Cégiu

Helvetiarockt is a Swiss national association raising awareness about gender inequality in the music industry while supporting promoting and connecting professional female inter non-binary and trans artists. Through its grassroots projects such as producing, DJing, band workshops and songwriting camps, it offers platforms for young people of all levels to discover music and be part of an empowering community find out more on our website helvetiarockt.ch, sign up for the newsletter and follow us on social media. Musicians in Conversation is sponsored by SUISA The Cooperative Society of Music authors and Publishers in Switzerland SUISA is celebrating its 100 year anniversary in 2023. [Music] hi everyone my name is Natalia Anderson and I'm a presenter content creator and DJ in this episode I speak with Helvetiarockt music lab beatmaking coach Cégiu she is a musician, producer, composer and also managing director of Music Box entertainment co-manager of Other Music Lucerne and board member of Sonart. We discuss capturing insect sounds in field recordings starting your own company as a musician and the importance of social security, Cégiu also gives advice for people wanting to begin activism she answers an audience question and don't forget if you have a question simply send a direct message to Helvetiarockt on Instagram in the meantime here's my conversation with Cégiu hi Cégiu thank you so much for joining me on musicians in conversation thank you for the invitation my absolute pleasure I'm going to start this conversation with the question that I ask everybody and that is how did you get started on your musical Journey I got started as a kid when I listen to Mozart's Magic Flute I was in kindergarten but the older children from school they performed The Magic Flute and that really caught me I think it was the whole atmosphere like seeing the older children performing it and then just hearing the music it was really yeah to me it was just a whole new world yeah and it really fascinated me and at what stage did you make that connection or that jump to actually start learning music yourself you play the cello did you learn as a child yes I mean I used the very first beginning that I remember is the singing music we used to sing at home and I loved singing yeah all my life but then when I heard Mozart's Magic Flute I was a total fan of Mozart and I decided that I wanted to play the violin and the piano that was at age five something like that in kindergarten and when I went to school the music teacher there told my parents that they should bring me to a music school so I could try out some instrument like when they have their open house day nice and I went to see the violin teacher and I tried violin but I really didn't like the teacher so I was like I'm gonna play the violin but now with that teacher I was a pretty stubborn kid so I made my round and tried different instruments and I ended up in that room where the cello was with the cello teacher which I just liked from the first second on and I told my parents I'm going to learn to violin with that teacher and they were like that's not really how it works and they were like yeah either you learn the violin with the violin teacher or you learn the cello with the cello teacher and I was like okay I'll start with the cello because I really like the teacher yeah that's wonderful that you got to learn cello and you you're still playing it now you play piano when did you introduce like electronic stuff to your sound when did you bridge the sort of classical with the electronic good question I don't really know when it started exactly I just remember that even when I started the cello I was really lucky with a teacher because I always had like my own musical ideas and I was always trying out some new sounds in the instrument and he really encouraged me and he encouraged me to find my own way of writing down the music and to come up with some signs and whatever to be able to remember what I wanted to play and I guess that was already the beginning of finding trying to find new sounds I remember that I think it was for Christmas that I made a wish that I wanted a microphone with which I could record stuff maybe around 10 or 11 something like that so then I started to record stuff your voice or were you recording the cello so also like I remember that I also recorded like just sounds that I heard and I just started to play around with it I mean I didn't have any DAW or anything you know it was just like I just recorded on tapes yeah let me get it that is the foundation of recording music yeah recording music isn't it they take the eight track the four tracks exactly right I mean I had just like this this small you know the regular tapes that yeah and that was the start and then I just started to experiment and dived into it you play your cello standing up I've seen myself yeah most of the time I'm not a cello player it's one of my favorite instruments though but I love them playing a cello you know does it change the sound does it or is it just a movement thing for you because you're singing as well I think there were two reasons why I started doing that one was that sitting down it just limited myself moving around and I love to move to my music or whenever I play I want to move I want to dance and I can't really do that while I'm sitting I'm always when I'm sitting down and like I want to dance I want to dance but they can't yeah so that was reason number one reason number two was definitely the singing sometimes I do really extreme stuff with my voice and it's just so much easier for me when I'm standing yeah yeah absolutely you tap it you remind me because actually one of your collaborators Jasmin Albash who I remember last year she was telling me about like all the things that your voice could do and when I was listening to your voice it was it I was just like yeah you're using all of these places you know it's not just straightforward kind of la la la singing no definitely no it sounds how are you reaching these places how are you deciding okay this is what this sound needs to come now you know I guess it's part of the composition but what is your sort of Journey with the sounds you're making with your voice it really depends on the pieces and the songs and the tracks sometimes they start in an improvisation and then I guess it's more like experimenting with the sounds I have or it's more about emotions that I try to find a sound for them most of the time then it's not really conscious it's just my body is doing it you know just the feeling like that feels right it has to be like it or it just comes out I'm not thinking about it how I want to do it yeah then there's the other part of it when I start to write a song and