Onra's listening party for long-awaited album "Chinoiseries Pt.2"
One of Toronto's most well known Hip Hop/Abstract Beat producers Mymanhenri stopped by Play De Record to hold an in-depth interview with french hip hop producer Onra via Skype. Onra (b. Arnaud Bernard) is set to release his long-awaited album "Chinoiseries Pt.2", the follow-up to his critically acclaimed album "Long Distance".
Onra (O) and Mymanhenri (H) discuss what inspired the new record and how he's grown and become the producer he is today.
H: So we're here to listen to your brand new record, "Chinoiseries pt. 2" We're trying this for the first time, having a featured artist chat with us via Skype. You're currently in New Zealand?
O: Yeah man, its pretty crazy.
H: I know everyone here knows who you are but just to clarify, we're gonna give a brief history of who you are, where you came, who you are today and how it all happened. I'm gonna base this on what I already know about you, I know I don't know everything but I've been following you for quite some time now.
O: Yeah it's been about 6 years now.
H: Yeah it's been a while and I feel like I owe this to you...
H: I don't know if you remember this but we had a long interview in Spain and I never told you this but my recorder stopped recording after like 3 minutes and just like that poof, that whole interview was gone. I owe you a real one, so lets get this started. So Onra's been releasing records since about 2006, out've some of the other beatmakers/producers in that scene, I feel like he's got one of the deepest discographies. Can you tell us about the 2006 record "Tribute" you made with Quetzel? Those were pretty much your first recordings?
O: Yeah, that was my first album. It wasn't suppose to come out but it came out because some friends heard it at my apartment and talked me into releasing it. That's how it all started, we weren't suppose to release it.
H: So after that, you did another EP & 12" from that same series. At that point did you feel like there was something there? Some buzz forming around you?
O: Yeah after the first album I really didn't have any expectations. I was very surprised that DJs were playing it and people were listening to it. So from there I kept releasing albums.
H: So after that you did The Big Payback, a collaboration between yourself and Byron [the Aquarius]. So Byron is in New York?
H: Oh ok. Should I assume you two met online, back in the Myspace days?
O: Yeah thats it. I've still never actually met him before.
H: Oh yeah? Well maybe, the next time you're in Toronto I'll fly him up and we'll all go to Terroni's
O: Laughs that's my favourite spot
H: So around the same time your record with Byron came out is when people started to discover a scene breaking out. To the people out there, I highly recommend "Beat Dimensions Vol. 1" it is the ground zero of this entire scene. it's the one record that really pulled everything in. [i.e] Early Flying Lotus, early Samiyam, Byron & Onra were there, Pursuit Groove
O: Yeah, there was also Hudson Mohawke
H: Yup, very early Hudson Mohawke, Gene Scarlet, probably the most influential man in europe for that scene because he championed it very early on. In 2008 things really started to happen for you when you joined "All City" and you released the "My Comet" 7-inch which was going to be an experimentation, sort of defining a new sound for you. I remember we spoke and you were like "there's some shit thats not working for me, I'm gonna start some new stuff and you're gonna hear it." and when I did hear it I was like "oh shit, this is crackin'". Can you tell us more about that?
O: Well yeah, its true that it ["My Comet"] started my adventure with the label "All City" and from the beginning as soon as I sent them that track they really wanted to hear more of that and I was actually already working on a new project which ended up being "Long Distance" in 2008 and that's when it all started. Because the "My Comet" 7-inch worked out well they offered to release the album.
H: Long Distance was definitely your record that really pulled everyone in. The beat-heads may have already been there but then a lot of people who never knew [your music] were like "oh shit". So what was it like finally getting the respect you felt was due to you?
O: For me it really started with "Chinoiseries Pt.1". That was the project that really started my career. "Long Distance" was the one that confirmed everything, but it really started with the first "Chinoiseries".
