A Song of Change and Renewal: “Zwischenwelten feat. Svavar Knutúr” by Katja von Bauske

Katja von Bauske

From the skies to the studios, Katja von Bauske embarked on a musical journey that spanned the globe. A serendipitous meeting with a street band in Seoul/South Korea sparked her passion to record her first album in German, exploring 8 locations, 7 countries, and 3 continents, and joining forces with 33 local musicians. This was the genesis of “Project Worldwide”. 

The NDR witnessed her in 2019 for the report “Typisch! The Singing Flight Attendant” and captured her studio recordings in Los Angeles. She also collaborated with Oscar winner Markéta Irglóva on one of her songs from the first album. In spring 2023, Katja von Bauske delivered the laudation for the category “Composition Intercultural Encounter” at the 14th GEMA Music Authors’ Award. 

She teamed up with the London producer John Haywood (who also worked with David Garrett) to craft the albums “Project Worldwide” and “Project Change”. Her third album “Project New Earth”, backed by Initiative Musik, was produced with an Icelandic studio. The release of the third album is anticipated in early 2024.

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How did music capture your heart, and what are the sources of inspiration for your musical style and identity?

Music has been with me since I was a child. Even if it wasn't initially encouraged in the way it was recommended. So it is the many detours and emotional experiences that have led me to my songwriting style. I can say that music was also a source of healing for me. Processing insights musically went deep and freed me from pain. The different arrangements in my songs then came from global collaborations with musicians and producers in various countries and continents. As an advocate for creative freedom, I gave the musicians a lot of freedom to shape the song on their instrument as they felt it - beyond the language - which often consisted of German lyrics. And so the framework of the song was created from my inner fingerprint and was then dressed in various sound garments with which the song was allowed to come into contact.

What motivated you to create your new song, “Zwischenwelten feat. Svavar Knutúr”, and what did you hope to communicate with it?

When I write songs, I don't have a specific motivation or intention beforehand. The topic just comes through as soon as I get down to it. So literally when I put pen to paper. When I wrote the song “Zwischenwelten” there was a full moon - Blue Moon to be precise - in August 2021 and I was sitting on the plane admiring that moon. Since I like to deal with spiritual topics that go beyond the obvious, the words came as if by themselves. On the one hand, they describe the flight through the night -towards the blue moon and, on the other hand, invisible images mix in. These can be understood as fantasy or as energetic harbingers.

Basically, the song describes the sprouting of a new earth. We are in the midst of a transition from the old world to the new world. The old system, which had existed for hundreds of years and expressed itself in various forms of oppression and enslavement towards humanity, is crumbling. It is known that after every downfallsomething new emerges - which hopefully turns out well. It is up to humanity whether we nurture peace, justice, freedom, abundance (for everyone) and mutual appreciation and support or the opposite of all of that. The creation of the new is not an individual work but happens collectively and everyone is important here, even in the smallest ways - it actually starts with us. In any case, the children of the future will look back on us.

It seems that you like to team up with other artists. How did this occur and what was your impression of Svavar Knutúr?

Yes, that's right. It happened due to the fact that I was a flight attendant for 8 years and therefore had the opportunity to network worldwide.The idea of releasing my first album worldwide was based on the fact that in 2015 I started taking my guitar with me on work-related flights to make street music and perform at open mics. This was the case in New York, Los Angeles, Seoul, Shanghai, etc. As a result, I had more performance experience around the world than in Germany and therefore more musical contacts than here. I also found the collaboration with various cultural groups to be very positive. It was so creatively refreshing and exciting for me that I just had to do it and then record my first album on 8 locations, in 7 countries, on 3 continents, with 33 local musicians between 2018 and 2019.

When I decided to record my third album entirely in Iceland, it was unfortunately not possible for me to be in Iceland in person due to the travel restrictions. However, I already knew the producer Mio Sturla Thorisson (Masterkey Studios) and the musicians (Thorvaldur Thór Thorvaldsson and Daníel Helgason) from recording a song for the first album. So, I recorded the raw songs with the support of my producer John R. Haywood from London at home and we then worked over Zoom and email feedback during the studio recording in Iceland within 4 days.

