Jasmin Albash

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 Hi everyone welcome to Helvetiarockt Musicians in Conversation my name is Natalia Anderson and I’m a presenter content creator and DJ. In this episode of musicians in conversation I’m talking to Jasmin Albash who is a singer songwriter and vocal coach she's also a coach at the Helvetiarockt music lab beatmaking workshop we discussed Jasmin's experience teaching the complete vocal technique and she provides tips to singers to maintain a healthy approach when using their voice we also talk about her journey to Palestine connecting her Arabic and Swiss identities and the healing that came from the process Jasmin shares with us two of her tracks taken from her album “Gold” and she also answers an audience question don't forget if you have a question for one of our coaches simply send a direct message to Helvetiarockt on instagram in the meantime here's my conversation with Jasmin Albash hi this is Jasmin Albash and you're listening to Helvetiarockt musicians in conversation Hi Jasmin how are you today I’m very good thank you for being here thank you first of all for allowing us to be in your studio it's an honour thank you well the honour is all mine I feel so cozy and at home so thank you for that very very welcome. The first question I have for you is a question I ask everyone and that is how did you get started on your musical journey I started within my family my mom was singing a lot to us and playing the piano so of course I sang a lot with her and I played a bit of piano and then I started to play the violin when I was about seven years old oh my god the violin is one of my favorite instruments I love the learning curve with the violin because it sounds terrible for a long time before it sounds good. You know my mom was like saying if you really want to play the violin, we're going to check it out if it really if it's horrible you cannot do it but if you can like make more or less a sound okay and then we went to this professional violin player and I played a bit and she was like okay I can take that you know so do you still play the violin no unfortunately I stopped you know why because I had to read notes and I really hated it you know I did everything by ear until a certain point and then I should have learned all the notes and I was like no completely block yeah and I learned them much later wow so you eventually look but I’m I want to pick up on that because I think that sometimes people have a real ability to hear music and to connect with it but the moment it comes to like reading music it can be such a block for many people it was the same for me like I would only read up until the point that I could know what the melody was and then I'd just remember it because I didn't want to read the music but how does how do people sort of stop themselves from thinking oh music's not for me because I can't read the music like how do you communicate yeah I think it's I really don't know I mean it's difficult for me of course it was easy because then I went more to singing and the singing of course it's a very auditive instrument so you don't really need to learn to read the music so yeah I sneaked out but then later when I wanted to study music I was like okay now you have to face it you know and it was much later I was much older and it was it was a pain in the ass but in the end it was fantastic you know and now I really love it I love to understand the whole concept in the end it's only mathematics you know why can you explain that a bit more like what is the mathematics side of it well it's in the end now all that we have like 12 notes and then it's these half notes and then we have the chords that are built up one three five and then maybe you have a seven and all this whole system allows me to yeah to navigate through different keys to do the music to know where I am or what I like to I just did this cool I can reproduce it now or something so do you think it's possible maybe the question is just for me is it possible for me as an adult to learn to read musically definitely what helped me a lot was the piano because I’m a very visual learner so just to see the piano like the different keys helped me a lot to understand the relation between the notes you know and then I could like adapt it and then and still today sometimes I remember in my studies I had this case with a piano on it case for like yeah exactly and the piano was there and sometimes in the in the exams I was like okay wait how many half-tones is the third one two three four yeah I love it so they actually let you into the exam room with the piano pencil I mean you always can paint it somewhere no this is also easy but yeah. You mentioned that your mum sang a lot around the house did that help you to find your own voice or did you ever think that oh you know my mum sings and I’m not going to sing just yet or you know how did you get into to discovering your voice and becoming a singer yeah I would say it was my mom and my sister actually once they told me about your singing so well you should go to singing lessons when I was about 12 you know and then I yeah and then I started after that so it was quite cool I got later embarrassed by my mom because she started to play the drums like percussion and then she was always come on I was like no I really don't want that oh my god but you know what I see myself in her I could I’m already priming my son to like play piano and he's going to accompany me but that's fantastic