Names: AWEN
Nationality: French-Senegalese
Occupations: DJ, vocalist, songwriter
Current release: AWEN & Caiiro's "Your Voice" is out on vinyl now via Madorasindahouse, featuring remixes by Adam Port, and Enoo Napa.
Recomendations: The Book of Fate by Parinoush Saniee; The song “Play” by Alewya

If you enjoyed this AWEN interview and would like to stay up to date with her music, visit her on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud.



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

I usually listen to music with my eyes closed, especially when I am writing the lyrics of a song.

I always see the landscape first and then as the song evolves I zoom in and see the details of the scene taking place in front of me.

What were your very first steps in music like and how would you rate the gains made through experience - can one train/learn being an artist?

Music was always a part of my journey, from as early as I can remember. Before even going to music school, my relationship with music was very solitary, it was my safe space.

I think one can train and learn to be a musician, a singer or anything. But being an artist is something else, it’s a blend of creativity and boldness that mostly comes from the lack of care for what the external world might think of you. I don’t think it can be taught or learned.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

I was extremely lonely and depressed when I was a teenager so music was my release. I could spend hours by myself in my room listening to music, singing and dancing.

Music meant freedom to be who I wanted to be, I didn’t have to share it with anyone or pretend anything. I could be as loud and crazy as I wanted.

What has changed now is that I don’t hide in my room anymore.

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and what motivates you to create?

Music is the most efficient tool to ignite empathy. I can make you feel how I feel through my music, and if you feel how I feel chances are that you will understand better where I am coming from and you might even relate.

So my motivation is to use my voice to bring people closer together, make them feel for their neighbours, for their friends, for the people on the other side of the globe even etc., in order for all of us to be more connected.

To quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

Without a shadow of doubt: I discovered the idea.

I often feel that words and melodies run through me as if they existed before somewhere and I was just receiving them. I hope it makes sense.

Paul Simon said “the way that I listen to my own records is not for the chords or the lyrics - my first impression is of the overall sound.” What's your own take on that and how would you define your personal sound?

I agree, a song is like a story, a movie or even a painting. You can’t just look at one inch you need the full picture in order for it to make sense.

My personal sound is layered in the sense that it is a blend of all my musical experiences, from classical music at school to reggae with my dad to soul, RnB and Hip Hop as a teenager with my brothers, to jazz with my mom to electronic music as an adult.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

The rolling sea is definitely the most soothing sound I’ve found in nature. I think music preexisted in nature long before humans started producing it themselves.

I consider nature as an endless source of inspiration, not only for my music but in general.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of one of your pieces, live performances or albums that's particularly dear to you, please?

I create most of my music from home, in the morning when the house is quiet. Words always come to me before melodies.

There’s a level of music in every word so I start there, often with one of two words that just come to me and will lead me to create a certain mood for the particular piece I am working on.

Do you conduct “experiments” or make use of scientific insights when you're making music?

Experiments yes in the sense that I always try to think outside of the box and go where I “shouldn’t”, as in “against the rules of music” sometimes.

How does the way you make music reflect the way you live your life? Can we learn lessons about life by understanding music on a deeper level?

Music is my outlet for positive AND negative feeling. It is a space of experimentation and freedom, without any right or wrong.

So I don’t necessarily think the way I make music reflects the way I live my life - to the contrary.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Of course, making music is everything but mundane, it makes you feel a little bit more alive, like love, laughter, sex.

It has to do with who you are at a spiritual level, it’s impossible to compare it to making a cup of coffee or riding a bike.

Every time I listen to "Albedo 0.39" by Vangelis, I choke up. But the lyrics are made up of nothing but numbers and values. Do you, too, have a song or piece of music that affects you in a way that you can't explain?

“A Song For You” by Donny Hathaway - beyond the pallet of emotions that it makes me feel, it is a song that has always popped up into my ears at various key moments in my life.



I always go back to it and it always comes back to me.

If you could make a wish for the future – what are developments in music you would like to see and hear?

I would  like to hear more boldness. We are sometimes overwhelmed by the number of new tracks being released every day but with quantity the quality lowers and oftentimes I find myself listening to 10 tracks and feeling like they are all identical.

Similarly I would like to see more diversity in the profile and stories of artists. I would like to see more artists embracing their heritage and difference instead of trying to fit in.