Beijing-Born Musical Project DJENUB is This Italian Expat's Love Letter to Music
Italian expat and jazz singer Simona de Rosa has made music an integral part of her life from a young age – bringing it with her on a journey that began years ago in Naples before stopping off in New York, Vietnam, and China – and now she’s combining these experiences into a new musical experiment she’s dubbed DJENUB.
A duo consisting of de Rosa and Polish composer Michal Ciesielski, DJENUB will make its China debut this Sunday in Beijing at Blue Note, with the concert doubling as a release party for DJENUB’s first album.
We spoke with de Rosa ahead of the concert to find out more about her love of music, her respect for her past, and how it’s all come together in this new project.
How does it feel to be touring while showing music lovers around China this new project?
Overall for me, it’s like coming back home. This project was conceived in Beijing, arranged together with Michal Ciesielski, and recorded in August 2022 in a studio in the hutongs of Gulou.
It’s remarkable in my career that I will be able to present DJENUB in Beijing’s global temple of music: Blue Note (in Beijing on May 7 and in Shanghai on May 26). And I love to do it here in China because Chinese audiences are always warm; open to new styles of music. In fact, people know me as a jazz singer. This will be the first time for them to hear something that is different from me -- more experimental in terms of language. In this project, I sing in five different languages (Neapolitan dialect, Yunnan dialect, Spanish, Arabic, and Vietnamese). I really can’t wait for the audience to hear it!
What got you into music, performance, and, more specifically, jazz?
Well, I’ve been singing since I can remember. It’s been a part of my life ever since I remember I could speak!
From age five, my mother taught me old Neapolitan songs. Then, when I was a teenager, I began exploring all sorts of music genres, from metal to soul and more, but everything changed when my father brought home a jazz music CD titled The Jazz Divas. I was so hooked that I learned all the songs on the CD in a couple of days! And that’s how I got into jazz.
My parents didn’t come around to the fact I wanted to be a singer until much later. After I graduated from university with a degree in geological science, I admitted to them I wanted to pursue a career in music. They didn’t talk to me for one month after that.
Still, I persisted. I took things step by step. I met jazz musicians, I started singing with jazz bands and big bands. From 21 years old onward I never stopped performing. Then I moved to New York for my Master's Degree in Jazz Performance from Queens College. This, for sure, was the experience that shaped my personality and taught me to be humble with music. It’s a never-ending process and there’s always a competition to fight. First with yourself and then in the music business.
Thankfully, my parents grew to respect my career choice and they’ve since become my number one fans. They’re always in the front row at every concert I perform in.
So DJENUB was born out of inspiration from the sounds of the world you heard in New York. Why that city? What was so significant about what you heard while there?
I actually started to appreciate the music of my hometown while I was living in New York. I never thought I could sing in Neapolitan while performing, but once in the USA, people were asking to sing in my dialect; through me, they could recall memories of their parents or grandparents back in Naples.
So I started learning more and more folk music, from the south of Italy and south of America.
I would say that what was significant to me was not what I heard outside, but what I heard inside. The need of going back to my roots and singing those beautiful melodies all over the world.
Your new album is meant to take listeners on a journey around the world as it were. Which places do you touch on and why?
Naples, my hometown, is the capital in the world of bel canto*. In the past, all the great composers and singers went to Naples to learn music. I grew up in an environment where music was part of everyone’s daily life. In Naples, literally everybody can sing. So, I started this musical journey from my hometown with a Neapolitan suite and an original song written in Spanish.
Only when I went to Vietnam in 2018 I started digging more into Vietnamese music and once in China, I explored the endless sounds of this extraordinary country as well.
So it’s because of my travels and experiences that I decided to bring what I’ve seen, learned and heard into a musical project.
The Arabic part comes because it is an homage to my husband Kaddour. He’s Algerian, so through him, I can experience a little of his culture. My next step is to go there for a while and study with local musicians. Together we named the project DJENUB, which means south in Arabic.
What's next for DJENUB and what are your musical plans in the future?
I will bring DJENUB to Chengdu, Libya and Poland in the near future. This is just the beginning! I can’t wait to see what the future will bring.
*a lyrical style of operatic singing using a full, rich, broad tone and smooth phrasing (from Oxford Dictionary)
DJENUB's Album Release Concert is taking place on Sunday, May 7 at Blue Note Beijing. Doors open at 6.30pm and the concert begins at 8pm. Tickets are RMB 220/person and can be purchased by scanning the QR code in the poster.
READ: From the Ring to the Kitchen: A BJ Brazilian Expat's Culinary Journey
Images courtesy of Simona de Rosa
