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Canmore-based vocalist Nurdjana hitting her stride

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the way most of us go about our daily lives for nearly two years now, and for the singers, songwriters and musicians of the Bow Valley there has been no exception to this reality.

CANMORE – The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the way most of us go about our daily lives for nearly two years now, and for the singers, songwriters and musicians of the Bow Valley there has been no exception to this reality.

But there is still good creative work being done as projects are re-evaluated, adjusted and reset as circumstance dictates.

“This whole pandemic is such a blur,” said Canmore-based vocalist Nurdjana de Rijcke with a laugh, as she tried piece together a timeline of events since her debut release, Thinking of You, dropped in December of 2020.

“When did I release each song? And who did I work with at the time? I’ve worked with so many different people over the past year, it’s crazy.”

Despite the restrictions necessarily imposed by the pandemic, Nurdjana has managed to create a lot of music during the troughs between each wave of infections, and the most recent result of those efforts is a new single, She Gives Me Water, set for release on March 15. The song is one of the tracks on the upcoming EP Coming Home.

“After I released Thinking of You, I did one more single with audio engineer Ed Renzi,” Nurdjana said.

“Then I was ready to start working with other people. I wanted to promote my dad’s music, but I also wanted to build up my own network. I wanted to find out who does what, and who do I want to play with? And who wants to make music with me?”

Ineffective Sharing, Do the Right Thing and Pressure followed Thinking of You in 2021 and are collectively packaged as Basement Gold, Volume 1.

Basement Gold is the passion project that drew Nurdjana back to music after a decade away from the microphone and stage. Born and raised in The Netherlands, her father Rob passed away shortly after she immigrated to Canada, and it had been their shared love of music that got her started in the business.

The grief of that loss, coupled with a new life and a new family in a country thousands of miles from home, forced singing and performing to the back of her list of priorities, for a time. But, after her children got into an old box of lyrics and sheet music that Rob de Rijcke had accumulated over his career, Nurdjana realized she had to preserve her father’s musical legacy.

That collaboration through time continues as Nurdjana works on honing her craft.

“They’re all my dad’s songs, but two songs on the new album I co-wrote, so they were song ideas and I basically finished them,” Nurdjana said. “They were half done, or three quarters done, so I added some lyrics and I looked at the structure and changed up some chords.”

Working through the polishing process on the material has opened up a new avenue for her own creativity.

“That’s been launching me into starting to write things by myself a bit more, and I’ve been getting more song ideas, so that will be the next thing,” Nurdjana said. “To have songs written that are fully myself, or maybe only lyrics by my dad because I also have a whole file with just his lyrics but no music. There are endless projects ahead.”

For the new EP Nurdjana travelled back to Holland to work with producer Lucas Meijers and a network of musicians he had access to. It was an ambitious, if at times daunting, task, but in the end, ten days in the studio resulted in the basic framework for six solid tracks. It was also part of the continuing evolution in the musical connection Nurdjana had with her father.

“This whole project is also sort of letting go of what he made and finding my own style,” she said. “What do I like, and what do I want this to sound like? It was definitely a big step. I’m honouring his music. It is an ode to him and the things he left me and the things he introduced me to.

“But it’s also my own. I need to find my own way. That’s been very empowering.”

She Gives Me Water will be available on Spotify, Apple/iTunes and Amazon Music on March 15, and the EP Coming Home is due out in May. The first single from the EP called, What If I Love You, dropped on Christmas Day and has been getting regular airplay on Mountain FM and CKUA.

Please visit Nurdjana.com for more information on the artist and her music.

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