Two songs forming a unity I wrote in the early nineties had never been performed or recorded. To supply this want, I contacted a singing teacher I remembered from quite some time ago. She told me she had retired only last year, but she judged her daughter up fort he task. After receiving the sheet music accompanied with an instrumental guideline track, the daughter politely declined. Through various channels I came into contact with two other singers, one of whom sent me a speedy reply saying she was quite keen to sing the songs. We agreed on a price, set a date - and she was never heard from again. The other singer, however, claiming the range to be a bit too high for her abilities, referred me to a colleague who was used to singing contemporary music, and this singer declared herself quite keen as well. Again a price was settled and a date was chosen. On the very eve of the recording day she called in sick, and for a second time I had to swiftly cancel booked studio time. After that, the singer ghosted me.

 

Being fed up I chose to explore the possibilities of using AI in composed music, found myself pleasantly surprised with even several software programs, and decided to quit all dependency of the quirks of diva behaviour. A string of songs is being developed, and will be published later this year, but these two songs not only form an exception, but also deserve a release on their own - hence a very short album, that you may consider a single with A and B sides. The lyrics, based on poems by Zhuang Zi, are in Dutch, and due to the limited amount of optional AI singing languages, sung with a pronounced English accent. For understanding purposes, the lyrics have been included.