DO YOU WANT TO DANCE?

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DO YOU WANT TO DANCE?

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By Sammy Venn, Jeeni's Official Writer Columnist and Blogger.

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Plato said that music and rhythm find a way into your soul; that’s so true! I love music and have an eclectic taste that I think most can’t comprehend. The plethora of suggestions I get is wonderful, so it works for me, as my knowledge of music becomes far more expansive that way.

I discovered Fip radio about a couple of months ago. It’s a French radio station; genius in that I can listen to a myriad of tunes and not turn it off or down because of adverts or news that makes me feel sad - it’s all in French! So not only am I picking up a language I adore, my collection of music is expanding.

Music really feeds my soul, I thought it might be a fun idea to create a “Musicians and Performers Group" playlist I can create on Jenni for us all to listen too. So please, please add your favourite songs below so we can all share in the delight that music brings to our mind, body and spirit...Many people don’t know this but listening to music is not just something that brings joy, it can also improve your health in a variety of ways and scientists have proven that through many researches.

Read on to find how music can make your life more awesome. By Eevee G

1. Helps you sleep better

Music contributes for a healthy sleep. Researchers have found that classical music can help us deal with Insomnia, especially college students. This is definitely a healthier and much cheaper fix for your sleeping disorder than taking pills.

2. Fights stress

It is no surprise that listening to music helps relieve stress off your shoulders. Studies have found that music stimulates biochemical stress reducers which helps us feel more relaxed.

3. Helps you get in touch with yourself

As it puts us in a better mood, music helps us get in touch with our emotions, a 2013 study suggests. The participants marked “self-awareness” as one of the most important advantages of music.

4. It relieves pain

Music has the ability to decrease the intensity of the pain. It activates sensory pathways that fight pain pathways and takes a person’s attention away from the pain.

5. Fights anxiety

When we are feeling anxious, listening to music can help us fight it as it has the same effect on the brain as a massage has on the body.

6. Acts as a motivator for bikers and runners.

College students conducted a research and proved that the people who rode stationary bicycles were able to work harder while they were listening to fast music compared to those who weren’t listening to any music during the experiment. If you are like me and prefer running, listening to your favorite songs can help you beat your personal records and even strengthen your endurance. Long story short, music helps you perform better during your workouts and also makes them a lot more enjoyable.

7. Helps you recover faster after a workout.

It’s proven that your body recovers faster after a hard workout when you are listening to your favorite music

8. Fights sadness

Researchers have found that music can successfully fight symptoms of depression but the genre is very important. Classical and meditation music can boost your mood when you are feeling down, but listening to heavy metal or techno music won’t help that much with chasing away the bad thoughts.

9. Helps the function of the blood vessels

Science has proven that the emotions that people have while listening to music contribute to healthier functions of blood vessels. As music makes you feel happier, it boosts the blood flow in your blood vessels.

10. Helps with stroke recovery

A Finnish study found that if stroke patients listened to music for 2 hours a day, they recover faster. Not only their moods improve, but also their verbal abilities and attention span, too.

11. Improves performance in high-pressure experiences

Fast music can help you fight stress before a high-pressure experience- an important game, for example. Researches have proven that listening to fast music just before a basketball game helped player relieve the stress and perform better.

12. Makes you mindful while you eat

Playing some music in the background is proven to help people slow down and enjoy their feeding process. This makes them more aware of what they are consuming and really tasting the food rather than eating quickly which leaves them feeling hungry and dissatisfied with the meal.

13. Improves cognitive functions

Playing background music while working on tasks that need your mental focus can boost your performance. A research has found that music can boost one’s cognitive abilities, but only if it has the same effect on the emotional state.

14. Music can get you into a state similar to meditation

Slow music can have effect on the speed of your brainwaves which makes them similar to someone who is in a meditative or hypnotic state. This can have a healing effect as it eases the symptoms of PMS and behavioral issues.

15. Eases patients going through a surgery

A research discovered that when patients are played music just before a cardiovascular surgery, they start feeling less worried. Moreover, music reduces the stress after the surgery if it is played while the patients are resting in their beds.

It doesn’t matter what the music of your choice is.

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13
Dec

Christmas Auction Launched today with Emeli Sande, Beverley Knight, RAMZ, Christian Atsu, Mr Brainwash and more…..