you know he's still young enough he's still not in the face where he's embarrassed exactly I just can't wait but something about singing is a lot of it is intuitive and you know we we're so used to singing in the car or singing along to the radio but then the moment you're going to start to introduce like technique and introduce like the foundations of how to properly use your voice what was that like for you especially as as a young person well the thing is I had a classical trained teacher that was like most teachers at the time now were classical trained so but she really loved pop and musical and jazz so I think it was more about learning songs not about so much about technique maybe a bit about the breathing or something and that was fine it didn't like stop me or something it was more I always missed somebody that I really could like listen to like you know a pop singer that I could like copy her sound or something and that never happened so that was a bit of a an issue with this teacher but she was amazing I really loved her and she really gave me confidence I think this is much more important at this age that you feel safe with that person and you can just sing songs and do music together yeah absolutely so I mean you teach singing now yes did you ever feel that that was going to be a journey for you did you ever think that oh I’m learning to sing and maybe one day I want to teach somebody's singing yeah you know yeah I think I mean I did education to be a primary school teacher first so I was always in teaching and then I really wanted to study music I studied music and I needed money of course so I started to teach also singing and I really loved it can I ask you about the technique that you use what is it called? It's called complete vocal technique right and what is it about that technique that is good for singers for people who want to go into singing it's including all the sounds that a human voice can do you know so we talk opera singing we talk heavy metal shout screams and we talk belting jazz singing everything yeah and it's scientifically proven or they do research on the voice a lot so it's always with the proof you know they find out something and then they go the path they make research and then suddenly they are like no actually we were wrong everything you learned last year's is wrong oh now this can happen but this is really nice because it really makes it very safe for the singer yeah and the singer really can choose what they want to do so this I really love because we work really not like hey you have to sing like I do you know because this is how singing was taught for a very long time and still is taught or there's a lot of experience like that yeah and we really let them choose and we are there that they can use the voice very healthy and that they can go on stage night by night and not get sick or like yeah absolutely because that's what I want to sort of dig a bit deeper into because a lot of people do use their voice a lot and we need to know that the voice is an instrument as well so it has to be taken care of and it has to be used properly but you know like certain remember there was a time when so many singers like public singers there was like adele there was somebody and everyone like had vocal nodules and everyone was getting sick from singing what can a singer do to prevent that sort of thing happening to them I mean this is really individual but I would say mainly problems is really like a lack of support you know how you support with the breath your voice your vocal cords that you don't have too much pressure on them and you would feel it as soon as it starts to hurt or feel uncomfortable you're doing something wrong so that's that's number one or of course if you get hoarse after show you're doing something wrong or then very often volume is a problem that you're pushing too much and you're too loud yeah and of course this happens a lot because you have the full band on and maybe you don't hear yourself so well and then you just push and push and that can be too much so yeah there maybe have a better equipment I don't know go for in-ears yeah there's ways that you can do it okay so for people listening totally do not push your voice too much listen to your body yeah that's very important but then also not be scared to do a sound you know we always say like for example if I do like this kind of sound. can someone learn how to do that? yeah totally I think this is what we're teaching as well you know and then of course many people are afraid no but this is not good for the voice and we say yeah it is but you just need to do this and this and this and then yeah you're gonna be fine you know. Absolutely I’ve always wondered because I like a lot of rock music and stuff and I love hearing screams and but I’ve always wondered how do they do that night after night yeah like but it's the technique it's learning how to do it in a protective way exactly and we also know where the sound is built you know also in the larynx we know it's not everything is not on the vocal cords sometimes there are kind of vocal chords above that we call them the false vocal chords they when they meet like when they touch it makes this sound for example there's a lot of stuff you know going on so and it's so nice to know it you know like yeah no we know it really physically this is happening so don't worry you know exactly or worry when this and this is happening yeah yeah oh I love it I love that nitty gritty yeah you're when