Diane Nalini: Jazz singer, Ukulele Player and Educator, Composer, Scientist
Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman
04/23/22
•105m
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Diane Nalini is an incredibly nuanced jazz singer, and composer. She performs in 4 languages and teaches jazz ukulele as well. I hope you’ll join me in my fascination with the incredible range of Diane’s interests and expertise. Besides being a phenomenal musician she also is a Rhodes scholar with Phd in Applied Physics from Oxford university and presently works in environmental science policy for the Canadian government. Not only is she a great lyricist, but she has also written songs inspired by great literature including Shakespeare, in jazz, blues, gospel, folk and bossa nova styles. During this conversation, she performs some of her original songs for us, and I’ve added timestamps in the description of the episode for the many interesting topics we touched on as well as her incredible performances.
The video version is linked here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/e12-s2-diane-nalini
Diane Nalini's website: https://www.dianenalini.com/about/
Give me a tip? You can get access to unique perks: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Thanks!
Timestamps:
(00:00 Intro)
(00:53) Shakespeare “Songs of Sweet Fire”
(03:30) Rhodes scholar, and Chinese calligraphy and watercolour painting with Virginia Chang, Bill Evans
(08:07) paintings for “Songs of Sweet Fire”, role as album producer
(10:55) Diane’s experience as a dancer and also starting to sing jazz songs at 3 years of age, also her experience of strict piano lessons
(14:18) National Ballet School summer program experience
(15:49) first professional jazz gigs
(16:57) Science mentors at Dawson College Richard Shoemaker and John Mohamed
(17:58) intro to her baritone ukulele and “Winter Eclipse”
(19:04) Song “Winter Eclipse”
(23:13) discussion of her song “Kiss Me Like That” and astronomy
(26:18) Diane’s work for Environment, Climate Change Canada
(28:13) discussion of her song “The Last Hurrah”
(29:50) discussion of the challenges for individuals to limit consumption
(34:48) jazz ukulele, Diane’s YouTube Ukulele for Jazz Singers, her workshops and teaching
(39:48) teaching and performing online, connecting with people worldwide
(41:37) learning Portuguese
(47:23) Syncspace Live with husband Adrian Cho
(56:00) some advantages to online teaching
(58:02) introduction to song “Le Tournesol”
(58:58) Song “Le Tournesol”
(01:02:01) discussion about languages, etymology, Diane’s father
(01:06:13) singing Schubert Lieder, learning German
(01:10:52) turning down a recording contract offer, balancing a life in Science and Music
(01:14:39) producing her first album, the process of putting together albums
(01:16:34) making new musical connections in England, joining a salsa band
(01:22:04) Diane’s ukulele made by Luis Feu de Mesquita, also history of the ukulele
(01:29:36) Future Perfect album, pandemic challenges, new songs
(01:33:42) Diane’s creative process and memory for music
(01:38:19) Diane’s music in movies and tv shows
(01:41:01) how listeners interpret songs so differently, including her song “After Dusk”
photo credit: Adrian Cho
Previous Episode
Kirsty Money: Nyckelharpa
April 20, 2022
•23m
I'm re-releasing my very first episode, recorded May 27, 2021 with the wonderful nyckelharpa player, violinist, teacher, and composer Kirsty Money.
During the episode she plays some wonderful music for us and shares some charming stories about how she got to know this beautiful and unusual instrument. All of these episodes are also in video format, and I have also published the complete transcript of this episode.
Video, transcript and short bonus episodes are linked here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/e1s1kirstymoney
Help me with a tip? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Thanks! I'm an independant podcaster who does all the things, and pays for all the things!
photo credit: Hamish Gordon
Next Episode
Jesse Stewart is an award-winning percussionist, scholar, composer, artist, writer, instrument-maker and community activist. In 2012 he founded “We Are All Musicians” founded on his belief that music is a fundamental human right, through which he helps create opportunites for people to make music regardless of age, musical training, socio-economic circumstance and ability. During the conversation he demonstrates how any object can be used to create interesting music, and we also get to hear him improvise on a waterphone, as well as with me on my violin, with a unique instrument which he explains. I do hope you’ll find Jesse to be as inspiring and interesting as I do! Below are timestamps for all the topics we covered.
The video is close-captioned and the transcript will be published soon, at the same link on my podcast website: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/jesse-stewart-e13-s2-percussionist-composer-community-activist-artist-writer-instrument-builder
Jesse Stewart website: https://www.jessestewart.ca/home.html
Please help me with a tip? https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman
photo credit: Michele McMillan
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(01:50) percussion
(03:48) waterphone
(07:06) discussion of Pulse water dripping on drum head
(09:18) intersection of visual art and music, Reinhard Reitzenstein, Gayle Young, Suzy Lake
(12:09) building a vibraphone
(14:31) Glacialis ice music
(16:43) exploring boxes and balloons, and different instruments in teaching orchestration
(26:28) studies in composition and ethnomusicology James Tenney, David Mott, Rob Bowman
(32:07) recovering from brain surgery, making videos of many different instruments and found objects like canoe paddles
(37:35) demonstration of different found objects
(42:20) snare drum compositions with demonstration of sonic exploration with wrenches
(46:06) Community activism: We Are All Musicians
(49:16) Adaptive Use Musical Instrument, Pauline Oliveros
(56:38) improv with violin, waterphone and the gongs with the AUMI
(01:100:32) Ajay Heble and upcoming book about the pedagogy of musical improvisation
(01:07:38) improv with dancers, cellist Peggy Lee, Propeller Dance, Natasha Bakht
(01:11:56) notating the drum studies, discussion of jazz drumming, Elvin Jones
(01:20:43) fond memories of playing with Kevin Breit, Matt Brubeck, David Mott, William Partker, playing for the Dalai Lama
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