CELLIST & COMPOSER DOM LA NENA
Dom La
Nena
Dominique Pinto · b. 1989, Porto Alegre · based in Paris · cellist, singer, songwriter
A cello she calls Leon, a voice that moves between four languages, and a stage where one woman becomes an orchestra, live, in loops, with nothing pre-recorded.
Dom La Nena is a composer, cellist and singer born in Brazil, where she began her music studies at the age of five. After studying classical cello in Buenos Aires and Paris, she accompanied various artists on tour, including Jane Birkin, Jeanne Moreau, Etienne Daho and Piers Faccini. Her solo albums are acclaimed by the international press: The Wall Street Journal compared her to a young Brian Wilson, The New Yorker called every song sacred, the BBC said amazing and beautiful, and The Guardian simply called it an enchantment. Since 2013 she has performed on many of the most respected stages in the world, from the Philharmonie de Paris and the Vienna Konzerthaus to the Barbican Centre and the Montreal Jazz Festival.
A big change. A reconnection. An homage to a companion.
“Leon is my fourth solo album and I consider it a big change in my musical approach, as it is the first time I recorded a fully instrumental album. In the past, I have mostly written songs, as I am also a singer-songwriter. My cello was always present, but not as a soloist. When I started to work on Leon, I had the strong desire to compose solely for the cello, to change the roles and place my cello as a soloist again.”
“I come from a classical background, with many years of classical repertoire, so in a way this process was also a reconnection to my musical roots. I did not really know where I was going. It was completely experimental. I spent two months in my own studio with my cello. I got into an unconscious mood and allowed the music to flow. It was a very solitary process. I have done everything alone on the album, except the mix. That is how Leon was made.”
“I have had this same cello since I was eleven years old. Leon is my student cello, a very modest Mirecourt, but I never could change cellos, feeling that we have such a strong history together.”
Leaving Brazil alone at thirteen, with Leon.
“As with many classical instrumentalists, I have lived the most intense moments of my life with my cello. I have left countries, left home, left my family, left friends, partially for him. I left my parents’ home in Brazil aged thirteen to study in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with my favourite cellist, Christine Walevska. I studied in Buenos Aires for five years, far from my family that remained in Brazil.”
“These years were wonderful, and I learned many important lessons, not only about music but also about life. However, it was also very difficult to be alone in another country at such a young age, so having Leon with me was always comforting. After that, I moved to Paris to finish my studies and very quickly started to tour the world.”
Everything. All of it. Often unconsciously.
“I think it is always difficult to speak about inspirations or influences, because this is something that is often very unconscious. I truly believe that every piece of music I listen to, all the books I read, the movies I see, all of my travels, and every little thing of daily life are influences and present within my music. Often it is not easy to say how or why.”
A kind of resistance. Nothing pre-recorded.
“I consider myself a kind of resistance to too much technology in music. To give you an example, on my live set-up I use a lot of pedals, especially loop pedals. Everything is played live: I build musical loops but there is nothing pre-recorded. Of course there are imperfections, but that is part of the magic of live music.”
“Unfortunately, today in pop music it has become normal to make concerts with pre-recorded elements, instruments or vocals. Sometimes I go to see a show and I almost have the feeling I am listening to karaoke. I think it is hard to feel deeply moved by this kind of premeditated live music. It sounds too clean, too perfect, and too cold to be live music.”
A big relief, and a new musical door.
“We put so much energy, feelings, emotion and devotion into creating an album. I am not certain people can imagine how hard we work to make an album possible, especially today when, very often, you are not only the artist but also the producer. We often need to wait quite long between the moment you record the album and the release date, because there are many things to set up to achieve a proper release. And that waiting is not always easy to deal with.”
“The moment you finally put the music out, it is a very big relief and happiness, to finally be able to share all these feelings with other people. In the case of Leon, it is especially exciting because it is something quite different from the albums I have done in the past. It feels like opening a new musical door, taking new paths, exploring new ways to make music and sharing it.”
“It sounds too clean, too perfect, and too cold to be live music.”
Balance. Especially now.
“The most difficult thing has been finding a good balance between work and personal life. As musicians, we usually have a very intense work schedule, and it is sometimes hard to create breaks. We can easily work non-stop for years. I used to do it like this for most of my life. But I became a mother recently, and that is definitely not possible anymore. Today, one of the most important things for me is to find a good balance, and I know when it is not well-balanced, I cannot feel good.”
Moving away from the cello’s comfort zone.
“My musical approach is always evolving. It is the same base; the musicality is deeply the same, but with time I feel more creative freedom and less inhibited in some aspects. On Tempo, for the first time I included instrumental tracks, something I had never done before. Maybe because I come from classical music and I have worked on so many masterpieces of instrumental music as a cellist, it took me a very long time to feel authorized to compose instrumental music.”
“Also, my approach to the cello is constantly evolving. I have been working a lot on the sound of the instrument, to move away from its comfort zone. Over time, my approach to the cello continues to develop, and it is what keeps it exciting for me.”
“It feels like opening a new musical door, taking new paths, exploring new ways to make music and sharing it.”
Antakly Projects, originally Ninu Nina, has been in conversation with the most inspiring voices in art, photography, design and culture since 2003. Interview by Leila Antakly. Dom La Nena makes the cello sound like memory, and builds whole worlds from a single voice.
Photograph courtesy of the artist. All music © Dom La Nena.
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The little girl, and her cello named Leon. ✦