it comes to voice stuff totally you always need to think I really like the example of when you pass by a schoolyard you know where there's so many children they're screaming they do all the effects that we are learning later again and they do it and they never get horse or a baby screaming five hours they don't get hoarse because they're still very connected with their support with their diaphragm and with the breath and all that so yeah we just need to relearn exactly that sounds amazing I think it's such a wonderful thing though like having the voice as an instrument and actually using it the right way and investing time into learning how to use your voice you know yeah it's really nice and it helped me personally a lot also you asked me before how did you find your voice it really helped me a lot to discover and to expand abilities I could do and then it's again very important to forget it you know you have it in your system you train it in the muscle memory and then forget it and go back to the music feeling to the purpose whatever you're thinking about yeah it's so important I suppose because I think what draws us to a lot of musicians and singers particularly is the fact that we feel what they're singing and this emotional connection yeah I mean if you sometimes you hear a singer and you're like wow the technique is awesome but it doesn't touch me at all yeah yeah yeah yeah and of course when once I remember when I learned I was on stage and I was like am I doing now this overdrive thing or what am I doing you know and then takes you out of course and then I mean this is also normal and it doesn't mean that at that time you're a bad singer but it's still it's something else in the music probably and then later on it I was like okay now I’m gonna forget this [ __ ] you know yeah absolutely If you are involved in music as a hobby profession or both sign up for free on the Helvetiarockt music directory. It's a platform for women, non-binary, trans and intersex people in the Swiss music industry. For singers, instrumentalists, bookers, managers, sound engineers, photographers and many more of all levels. It's about visibility, it's about community, it's about empowerment. We invite all of you to participate in the project. For further information go to musicdirectory.ch Right now you are performing for the first time under your own name yes what is that like you've been in in groups before are you someone who already knew that this was going to be a direction you wanted to go in did you imagine that this was always going to be in your journey. Well before I had the Richard Kingston project which was basically me and sometimes other musicians, but it was also kind of my solo project you know but yeah I really was behind that name then later I called it the RK and then my last album is very much about my roots, so I’m Swiss and I’m half Palestinian and I really digged into this this topic and I really went to Palestine, there was a lot going on and it was extremely beautiful for me this journey so this album means a lot to me also like personally there was a lot of inner work and it was so normal actually okay this is Jasmin Albash this is not I remember my sister was saying when I talked about the change of the name she was saying yeah but who wrote the music and I said yeah Jasmin Albash and she said well then that's what it's going to be called yeah and it feels it still feels super natural it's really me I would say this album so that's it's quite beautiful yeah absolutely so tell me about the like traveling and going to Palestine and having those sort of cultural connections to who you are and your identity had you been back before had you been able to go there before this opportunity no I’ve never been before the thing is my father and his family they fleed and he grew up in a refugee camp in Jordan so he was basically his home was Jordan you know still today he went back to live in Jordan so he has more like he actually went two years before with me the first time to Palestine, wow yeah so for me and for me to Jordan I never really had a connection also like to the Arabic side and my relatives was always a bit difficult you know like the cultural differences I’m a woman and I should behave like this and I really didn't want to behave like that and yeah no I can imagine yeah anyways and then later I remember my cousin she lives in America she's so cool I love her and she was like you know what forget Jordan come to Palestine and I was like ah yeah maybe and then I really had this album in my head okay I want to go and work and I actually wrote the concept to apply for some money you know to make the album to travel there and then finally comes Sandro Bernasconi from the Kaserne Basel the music venue and asks me after a show like hey do you want to have come with me to Palestine to a project with female artists and I was like yes so you already had something in your brain that you wanted to go there and create exactly and now he comes separately to all of that separately he didn't even know that I’m half Palestinian you know oh my god yeah it was really the universe was differing you know yeah crazy [ __ ] yeah and then I was yes of course and then this whole thing with my other band Kallemi happened and that that was actually the first time I went to Palestine and in a very musical context because we went to the Palestine music expo which is showcase festival yeah and it was so beautiful for me to to go in a world that I feel safe to another