I already hear it in my head how it should sound or sometimes it's also like I'm listening to other artists and I hear a sound it doesn't even have to be a voice it can be in any instrument any sound I'm like I want to have that sound but with my voice yes yeah because you actually we spoke briefly very briefly off air about Ableton Live you teach beatmaking at helvetiarockt yeah what do I call it is it an instrument it's a Tech a piece of tech where you can find sounds to do a lot of things so where is it that you are saying this is my time for my voice to do something rather than this is what I'm going to find a sound or put an instrument through the equipment to produce the sound instead is that good question okay yeah my brain I'm like did I formulate that question well enough because it's super interesting I think one thing is that with Ableton I don't use really digital instruments like coming from the software right even the beats I make field recordings and I produce my own beats out of the field recordings and can you just explain what you mean by field recordings I have my phone and I record whenever I'm like every day I just do recordings day today if you're walking you hear something and because there's so many amazing sounds everywhere and then sometimes you hear something and I'm just like oh I'm gonna record that and that's one thing and then when I have a record in mind or a track I always give myself I limit myself I tell myself okay I want to have a topic I want to have something that really has a message so I always decide where the sounds come from that I use for a track or for record and the last album I used insect sounds because it was about goodbyes and so many insects are dying on our planet they lose their environment they need to survive so I decided to take those sounds and also because every time I was visiting graves of friends or family members and I would put flowers or make any arrangements they were always insects and I really like that you know it's like a place where there's a lot of death around but so much life going on so I recorded it there like while I was making new arrangements and graves and I just took all those records of the insect sounds and I produce beats out of them and so that's coming back to your question is I think it's something about emotions where I feel like this has to come really out of my body this is the voice I have to have something to say and most of the time it's really that question what do we have to say and it's a lot about limiting myself is it really necessary does it say something or not and then it's either a voice or the cello something is a different sound a different instrument yeah and then it's also something that I just hear in my head I hear these soundscapes and then it's hard to find the sounds it always starts in my head already it's in my imagination and I hear it already and then I try to find the sounds outside of my head to come as close as possible to it most of the time it's actually the music demanding the sound and it's the music that decides which instrument I’ll choose at the end it's most of the time it's not really me deciding that's how I feel maybe it's me I mean of course it's me but to me it's more like the music that decides so you teach beatmaking this is what we spoke about a little bit before what are some of the most important things you want your students or your participants to understand about making beats or creating music using these tools. I want them to understand that it's almost limitless that they're their own limit yeah most of the time and I really want to encourage them to use it as a playground I love to describe it as a playground and you go on this playground and you just discover all the stuff and you try to experiment and I really want to encourage them to not be afraid of anything yeah And to have the courage to also make some mistakes I mean it's so important it is I think especially when it comes to sort of play and learning because I know that it's so easy when you see someone who's accomplished at their instrument or the tech that they use you know there's so many buttons there's so many things and you think oh when will I ever learn how to use it but really like you're saying it's about playing it's about making mistakes it's about just giving yourself the freedom to just try I think isn't it yes it's just you just need to try yeah and what I always tell them is like when you started to learn how to walk you fell so many times and that's how you learn to actually get up again you can't learn to get up again if you don't fall. 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For further information go to musicdirectory.ch okay we're going to take this time to listen to your first track can you tell us what it's called and what it's about it's called “on the road to a different world” and it's about the society we live in and the expectations and that I don't really want to encourage the mindset that how I feel is in the majority of the people's head and I want to get on the road to different world and try my best to get a change let's listen to “on the road to a different world” You have a business called music box entertainment exactly so you're not just being an artist and producing and composing and playing but you're on the other side now of the fence which is like the business side of it what led you to start your own company my own music I decided that I wanted to live from making the music and I realized that if I was a carpenter or any other if I would have any other job I would need some professional structures so I decided together with my partner to found a company and in the beginning it was for my own projects just to have like the professional structures for it and also for the whole accounting stuff but then we also started to work together with the others and it's also my partners projects and also a very dear and good friend of ours that we do the whole back office for him and I really like to do that so I like that the fact that you saw the need for it and it's also not something that many people talk about the fact that on the one hand you're an artist and you create and you make music but there's a need to have that sort of structure which is an entity in its own right which is a business to help support what you do would you recommend that that's something that people look into if you look at it as a profession if you want to make a living I think you have to look into it and you have to do something and that's why I always bring those examples like if you had another profession you would never start a business without thinking about professional structures and with the music industry or with the music it's being an