Lira (Lee-Rah) has been called the queen of South African Soul, with four platinum selling albums she is the highest selling artist in South Africa. She is a true artist that has nothing but reverence for life and the music she loves and her fans love her right back. Her beautiful face has graced the covers of fashion and glamour magazines and she was even voted South Africa's woman of the year. Since her debut album in 2003 she has made a remarkable impression on the global music scene. Downloads of her music were so significant that the South African Music Awards created a new category to recognize her achievement. At this point in her career Lira is ready to spread her wings and share more of her music with the rest of the world. In the spring she visited the The Virgin Island to open for Hugh Masekela, from there she went on the a European tour. 

 

Her U . S.  debut album "Feel Good" will be released  in January 2012 and Lira set the stage by visiting the U. S this summer, and releasing a 5 track EP on August 10th.  Lira performed at SOB's in New York City on June 26th. Backed up by a great group of musicians, she totally captivated the audience. Her  messages of love, life, and finding strength are just as touching when delivered in the Zulu language as they are in English. On stage she's animated, whipping the end of her dress around as she dances through lyrics. Her songs speak of joy, love, perseverance and overcoming fear, the need to be engaged in life. Her performance that night included acknowledgements to other artists who have influenced her music among them; Anita Baker, Alicia Keys, Letta Mbulu,Sade, and the great Miriam Makeba. Those influences combine with her unique sound that seems at once new and familiar. Lira is truly ready to spread her wings, she is a  a woman who is at the helm of her music, her business, and her future.

 

Caribbean Posh : Lira, you were in the Virgin Islands a few months ago, how was the experience?

 

LIRA: That was so special, I was essentially the opening act for Hugh Masekela, it was just the two of us doing concerts in St. Thomas and St. Croix, and what an incredible turnout. I fell in love with the space, and Hugh Masekela was being honored. March the 17th and 18th were declared Hugh Masekela days in the Virgin Islands. I got a chance to speak about my impressions and my experiences there, and I walked away with such a great respect for the people. A respect for what they are achieving out there, and we've just been looking for other opportunities to get back. I loved it, I really really loved it.

 

Caribbean Posh : What was involved in putting together this U . S . tour?

 

LIRA : Well, I've experienced such great success back home and I'm in the process of spreading my wings, and introducing my music to the rest of the world. Through Facebook, our website, and Twitter, I've received feedback from people who have picked it up from the net, or the were in South Africa or they saw a show somewhere in the world. So there was a buzz being created and I thought it's time to start exploring other markets. You can get so comfortable in your hometown scene. So we got a team together and hired a few people that would help me do this. John Porter ... he's wonderful, Paradigm management our agent,  we got okay  player  doing some of the promotions and Sasha from Helio. It's just nice to have some people that are here and believe in what I do and can push it. I don't know how the industry works here. I think after the performances I'm just going to be left to be myself and do my thing which is wonderful, that's what I and and I've always thought there was a place for it. Some beautiful light messages, there's room for that in the industry still and I think this performance has proven that. 

 

Caribbean Posh : Tell us about the band you performed with at SOB's they were awesome, have you worked with them a long time?

 

LIRA : Those are my boys, two of them I've known for years and the other two are fairly new. I've always had to find people that share the vision. Back home I'm a superstar but here we have to start from scratch. So we have to put on a different mind set. We've gotta do this because we love it, and we're trying to do something special, and achieve something special. I got myself a band that just loves the music, and believes in the vision and they're all having fun, and more than anything there's love between the team. We've been working together from the beginning of the year.

 

Caribbean Posh : How did you get your start in music?

 

LIRA : Well my first album was released in 2003 to an independent label distributed through Gallo music. In 2001 I had been working as an accountant for two years.  I was desperately unhappy, absolutely unfulfilled, making money but I was like "I don't get it, why am I not happy." I remember sitting at my desk thinking when was the last time I felt truly alive. My only association with happiness was when I was on stage in my college days doing my thing. At the time I was 22 turning 23 and I thought maybe, to get back to that space when life was good again I need to get back to the stage.  So I devised a five year plan, handed in my resignation and went for it. Nine years later, incredible accolades multi-platinum selling awards. I had the highest selling DVD of all time in Africa, opening at the world cup, and now my first U. S. tour. I just came off a European tour, I'm essentially doing a world tour in that sense, it's exciting for me and its a journey that started nine years ago.

