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| With a producer, composer and musician like �Flying Snowman� Eric Geurts (who recorded and performed on the brilliant Umgawa CD) nudging his compatriot Belgian prot�g�e towards greater heights of success, 25-year-old Yanah is destined to be an international recording artist of superstar proportions. That�s not to say Yanah is unable to come up with her own brilliant ideas, as she shares writing credit with Eric (E-Rick) on most of the 14 tracks, and not a single one of them would be considered radio-hostile. For that matter, the standard commercial format, in many cases, is dressed up with a sophistication that is overdue for severely underestimated radio listeners around the world. Although the many pop songs contained on the CD are, in fact, �Americanized� to a certain extent, other ethnic influences (Celtic, African and Indian) are incorporated in such a way that you can�t really identify any specific origin for them. Yanah, a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, piano, didjeridoo, flute, etc.) could be a world ambassador for music as well as peace. Speaking of peace, the title track is dedicated to Kim Phuc, who was the nine-year-old girl whose photograph taken of her running naked in terror down a road in Vietnam after being burned in a napalm attack in 1972 was published globally. Kim Phuc now lives in a Toronto suburb and is now the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Culture of Peace and head of the international Kim Foundation, dedicated to aiding child victims of war. Yanah personally presented a copy of the single-CD version of this track to an emotionally overcome Ms. Phuc in a highly-publicized celebration last year in Belgium. Apart from the mostly romantic compositions, there is an exotic instrumental track called Cunina, introduced by the sound of a laughing infant, which features Sandip Bhattacharya on tambourine, handbells and tingsha bells, Yanah on flute, and a string section comprised of Mark Steylaerts, V�ronique Gilis, Marc Tooten and Hans Vandaele. Yanah contributes on flute and Eric, who also composed and arranged the strings, plays acoustic guitar and chants. Cunina is a Belgian organization similar to Foster Parents, which enables children to be financially adopted to assist in their education and personal development. Their website is at www.cunina.org. There is one cover track that will be familiar to North Americans, i.e. Don Henley/Mike Campbell�s �Boys of Summer�. This version doesn�t stray too far from the original rhythm but is enhanced with an African sensibility with the addition of various percussive instruments such as a marimba, baillofon, kalimba and bongo, and tambourine, not to mention the fully-orchestrated string section. Yanah�s voice is a bit thin, even child-like, at times, but her vocal tone is very pleasant, and not unlike that of Natalie Imbruglia or Chantal Kreviazuk. She was recently compared to Alannis Morisette but I don�t agree with that at all, at least not in a musical sense. Apart from her immense talent, intelligence and well-developed sense of humanity, Yanah also has natural beauty and a visual tastefulness in promoting herself that is rarely seen in today�s raunchy musical meat-market. One particular track of the many that interest me on this CD is called �The Morning After�, which is centered around one of those haunting but pretty piano melodies. The lyrics seem to convey a preference for loneliness versus using physical beauty as a tool to gain a sense of being loved, but running from the superficiality of it the next morning. Although, in her press biography, Yanah gratefully acknowledges the new direction in which Eric Geurts has taken her basic compositions, she laughingly muses that she will �save them (the early, acoustic versions) up for an Unplugged album when I�m famous!� I have a feeling that isn�t going to be too far off in the future, judging by your 4th-place position with listeners of Radio Donna and Radio 2 and preselection choice at Eurosong! |
| THE GIRL IN THE PICTURE - YANAH CD Review by Diane Wells |
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