I’ve finally created a Mali & Me profile on Soundcloud! If you’re a Soundcloud user, please click here to view our profile, and be sure to follow us to keep up to date with our newest recordings!
Feel free to share or embed any of the tracks, as I’ve done in this post!
Enjoy!
Mali.xxx
I’m very excited to be able to feature South African singer-songwriter, Nate Maingard, as this week’s inspiring artist! I’ve yet to meet Nate, but I find his music to be beautiful and heartfelt, and I respect his general attitude towards music and being an independent musician. In the following interview, he gives us a little insight into his songwriting process, and what inspires him. Nate is currently based in the UK, so I urge my English friends to go and watch his live show (click here for dates)!
Name: Nate Maingard
Albums titles to date: The Wild Land (2011), Home (2012)
Release date of next record: Late 2013
Favourite songwriter: John Lennon
Instrument: Guitar
Describe your music in five words or less:
Passionate, vulnerable, lyrical, melodic, real.
How old were you when you first started writing songs?
Fifteen.
How has your songwriting changed and developed over the years?
It has become more authentically positive, with a more subtle rhyming pattern and a better use of metaphor, simile and melody.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6VGaBe1tN8
What’s the one song you wish you’d written?
SOOOOO many…but certainly The Temptation Of Adam by Josh Ritter.
Approximately how many songs have you written, in total?
About thirty five.
What’s your favourite of all the songs you’ve written, and why?
That fluctuates, but overall I’d have to say my new song In The Shadows. I enjoy it because it has a very interesting rhyming scheme and it talks about really deep and intense things while maintaining a certain bounce in the feeling.
Which five artists/bands have had the biggest influence on your music?
Radiohead, Nick Drake, The Beatles, Ani Difranco, Bon Iver.
Complete this sentence: Music is… and always should be of the folk, with the power to unite community and inspire humans to embrace themselves and one another in a shared understanding of mutual humanness.
What’s been the most memorable or exciting moment of your music career to date?
That is impossible to say, there have been several which were so different yet so important. One moment which I will never forget was weeping in front of an audience at a house concert. There is a whole story behind that. It was so vulnerable and incredible, we all wept together and it felt completely safe and beautiful.
Finally, what advice would you give to any aspiring songwriters/musicians reading this?
Keep feeling, keep writing. Put love and truth above everything. Remember that what you do is not only a talent, but a skill to develop, and also a gift to share with humility. ◙
You follow Nate at the following places:
Official Website: http://natemaingard.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/natemaingard
Facebook: http://facebook.com/natemaingard
Youtube: http://youtube.com/natemaingard
Are you an independent musician who would like to be featured as an “Inspiring Artist of the Week”? Send a link to your website, Youtube or Soundcloud profile to bookings@malikorsten.com
Photo courtesy of Steve Beeson.
One of the weird things about living in a different hemisphere to the one in which you grew up is that the seasons are all back-to-front. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to having Christmas in summer, or huddling in front of the fireplace in the middle of July. As I write this, I’m sitting in bed with a hot water bottle, looking out at the grey sky and barren trees.
I’m not a winter person. The cold weather seems to bring out my dark, introspective side. I fantasise about the long, bright days of summer. Those three long months are an exercise in clinging to joy and resisting the temptation to be grumpy and pessimistic. The first day of spring is more exciting to me than Christmas, as it represents the mini-victory of making it through the dark days of winter and stepping into the warmth once again.
I’m so excited to share the first video in the “Songs of June” series with you! And in case the title of this post had you worried, I haven’t lost the plot – the first song is also called, “Songs of June”, just like the project itself!
httpv://youtu.be/QnDrvv6VRSE
Songs of June
Woke on the wrong side of bed
With songs of June running round my head
They tell me I’m crazy
Demons with voices sweet
Offer me fruit from the poisonous tree
They won’t resign till they can say “She’s mine”, but I won’t be deceived
No I won’t be deceived
And June is cold in this part of the world
Where I fumble toward the light
And maybe they won’t taunt me today
If I clothe myself in the night
Temptation tells me he’s
The one in the know, one who holds the key
But I know he’s lying
‘Cause shadows require the light
To draw the outlines we recognise
The lies would not be if the truth did not see some use for them here
And June is cold in this part of the world
Where I stumble toward the light
And maybe they won’t haunt me today
If I disguise myself in the night
And I find it hard to reason
I get caught up in the haze
And if I talk to myself it’s not ’cause I’m mad
I’m just trying to remember the time has passed
When I heard the voice of love
Pouring like rain from the heavens above
And the dove did descend and he promised me then that he’d never leave
And June is cold in this part of the world
But I’ll press on anyway
And I won’t fear, for I know who lives here
So I’ll bathe in the light of day
Music and lyrics Copyright Mali Korsten 2013.
Image courtesy of Jonan Grobler.
Filming the first Song of June
I’ve been so excited to finally get my 30 Songs of June re-recorded and filmed, so that I can share them with you, and have something to show for the many days of near-sanity that this project caused me (don’t get me wrong – it was great fun, but it is extremely testing to have to write a song when you’re feeling completely uninspired and it seems impossible to come up with something new and original!).
So, last night I decided to put together a list of all 30 songs (I know – what kind of person doesn’t do that in the first place?), so that I could determine which ones need a bit more practice, and also try and figure out the order in which they were written.
I listed all the songs in my archive that were written in June 2011. The list only numbered 29. Um, 29?! Are you kidding me? I scoured every single folder on my computer, and even dug out a really old notebook to try and see if I’d missed one somewhere.
I did in fact find something. A title, amidst a list of all the songs I’ve written, sitting nicely amongst the other Songs of June titles. I figured this must be the elusive song, but I cannot remember a single thing about it. The title rings zero bells. But I’m choosing to trust that it must be the missing song, and that I’m not just so bad at math that I can’t even count to 30!
A couple of weeks ago I had a clear-out, and I threw away an old diary (not a journal, an actual schedule-keeping diary). Now I have a terrible feeling that this was my 2011 diary, and may well have been the place where I jotted down songs when not at my computer. I thought I transcribed all the songs eventually, but one must’ve slipped through the cracks.
I feel pretty annoyed with myself for being so disorganised. 29 songs just isn’t the same as 30 songs. The whole point of the challenge was 30 songs in 30 days, and although I still believe that I was successful (I mean, why else would there be a mysterious song title amidst the other Songs of June titles, in my list of completed songs to date?), it sucks to not have 30 complete songs to be able to show for it.
So here are my options:
Which do you think I should do? I will obviously keep looking for the lost song (please pray that I find it or remember it!), but in case I don’t, which of the above options would you prefer? Or do you have an even better suggestion that I haven’t thought of? Please, PLEASE let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!
On the plus side, I’ve decided that when I have a quiet month (probably August), I will do another similar challenge, and will be more organised about it this time around! Who’s going to join me?
Photo courtesy of Cuan Korsten.
Hey friends!
Although the free 7-track sampler is no longer available, I have decided to keep 2 songs available for free download.
You can download the tracks using the widget below:
Please spread the love by telling your friends!
Much love,
Mali.xxx
Click the icon below to purchase the full-length album from CD Baby:
