aufey has just turned 25, but you wouldn’t guess it from listening to him singing his original songs composed in the jazz style of another century. “It was at the age of 12 or 13 that I discovered Ella Fitzgerald,” says the musician. I always wanted to sing like her. Since my voice is also a bit deep, I identified with her. » Somewhere between jazz, classical music and popular song, the musical genre that Laufey invented is one that she would have liked to discover when she was younger. However, she did not expect that younger people would also want to hear such music.
Laufey Lín Bing Jónsdóttir’s first contact (we can simply call her Laufey, which is pronounced “lè-vè”) with the Montreal public dates back less than three years, at the Ministry, but she especially remembers her free concert given at Studio TD the following year, on the bill for the Montreal International Jazz Festival, tells us the musician, joined in Pittsburgh, in the heart of a sold-out North American tour which brings her back home, to the same festival.
“I had never seen so many people crammed into one room to hear me, it was really cool ! » she says. Pinch her someone: after collecting the first Grammy award of her career last February (Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Bewitched), the Icelandic singer-songwriter is preparing to fill the Wilfrid-Pelletier Hall on Saturday — and twice rather than once, recitals having been scheduled in the afternoon, then in the evening.
“It’s one thing to write and record songs in your bedroom, but meeting fans and seeing them in person adds another dimension to my work and renews my love for music,” Laufey says. “I feel like a perform, and very comfortable in this role. »
Born in Reykjavík to an Icelandic father and Chinese mother, Lin Wei, a violinist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Laufey was classically trained as a cellist. “I try to play as much cello as possible in my concerts because it’s my favourite instrument – and because I’ve worked so hard to learn it, I have to put that to good use!” Sometimes her twin sister, Júnía, joins her on stage on violin.
We will have understood that music is a family affair, even on Dad’s side, also a music lover: “When I was younger, I only listened to old music: classical, jazz, a little world music. My father’s favorite jazz artists became mine. My parents didn’t listen to pop music, even though I found it odd when, when visiting friends, their parents played pop music. I was sure the parents only listened to old music! »
Participating in broadcasts from the age of 15 Island Got Talent And The Voice IcelandLaufey then headed to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she became more familiar with the classical and jazz repertoires by integrating orchestras belonging to these two musical traditions “while taking courses in composition, orchestration, courses on the basics of music production and the music industry.
Its success in America, Europe and Asia could even shed some light on a little-known Icelandic jazz scene, if not for having given the world the astonishing album Gling-Gló (1990) by Björk and the Guðmundar Ingólfssonar trio. “Ah, Gling-Gló ! I love talking about it because there are so many people who don’t know about it! There is definitely a jazz scene in Iceland, and especially several incredible musicians, but the community is very small. There, everyone knows each other, everyone plays with everyone, jazz musicians and classical musicians. I think that’s one of the reasons why I developed this musical sensibility that mixes genres.
Help from social networks
And what kind is this, exactly? The Grammys determined that Laufey was making pop, “but jazz was once the pop of his era, and classical music was the pop of the 18th century.”e century. In fact, anything can become pop today,” emphasizes the musician, who still struggles to define herself as a pop star : “A part of me refuses to reason with what is happening to me because I am still so amazed. I am very grateful that there are so many people who love my music. The only thing I realize is that growing up, I dreamed of having this community of people, young people, a lot of them, who appreciate this kind of songs and the stories they tell. I feel less alone in loving this music!”
However, to reach young people, there apparently is a good thing called TikTok: its old-fashioned tunes coated with violins which evoke Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby or even Shirley Horn have managed to go viral on the networks. “Social media is probably one of the most important tools I’ve used, it’s thanks to them that I’ve been able to spread my music around the world,” says Laufey.
“In fact, I believe that no matter where you are in your career, global star or emerging artist, these same mediums are accessible to everyone, and the same rules apply to everyone. It will seem unromantic to explain that I turn to TikTok to sell my music, but I find it incredible that we have this free marketing tool at our disposal. »
“It’s a direct channel of communication between my fans and me. I used it at the start of my career when no one in this industry would have bet on a project like mine. It’s thanks to this that I was able to build an audience, that I was able to demonstrate that a community of music lovers was interested in my work. Not only was I able to launch my career, but I did it while remaining independent: today I own my master tapes, I have total control over my creation, I can present what I want without having anyone one to tell me that it doesn’t sound jazz enough or not classic enough or not catchy enough. I do what I want thanks to social media — and I think that especially for women in music, it’s a super powerful tool, thanks to which I’ve been able to carve my path in a different genre of music. »