culture that I don't feel so safe you know and then make the connection there and then he was in Ramallah and there was an old friend of my father leaving and they invited me for lunch you know so I still could do like some personal connections and so that was really great and of course what is very strong in this country is of course the conflict between Israel and Palestine and where my grandfather used to live and my grandparents this is all Israeli territory now we actually went to the village where they had their farm but all that was destroyed you know so every yeah of course it's been really nice and very beautiful and very sad you know at the same time absolutely I can I’m just trying to imagine those sort of emotions that must have come through you knowing that because it's one thing seeing something on television and or even on social media when you see so many people being displaced and so many people literally having their homes taken away and destroyed and then and it's another thing sort of being there and seeing it with your own eyes and knowing that this is actually where my family used to be how do you sort of deal with those emotions and were you able to sort of I don't know filter it or process it and put it into the music you were making. Totally it really you know what happened in the end was a was a healing for me yeah personally even though I saw a lot of sad things or even there is also a lot of sadness in the music it healed my soul in a way you know it really could connect like this Arabic and the Swiss part together and like okay now I’m whole from now on when I can move on as a whole person and I also wrote a song for my grandparents which is called “I raise my voice for you” and basically it's about because I found it so sad my aunt explained me that my granddad he always wanted to go back you know he always said you know I don't want to buy land in Jordan it's all dry where I come from there is like it's green there are palm trees, it was very near from Tel Aviv now today so the sea was near and he died and he could never go back to his home yeah and then I said okay in the song it's basically about okay you cannot say anything you couldn't even have the chance so I can raise my voice and explain at least your story yeah you know that's wonderful that's so wonderful for his legacy I think yeah and for your family to have something like that it was also very beautiful also like when I did this album it was also beautiful as you say for my family you know also for my aunts they were like oh wow she's really yeah whatever doing and I was calling them they I wanted that they explained me how it was and how they felt blah blah blah and anyhow this was a beautiful movement within our family as well yeah yeah and I love the fact that you said you know you're connecting your Swiss side and your Palestinian side and and becoming feeling whole you know I think that's such an important journey not just for artists but just for people in general like definitely I truly believe there's something so important about going looking back and looking at our family history looking back to our cultural identity and where we're from in order to understand ourselves and understand our future you know so I really appreciate that you've explained that in your story yeah I think also it's really important and yeah as you say not only for artists for everyone and there's more and more people living this reality you know so it's very important and I don't think it's important the whole life no it's a certain moment of your life when it really have to look at it absolutely and then from there you can go on and then create whatever you know because we're still free spirits no yeah exactly so that's exactly so I think this would be a good time to listen to one of your songs from the album this first track that we're going to hear is called going out to see you what is this song about first of all what is going on to see you about yeah it's actually about fighting with yourself you know it's like going out to see you you're doing the same mistake again you know you're like you're in this vicious loop like a vicious circle where you just do the same [ __ ] ever and you're not happy and then you do it again and you do it again it's about that well let's have a listen to “going out to see you” so you mentioned before your band Kallemi the music director of Kaserne Basel came to you with this idea for a project and that was to put you together with Palestinian musicians and like a Palestinian and Basel crossover exactly so what was the first meeting like how did that work we went there with with La Nefera actually who will also be in the podcast yes she will exactly so we were there in this Palestine Music Expo and then we were actually looking for women you know like women and doing music and of course there were very few we found Rasha Nahas and Maysa Daw luckily they said yes and then we met the first time in Ramallah for a week so of course there is no rehearsing spaces there is no sound systems so one of them they both actually live in Israel in Haifa and so they have Israeli passport but we met in Ramallah which is Palestinian territory yes and then we rented a flat and one of them brought the sound system to the living room and we just recorded and played in this living room you know amazing but I love the fact that so because my imagination was that there was already people on the other side in Palestine that you knew you were going to work