producing country. As long as I can remember, people are always asking what on earth we Finns have in our drinking water because we have always had so many talented and successful Metal bands coming from our country through many years already."
Tarja Turunen commenting on their first album:
"First off, I have to say that it was overall a completely new experience for me to sing on a Heavy Metal record. I hadn´t ever done anything with that type of music before. I was just started taking lessons for a classical signing and it felt kind of strange that I got this somewhat extraordinary opportunity to be a part of something like this, y´know. I wasn´t even quite sure what I was doing back then when I was signing my vocal parts in the studio for Nightwish´s first album. I was really skeptical about myself whether I can even sing my vocal parts for all those songs on that album. I was honestly kind of lost, heh! But luckily everything still went well for me now if I´m looking back to those times. Somehow this once so little classical music student managed to sing her vocal parts for that particular album quite successful way indeed. And I think it was a very unique thing back then to have a female vocalist for a Heavy metal album who even sang classical music."
Tarja Turunen commenting on their second album:
"Gosh...! It was a really demanding and difficult album for me personally as a studio album. It still gives me so creeps when I´m thinking of it, huh! Now when I´m thinking of those times concerning OCEANBORN, in my opinion Tuomas wasn´t that capable of writing song compositions that were especially meant for my type of vocals. That´s what made it a very hard and difficult album to sing. He even wasn´t aware of a wide range of my vocal skills back then. I think if you are a singer, it´s very important that a composer of songs has also ability to pay attention to certain vocalists´ needs to be able to sing his creations ´coz vocals are also one of those instruments there just like guitar or drums are. Nowadays Tuomas knows exactly how to write songs for my vocal parts, too - and I feel really comfortable singing them. He has also admitted to me that how easy it is actually for him to write new songs for Nightwish nowadays, now when he knows how I´m able to sing his songs he has written as far as my vocal parts are concerned. I remember when I was singing my vocal parts for OCEANBORN, I was sitting and crying on the floor and the other guys were yelling to me: “Sing, dammit...!!”. (*laughs*) It was quite a tough experience for me after all to get my vocals recorded for that album, but on the other hand the songs on OCEANBORN are also quite complex and difficult structure-wise all in all, even for all of us. My own skills to sing that kind of music were quite limited at that time, let´s say, compared to the current times what I can do with my vocals within the music of Nightwish. There´s a huge difference there, I can tell. It would be very nice for me to sing my vocal parts for OCEANBORN all over again some day so that people could hear and realize how differently I would be able to sing all those songs on that particular album in the first place. Back then, however, I was still going to school and I had not that big chance to practice my voice as much as I´m doing nowadays. But still compared to our first album, I had developed and matured as a singer on OCEANBORN; I was more self-confident about myself and we had already done tours in Europe and even in South-America for OCEANBORN for the very first time with Nightwish. All that of course gave me more experience and self-confidence for me to do music with the band and naturally the whole band had become more secure and trustful about the music we did back then. OCEANBORN was also that sort of an album for many people who thought that it was a truly magnificent and overall fantastic album from us, causing some “Wow!” -feelings in many people..."
Tarja Turunen commenting on Nightwish's newest album:
"I´m personally most satisfied and happiest with ONCE so far. I would be lying if I said the rest of the band wouldn´t think the same way. So yeah, I must say that I actually feel pretty confident about this album and hopefully our fans would like the album and appreciate all our efforts we put into it, too. This is the first time for me personally when I can proudly say I´m 100% satisfied with my vocal parts on this album specifically. Now I feel like my voice on ONCE is as natural and relaxed as it can be in the first place and I don´t sound ´forced´ or ´artificial´ as I partly tend to sound on our previous albums. And this is actually what I have tried to achieve for Nightwish albums for so many years already. First of all, keep in mind this once so little and fragile girl who started studying classical singing, has grown up A) from that little girl to a woman during the whole career of Nightwish. I was very young when I started in Nightwish as a vocalist. Then B) this little girl has matured and progressed as a singer during all these years in Nightwish and right at the very moment I could say that nothing seems to be impossible for me any more as far as some certain vocal techniques and stuff are concerned. I have pretty much achieved many those things vocal-wise what I actually have been looking for all these years for my singing. I feel really comfortable with my vocals on ONCE for the very 1st time in Nightwish and that´s the thing what makes me really happy."
What´s the most difficult thing overall to sing the way you do - for example, reaching the highest octaves or something...?
"No, not at all... Actually reaching your own harmonious and stable well-being, that is. When you are performing as an opera singer, you also have to be natural with yourself and with the whole situation. In order to reach that, it normally takes many years to become one with that kind of situation where you are supposed to perform in the front of 1000-or-so people. It simply isn´t that easy as one could imagine in the first place. If there´s some tension in your body while performing, it´s nearly impossible to sound natural. And learning to sound natural, it´s the most difficult process which takes years - and it has taken even years from me to learn that. This also varies on a daily basis, depending on where you perform or in what mood you are at that time, for example. Last week I had a concert in Romania and since then I haven´t been training my signing at all. Even this week´s break is too long for my voice and I should start rehearsing my voice again soon in order to get it back into good shape. If you don´t train your voice regularly for a quite long while, then your talent to be able to sing, gets rusty. That´s how it simply goes..."
So what do you think of them honestly... I mean Evanescence?
