Learn more about Shana and her style, ChamberSoul!
In April I had the wonderful opportunity to chat with singer-songwriter-cellist Shana Tucker who will be performing on the Elm Street Event Green on July 25th as part of the Lantern Series! Shana has pioneered a new style of music, ChamberSoul, that has the musical excellence of a true classical sound mashed up with all of the emotions and power behind soul music. We first saw Shana at a conference in Orlando where she performed beautifully and then improvised a song with the name of the booth her agent was in. She had the whole audience singing along and it became a fun experience for the whole room. Having interviewed her, I can tell you she is extremely down to Earth, constantly working on honing her craft, and is such a fun person to be around and talk to. Here’s how she came up with her style and why she calls it that:
Shana: ChamberSoul. The concept – one word, “Chamber” and then capital S smushed together. It came about as a result of telling people all the things that my music is not. And that was a loooong monologue, so I just said “You know what? Let’s just bring it down to the core,” right? I’m a classically trained cellist, I do not play or profess [laughs] classical music anymore, you know?
But I looove, love, love, love chamber music.
And chamber music, I feel, has its origins in the classical world, but it is expanded into this whole other atmosphere that is music that is played in intimate spaces. And that space can be defined on stage or in a room with small audience or just this style of music that’s played, right? There’s a dialogue that happens between players where if the melody is this and the cello starts with it, and then at some point I hand it off to the next player, and then it hands off to the next player, and then we’re all playing like this and maybe it goes like this, you know?
But all of that dialogue is very similar to great conversation, you know?
It is, it is great conversation, just not words. And so to be able to communicate like that with my friends that I’m playing with and to incorporate the energy that comes from the audience in that space, we create this sort of chamber of goodness, right? And then the soulfulness – I can understand how someone’d be like “Okay so like Aretha Franklin?” and I’m like “No.” “Okay so like Otis Redding?” And I’m like “No.” [laughs] At the core it is the intent of where it’s coming from and where I hope that where it’ll end, you know?
The resonating chambers from my soul to your soul.
That’s what this music is about. It’s funny when people are like “She created her own genre!” and I’m like “Uhh. I don’t know. Maybe one day there’ll be a Grammy category for ChamberSoul, I don’t know.” But I know that for me, it was a lot easier to just say “This is the style of music that I play.” It’s improvisational, but not exactly jazz. Like there’s jazz elements, but it’s not exactly jazz. And there’s pop elements acoustically, but it’s not pop. And there’s folk elements, but it’s not folk. And I’m classically trained, but it’s not classi- you know it’s all that “Not, Not, Not.” It’s just “It’s ChamberSoul ya’ll, just listen.”
Watch the rest of our interview with Shana and get a sneak-peek performance!
How COVID-19 impacts Shana's concert
The safety and health of the artists, staff, patrons, and volunteers is a top priority. Elm Street plans to continue presenting Shana Tucker’s concert as part of the Lantern Series on July 25th while observing social distancing guidelines set out by national, state, and local authorities and encourages all patrons to take the necessary steps to protect their health. While we would love to see you at the concert in a few weeks, please stay home if you do not feel well!