Unique one to one zoom calls for Christmas with top Music Industry experts, artists and a footballer! And more! Arms Around The Child launch their unique online auction with Superstars which ends on Weds 16th December at 9pm. AUCTION LINK HERE! Grab a unique experience. Bid on an exclusive video performance that has been created especially for the winner of this auction by Emeli Sande. No one else will ever see or hear this recording except you! The Queen of British Soul Beverley Knight is offering a face to face Zoom for budding songwriters and performers trying to get their music heard and forge a career in the music Industry. Speak to Top A&R expert Nick Halkes on a face to face Zoom. Nick co-founded XL Recordings to discuss your musical aspirations and how best to move your career forward. RAMZ whose No1 single Barking made a huge impact is offering up his time to get on a face to face Zoom call with the winner to chat football and music, he’s an avid Arsenal fan! Top Producer/DJ SHADOWCHILD is offering a face to face Zoom mentoring session ideally for upcoming producers/DJs to learn and prepare for what lies ahead in the music industry. Premiership and International footballer Christian Atsu will have a one to one Zoom video session on football training and coaching tips for young players looking to improve their game. Stop Press! Exclusive Christian Louboutin Handbag just added! Additionally the auction offers the opportunity to bid on Mr Brainwash prints, Alan Shearer rare Top Trumps signature card, Elton John concert tickets for 2021, a striking and vibrant Giclée print of David Bowie a signed Maradona presentation plaque, exclusive wines, a Star Wars storyboard, weekend breaks and other experiences all wrapped up in this Arms Around The Childs Christmas Auction. All to benefit children look after by Arms Around The Child who are affected by HIV/AIDS, abandoned, abused, orphaned, trafficked and living in child headed households in Ghana, India and South Africa. Help us to help them. Images available please contact ellie@armsaroundthechild.org (07801292553) AUCTION LINK HERE!

07
Apr

Naëve on Music, Performing and Life during 2020

Having described herself as an outcast in life and the music world we ask Naëve what have been the key challenges and new opportunities and ventures that would have never otherwise have been possible. We asked her to tell us about her experiences over the last year whilst we count down to Jeeni’s online JAM festival. Naëve is a project born at the beginning of 2019 as a rebellion against all rules and constrictions that keeps us into our ‘tiny given little boxes’ since birth. As for the film ‘Big Fish’, my fishbowl started to feel a little too tight, I needed a bigger one for myself. Labelling and categorising everything, has always been something I refused to comply to since I remember. I’ve always been an outcast, in life and in the music I write and for this, I haven’t been always understood. Felt horrible for a while but, in time, I got that people use to fear what they do not understand, they fear change and what is new so, I made sure to be clearer and clearer for them in time. To my surprise, more and more people started to get closer. I decided to keep the influences and ditch the genres, even following an emotional and logical tie to every single one of the genres that I rework in my music. This brand new fusion sub-genre that I would call ‘Retro Groove’, is based pretty much on writing what comes to mind, binding the genres together and following simple melodic similarities. With what concerns lyrics writing, instrumentals is what inspires me. I believe that music in general, is an identification of feelings, emotions that often differ very distinctively from each other, other times, instead, they layer up so, when I write lyrics, I first listen carefully to the musical part, until it makes me feel something or leads right back to specific memories. Then I write about that. Because I never pretend to be the Diva that I am not, what you find in my songs is exactly what I would say to you if I ever meet you in person. No filters, no beating around the bush, pretty much "what you see (or hear) is what you get". I am at a point in my life that I genuinely don’t care about what others may think or if I say something in a way, I may offend someone. I’m living my freedom happily and this, I believe, is why I can write my songs in ways that have never been done before. I’m not the kind of person sugarcoating thoughts or happening, I try to make them feel sweeter and more bearable because, all in all, life is never like the cover of VOGUE. Also, more often than not, real heroes are the ones who are left unsung. I will sing and about them. I will celebrate them. Even before my first release, the project caught the attention of several labels. Despite lockdown restrictions, I have already signed a record deal with an international indie label, been proposed other two record deals and two publishing deals and received very much support from Blogs, pluggers, radios and so on. My fan base has started to grow steadily and I cannot be happier. For the ‘big sound’ you can hear in my songs, you might think that a whole orchestra or something of the sort has been recorded in it. Truth is, that I work together with an incredibly talented producer (and boy, oh boy if I am picky with producers) that manages everytime to get in my head and help developing the initial idea according to the inputs, lines and melodies I give to him. For that very reason, I thought to be a good idea to involve a basic big band, usually, because big bands are pretty big so, I needed to recreate that studio sound live but without exceeding the number of players on stage. We are 11. One of my unreleased songs has even got us into the Yamaha Boogie & Blues future stars competition finals, that was our very first live gig with this project, then the World shut down, exactly two days before the finals. That was scary, a new born project could have collapsed at any time. When a project is that new, without the chance of playing live shows, it becomes very difficult to grow a proper fanbase. ‘Joy’, my first single release, has been extremely risky to put out. The willingness for people to change is always extremely hard to achieve and I was very concerned about that. I’m saying this because ‘Joy’ is a Gospel song, a genre that has always mostly been kept within Church doors. I took a leap of faith and... It worked. Many brothers and sisters from Evangelic Communities around the World started to show their curiosity and support and it absolutely felt like winning the Euro Million!! The idea before ‘Joy’ was something between the lines: ‘Wow, Gospel music is such beautiful uplifting music of hope, let’s bring it to everyone. That was the reason behind this song. Thinking about it now, I feel very happy about how everything is progressing, mainly seeing how much interest people are having in my music. I decided to continue to write during the lockdown and between them, when was possible and safe to go recording, I decided to continue and work about the messages that I want to pass to my supporters and so ‘L.A.M.E.’ was born. Feminism is quite present in my work and more than ever is a concept, a way of life that needs to be supported today. Sometimes, I really believe that there has been a strong regression regarding how women are perceived in society and in the Music Industry. It seems, somehow, that very often women are seen as something that has to be used, not cherished. Thanks also to my upbringing (and to Madonna’s music), I understood that my value is decided by me, not everybody else and nevertheless by men (I don’t hate you, fellas, calm down) and that my life belongs to me and me only, I’m the only one who calls the shots end of story. So, L.A.M.E. was born after a date gone wrong. The kind of date that starts well and ends terribly wrong...you know the feeling. That ended wrong because sometimes, when people can’t get what they want, they can be incredibly mean and they aim to target your self-esteem attempting to decrease your value. I didn’t let him. I wrote a song about the whole story. It’s an empowering song, for all women who have ever felt ‘not enough in their relationships, psychologically manipulated by ‘supposedly’ their better half. Sometimes, people take advantage of our vulnerability to enforce their beliefs, it never ends well. The message that I would give is that you only know your value, don’t let anyone get to you, you are much more than that!! You can go out without makeup, without expensive clothes or cars, villas, a tan or a size 6 and a DD cup, because when you smile, all of a sudden the world stops. That is your strength as a woman and your beauty. You decide for your life, your happiness and yourself. Being very open-minded, I learned to know people at their true value and not the label been given to them and also, I can’t stand injustice of any kind. I want to channel this empowering message also to the LGBTQ+ Community. The reason behind that is that I have always been surrounded by friends from the Community and some of them are among my best friends ever so, indirectly, I lived their struggle through them on how people are perceived in society. Is embarrassing how, still in 2021, we cannot still be understanding enough to leave people the freedom to live a happy life while feeling comfortable and loved in their own skin. Then the idea for the video of L.A.M.E. was born. I’ve been lucky enough to cast two incredible actors from the Community that are very successful artists, then the idea to interchange roles and to show that there is not fear in beauty and that doesn’t matter what ‘form’ you get, your true beauty always shines. Another risky project, that bore the fruits I was hoping for and here we are. The video has been watched more than 6k times within 4 months time (thanks to this platform as well as Youtube and Vevo) and liked/voted more than 3k times so, really glad with the results. From the live side, during the lockdown, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Hot Vox in support of War Child UK and I was very honoured to be part of this crowdfunding campaign, as it helped to raise money for children and their families hit by war all over the World. I believe there will be more of these charity events for Naëve once it will be safe again to play live. The collaboration with Hot Vox continued with an online ‘Listening party’ that will be available to watch from the 21st of April from this link https://hotvox.co.uk/event/naeve-listening-party/ Plus a funny interview I did for them so, I believe is something you really want to watch. You know, when life gives you lemons..... I started to learn to play other instruments during the lockdown as well and I am quite a confident player now. Also, I will be shortly in the studio for my 3rd official release, so, I will be in ‘planning mode’ for a while plus, a brand new music video and after, the tour. The very first tour for Naëve since the project was born so, pretty excited and feeling blessed for what is coming. Naëve will also be performing in the JAM festival which is a collaboration between Jeeni, AmplifyX and MultiView Media and will be held at 12 noon Los Angeles time, 8pm London time on Saturday, April 10th 2021. To find out more about the JAM Festival check out our events on Facebook. https://fb.me/e/1etPauFMV

18
Jul

LOCKDOWN OPERA GOES GLOBAL

Ten years ago Pete Wyer won the Best Composer Award for his work with the English National Ballet and London Symphony Orchestra. When his celebration concert was performed in Liverpool, it drew crowds of 60,000. But today, because of Covid restrictions, he can't find a venue anywhere in the world to stage his latest work. SPRING STREET is a new opera, composed, rehearsed and performed during lockdown. The multinational stars and musicians have never even met, except on Zoom. But now they are turning the whole situation to their advantage, and Wyer has decided to release everything for free globally, using social media. He says, "It's been a very happy experience, and we're reaching out to a world-wide audience far bigger than any performance any of us have ever achieved before." Pete Wyer has teamed up with the Jeeni network, who specialise in putting performers in direct contact with their fans. "If a performer sells one T-shirt to a fan on Jeeni, they can make more in a minute than most performers make in a month from streaming services like Spotify and the rest. Jeeni is run by the artists themselves, and that's what appeals to me." SPRING STREET stars Japanese Netflix heartthrob Heday Inoue as The Caretaker, and triple-GRAMMY-Award-Winner Maren Montalbano as The Watcher. SPRING STREET will be premièred throughout the day on Saturday 24th July 2021 on jeeni.com/springstreet and simultaneously released across all social media by a network of thirty-four thousand fans of opera, jazz, poetry and rock music. contact: Shena Mitchell FOUNDING DIRECTOR, JEENI t: +44 7703 567 196e: shena@jeeni.com

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