Henrietta Smith-Rolla it is multifaceted, innovative, a palette of different artistic influences and challenges. Under the pseudonym Afrodeutsche, she reveals herself to be a little girl in love with sound and curious to learn its facets, to be able to tell stories (especially her own) to those who listen to her. Learning from films and records what music means to her, she has experimented with practically every type of sound format: documentary and TV soundtracks, orchestral composition, piano, DJing and dancefloor beats. Heir to the 90s British rave scene, Afrodeutsche is an artist sincere, introspective on her limits and gentle with her weaknesses, aware that heart and emotions are her driving force. A virtuous example of talent and character, encouraging in being proud of oneself and of the goals achieved, and of being courageous in moving forward even when the mind is one’s worst opponent.
Connect with your identity in that moment.
From the Dekmantel’s Boiler Room, Manchester clubbing to singing and opera, Afrodeutsche is the complete package, perfect and humble harmonizing of sublime elements.
Laura Caprino: You have often attributed to yourself the definition of “daughter of the analogical”, compared to the digital age in which we live. What makes you so? Are your feelings towards analog a form of protection towards imagination and creativity?
Afro-German: It’s a choice that affects my mind sonically. If I play a song digitally I will most likely need to go home and listen to it again analogically, for example on vinyl, almost as if I started from scratch. My brain can hardly process digital too much, and the same happens when I compose. If I’m writing electronic music I immerse myself in it and focus on listening, but at some point I think: “Now I need to listen to some Michael Nyman, or the piano music I wrote to feel at home and being able to process what is going on around me”. I don’t think I prefer analog to digital, but I’m sure I need analog to harmonize the elements of my life.
LC: What impact has digital technology had on your art? What is your relationship and that of your music with innovation and progress?
TO: The technology was almost the cornerstone of my path. What I imagine and idealize in my mind I can somehow reproduce thanks to the tools I have at my disposal. From the moment I started using Ableton it became my gateway to everything I can create. I even use it for soundtracks for TV, movies and documentaries, because you can insert images into them. When an idea comes to me, someone else before me has invented or programmed something that offers me ways to materialize it. This is not a completely new technology, in fact, it is ancient. For example, I’ve often worked with a Kyma which is basically a very, very old computer. Older instruments don’t offer a drastically different sound, but decidedly electronic. Many great composers use them to give a sonic sense to things. Also, to put my tracks together and to remind myself how the arrangement works, I always go back to my roots, to classical music. I need to go back to that language to decode the emotion, the depth.
LC: As a first generation Ghanaian citizen in the UK, what is your relationship with your community? Born in Devon, raised between Manchester and London, do you feel you belong in a particular place or all at once?
TO: I feel I am a person made for the nations. Each mirrors me and belongs to me. In my life and career I have had the opportunity to travel and discover the world, and in every country I feel that there is room for me, in some way. I often think a lot about America, but my heart is definitely in Manchester, linked to the scene, the historic rave scene and British pop.
LC: The search for your origins and background has influenced your creative path. How? How has your artistic inspiration and output changed since you embraced these new elements of your identity?
TO: I think because I’ve been able to express myself freely through my music and my choices, it’s almost like that has shaped my identity, like it’s come full circle. I’m probably in the best phase I’ve ever been in dealing with my identity, and that has everything to do with my faith. I feel infinitely grateful. It’s definitely been a huge journey, which by the way is not over yet. But I think we all go through a phase at one time or another where we’re searching for an identity: you have to be honest about where you are, who you are when you create something, because it’s about connecting with your identity in that moment . Today is who I am, not tomorrow, but today. Today is who I am and I let tomorrow take care of itself.
LC: Do you feel that art has helped you form and express your voice in promoting ideas, values and causes you believe in?
TO: Sonically, I’m always trying to make room – I don’t think my music sounds or feels like anything else. It’s very difficult to put it into one category, and the reason I say this is that many people feel the need to define music and art in order to share it, to be able to talk about it or even just to book a show. The music is electronic, ethereal, emotional and never fits anywhere.
When I found out DrexciyaFor example, I said to myself: “Wait a minute, I’ve never heard anything like this!”. For me it was like a classic futuristic composition. If those guys had been around in Mozart’s day and had current technology at their disposal, their albums would have been the sound that kings, queens and emperors would have commissioned.
This is exactly how classical music was born, commissioned by wealthy people. It costs a lot to have an orchestra, a conductor and a composer. So when I listened to Drexciya I said to myself: “There is nothing better than this”. And I wanted to reproduce something similar. With my music I always feel like I’m making room for progress, for what wasn’t there and now is. It’s acceptable to create a seven-and-a-half-minute piece with no vocals, sound good, and tell a story. It won’t be Miley Cyrus, but that’s okay, it doesn’t have to be.
LC: As a female artist, do you feel supported by the changes and breakthroughs achieved in the music scene?
TO: I still don’t feel supported, but I’m glad I carved out more space for myself and created space for others. I think I learned a lot from the experience, facing trials, problems and overcoming obstacles.
I feel troubled when the word is used empoweredWhy for me to be empowered personally it means having no room to be weak, and I’m not always strong, I don’t always feel up to it. It’s almost like I’d rather there was room for vulnerability too, than just being strong and invincible, because we’re all at different times in our lives, aren’t we?
Be kind to yourself, you are not fighting a pioneering battle. I would probably change the usage of the word empowered with “strengthened”. It is still about embarking on a path of growth and evolution, and being much stronger than it was at the beginning.
LC: Your music is very versatile: you go from cassette recordings of UK raves, to clubbing and techno, to classical music, piano and soundtracks for films and documentaries. This makes you a 360 degree storyteller. Is there a common thread that unites such different productions? What is the ingredient that characterizes them all, your signature as Afrodeutsche?
TO: On a personal level, I think it’s very important to be honest with yourself when you’re doing your job, because it may seem that it is easy or that it is always a great joy, but in reality, mentally, you may not be having a good time. Despite this, you are still required to deliver the work that is commissioned from you.
So honesty in this really helps because it affects the work you do. If you are operating on something emotional and are not at your peak, this energy can be catalysed. I think this is probably my personal signature in the music I create, which is totally connected to my heart.
It’s me, there’s no one else. It’s where my heart is.
I think sonically my signature isInstead, the arrangement; I’m good at that and I think it also comes from the DJ journey. In the arrangements it is necessary to observe the whole, the elements of the whole: in this way we take care of how the listener understands what he is perceiving with the sound.
LC: Did you ever think that this kaleidoscopic universe of different productions would become your career when you started making music?
TO: Since I was a little girl I was obsessed with sound. At the age of six I got a scholarship to play the violin. I watched countless movies and studied them, watched musicals, understood them even if I couldn’t read music, with an innate understanding of sound and where to place it. My mother told me that when I was about six years old, we watched a movie and when the credits came, I said to her: “One day my name will be among them.”
My dream has always been to compose for an orchestra, but I didn’t know it was possible for me. So, growing up, I didn’t dedicate myself to any particular studies, I didn’t even go to university. I dropped out of college and moved to London. The way my career has progressed is extraordinary to me.
LC: What are your current and future projects?
TO: I just announced that in July I will be playing at Manchester International Festival at the Factory building, which is a new location, and I’m the first ever to play there. It’s my new live show and it’s going to be huge. I will play with the Manchester Camerata and Robert Ames will conduct the orchestra. I will play the piano, I will sing with the orchestra, there will be electronic music, all together. Also, I’m also working on my first soundtrack for a TV series!