Claudia Balla On the Making Of ‘Winter Tale’
How does ‘Winter Tale’ reflect your musical journey and growth as an artist?
’Winter Tale’ is somewhat returning to my roots as I had a classical
training (piano, voice) and used to listen to classical music as a
child and as a teenager. I only started to indulge in contemporary
pop music as a young adult. It is also an homage to my Hungarian
origins. Lastly, I was born at the end of January and the holiday
season has always been dear to me, I usually keep the Christmas
tree up until my birthday :)
Were there any challenges or breakthrough moments during the songwriting process for ‘Winter Tale?’
There were mostly two challenges. The first was finding the right
“sound” and picking the right instruments to be featured on the
album. We talked a lot about this with the producer of the record,
András Bolyki. Finally, we decided to maintain a minimalistic
approach sonically and to use a harp, a double bass and a choir in
every track - I consider this to be a breakthrough moment.
The other challenge was more technical - recording a choir of 24
singers in the middle of the pandemic, during social distancing.
Also, I wasn’t able to fly to Budapest at the time to assist the
recording sessions, nor did András have the possibility to come to
Geneva when we recorded the harp with Alexander Boldachev. So
he was live streaming our session from his home in Hungary.
What is your personal favorite song from ‘Winter Tale’ and why?
My personal favourite is “White Bird”. It’s a sentimental track that
compares love to an elusive white bird that is totally out of our
control. The appearance of this bird can be also misleading as it
gives the impression of being gentle and tender, even tameable,
however, in reality, it can have a devastating effect even on the
strongest person alive.
What has been the most memorable experience or achievement in your music career so far?
It would be hard to pick any particular moment or any milestone -
it’s rather the whole journey that makes it memorable for me. From
fooling around with a digital keyboard as a child to being able to
make records and work with amazing musicians. I’m really
grateful for that.
Your lyrics often tell stories. Can you talk about your approach to storytelling through music?
I like telling stories and I always admired genres that were more
“storytelling focused” (folk, country etc.). I don’t think I have a
particular approach - I just do my best to fit the film I have in my
mind into rhyming stanzas. :) As a movie is usually 1.5h long, it can
be a challenge to tell the same story in 3 minutes.
