We had the pleasure of speaking with upcoming Amplify Berlin mentor Lyra Pramuk. The Vocalist/Composer/Producer will be leading the music residency in February 2021. She told us more about her healing music process, what future mentees should expect from her mentorship and about the new concepts of closeness/touch that emerged due to the current crisis. Dive as well in the futurist folk artist’s biggest musical inspirations. You have until November 15th to apply for Amplify Berlin’s new season, Don’t wait!
In a recent interview, you spoke about the ritual aspect of your music and seeing yourself as the leader of a ceremony during your concerts. How is it for you now, as events are restricted and it is almost impossible for people to gather over a love of music? How can we rethink communal experiences or new concepts of closeness/touch?
LP: It is extremely difficult and traumatic. For all of us. We are just doing what we can to get by until we can be together in safety and without fear again. I can’t offer any magical neoliberal solutions to our crisis of intimacy. It is a crisis, socially and economically, that we find ourselves in now. We can rethink temporary solutions, but we will never stop craving this touch and contact. It’s what makes us human. we need this to survive, and we are all suffering from it.
In the interim, I have been leading my music listening and discussion group, Zusammen Zuhören, at ACUD. We’ve done a few sessions now online. It’s difficult, but I have been pleasantly surprised how intimate it can end up feeling. Beyond all the streaming fatigue, there can really be intimate group spaces online to get us through these times…discussion groups, book clubs, collective community meeting spaces. It’s not perfect, but it can help us survive.
What aspects of music-making do you cherish the most?
LP: Improvising; tinkering with knobs and routing effects; building a track out of nothing; healing through the process, healing through shared performance; discovering new sounds; discovering new ways of using my body; understanding myself deeper through music.
What are some tracks or albums that have made a big impact on you?
Björk – Homogenic
Cocteau Twins – Treasure
Béla Bartók’s 4th and 5th string quartets (4th quartet final)
William Basinski – For David Robert Jones
E+E – Fire Gut
Visible Cloaks – Screen
The great Indian singer Shobha Gurtu
What should mentees expect when working with you as a mentor?
LP: Mentees should expect that i will really try to understand their background, goals, and creative process, and do the best I can to help encourage and inspire different aspects of their creative process, production, musical style, artistic persona, etc… whatever goals we decide together will be most helpful and achievable.
Finally, do you have a message that you hope to deliver through your music?
LP: I want to speak of complexity in subliminal ways. I want to approach the divine and break my ego. I want to be better and do better and hope for better through my music. I want to help myself and others to heal from the traumas we will continue to inherit.
