Griffyn Louis Denizard
Your music brings me happiness & joy. Surely one of my favorite album for the last years. In this harsh world matrix, Natasha Rogers leads us to the escape through our self consciousness. Essential and out of time. Thank you Natascha. PS: beautifully engineered!
With "Onaida", Natascha Rogers shares a liberating folk spell that draws inspirations from Yoruba spirits, Afro-Cuban rhythms and her Native American ancestry.
Born in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother and a father with Amerindian origins, Natascha Rogers dares to be intimate and unveils a highly spiritual chiaroscuro record, raising purity, care and reconciliation to the level of the art, through folk enchantments.
Sensitive to the ancestral call of the drums, she travelled the Black Atlantic for several years and received the teachings of the greatest Mandingo and Afro-Cuban master percussionists. As a distinguished percussionist and vocalist she has graced the stage and has accompanied artists around the world, but for Onaida she set out on her own, retreating to a studio to escape the noise, rush and fast information cycles of our modern world.
This album marks a rebirth for Natascha Rogers, as it symbolizes her return to the piano, her first instrument. Channelling these inspirations for Onaida, Natascha Rogers, has created a space of her own, where themes of humanity, spirituality, nature and womanhood are centre stage while also paying tribute to her ancestors. Sung in English, Spanish, or Yoruba, the album is a tapestry of intimate ballads and universal prayers, drawing inspiration from dreams, Amerindian poetry (Joy Harjo), and Cuban santería with ritualistic batá drum pulsations. On the powerful folk-tinged song "The West", she invited gifted singer-songwriter Piers Faccini.
Onaida is a true initiatory experience, a second birth for Natascha Rogers who finds balance and accuracy with this singular opus. Natascha Rogers headed to the quiet commune of Pommerit-le-Vicomte, to write this new release, accompanied by sound engineer Joachim Olaya and published on acclaimed French imprint Nø Førmat!.
Natascha Rogers - piano, percussion, vocals
Anthony Jambon - guitars
Piers Faccini - mbira, percussion, vocals on the West
Edward Rogers - keyboards on Sacred night
Recorded by Joachim Olaya at Le Rebond, Pommerit-le-vicomte, France, June 2021
Mixed by Joachim Olaya
Except Move Etchéké mixed by Thomas Moulin at studio d, Paris, France
Mastered by Alexis Bardinet at globe audio mastering, Bordeaux, France
Produced by Natascha Rogers and Joachim Olaya
Written and composed by Natascha Rogers
Except The West written by Natascha Rogers and Piers Faccini
Arranged by Natascha Rogers
Additional arrangements on Sacred Night by Edward Rogers
Additional arrangements on O baba by Anthony Jambon
Dearest Arooj, firstly thank you. My brother died this year n what can be said about such loss n sadness. I saw n heard you at The end of the Road in England. I spent many years in India n love all the music, poetry of your heritage. Thankyou Arooj❤️ ben1769
Gorgeous and moving, this album fills a musical void in my collection that I didn't know existed. With lyrics that speak about the human condition and instrumentals that have a medieval flair, this has become my new musical addiction 😁 Not a single note is wasted here 9RnK7