D/B 11+3 Interview with Onra

Posted on | June 29, 2010 | No Comments

11+3 is designed to give you an insight into the motivations and aspirations of the best creative minds in the world.

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This time with French beat producer Arnaud Bernard aka. ONRA from Paris. Each artist is asked 11 set questions and to contribute 3 “facts” which can be any statement from them on absolutely anything: their own views on politics, religion, the environment, sport…or just something they read in the paper or saw on TV.

FACTS:

1: French, half vietnamese, born in Germany, lived in Ivory Coast.
2: My two passions are Music and Basket-Ball.
3: Been living in the same studio in Paris for ten years.

QUESTIONS:

1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
Music if the biggest inspiration. Music makes you want to make music. Besides that, the people I meet, the places I go and everyday life things.

2. How and when did you get into making music?
I started in 1999/2000, with a software called Ejay. The cheapest you could get. I worked with that for several years and was real comfortable with it, until I switch to the MPC because I wanted to have a warmer sound. At first, I started because some friends and I wanted to rap over our own instrumentals.

3. What are your 5 favourite albums of all time?
I’d give you 5 albums amongst my favorite ones, cause it would be too complicated for me to be sure about my choice otherwise.
Slum Village “Fantastic Vol. 2″
Scientist “rids the world of the evil vampires”
Mtume “Juicy Fruit”
Lonnie Liston Smith “visions of a new world”
Brenton Wood “Baby You Got It”

4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Cool people, culture, cheap appartment, euro-hipsters, big parks, communist architecture and Curry Wurst.

5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
It’s my neighborhood, northside of the 13th district, between the Latin Quarter and Chinatown. It’s calm and very close to the center.

6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
I have no idea, maybe archeologist, cause I like to dig.

7. What was the last record you bought?
The new Moodymann EP on vinyl.

8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
There’s bunch of people that would be really interesting. Andre 3000 or Pharell would be dope.

9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
As a spectator, it was J Dilla’s last concert in Paris. I never felt quite like this before in a concert, there was a huge amount of emotion.
As a performer, I’d say two weeks ago, in Paris for the release party of my new album “Long Distance”. My both parents and my whole crew being in the same room was something really special.

10. How important is technology to your creative process?
Technology is everywhere, I’m not making music with wood yet, so, of course it has an essential part.
I’m still working with my trusty MPC1000 till these days, I plan to upgrade to a software to make everything quicker and give me more possibilities to work with sound textures.

11. Do you have siblings and are they proud or jealous of you?
I have a little brother. He wasn’t really interested in what I was doing until recently when his friends told him about me, then he was like “That’s my big brothre!”. So now, he feels some kind of pride I guess.

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Onra released his first album with producer and friend Quetzal (Al Quetz) in 2006, A Hip-Hop Tribute to Soul Music, which was played several times by Gilles Peterson and Benji B and covered on Okayplayer.com

At the same time, he started collaborating with American keyboard player Byron the Aquarius and released an album under the name The Big Payback in 2007 on Japanese label Circulations. This project draws from various influences such as futuristic hip hop and spaced-out and jazzy broken beats. They also appeared on highly praised compilations such as Beat Dimensions and New Worlds.

In 2006, Onra went to Vietnam, where his grandparents are from, and managed to bring back some 30 old Chinese and Vietnamese vinyl records. He then made a full album with this material, Chinoiseries, which is his most critically acclaimed album. Album cut “The Anthem” was chosen for a Coca-Cola commercial for the Beijing Olympics.

onracoverlight D/B 11+3 Interview with Onra

In 2008, he was selected to attend the prestigious Red Bull Music Academy in Barcelona. He is also part of the 7×7 series by Irish label All City. His “1.0.8,” project was inspired by Bollywood music and has been elected as album of the week by many record shops across Europe. In 2010, Onra released his latest LP Long Distance on All City.

http://www.myspace.com/onra | http://www.all-cityrecords.com