 

Caribbean Posh : Was getting a deal with this label a difficult process?

 

LIRA : Getting into that independent label for me was the easiest thing so easy it was ridiculous. I handed in my resignation and weeks later I landed at the record label by accident. I was picking up a friend and they were looking for a new voice for soul - R&B and I was looking for an opportunity, I just happened to be there at the right time without even knowing it. The next day after we met I was on tour with them, it was literally that simple. 

 

Caribbean Posh : You went on to do very well at the South African Music Awards, as well. What was winning that award like for you?

 

LIRA : My fans had earned me my first South African Music Award, it was a brand new category that was added "the highest downloads". Our primary way of downloading music in South Africa is through cell phones. At the time mine was so significant that they created a whole new award for it.  I remember standing there thinking ... my fans got me here. From there it just started doubling, by the time I released my third album "Soul in Mind" I had won the most South African Music awards of any artist in one year. The next year I won best female, which is in two consecutive years which had never happened before, so I was breaking records and doing new things all the time. I think the thing that blows my mind is that I do it from such a place of love of life, I love love love what I do and it's just so nice to have accolades you know, it's like a pat on the back that says job well done. 

 

Caribbean Posh: How did you build your sense of confidence regarding life and music?

 

LIRA : Growing up in apartheid SA as a child I was taught to never look white people in the eye, also elders, if you look an elder in the eye you are being confrontational so I was being raised to be meek, not to be confident really. Suddenly 1992 comes through and we're allowed to go to school with white kids.  I think  the not looking white people in the eye was a survival thing you don't want to get in trouble, you don't want to get beaten up by white people, with the elders it's a sign of respect. With all this teaching as my foundation of course I'm not the most confident person and I had issues not standing up for myself which was part of my upbringing. What you learn as a child is so solid that as you get older it's hard to up root it. So this was my situation, as I grew up I saw that this was just crippling my whole career. My upbringing was teaching me was to be afraid to stand up for myself. I would stand on stage and almost be apologetic, I couldn't display confidence because my mind would tell me, you are being disrespectful . I had to un learn so many things, I see a lot of my generation that we are so fearful and apathetic and it's a serious serious problem. 

 

Caribbean Posh : How did your outlook change after that?

 

LIRA : As soon as I healed my own situation I realized that life would stick me in a tough corner and I would fight my way out. I had to learn to become confident, I say life gives you an experience so that's why you go through the pain and the hurdles. You have to experience yourself getting stronger then you will know. If I tell you you're strong you'll go "yeah sure", but experience allows you to know it. Life then becomes beautiful because you feel like this organic being that's engaging with you presents all things. That's my intrigue with life and how we respond to it, because of my experiences I have a sense of an understanding now and that intrigues me. It influences what my music is about it's really the human condition, my perspective has been from that of being South African so I do songs about love and acceptance but also fear.

 

Caribbean Posh : By that do you mean your own experience dealing with fear?

 

LIRA : I've had to conquer fear, it still finds little corners of hiding in my being that sneak up on me. It's nice to just keep going strong. the more I travel the world and the more I meet different people I realize it's not a South African situation its a human situation. It doesn't matter where we are, we all go through the same type of struggle.  That's why I felt confident that I had something the world might want to hear, because that's what I'm singing about.  There is no other way for life to help you get where your going , life wants you to fight back. It pokes you around and wants you to come at it, once you understand this dance. It becomes beautiful because you don't fret, you don't pull your hair, you understand that it's just a process. It's just life communicating and saying "ok you need to work on that area." So life makes it uncomfortable for you to bring your attention to that area, these are the messages that I've put in my music, cause that's what I'm going through. You need a big dream to get off your butt and engage with life, that's why I also speak about dreams because the bigger your dream is more your engaging in it. The more mind blowing it will be, the more it will be an adventure so these are the things I'm trying to get people to be aware of .