I actually haven't seen Svavar Knutúr live yet - I really appreciate him and his music and extraordinary voice. I am extremely glad that Mio made the contact. It was a stroke of luck that Svavar had already lived in Hamburg for some time and therefore knew some GermanLanguage. I personally find the part sung in Icelandic "everything's fine, have courage" particularly catchy.

Songs from Katja von Bauske always sound amazing. How do you pick the musical elements that best match the mood and atmosphere of each song?

Oh, good question. The basic structure of the song's manner comes from feeling and hearing. As described above, the sounds are actually created through collaboration with the musicians who live locally. Of course, I set the mood with the composition, but it also happened that the mood of the song became completely different than what was previously felt and conceived. This is the case with the song “Soul Sunshine”, which is also part of the third album “Project New Earth”. 

My producer John and I beforehand had the impression that it could be a relaxed California vintage production - a picture like a Cadillac cruising through the streets of L.A. by the sea and a woman with a big hat and sunglasses sitting in the car. Instead, something so different came back, so quirky that I didn't know where to go with it because I was laughing so hard. I first had to get used to this different style and now I love it and so do the people who already have heard it during my street music performances. The song is absolutely danceable, and I jokingly call it: California meets Icelandic Summer.

How do you know that a song is complete and ready to be released to the public?

Basically, I feel like it's good and any further changes would be an improvement for the worse. However, I still hear weaknesses in some of the songs that have been released. Also because, of course, I only had one day in layover to record each song of the first album and with jet lag (+/- 9 hours’ time difference) I not only monitored and led the creative process but also performed myself, for which I often did after drums, guitar, 2nd guitar, bass recording. Thus, there was often little time left for my part. But I hope that the listening audience is more gracious than me at this point and appreciates the creative concept behind it.

I have heard some news about a new album, what can we look forward to from “Project New Earth”?

The album "Project New Earth" is planned to be released in February 2022. Another single from the album will be released beforehand. By the way, the album production was financially supported by a German funding organization called “Initiative Music” for which I am very grateful.

If you could pick a special location for a gig, where would you like to play?

There are several locations where I would like to play. In fact I dream of playing more concerts in nature or in special energetic places. Of course it would be great one day to play in large concert halls around the world and touch many people there at once with my music. In fact I can't find a direct location right now. I would like to get surprised where I might be invited to play next. Overall, I would like to grow organically and in a health way.

Do you still remember the first song you wrote?

I definitely remember it. It was 2004 and it was created in a team project with three friends. I was doing an internship at a small recording studio at the time and one day the producer handed me a CD with a rough backing track on it and said: Write a song on it. I was so on fire and infected my friends with my enthusiasm. Thus the song “What a day” was created with harmonies and even a rap part. We even won a prize with the song. From then on there was no turning back.

What are your aspirations and plans for your musical career?

At the moment I'm trying to get financially stable and expand my team with an international booking agent so that I can play even more live. I would also be happy if my music received the attention and appreciation it deserves. It is often simply a question of the right promo and the necessary money for it. What is most important to me is that my mission is to touch as many people as possible and inspire them to do for what they came here for.

By this I mean that I want to encourage people to go their own way - independent of social norms and opinions of others. As long as we allow ourselves to be bent and do what is expected of us, we cannot be fully fulfilled and happy. Then we are people pleasers. Happy and self-determined people are more likely to support others because they know how hard it can be to go once own way despite obstacles. You know, hardly anyone believed in me over 20 years ago. Not even I could have imagined that I would dare to sing in front of others or even working in a music studio with professional musicians and producers. You don't know what's inside you - as long as you don't to take one step after the other. That's the biggest aspiration behind my music and behind my actions.

Hopefully the rest (abundance) will come by itself. There are enough creative ideas in me, such as once the third album is released, I would like to record the fourth album in Los Angeles entirely. The idea is to revisit selected locations where I was for my first album and then record a whole album there. Some beautiful and fitting songs are already written for that album.