Roberta Donnay

Here's my entry for "Stargirl" scoring contest. And a little blogging to go along with this for those of you who dig "behind the music"... And yes, I'm still singing jazz at night, I'm a composer by day (!)

(expired link)

My track starts with Taiko drums (which are from Japan, in case you haven't heard them before). I'm fortunate I got to hear live performances on Taiko many times in concert. Also used here, very quiet in the track, is The Mbira, also know as a thumb piano or kalimba, originated in Zimbabwe.

There's only the sound of the wind at the end of this scene. Originally, I had music there. But when I listened to it both ways there was something definitely more powerful in hearing that scream and the wind, seeing that card fly around - and nothing more.

This process brings back memories of working on other projects. It reminds me of when I served on the “Producer of the Year” committee for SF Chapter of The Recording Academy. Way back then (90’s) we had to pick up boxes of CDs and pass them along to other committee members until we had each listened to each track so we could make our personal recommendations. After which we met in person to discuss. Can you imagine?

400 CDs to listen to and we each had only one week to listen. I listened to every track on every CD. I ended up listening to the first 10 seconds of each track.... which was such a great education as a producer. This taught me how the first 10 seconds of any track is the most crucial. It taught me how we need to grab the listener and keep them interested.

And then of course there were those tracks which jumped out so high above the others that I felt “forced” to listen to the whole song and maybe the whole album. That’s where the winners came from.

“Deep Forest”, one of my favorite recordings which came from here. And I was honored to be one who got to introduce this rare find to the other committee members later.

And of course I bought that record, the one after that and their next one too… "Deep Forest" was a duo team from Belgium who went to record native music of the Aborigines, then took their sounds (& singing) & added dance tracks underneath to create the most fantastic magical recordings!

Also one song I heard during this listening session, we used in our UN50 show. The song “None Of Us Are Free” performed by Ray Charles was also here. So it must've been 1993 or '94.

Thanks for reading!! I think I've written a blog here…

I'm also blogging and posting more music on my artist/band page (expired link)
Please feel free to like my page if you want to! TY and stay safe!

#Music #Composer #SanFrancisco #California #Musicians #MusicLovers #Piano #MusicWriter #SingerSongwriter #Film #UpcomingArtist #MusicIndustry #Stargirl #MyStargirlScore #RecordingAcademy #Producer

Greetings friends,
Exciting news!

"Acting Like Nothing Is Wrong" is the feature documentary about the inspirational journey of actor Jim Hoffmaster. Nekujak and I have signed on as composers. This is a joyful project. and we're so grateful to creatively contribute to this poignant film. Jane Rosemont, the award-winning director, brings Jim's touching story to life. You might remember Jane's previous film "Pie Lady Of Pie Town", which gathered a plethora of film festival awards. We're so excited to be working with this brilliant talent.

April is Jazz Appreciation Month!

Our very first indoor concert since forever it seems, APRIL 18, @ 8pm, is the very first show at this venue open to the public (!) for a limited 15 seats at The Back Room in Berkeley California USA. This show will also be streamed live on YouTube. Buy tickets here or call 510.654.3808 for reservations. Tickets are $25 in person or free/donation streaming live. This show features Sam Rudin aka "Hurricane Sam" on piano, me on vocals and Danny Caron on guitar. We're playing some obscure jazz/blues for this special show.

See you soon.
Please stay safe.

I've been in the studio here we're doing soundtrack gig for 2 indie films at the moment so that's why you haven't heard back from me if you wrote, so sorry to be so lax. Hope you are taking good care of yourself and keeping safe, wearing mask, distancing, etc. This thing is so very over my head, and I don't take it lightly. Let's win over this and gain our freedom as soon as it's safe! Safety first. Music is the best. Thank goodness it's the great healer that it is. I'll try to post more updates and tracks soon. If you're looking to listen to some soundtracks, you can check this site out for our work meanwhile... (not sure if they'll let me post this, but otherwise you can look it up under "Nekujak & Donnay" and go to "playlists" ! Thank you and be well. (expired link)