H: Ok so let's talk about "Chinoiseries". I don't know if any of you speak french but when I heard the title of the record i actually laughed cause i thought it was genius and it looked funny. Maybe i'm a little bit of a nerd but for anyone of you who doesn't know what "chinoiseries" means it basically means "chinese stuff". Chinoiseries came together as you had gone to your ancestral Vietnam on a holiday.
O: Yeah I went back to Vietnam for the first time which is the country where my father's family is from, I went there with my ex-girlfriend. It was a total tourist trip with two backpacks and going up north and south to the country. I had a few extra days in Saigon which is the biggest city there. I really felt like I should spend my time finding vinyl. The place I found, the records looked like they'd been sitting outside in the rain for years. The covers were completely destroyed and the records were covered in dust. I was so excited to get home and listen to what I had found. When I got home the first record I listened to had a sample of the [vietnamese] anthem on it. I was so excited I made like 5 beats a day for like a month.
H: So after "Chinoiserie" came out was there an immediate [good] response for the record? did you start moving some units?
O: Well the people who knew me from my previous albums; they were digging it so no surprise with them really. But its a funny thing, it was such an original concept and nobody else ever heard this before in their lives. When you hear something that is mind blowing not only because its good but because it's just something you've never heard before there's a good chance that you're gonna talk about it to your friends and I think that's what happened with it.
H: So before i get into "Chinoiserie Pt.2" I have to ask you about this one record that just seemed like it dropped out of no where which was "1.0.8". Is that a date or what? what was that record all about?
O: It was just a very personal project, it wasn't really suppose to come out i just sorta decided to release it on vinyl. It's a project that only uses Bollywood music that I got from a good friend who collects Bollywood vinyl. So yeah, I just started listening to some stuff and saw what I could make out of it.
H: So "Chinoiserie Pt.2", is this basically you going through the rest of the stacks of the vinyl you came back with from Vietnam and basically just releasing the follow-up since it was successful the first time around.
O: Not really. It's another batch. I was able to go back to Vietnam the year after and I was able to get some more vinyl and then in the next year, 2008, I went on tour in China so I got some chinese vinyl. Then in 2010 I went on vacation to Thailand and found some more records then in 2011 I went back to Thailand and found even more records. So this is [produced] almost exclusively from chinese records from China, Vietnam and Thailand.
H: So you've been touring a lot lately on the heals of the success you've had with your previous releases. Tell us about that. I remember in 2009 you saying "it's gonna come, it's gonna come" and now all of a sudden you're all over the world, hangin' out in New Zealand.
O: Laughs I dunno man, I don't know what to say about that, it just happens, I guess you don't really realize or appreciate what's happening just cause it's so quick i just try to make the most of it. Maybe i'll look back at it one day when i'm older.
H: So we're gonna start listening to "Chinoiserie Pt.2" but right before we start listening to it. What do you want to say before we start listening to the record?
O: I'd ask you not to skip any tracks, that's really how you're suppose to listen to an album. It might be a little long but if you get the chance to get the album and listen to it at home, just start it from the beginning as if it were a DVD or something. I hope people appreciate it and hopefully there is enough Asian flavour for you to travel through. Hopefully you find it very visual, the samples have so many feelings and expressions in them, i hope you can envision what I saw and thought while I was sampling them.
H: My last question is, what are two or three tracks you absolutely wanna make sure people take in? Your favourites.
O: "No matter what" and "Tears of Joy" I just never get bored of that track because in the samples there's so many different things happening at the same time it always sounds new to me and it's full of emotion, that's why I called it "Tears of Joy" . Another track would be…i dunno..the third one you can choose.
H: Laughs Ok, I've got a couple in mind that i'd heard at shows before so I was very pleased to see that they were on the record. Alright, so we're goon start listening to the record, I know you need to head off to a meeting. So Onra thank you very much we'll see you soon.
Onra - Chinoiseries Pt.2 (trailer) from Op Sudasna on Vimeo.
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