Welcome! Witam! Willkommen!
I don’t have the kickstarter up yet, but you can start donating towards the new album Diesel vs Lungs here!
I’m still offering prizes and packages. Choose what you’d like to receive as a gift for your patronage. Many thanks and Bison Kisses!
Gifts for your Generous Contribution!
$1 and above My Everlasting Gratitude and Updates, Videos, and News about the upcoming Album.
$5 and above- Digital Download of Bison Rouge EP
$10 and above- Physical copy of Bison Rouge EP
$20 and above- Pre-released Digital Download of New Album
$25 and above- Pre-Released Signed Copy of New Album
$35 and above- Pre-Released Signed Copy of New Album plus Signed CD Release Poster OR Signed 8×10 Pin-up style photo and a vinyl record if we raise $8,000!
$40 and above- Your name in the Thank-you part of the album artwork + Pre-released Signed copy of the new album and a vinyl record if we raise $8,000!
$40 and above- Pre-Released Signed Copy of New Album plus personal postcard sent from tour (get it now! ) or Reclaimed T-Shirt and a vinyl record if we raise $8,000!
$70 and above- Pre-Released Signed copy of New Album + a small personal vintage item, chachki, or curio I find for you in my travels and a vinyl record if we raise $8,000!
$80 and above- Pre-Released Signed copy of New Album + a hair fascinator made by me just for you and a vinyl record if we raise $8,000!
$100 and above- Just the Bison Package- All Ashia CDs, Poster, Pin-up Style Photo, Reclaimed Shirt, notebook, personal postcard sent from the road and a vinyl record if we raise $8,000!
$130 and above- The ultimate Ashia Package- Physical CDs of Bison Rouge EP, VO Sing for your Lives, PCP Thousand Words, Pin-up Style 8×10 Ashia w/cello. CD Release Signed Poster, Pay to be Loved CD, New Album, Reclaimed Shirt
Postcard sent from tour and a vinyl record if we raise $8,000!
$150 and above- Just the Bison Package + Any cover of your choice OR a 3-7 minute recording of a reading of any poem or any passage of a book of your choice over cello and vocal tracking
$150 and above- 1 hour lesson vocal, cello, or artistic performance coaching (includes costume and make-up!) + Pre-released Signed Copy of the New Album
$200 and above- Ultimate Awesomely Amazing Rad Package- The ultimate Ashia package plus either a cover of your choice, reading, or lesson
$300 and above- Private House Show for many
$450 and above- Private House show and dinner by us for 4-8 people
NEW ALBUM INFORMATION
So here is the meat and potatoes of the project ideas!
As a child of Polish immigrants growing up on the West Coast of the States, I was raised in two cultures, and the music I write is an extension of that.
This will be an album of music inspired by Eastern-European folk music, indie folk scene of Portland, and love for ancestry and the environment, as well as classical sounds, being a cellist and classically trained in music. Pop and rock will also take its place in the album, with inspiration from retro 60s music. Check out Czeslaw Niemen- the Polish soul man of the ’60s and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Spirit Dances Evermore, which is recorded on Vagabond Opera’s ‘Sing for your Lives’ will be recorded with its initial concept- to combine the retro-pop sounds of the 60s with Polish music folk sounds of accordion and violin. I’ll be recording it in Poland to draw from the well of children growing up listening to Czeslaw Niemen.
Its a mouthful of sounds, but honestly, I get bored of records in which every song sounds the same. Perhaps, that stems from having different and open ways of viewing the world. I could never really understand the inclination for homogeny.
Even though, most of the album is in Polish and English, I hope that this music isn’t seen as just Polish-American, but part of the greater issues of globilization and immigration and trying to find one’s own culture while moving from place to place, from country to country.
Ancestry and care of the Earth, the environment are themes I see and hear while traveling this world of ours.
Also, I hope and intend for this album will be an ever growing extension of a growing return to classical music and sounds, such as the cello being used in a non-traditional/classical setting. All the songs on this album were written on the cello, and then other instruments were added, to fill out the arrangements.
There will also be a couple numbers inspired by the human body and its strengths.
Diesel vs Lungs, a favorite of ours, is inspired by the growing movement of using the bicycle as a solid means of transportation. Its a competition between man’s motorized engines, which is limited to working only with limited resources. Our own bodies, though not as powerful, have an engine that works beyond the means of oil production and electrical dams.
Burn, Give, Bust, Love is an homage to retro-pop-hip hop with classical, Baroque elements, and written on a looping pedal!
Its creation stemmed from looking back on 7 years of pain in my arms, shoulders, and wrists, wondering if I should quit playing the cello forever. Concertos and Etudes were killing me! Performance at times was incredibly impossible due to being too nervous and the pain, even Aldo Parisot, a renown cellist and pedegogue said I was ‘suicidal’ at the Banff Centre of Arts Cello Masterclasses.
Yeah, for anyone, not in the classical world, it stings.
While working at Cirque du Soleil, I was given the opportunity to receive treatment and also, more importantly, realize that I was afraid to freely create and take performing. Having all this energy for ideas, and yet being afraid to show them, and perform them manifested in the pain in my arms. You might ask, how the hell did this lady get into Cirque being such a nervous wreck- Inderol!!! Which now, I’ve substituted with wine or whiskey- much more exciting since I’ve learned that adrenaline is my friend.
There will be songs that have been lost in performance, but will come alive, such as Shepherd’s Wings, in English and Polish, about immigration, and a few more yet to be written or dusted off from previous performances.
ILLUSTRATED LYRIC BOOK
One thing I really miss in a digital world are beautifully created lyric books.
Its been a long time coming to have a book that has lyrics in both Polish and English. I’m already drawing plans for ‘Prosto do Nieba’ The Polish Grandma Song as being both in Polish and with an English translation.
If you’d like to illustrate or have an ideas for a page, please let me know. I love collaborations and would love each page to be different, as so are the songs.
BUDGET
The budget for this album exceeds that of what I’m humbly raising, but I would be so grateful to be able to cover all the expenses with this fundraiser!
$2500 Recording Studio
$500-1000 mastering
$800 Artwork
$1400 CD Duplication
$1500- Flight to Poland
$2000 Publicity
$400- Printing of Lyric Book
$1300 Possible Record Duplication!
$9100 Total without the record duplication!
VINYL RECORD!!!
Releasing a record would be absolutely incredible, and i didn’t suggest it initially in the fundraising, but if enough is pledged we can release a real deal vinyl record!
TIMELINE
The recording will be happening through the summer and Fall, while also working on the album artwork and lyric book. Mastering and production should be completed by mid January for a release in February or March 2013. I hope that waiting 9 months does not dissuade you from supporting this project. I will be sending postcards, to those of you who have pledged towards that, as well as posting about the evolution of this project to make sure you know I’m staying on track in completing this album.
Thank-you from the bottom of my Bison Heart for supporting.
Dziekuje bardzo!!!