What is your name?
Tora Kamanja
What is your genre of music?
No specific genre, when it sounds right you know it
Give us a little bio about you.
I’m 23, born in Jeddah Saudi Arabia to a lovely family, travelled a lot, moving to London soon, been making music for a while and loving it.
Are you a signed?
I have a licensing agreement with Metropolis in London where I record. They’re family to me and I am greatful for them believing in me and giving me the freedom to develop my sound. I am considered an independent artist becuase my relationship with Metropolis is per-project and I will always keep a healthy relationship with the family there.
You released a new single ‘Pray’ whats the stoy behind the title?
Pray is about the state of our world today. The first two verses talk about what we need get rid of and the outro talks about what we need more of basically.
Describe it in three words
Truth, Bumpy, Universal
How long did it take to write?
I wrote Pray in an hour or so on my phone. While writing it I started hearing the baseline. Had a couple of ideas recorded on my phone’s voicememos. In the studio I worked with Victor, a guitarist from Barcelona who understood my vision for the song and he came through. Shout out Victor for playing guitar, Eric who engineered and co-produced, Liam in London who mixed it, Dylan who put it all together, and Stuart for mastering it.
You are also set to release a brand NEW EP ‘Beginners Luck’ what is the story behind it?
Beginner’s Luck is my debut EP. Recorded it in Metropolis which is my favourtie place to record, Talbot Studios which is a fully analog studio that my friend and main keyboard player Aiden Glover owns, and worked in Barcelona with an incredible producer/engineer called Dylan Charbeneau. Liam Nolan my friend and main engineer in London engineered a lot of it. Grammy-Winning Paul Norris engineered the first track on the EP. And then we take it home with Stuart Hawkes masteting. So even though there are no features on the project, you can really listen to the level of detail that was achieved on the project through everyone doing their part. The 6 tracks are a ride. From beginning to end it flows as a cohesive experience. Hopefully you’ll get to know more about through the music.
Describe each track in three words.
The first track is: introduction, soulful, big
Second track: truth, bumpy, universal
Third track: london, micheal caine, story
Fourth track: game of thrones, greed, society
Fifth track: the road, lonliness, jimmy hendrix
Sixth track: love, unorthodox, romantic trap
Who did you work with on the ep?
Collaborating with musicians is my favourtie part of making music. It starts with me writing, Rob Aitken my guitarist understanding my gibberish and transforming it into music, I worked with Aiden Glover who both killed it on keys and contributed so much to production, Paul Norris who engineered the first track, amazing, Liam Nolan who, is my main engineer and an incredible talent, Dylan Charbeneau who basically put the EP together and made it all sound the way it does, and Stuart Hawkes who brought the whole thing to another level with his unparalleled skills mastering. Shout out Samantha Mckenna and Louis Brown from my label who deal with perfecting the pre and the post of the process.
Do you have any gigs coming up or maybe a tour of your own?
Yes i’ll be on tour in the UK playing as many shows as I can to connect with people and get the EP good exposure. We’ll start in April hopefully.
If so where will you be heading?
I don’t have a specific place I wanna play yet, for me it’s about the crowd and me uplifting their vibes.
Where is your dream venue to play in the uk?
Royal Albert Hall is a dream in the UK.
where is your dream venue to play anywhere overseas?
Overseas, Madison Square Garden is also a dream an an objective.
Do you have any collaborations with any other artists in the planning?
At this moment, we’re looking into working with different hiphop and grime producers. As for artist collaborations I’m looking forward to what 2017 has in store. Stay tuned.
Would you be up for collaborating with anyone and if so where can they contact you?
I’m always up for collaborating. I’m pretty good at creating an ego-free environment in the studio where we can be free to create. I’m on torakamanja@gmail.com, you can reach me through my label manager on louis.brown@thisismetropolis
What made you go in to music?
I just love music, can’t do without it.
Do you play any instruments?
I do enough on Logic and recording sounds to go into the studio and transform it to the optimum.
Who are your influences?
I’m influenced by all the greats, Micheal Jackson, Pharrell, Dr. Dre, Jay Z, Rick Ruben, Stevie Wonder, The Rolling Stones, D’angelo, Ms. Lauryn Hill, The Marley’s, Bruno Mars, Arctic Monkeys, Diplo, Kanye West, John Mayer, John Legend, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, B.B King, Gary Clark Jr. Jack Johnson. Lately I’ve been into Anderson .Paak, he’s crazy.
How do you get inspiration to write songs?
Inspiration for songs lately has been coming through the music. Just through being an observer and a writer I do enough gonzo-journalism to be able to write about subjects.
Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years?
In 5 years I see myself more peaceful. In 5 years time, I want my idols to be my collegues and collaborators.
When you’re not doing music, what do you do?
When I am not doing music, I live the exoeriences I can write about. I travel a lot and love going to new places.
What was the song you listened to most that influenced you to go more in to the music scene?
I don’t have one song that got me into the music scene. Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson is a song that just made it all make sense for me.
What’s the best advice you have ever been given?
I was talking to my friend Reza about the music industry and I was overthinking, overanalyzing, and not making sense and he told me “you’re looking at the wrong way”. The way he said it made me always healthily second-guess my perspective after that. Shout out Reza for hooking-up my first studio session in Miami. Thank you.
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians not about the industry and just as an artist?
To artist I would say: don’t let arrogance fuel your confidence, put in the work to reduce subjectivity. Good quality is good quality and is respected and rewarded.
What quote or saying do you always stick by?
“Always flip the coin”
When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget?
In a gig i would never forget:
Where i am
What I am doing
The vibes
How I’m feeling
And the energy
You are away from home on tour for ages and you get back, where is your go to place in your hometown?
Go-to in my hometown would be wherever my mom is. After that, it’s this fried chicken place called al baik that they only have in Saudi. Dear lord.
Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you?
I’m on the gram, facebook, soundcloud and twitter as: tora kamanja
https://www.facebook.com/torakamanja/