artist is exactly the other way around people are like oh what you're having professional structures and I don't see why I should create my profession differently than any other profession and when you say professional structures just to break it down for people who don't know it's more like having like a registered company like a business so you're gonna have like an accountant and I suppose presumably like put tax and things through that and it exactly yeah like we have we found a company it's an official company it's all clear how we deal with taxes I pay myself a salary I have a regular salary of course I have to see that have to look after that my company has enough income like I'm in kind of two positions because I'm the company owner the manager of the company and at the same time I'm an employee yeah and it also is like the social security it's all taken care of and I think that's really important to think about that too because there are too many musicians who don't have enough social security especially when they get older and I know that it's very difficult to think about that when you're in your 20s or 30s but it's really worth thinking of it great piece of advice there I think if anyone's listening who is a musician who's an artist to seriously consider setting up an entity a company where you can effectively be employed by your company and pay social security and look after your future yeah you're also really kind of involved in the music scene and that's what I love about your career it's like you're not just creating art and doing it kind of individually which is fine for some people who that's what they do they're musicians and that's their focus but you are a part of the Other Music Lucerne which is a networking and promotion Agency for Lucerne musicians why was it important to you to connect with other musicians and do this sort of extra work I think it's because it's all connected to me when I write music I always have a message and with the message comes the activism I was I want to make a change somehow and that's my way of doing it so I really love to make music and I think I'm good at it but I'm also good at organizing and making structures and I think that's what I kind of wanted to give into the community I really like it I really love the Other Music Lucerne Network it's not really an agency it's more a network it's a community yeah can you describe a bit for people who don't know what it is like what does it look like for an artist it's open to everyone working in the Canton of Lucerne you don't really have to live here as long as you work here everyone can contact us and maybe it's not us who could help but we can delegate we can say okay you need to meet that person or you should get in touch with that Institution so we are already creating a network and bringing people together that we think they could help each other and then we also have workshops about booking about self-structuring about getting professional how to make a living at music but also oh yeah what about contracts in music or music promotion all that kind of stuff so that's what we do we provide the music community in Lucerne with that information and then we also have just a new format that we just tried this year that we will continue which is called and it's a TransHelvetiq Residency program where people musicians from the German speaking part can go to the French speaking part work there together with music professionals on topics that they like working there stage performance and play to Showcase performances and we invite music professionals from all over Switzerland together with the whole TransHelvetiq team and that's we do some network for them too this sounds so wonderful it it's almost like what was happening before you guys existed you know but I love the fact that you're just bringing together the professionals but also making it clear and easy or just a place to go for musicians because it can be quite isolating sometimes I suppose being a musician like you're by yourself or you don't know who to ask or there's not always like a central place of information or a library that you can go to and that's what you do sort of thing so it's quite it's really nice to see that you have created this space for musicians to have these opportunities and to be able to network and to concretely help their career how can somebody get involved is it is it go to the website what is it that you would suggest for people to do best way to do it is on the social media platforms we're on Instagram and Facebook and they can write us anytime or on the website there you can find all the workshops we have and you can find the email address and either just come to one of our events or workshops or you just write to us you're also a board member of Sonart. Sonart is the Swiss Music Association it's a professional Association of Independent musicians in Switzerland and so not here is defending the interests of musicians and people in music when it comes to politics and civil society can you tell me first of all how you got involved with that and the importance for anybody who needs to know the importance of structures like this how I got into it was I was already active in those fields as a member of Other Music Lucerne and especially during the pandemic we were really active because pretty early we just realized that we will get into trouble with our industry I'm really happy that we were so fast realizing what was going on in what way could you specify yes because there was in the end of February 2020 they decided to that all the big events couldn't take place anymore most of the people they were not alerted because they said yeah I mean it's not touching me I'm not playing in such big venues but many musicians especially freelance musicians who work as side women they depend on those jobs and I was like okay if that's gonna last for more than a month most of the people won't have any money to pay the rent so we need to take action and we got in touch like other music Lucerne got in touch with the IG Kultur and they got in touch with the compensation funds office and so we found ways of how to deal with it so people would get some money some help and thanks to that in Lucerne it was possible pretty early in the whole thing to get some help we were constantly on social media and informing people informing them about the national decisions because it was so complicated in Switzerland to have the cantons and the national Parliament and then in every canton it was different and if you worked in several cantons it was different in every part and it was really complicated so our job was mainly to just inform people and that was the reason why I guess SONART had asked me to join the board because I