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Anastasia wears quite a few hats, like the songwriter's hat has
a few feathers, and the singer's hat is just red, the teacher hat
is a burette type, environmentalist hat is made of recycled paper
and many more. She is never bored of the varied life she is living.
Her biggest dream of all is to succeed in the music business, to
write great songs that people will say: "I discovered an amazing
song yesterday, listen to this" about, sell an outrageous number
of CD's, so people in the music business will drop her name all
over saying: "That Anastasia girl topped all indie sales, and
she did it all by herself!" and leave people many memory songs.
"I'd love for people to listen to one of my songs and say "This
was our wedding song", or "This is my summer of '99 song",
if that ever happens, that'll be a dream come true" says Anastasia
about her fantasy of success.
When Anastasia came from Russia in September of 1998, her life
changed dramatically. Leaving life long friends at 12 years of age
was heartbreaking, at the same time teaching Anastasia a great lesson
about friendships, and gifting her with one of her newest songs
called "Living in the Memory":
"There's one thing that we've realized.
It's never like it used to be,
Tears run down the face,
But it's never like the good old days."
"This song is about understanding the reality of time, and
that although I always imagine going back and reconciling with my
friends, it won't be as I see it in my mind – it won't be
a dream like I imagine it to be."
Anastasia started writing songs in grade 8 – ultimately bored
in history class; ideas started developing themselves into poems,
which later became songs. "I had no idea how to put music to
songs, although I knew how to play classical piano, which is reading
sheet music, and not improvisational at all. I found out about a
songwriting contest with a very close deadline, so under pressure
I sat at my piano and came up with some music which weren't even
chords, but just notes that sounded good together, sang the words
that I've written to it, and I was on my way!" Now Anastasia's
songs have developed to have very fascinating chord changes and
mostly love themed lyrics.
Everything worked out for Anastasia positively so far, fitting
like a puzzle – learning piano which became a part of Anastasia's
adventure, boredom in class leading to songwriting, vocal discovery
after coming to Canada and Anastasia is still not finished discovering
all the musical avenues she is going to live through (orchestration,
film scoring, music production and much more.)
After coming from Russia in 1998, Anastasia kept studying music
after realizing this is a talent to be developed further. Within
last 6 years Anastasia turned from talented child into promising
performing artist and songwriter. While living in Ottawa she worked
hard to improve her talent by taking classes in vocal, song-writing
and other music aspects. Now she is recording an album to showcase
her vocals as well as songwriting talents.
Anastasia sings originals and cover songs at her concerts. She
also takes requests for her concerts, but asks a minimum two weeks
so she can learn the tunes. The soulful voice smoothly runs over
the notes, the piano chords jump where they aren't expected.
Anastasia was recently invited to sing on the National TV Show
on CTV 'Good Morning Canada'.
Where were you born? I was born in Russia, in
a town called Novouralsk.
Where
do you live now? Right now, I am living in Ottawa, Canada.
It's really great and there are many opportunities here, the dollar
store being one of them.
Do
you have any hobbies? Music, practicing my singing, playing
the piano, etc... I also enjoy reading just about anything,
from stories to non-fiction (everything from biology to "How
to go camping").
What
are your favourite bands/artists? There are so many artists
today it is crazy hard to choose. Lately I've been exposed to Symphony
X, but I still stick to my old enjoyment bands: Maroon 5, Aerosmith,
Bryan Adams.
What
first got you interested in music? When I was about 3/
4 years old, I was in a dance/singing/theatre group. I was with
them until I decided to drop out at 7 years old to enter a music
school where I studied for 5 years. I learned a lot about playing
the piano and singing in choir, theory and music history. I hated
playing the piano, but my parents forced me to keep at it. They
always said that I would thank them for it later. I do now. I am
so grateful that I know how to play the piano because now I can
accompany myself in my own compositions. I now also know theory
thanks to Canterbury High School and Carleton University. I became
interested in music as a career when a friend, Alina, received two
free tickets to a Britney Spears concert. The sweet girl picked
me to go with her. It was the most wonderful thing in the world!
I was beyond inspired and just ready to go in the right direction.
After that, I just kept practicing and practicing and practicing...I
rediscovered R&B, rock, blues, soul and many other types of
music when I came to Canada, since in Russia I was only exposed
to Russian music.
Is
there someone who has particularly inspired you? There
have been enough singers that inspired me. All the different genres
and unique voice styles have inspired me to explore voice and music
in more depth. There's so much talent out here in the world and
in today's world's day people can much more easily share their musical
ideas throughout the world, so that is greatly inspiring since I'm
exposed to a variety of music.
What
inspires you most when you write songs? Extreme feelings,
either happy or sad. Lately, I have been expressing my feelings
to my pillow or to friends, which is ok as well, but none of it
gets to paper. I should start focusing or holding my paper-friend
in my hand just in case.
Do you have any immediate plans in your musical career?
Of course! I'm slowly saving to record more songs. At the moment,
I am working on an album that already has 3 songs. It takes a lot
of time to save and record an album, but I hope to have it done
very soon. I can't wait!
Where
do you see yourself in 10 years? Which time of day exactly
are you talking about? Haha, I want to have been touring through
various countires, with at least 5 of my albums. I want to see myself
own a recording studio and be able to fully arrange and produce
beautiful compositions that really "wow" people.
What
advice do you have for other young musicians? Stop singing
and go back to school. Haha, just joking. Seriously, though, learn
as much as you can. You are never too old or too smart to learn.
Take as many music classes wherever you can.
Is
there anything else you would like to mention? Hey! I'm
a crazy girl and I love the world. I love kind people, and I really
dislike ignorant and rude people. I hate war and I love peace. Don't
you agree? In my future plans I also see in mind creating projects
to reduce polution, promote peace and help out the world as much
as I can. Everyone should also freecycle, that's a place where in
their own city people give their old things away instead of throwing
them in the garbage, that way it saves world resources as well as
saves landfills from filling up so quick. Remember, even putting
your small receipt into the recycle box makes a difference, it all
makes a difference. |
