Parvyn: "I Hope This Record Brings Solace And Connection"

31 October 2024 | 10:22 am | Emily Wilson

The world music singer and dancer takes us track-by-track through her anticipated sophomore album.

Parvyn

Parvyn (Supplied)

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After her 2021 ARIA-nominated debut album Sa, world music tour-de-force Parvyn is gearing up for her sophomore release. 

Maujuda, as epitomised by its title, is an album that soaks itself in the present, and remembers everything that came before, all the currents that ebbed and flowed and led to this moment. The cover art is fitting: Parvyn submerges herself in water, becomes one with an entity that is bigger than all of us.

The Punjabi-Australian artist grew up in the Adelaide Hills, long after her parents moved from the UK to Adelaide in 1981. And though her career has seen her travel and base herself in diverse locations, the release of Maujuda will have Parvyn return to her original home base for an exciting launch party at Nexus Arts on November 8th.

It is difficult to fully categorise Parvyn’s kaleidoscopic sound. She has a voice like milk, and she blends contemporary rock, disco, and jazz with rich Sikh Punjabi folk traditions. All throughout her work she navigates identity and displacement, complex themes usually couched in an easy groove.

Read on for an insight into Maujuda.

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Free To Be Myself

‘Free To Be Myself’ is a song about feeling safe, supported and comfortable in your environment, surrounding yourself with people you trust that elevate you to be your best self. It is a call for a world where all people are free and accepted equally without prejudice. I want this song to represent the joy you can find in living an authentic life but also give hope that all people can live freely, and in safety, in this world.

New Game

‘New Game’ is a tale of break up and heartbreak but with a positive edge. The song is inspired by off again/on again relationships but in this case breaking the cycle and getting rid of the person for good. It also makes mention of the confirmation bias we often have through the windows of social media, and navigating relationships and break ups with this added level of social complexity. Life is a game, where you can make your own rules, but you can also change them when and if you want. Musically diverse, the song seamlessly moves into a 7 beat rhythmic cycle and back again after the choruses, and features vocal interludes in sargam (classical Indian raga scatting) and keys solo by Mary Ancheta and trumpet solo by Chris Davis (Sharon Jones and the Dapkings).

Lay Awake

This song is inspired by my grandmother bebeji and the train journey she took across India with her husband and two young boys to then get on a boat to Malaysia where they landed and made their way to a fairly remote part in the jungle where my grandfather became a Punjabi school teacher and priest. The courage she had not knowing what she would find, caring for her children and feeding them a gruel while they travelled as they had little money. I imagine her (and all parents) exhausted but awake while her children slept soundly in her lap. There is also commentary of how ‘migrants sometimes hold on to their culture so tightly that it can cause a rift between generations, not realising that back in their homeland it has progressed and modernised’.

Divine

This song has some advice that has been given to me by people I trust over the years about finding your path and making choices about what sort of life you want to live. For me, ‘my artistic practice is a form of divinity because it puts me in a space of present consciousness’.

Interlude - Maujuda

This is my husband Josh Bennett improvising on electric guitar using an Indian raga that connects to the next song Huna Lai Jio, with Mary Ancheta on the synth.

Hun Lai Jio

Huna Lai Jio means ‘live for now’. The lyrics are in Urdu/Punjabi and are the story of migration: leaving a land and city, taking all your belongings with you, never knowing if/when you will return. It also talks about how we are stronger as a community supporting each other and finding your people in new lands or cities. It is ok however to adapt to the times and integrate to create new cultures instead of doggedly holding on to previous ideas of life and living in the current times. Maujuda.

Back to the Ocean

I wrote this song while improvising at home on my piano and singing captured via recording on a voice memo. The version on the album is one live take of me singing in the vocal booth at Afterlife Studios and Mary Ancheta playing the grand piano in the main room. From there she layered the synth and the drummer overdubbed some cymbals. You can also hear the sound of the ocean and early morning birds which are from a voice memo taken while I was in Bali undergoing my Free-diving training to capture the photo for the record cover. It is a very important song for me. As an artist I want to do whatever I can to make this world a better place and contribute positively to humanity. I hope this record brings solace and connection to as many people as possible.

Tickets to the Maujuda album launch are available through the Oz Asia Festival website. Not to be missed, the event will take place at Nexus Arts as part of their ongoing fortieth birthday celebrations, and will involve a full band, string quartet, and visuals by artist Alice Yang.

The Maujuda vinyl is available for preorder through Suitcase Records, and the album itself will be available on all streaming platforms on November 1st.

This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body

Creative Australia