was in touch with them constantly to tell them what was happening on Lucerne because SONART is responsible for national questions so they don't really have the capacity in a situation like that to know what's going on in every region so I just was one of the persons from one region who would provide them with information they needed to do their work it's brilliant it just sounds like it's just such important work to do you know informing artists and musicians what is going to affect their livelihood for me yeah that's my kind of activism and it's also that I can't I'm not the person of something like the pandemic happens I'm not the one who wants to feel as a victim so I get into action I want to make something yeah I love that how can someone sort of follow your lead how can they become more active where does someone start like if somebody's listening now when they want to do something should they get with their friends should they create collectives should they what's some of the ways I think there's so many ways to become active I think step number one of course is to find out what is important to you where you want to become active because you can't become active in every aspect you have again you have to limit yourself because the day has only 24 hours and you need to sleep sometimes and being active is all said taking care of myself because it's I'm also taking care of my own interests but also taking care of other interests too it's not just an egocentric way of being active and I think then it's important I think to find allies people who want to do something too because if you're always on your own it can get pretty hard and then what I think what I realized in the last few years is that it's important to look around in the scenes if somebody's already doing the thing you would like to do and not to do the exact same thing but join them yes and support them support others and to learn that it's not really about you or yourself I mean it's not about me working for other music or it's not about me working for SONART but it's for for us it's for an us not for me and not have two initiatives who do exactly the same you just make each other weak yes yeah you need to join each other [Music] You are one of the recipients of the Get Going Grant by Foundation SUISA and the Förderpreis Gemeinde Horw what does it mean to you to be to be awarded and to be a recipient of these grants and what does it do for somebody like you it's a great honor I mean it's not something that I expected to receive it feels like my work is being rewarded and it's a huge motivation to connect continue my work it's not linked to a specific goal it just gives you the opportunity to keep working and it gives you time so I will be able to just have time to dive into the research for my compositions, for my productions and most of the time that's what you don't that's what we don't have is time it's so important I'm so glad you said that because we don't often articulate that don't often articulate that time is just so valuable it's I think it's one of the biggest values we have yeah so important it's just a feeling of freedom and it makes it possible to really like a deep dive and I think that's also really satisfying for myself but I think it also gives more meaning to the work at the end because it's a real deep research you can make absolutely we're going to take this time to move on to the audience question so @original_copy_copy asks how do you become self-employed you just register as a self-employed musician or whatever you are like as a self-employed professional in Switzerland you have to register at the compensation office (Ausgleichskasse) that's pretty easy it's just one form to fill out is it online it's online you have to go to the website of your canton's compensation office and you download that form and you fill it out and if you don't know how to fill out the form ask someone who knows how to do it because then you can spare a lot of problems right because there is always important to think that and those offices we have people working who are not connected to our industry at all so you need to tell them what you do in a way that they can understand what you're doing and not in a way you would explain it to a musician because they really have no clue and of course they don't have they're not in our world and they don't have to be they have other stuff to do to have other tasks there are enough people out there who can help you with that brilliant thank you and one of the last questions is from SUISA our sponsor and SUISA asks what are some of the ways that you can make money from music there are many ways when it's playing live concerts another way is to record for other musicians like to be to be a studio musician another way is to arrange music for other musicians to write music yeah to compose to write music for example for productions like advertisements or films or documentaries there's so many ways games yeah games is a big industry now isn't it but I like what you said about arrangement because I've not I asked this question often it's a question from SUISA so but I feel like you're the first person to say arrangement of music for other artists as a way of having an income yeah I mean there are many really great songwriters and sometimes they want some strings on their songs yeah but they're not string players so they're really happy to have someone who's a string player and who knows how to arrange strings or brass or whatever like horn section and there are many really good professionals who do that Cégiu thank you so much for joining me but also I just want to take a moment just to thank you for your work that you do I don't know if you ever get direct thank you looking in your eye I think what you do is so important I think your activism and the work that you do reaches so many people's lives the structures that you've created but just like even connecting people the networking creating environments for people to meet others other musicians but also to further their careers I think that's such a wonderful gift that you've given to so many people so thank you very much for your time to speak to me but thank you also for your work thank you for your time and thanks for the compliments If you want to join the Helvetiarockt community or find out more check out the website, sign up for the newsletter and follow us on social media. If you'd like to support Helvetiarockt you can also become a member or donate and if you like what you heard today please share it with your friends. Helvetiarockt Musicians in Conversation is a concept by Natalia Anderson in collaboration with Helvetiarockt. It's presented and produced by Natalia Anderson music is by Jackie Brutsche and The Jackets.