with but this was like no you were going to search for exactly musicians so you didn't even know what it was going to sound like no we had no idea wow and then we I mean and then in this week of course we kind of fell in love with each other, it's just fantastic they're just all fantastic human beings and we had crazy really crazy time and then one problem we faced that we were three singers and one rapper and you know we tried to work before online and to send us ideas but this didn't work out at all and then I was like okay who of you plays another instrument because we need you know I mean what are we doing acapella yeah and then one said yeah you know I play the percussion Rasha plays the guitar and you know and I did some electronics I brought my loop station and stuff and this is how we worked very basic and we came from all different music and it was hard what was communication like first of all are you were you all speaking in English together yeah right and then personalities and I suppose everyone's coming from a different experience and at different angles how did you manage to gel I think the word is you know what were some of the difficulties that you mentioned I mean I don't know we were just there we were just doing music and beautiful things came out and probably that's what connected us and I mean yeah they're also sweethearts but they also were and on other I mean for example Rasha is I don't know 10-15 years younger than me you know and it was really like they were staying up till late and I went to bed a bit earlier you know yeah all this [ __ ] and then they were sleeping until 12. I already had to wrote written two songs you know and then we woke them up with the loop station putting the music and they were like oh this is cool and then we make coffee and then you know and then we took the car of Maysa we went to eat some amazing hummus and falafel and you know this is how we did it I don't know and then you're in this city that is so different than what you know of course and I don't know it really glued us together in a beautiful way yeah and you know this brought it was meant to be a project so it would it was meant to be finished so one week Ramallah one week Basel and then a show in the Kaserne but then after the second week it was clear no we're gonna go on because it's so much fun so much fun and you've had quite a lot of success in the sense that like opportunities to play yeah we did where did you get to play well we played yeah we we did a Switzerland a tour like we were in Lausanne and then winter tour of music festival of course the Open Air Basel maybe was already called Polyfon festival I’m not sure then we went of course to a Palestine tour yeah and we were invited to Canada to the Toronto music week or something and we were invited to Glastonbury twice and to Fusion and of course it didn't happen because of the pandemic and our heart is bleeding still oh my goodness but that is such a did you even imagine that you would be having all these opportunities based on this thing which as you say started off as a project never never no no it was I really didn't think anything it was just oh yeah going to Palestine good for me because I want to go to Palestine you know and then I get a whole other thing you know that I didn't ask for actually it just was a big gift that fell into my hands so exactly and what was it like playing for people in Palestine and even comparing with like a Swiss audience what was that like for you they are very emotional I would say they're a very good audience it's very beautiful to play there they're very thankful you can also feel that there's not so much going on like in our places no yeah and so they're they're really cool yeah of course it's also if you go to the stage the microphone breaks nobody has a battery that you if you one battery goes out you know it's it's cows yeah yeah I mean as someone who's used to you know maybe like the Swiss side of things you know I mean I’m still blown away by studios when I go in and I press a button and oh my god it works the first time yeah oh my god this is amazing and all the cables are great you know I mean how what was that like for you did you have to kind of I don't know slow down your pace to accept that there's going to be those elements of chaos and things outside of your control definitely yeah yeah yeah I really learned to be patient a bit more yeah was there anything in particular that you learned from the other musicians but specifically those Palestinian musicians like maybe part of their approach to music or was there anything that you learned from them a lot actually like from Maysa actually from both they're very good lyricist they write so beautiful and then also Maysa always explain in arabic for example you have about 50 words for love you know so it's so poetic and then how she writes or yeah the thoughts behind her writing are very very impressive and I learned a lot and also Rasha writes beautiful lyrics so they're both yeah pretty amazing you know our podcast this season is sponsored in part by SUISA that led us to think about the ways in which a musician and an artist can make money what are some of the ways that you have been able to make money from music I really think SUISA is a big part you know once you get out there played by the radios or have something in the TV that's really really fantastic and also of course playing shows gives you money yeah although not too much and if you're some in the band no you will