"Well... hmm... I see it as a rather positive thing after all, even if I need to point out they have simply nothing to do with Nightwish´s music. They do a very different thing musically compared to us and I also need to say they are more like a ´product´ in the true sense of the word that was built up by media when the time was right for their type of band. And with that massive promotional organization they had behind them at that time, it was never meant to fail. The timing was absolutely right for them - and nowadays they have become a damn huge name all around the world. But it´s only a positive thing because it seems that finally people are not thinking that conservative way in the music business any longer. And hopefully this more open-minded thinking amongst people in this business is here to stay from now on, keeping the doors open for bands similar like them, y´know. I think that there are always some closed doors inside the world of music that just need to be opened by new bands in order to achieve something different and unique musically. For example, we have been quite a ´gate crasher´ here in Finland by our very distinctive sound as there are no other bands around here in Finland that could sound like us. Just think of all those other Finnish (metal) bands that have also done something unique musically much before Nightwish that have also succeed in doing their own thing without copying or ripping off some other bands musically. I think this is one of the strongest reasons for all that why Finland is such a known country globally as a very Metal-producing country. As long as I can remember, people are always asking what on earth we Finns have in our drinking water because we have always had so many talented and successful Metal bands coming from our country through many years already."
Tarja Turunen commenting on their first album:
"First off, I have to say that it was overall a completely new experience for me to sing on a Heavy Metal record. I hadn´t ever done anything with that type of music before. I was just started taking lessons for a classical signing and it felt kind of strange that I got this somewhat extraordinary opportunity to be a part of something like this, y´know. I wasn´t even quite sure what I was doing back then when I was signing my vocal parts in the studio for Nightwish´s first album. I was really skeptical about myself whether I can even sing my vocal parts for all those songs on that album. I was honestly kind of lost, heh! But luckily everything still went well for me now if I´m looking back to those times. Somehow this once so little classical music student managed to sing her vocal parts for that particular album quite successful way indeed. And I think it was a very unique thing back then to have a female vocalist for a Heavy metal album who even sang classical music."
Tarja Turunen commenting on their second album:
"Gosh...! It was a really demanding and difficult album for me personally as a studio album. It still gives me so creeps when I´m thinking of it, huh! Now when I´m thinking of those times concerning OCEANBORN, in my opinion Tuomas wasn´t that capable of writing song compositions that were especially meant for my type of vocals. That´s what made it a very hard and difficult album to sing. He even wasn´t aware of a wide range of my vocal skills back then. I think if you are a singer, it´s very important that a composer of songs has also ability to pay attention to certain vocalists´ needs to be able to sing his creations ´coz vocals are also one of those instruments there just like guitar or drums are. Nowadays Tuomas knows exactly how to write songs for my vocal parts, too - and I feel really comfortable singing them. He has also admitted to me that how easy it is actually for him to write new songs for Nightwish nowadays, now when he knows how I´m able to sing his songs he has written as far as my vocal parts are concerned. I remember when I was singing my vocal parts for OCEANBORN, I was sitting and crying on the floor and the other guys were yelling to me: “Sing, dammit...!!”. (*laughs*) It was quite a tough experience for me after all to get my vocals recorded for that album, but on the other hand the songs on OCEANBORN are also quite complex and difficult structure-wise all in all, even for all of us. My own skills to sing that kind of music were quite limited at that time, let´s say, compared to the current times what I can do with my vocals within the music of Nightwish. There´s a huge difference there, I can tell. It would be very nice for me to sing my vocal parts for OCEANBORN all over again some day so that people could hear and realize how differently I would be able to sing all those songs on that particular album in the first place. Back then, however, I was still going to school and I had not that big chance to practice my voice as much as I´m doing nowadays. But still compared to our first album, I had developed and matured as a singer on OCEANBORN; I was more self-confident about myself and we had already done tours in Europe and even in South-America for OCEANBORN for the very first time with Nightwish. All that of course gave me more experience and self-confidence for me to do music with the band and naturally the whole band had become more secure and trustful about the music we did back then. OCEANBORN was also that sort of an album for many people who thought that it was a truly magnificent and overall fantastic album from us, causing some “Wow!” -feelings in many people..."
Tarja Turunen commenting on Nightwish's newest album:
"I´m personally most satisfied and happiest with ONCE so far. I would be lying if I said the rest of the band wouldn´t think the same way. So yeah, I must say that I actually feel pretty confident about this album and hopefully our fans would like the album and appreciate all our efforts we put into it, too. This is the first time for me personally when I can proudly say I´m 100% satisfied with my vocal parts on this album specifically. Now I feel like my voice on ONCE is as natural and relaxed as it can be in the first place and I don´t sound ´forced´ or ´artificial´ as I partly tend to sound on our previous albums. And this is actually what I have tried to achieve for Nightwish albums for so many years already. First of all, keep in mind this once so little and fragile girl who started studying classical singing, has grown up A) from that little girl to a woman during the whole career of Nightwish. I was very young when I started in Nightwish as a vocalist. Then B) this little girl has matured and progressed as a singer during all these years in Nightwish and right at the very moment I could say that nothing seems to be impossible for me any more as far as some certain vocal techniques and stuff are concerned. I have pretty much achieved many those things vocal-wise what I actually have been looking for all these years for my singing. I feel really comfortable with my vocals on ONCE for the very 1st time in Nightwish and that´s the thing what makes me really happy."