Zarni: Blog

 
In 8 days I will be getting on a plane and moving across the country to Seattle, Washington from small Binghamton, New York. Before that, I will be packing my green Kia Soul which I have named Vanessa with a few key items…My keyboard, some bags, a portrait of a photo I took in Santorini on my Europe backpacking trip, and a few other necessities. All of these items, stored carefully in Vanessa’s belly, will travel across the United States in some foreign truck, to a foreign place that I will eventually call my new home.
If you saw me today, however, you wouldn’t think I am the adventurous girl moving across the country. I am huddled up in the window seat of my old bedroom in my parents’ house, in pajama pants and no makeup- barely distinguishable from a high school girl.  While Bon Iver’s nostalgic music plays in the background, I feel like I need to write. I need to finally spill my guts on how I feel about this new big phase.
My room is basically [...]

What a summer I had! I vacationed in Mexico, toured the East coast with the Mike Lombardo Trio and had an amazing vacation in Cyprus. I didn't just vacation though...oh no sir. In Cyprus I taught a Music Theatre Summer Program for children ages 6-16 to improve their English fluency. And by improve I mean most of them were not comfortable speaking English at all when they first came. I was working at one of the most prestigious English Institutions in Cyprus, the Xenia Tsolaki Metaxa Private Institute. I wrote the script and selected music (from Mammia Mia, Grease, Fame etc) for a 30 minute show and our team put it together in 10 days. It was the most amazing experience seeing the children blossom and coming out of their shells. Of course a gig or two in Cyprus was necessary and I was lucky enough to perform along Cypriot star, Nikolas Metaxas. 
Then I continued on to my beautiful homeland of South Africa and did some gigs there as well as made some other important musical connections [...]

 I will never forget my day on the black sand beach in Santorini.  I went backpacking through Europe for a month by myself and did not bring my iPod. First off all, what kind of a musician does that? Well, it was a blessing in disguise. I had traveled to the most beautiful coastal towns, ate out-of this-world gelato, partied like a rock star, and connected with certain kinds of people that I have yet to find again. However, I felt a small lacking throughout this whole thing. I did not have my companions, John Mayer, Joni Mitchell, AC/DC, the Gipsy Kings, Coldplay, The Beatles, Sara Bareilles, Alanis, DMB, and Clapton (the list goes on) there to serenade me through these experiences. For a month I did not have a soundtrack to my life and let me tell you… it was awfully quiet at times. I knew then that my purpose as a songwriter was bigger than I had ever imagined. Don’t get me wrong there was no lack of dedication in the years leading up to [...]