get not a lot yeah and I mean I could not survive from playing I survived by teaching or having other jobs yeah that's what I tend to hear a lot actually with these discussions the possibility is there to make money from music but sometimes it also has to be supplemented yes for sure yeah because you work a lot with the you know you you're a coach at Helvetiarockt what is the workshop that you coach the beat making the beat making what is that like for you seeing like young people coming in and sort of being at the beginning of their journey and learning what do you get out of it oh I just love it when they when they start to have this joy you know they listen to their own track and they're like oh my god I did that you know and they suddenly start that the world is opening up and to see that in their faces is the most beautiful thing really absolutely right let's take this time to ask an audience question this question is from Sandra and it's again sort of about money situation how do you discuss payment and I think payment in terms of when you're going to perform they say do you have any guidelines personal guidelines oh difficult question I’m really really bad at that like to tell the people that I need money for what I’m doing yeah and yeah I mean if you're lucky you have a booker that is doing this [ __ ] for you you know right I think that's the best option that you can have yeah and then what I started now is just saying look it costs this money I think like in my head okay if I really have to drive there I take the whole day off I will rehearse it costs at least this and this amount of money yeah and I also check what's the venue and then I will tell them so this would be really cool for me if you can maybe also give me a bit of money for the car you know for the gasoline or something yeah and then I hear them because sometimes they're so lovely people and they also don't have so much money but I really would love to play there and then I also can talk to them I can say yes okay I can make it a bit cheaper or oh no you have more money fantastic you know the other day I had a I talked to someone and this person was saying you know what the band after you gets much more money than you I’m going to give you the same. I mean this is almost like a fairy tale but it happened to me which was really really nice it takes that pressure off as well it was almost like you said quite a few things there so you said you look at the venue and so is it about like the size and the capacity of the venue exactly right so then that could be maybe in relation to like ticket sales as well so like how much they're going to make exactly why okay and also do they get subventions you know like for example Kaserne in Basel gets money from the from the city you know so they have more money than maybe another club that club next to here my place my studio Humbug they don't get subventions so of course there would be much more flexible yeah you know yeah and then you see like your rehearsal time you see travel time yeah all these things that have to be like it's because I think sometimes it's difficult especially for new people starting out to go oh I charge this much you know what's the number what's this golden number but actually if you break it down into like okay I have to get there I have to rehearse I have to do this the venue's this size it kind of helps I think build a better picture of what you could charge yeah for sure I mean I mean that's one big part we forgot to mention now which is writing the music recording an album having somebody who is putting the music out on the market for you you know artwork videos it costs you easily 20 000 francs easily yeah and of course this you also need to get in back you know and usually you do production and then you go on tour and then anyhow the money comes back with sales and stuff but the thing is the sales are not happening anymore as we all know so it's basically only the concerts or maybe you get some foundations supporting you so it's quite complex I would say but as if I would give an advice it's really hey ask people that are in the business that you know if you don't know anybody call Helvetiarockt they're gonna help you yeah and of course there is also like okay which status do you have are you a beginner nobody knows you then then maybe they don't pay you so much but if you're very famous of course they're going to pay you more there's many little indicators that you need to know about on that note thank you so much Jasmin for your time for your space and for your conversation thank you for being here thank you so much for coming and it was a big pleasure thank you so your second song that we are going to listen on our way out can you introduce your second song for us yeah I’m gonna put Sink which is a song that is that means a lot to me it's about the whole journey to Palestine and it's really the moment the song is really the moment where I kind of healed I mentioned before the Swiss and the Palestinian part like they connect again and yeah they go together and the song is about this and we shot a video at the Dead Sea in Palestine which is the most amazing place on earth if you ever can go there go so that's "Sink" 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 and if you like what you've heard today please share it with your friends Musicians in Conversation is a concept by Natalia Anderson in collaboration with Helvetiarockt. It's presented and produced by Natalia Anderson music is by Jessiquoi.