Tarrah Reynolds talks with U People

Interviewed by: Tika Milan

U PEOPLE: Your song “Where I want to go”, which is a beautiful song, was featured on February U People Mix. Where did that song come from?

TARRAH REYNOLDS: I wrote that song when I was fasting. I was so clear minded. I don’t know if you’ve ever fasted, but it’s that feeling of clarity and I felt that I could just see things that I hadn’t been able to see. I was basically talking about paradise and heaven.

U PEOPLE: How long did you fast for?

TARRAH REYNOLDS: I fasted for like 14th days.

U PEOPLE: What other things inspire your work?

TARRAH REYNOLDS: I just don’t push myself. I just wait for it to come. I honestly try not to force it. When I do that, it’s so irritating. I’m never happy with what I come up with. So I try to be relaxed and let it come to me as natural as possible.

U PEOPLE: You attended Julliard and play the violin. How did the transition to guitarist and singer song writer come about?

TARRAH REYNOLDS: While I was at Julliard, what really opened me up and made me see there were other possibilities was when someone called me to be in a D’Angelo video. That was the first thing I ever did outside of classical music. It was the first professional thing I did outside of an orchestra.

U PEOPLE: What did you do in the D’Angelo video?

TARRAH REYNOLDS: Just played the violin. I was a big fan of his and to able to work with someone outside of classical that I loved just made me want to do more of it.

U PEOPLE: How do you find the balance between what you learned in school and what you’ve learned about your creativity outside of academia?

TARRAH REYNOLDS: Sometimes I complain about Julliard, but I honestly am so glad I went there. I have better technical ability and such a literal understanding of music. That really helps me when I go sing with other singer-song writers or rappers, getting it happens so quickly. I’m very grateful for my education.

U PEOPLE: You’ve played with a variety of people from Tamar Kali and Imani Uzuri to Jay-Z and Kanye West.  How are able to span over so many different musical styles

TARRAH REYNOLDS: I just really try not to have a specific style. Some people try to put me in a category, but I’ve never been one to focus on one particular style. I’ve never really been hardcore about one thing in particular.

U PEOPLE: You’re music sounds very jazzy and folk-y You kind of remind me of Joni Mitchell, but black. There is still soulfulness to it. How would you describe your sound?

TARRAH REYNOLDS: I’m a big fan of Joni Mitchell. Melody is very very important to her and she is very crafty with it. I really love when people take the time to create a beautiful melody. I make my music melodic and soulful and pretty.

U PEOPLE: So what do you have coming up?

TARRAH REYNOLDS: Right now I’m trying to do a proper recording. I have a lot of live stuff. It’s cool but I want to take it to the next step and have something more polished. I hope to have it finished at the end of the year.

Visit Tarrah Reynolds at www.myspace.com/misstarrah

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NOR Interviews: Notisha Massaquoi

Notisha Massaquoi is originally from Sierra Leone and currently lives in Canada.
She was interviewed in Toronto, Canada.

“I felt my silence enabled her to be murdered in that way…”

Notisha Massaquoi talks about Fanny Ann Eddy, the lesbian activist who changed her life.

FannyAnn Eddy
(1974-2004)
In 2004, FannyAnn Eddy, an LGBT activist from Sierra Leone, West Africa was murdered in the offices of the Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association. The news of her murder circulated around the world and was a turning point for Selly Thiam, a Senegalese lesbian living in the United States. To honor the African QLGBT (queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) spirit that Fanny Ann embodied, she began collecting the oral histories of QLGBT Africans from the African Continent and in the Diaspora.

In 2006, None on Record: Stories of Queer Africa (NOR), an audio based oral history project was created to archive these oral histories.

Since then, None on Record has grown to a six person production crew working to bring these important testimonies to the world. Currently NOR has collected stories in Canada, South Africa and the United States.

Our Mission is to document the hopes, struggles, challenges and joy of being a QLGBT African. The None on Record archive exist to tell the stories of Africans in their own voices.

A new episode of None On Record will be broadcast every Monday at www.iloveupeople.com. You can also find out more about NOR at www.noneonrecord.com

Notisha Massaquoi Photo Credit: Olive Demetrius