Cynthia Abraham : Thanks to Flashmag for having me as a guest this month , and for this great introduction . So , what brings me to music ? I was born into a family of musicians , so naturally , from an early age I bathed in music ; also , it was quite logical for me to make the music .
You studied the piano and the transverse flute . From an early age , at that time did you think about a career in jazz what was your childhood dream when you started music ?
Cynthia Abraham : No , I ' ve never been drawn to the fleeting star system , glitz and media , that hasn ' t always been my goal . I ' ve always wanted to make a living from my art . the world of jazz has always attracted me ; it corresponds to my idea of music and the artist . When you are an artist , you have doubts for me it was not doubts linked to my choice to do Jazz . It was doubts like we all have . Am I in the right direction of my artistic creation ? Do I make a living from my art ? and so on .
Cynthia Abraham : No , not really . When I was studying flute , piano and singing , as a young child I never asked the question , in fact I never thought about it . It was later in adolescence that the vocation to make music was a rmed in fact it was after watching the movie Sister Act , with all these young people who sang at the end that the feeling of making it my job became a real option .
After a solid academic training , you completed your apprenticeship with several Diplomas in Musical Studies . A simple question . It takes talent to learn music , for sure , however some people rely solely on talent , and manage to enter the profession for better or for worse . What is the added value that learning music in university brings to the artist ? Cynthia Abraham : This already allows us to speak the same language with instrumentalists . Some singers su er from not being able to communicate technically with instrumentalists , to speak in other words of score , time signature , harmonic , or key ... that first facilitates the dialogue during projects ... In music schools , we also meet a lot of people who create an extremely important professional network , in this profession which is really a word-of-mouth profession . Besides , it brings confidence in your potential . Anyway , we ' re all a bit self-taught , even when we ' ve been through schools . It is important to develop your musical instinct on your own , and academic knowledge is in fact a plus in the methodology .
By choosing to make a career in Jazz , a genre that has a very select audience , and therefore necessarily , is not always very popular , haven ' t you had some apprehensions about that ; at a time when some peoples want to be stars , before being artist ?
In building your career , what influences have been important in defining the artist you are today ?
Cynthia Abraham : My influences are multiple , since the style of my music is multiple . In jazz circles of course there is Ella Fitzgerald , Sarah Vaughan . And of course , the new generation like Esperanza Spalding , Gretchen Parlato , a capella jazz groups like Tekst , Humanopone … I ' m a big fan of D ’ Angelo too , even if my album doesn ' t go in that direction . In the world music , I love Richard Bona , Mayra Andrade , Étienne Mbappe . In the song I adore Camille , Mathieu Boogaerts … all the jazz men who have succeeded in mixing Creole music and Jazz , such as Mario Canonge , Tony Chasseur … I am inspired by Gwoka music , and of course many other musicians who have crossed my path ; I am greatly grateful to them … this album is specially , Jazz , Chanson , World music … Multi-instrumentalist you nevertheless like to put your voice at the service of the music in particular by collaborating on the project of other artists even if we sometimes forget that the voice is an instrument , is there a di erence in your state of mind when you collaborate ? in a project with someone else , and when you ' re working on your own project ? Cynthia Abraham : yes , there is a di erence when I lend my voice which is an instrument in its own right , I place myself at the disposal of the artist while remaining very sincere with myself , and my way of singing . I come with the goal of sticking to what the artist in front of me wants . In my own projects I am in a personal creative process , more intimate therefore . The more I advance in my career , the easier and more obvious my collaborations are . The more people know me , the more they call me for projects that suit me better .
Flashmag ! Issue 123 November 2021
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