Shaira Angelica Caunda

Features match Curiosity, Contrast, and Connection with the 'Other' AIRA CALINA 28 | NEW READER MAGAZINE Arts and Culture | France I was greeted by a list of French words. Apart from painting titles and flower names, I do not know a lot of French. I clicked on the very first song on this artist’s popular list, which, incidentally, was the only phrase I understood. It was Au revoir. Pretty ironic for a gateway song, but without any expectations whatsoever, I hit play. Next thing I knew I was eight uninterrupted songs deep, and endowed with an understanding no method of translation could ever grant me. The songs were—at least to me—different, but oddly familiar. I would describe some of the instrumental elements to be very light to the ear, like bright xylophone sounds and smooth and trilly guitar tones—almost comparable to background tracks played at massage and spa places. Those would’ve made for proper stops for the songs, had it not been for what made up their other halves. The ear-easy sounds were paired with heavy but calming beats and vocals methodically harmonized to produce eerily inviting chants. I must say I normally would only hear this kind of vocal expression in ultra-experimental tracks or songs with a very select few audiences, except that it’s really not. I doubt it would take a refined listener to get the vibes the songs are going for, although any music buff would surely see their charm. It’s like in each of the two parts of the tracks—the instrumentals and the vocals—are subparts comprised of presumably contrasting but surprisingly congruous details. For some reason, that pairing I would’ve called a mismatch under different circumstances tugged something in me and pulled me deep into that beautiful intricacy. I found myself helplessly stuck in that wonderful labyrinth of a spiderweb. “Listen to her,” a friend said on chat along with a link to a Spotify profile. Without so much as a thoughtless scanning of the words, I clicked on it. When I am afraid of not having the means or the courage to continue when it is necessary to plan for new adventures, it makes me angry to be so anxious. But as you can read me, . . . I have overcome my fear again.” In the same way only a spider can produce such flawless meandering, that music I was neck-deep in could only be produced by one artist. Her name is Ottilie [B]. Growing up in the south of France doing year-ender shows with her family, Ottilie is no stranger to the performing arts. She started writing poetry and songs at a very young age, and even had a hobby of recording sequences on her old cassette set, taking after those she’d hear on the radio. That was her norm, so it wasn’t much of a deal then, when it came to deciding what she wanted to be. One day, in music class, she sang Marie Miriam’s L’oiseau et l’enfant, and an NEW READER MAGAZINE | 29 Features Despite what I have experienced as failures or frustrations, there have also been such beautiful surprises! I find myself lucky, and I thank life, the beautiful encounters on my way!” awakening started within her. “By singing that song, I had my first chills and it seemed obvious,” Ottilie muses. Right then, she had realized this was going to be her job. In the years that followed that very moment, Ottilie has gone on to explore her own style and approach, and as she matured and grew in years, so has her list of influences. Like her music, the names she mentioned as having been her inspirations were diverse and widereaching. The dynamic list includes poet and screenwriter Jacques Prévert and classical composer Mozart (particularly Queen of the Night). Also thrown into the mix are the soul and hip-hop sounds of Nina Simone and The Fugees, respectively; the rock tones of Elvis Presley, Serge Gainsbourg, and Nina Hagen; and psychedelic rock and new wave artists, Janis Joplin, Rita Mitsouko, and The Doors. All those artists and many others, albeit varied, proved to be exactly what she needed to model from. The same way she was inspired, she hopes to be able to instigate in her listeners that thirst to be creative and self-expressive. In fact, she often gives workshops that she also finds absolutely essential to her. So far, we’ve hashed over two facets of this one-woman band’s character, but that’s not even half of what makes her so exceptional. Ottilie loves to travel. In fact, she and that friend who introduced me to her music (let’s give her a name: K) met when they both were travelling. Now, that’s living the dream right there, but while a lot of us would travel to take a break, Ottilie does so because she loves the vulnerability it brings about, which directly influences her creative process. “Every journey is, for me, a very concrete way to approach a spiritual state of availability and creativity; to put myself at risk,” she says. These factors are apparent in Ottilie’s creations. She says she likes making unlikely combinations of sounds or textual materials not necessarily made to meet each other, and describes her music as being made up of singing and world voices, new technology, poetry, quotes, recordings from her meetings and travels, and, my personal favorites, desire for dialogue and strangeness. Ottilie’s music is definitely different, although that’s something she’s very humble about. In fact, when asked to talk about its eccentric nature, she goes, “You think?” She says she still feels “locked in” at times, but I personally think that owes to her very welcoming nature in that she’s open to any and all ideas if it makes her craft any better. To say I managed to keep a straight face getting that for a response would be an outright lie. That unintended obliviousness to one’s own talent always gets to me. It shows their raw honesty and where their heart is in creating that they need not set much time prettying up their image. In fact, the artist-public relationship that most—if not all— artists wish to achieve and immediately go for didn’t initially sit right with Ottilie. “Ideally, I would like the public to have a space where they can find themselves in what I give them to perceive.” Of course 30 | NEW READER MAGAZINE that eventually came to her naturally as time went by, but that fact just further shows why she’s doing what she’s doing: she truly enjoys it. Apart from her divergent influences being stamped onto her works, so much of herself also makes up her craft. “My flaws, my doubts [are reflected on my music], but also my curiosity and the fact that I seek contact, the connection with the ‘other’, and my greed too.” Like any of us, Ottilie has gone through some of life’s worst. The news of her child’s genetic disease made her rethink pursuing her career. From the moment she gave birth, she went on a 3-year break and took the time to care for her daughter. But as in any hero story, she has since come back even bolder than she was to begin with. The age-old maxim “the show must go on” has never rung truer for Ottilie. “When I am afraid of not having the means or the courage to continue when it is necessary to plan for new adventures, it makes me angry to be so anxious. But as you can read me, . . . I have overcome my fear again.” Ottilie has since matured even more—both as an artist, and as a person. “I have more and more pleasure to be on stage, I also look for how not to compare my work with those of other artists’, or to wait for a return that would make me more legitimate.” At this point in her life and career, there’s things she wants to do but can’t exactly decide what to go for first: create, sing, or invest in projects. What’s sure, though, is an exciting brand new album that’s already in the works. “<3” (yes, that’s what it’s called), set to come out within the year, features “new transformations” and a collaboration with cellist Olivier Koundouno, along with a super involved technical and artistic team. “I seek to include more audiences, [like through] FM broadcasting, the participation of those who wish to participate, and music-light interactions. Talk about what connects us to life . . . question our means of communication, [and discuss] our need to be connected and the languages that flow from it.” She will be launching an online subscription for the album, which fans—both old and new ones—can watch out for on her website, ottilieb.com. As grounded as she is, Ottilie admits to having seen all these great things happening to her. “Despite what I have experienced as failures or frustrations, there have also been such beautiful surprises! I find myself lucky, and I thank life, the beautiful encounters on my way!” This woman thrives in the diversity of things, and makes something that surpasses mere sense-making through her great talent and undeniable authenticity. She’s a creative artists of all disciplines can definitely take a life lesson or two from. I am grateful to have been introduced to such an immense showing of humility and greatness, and the perfect balance that seems to be her main ingredient in almost everything. Ultimately, I think Ottilie [B] is and was all of us at some point in our lives. Whichever way we play with the contrasts we’re dealt with will be up to us, and that, dear reader friends, is the beauty of it. Arts and Culture | France NEW READER MAGAZINE | 31