 

Caribbean Posh : What kind of feedback do you get from your female fans?

 

LIRA : Something that was really really beautiful was this lady said to me, girl I didn't even know you ok, I just happened to be free tonight I was checking what this venue was doing and I saw you and I thought oh sister looks good let me Google her. I heard one song and I said wow let me hear her, and she says you have got me as a fan for life.  She said to me that you give me a sense of who I am, a sense of remembrance of who I am and you've inspired me to just engage with life more through just this one show, I love your music. That's what I'm looking for, I want people to be inspired again, to live. We're here to live we're not here to just exist, It's not the scary fairy stuff, I'm talking about practical everyday kind of life and that's what the songs are really about. Breaking  it down to everyday practical cases, things that seem to elude us.  I get ladies who say often that the music just moves me , you make me feel so much better about myself. It blows me away, that's the desired effect and I'm happy if that's the case.

 

Caribbean Posh : What are your feelings about the role music plays in speaking to the political scene in South Africa?

 

LIRA : What I'm sensing is that there's a lot of apathy, a lot of frustration, a lot of us are not happy with our leaders. My thing is we can't disengage we can't say oh well I'm not voting I'm not going to be involved. We still have to live in this country, my message is always that we can't necessarily rely on the government so we the people need to take responsibility. If we relinquish our responsibility we can never do anything about it, so we need to engage. Particularly with our generation, I think we have an opportunity because we'll be the leaders shortly. We need to position ourselves in key places so that we can be influences tomorrow. We can't really speak very freely on the political situation as musicians, so I found clever little ways of maneuvering certain messages cause they need to be heard. 

 

Caribbean Posh : You have a great sense of style, it comes through your appearances on and off stage, do you have a a stylist or team that helps you?

 

LIRA : I'm very picky, and I use my clothes as a form of expression. When I'm on stage I grab  my clothes, I swerve them all around. I love that , I love clothes that are playful and colorful. They have to reflect my personality, I think they are just an extension of your expression so I'm very hands on with it. I have a great team that works with me but literally we sit and design clothes and come up with stuff that is suited to every situation. I'm a big fan of African fashion, I very often wear ones off or things that are literally just made for me. I think music and fashion go hand in hand, I also feel the responsibility to push African Fashion.

 

Caribbean Posh : Who are some of your favorite African designers?

 

LIRA : There's Bunmi from Nigeria , Nkhensani Nkosi she runs Stoned  Cherrie, David Tlale. All of them are incredibly different, totally different from each other.  I'm a woman so I have all kinds of moods, and its wonderful to find people who get me on all different levels and in all my different moods. 

 

Caribbean Posh : How do you decide which songs to sing in English and which ones to sing in Zulu?

 

LIRA : What I've tried to do is I've just kept it to the songs that are easier on the ears, with all my songs I try to do that. Sometimes I have a burning message and I don't care all that much about who doesn't understand . In terms of this market I just felt it was important to include African songs but the really catchy ones, even if people don't understand they hopefully get the feel of them and the rhythm even if they're not able to sing along. 

 

Caribbean Posh : What is the music industry in South Africa like regarding the role of women?

 

LIRA : We are incredibly empowered, our previous president Thabo Mbeki, was very pro women , he made a woman deputy president so we had incredible opportunities to be really empowered. So that's how I structured my career as a musician, and as a woman. As a woman I find we're less shrewd, your motherly with your stuff.  There are pros and cons to that but I just think we are softer business people more caring but I love the fact that I'm empowered, I love it love it love it. I own all my publishing, everything runs through my company, I'm aware of what's happening in my company. It's something I talk about a lot, I'm in control and it's beautiful.

 

For more info on Lira visit : www.misslira.co.za

Lira's EP can be purchased via : http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lira-ep/id453302685 

 

 

 

 

 

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