official
Alla is a Russian - born singer-songwriter, now living in Toronto, Canada. Her
professional singing career began when she landed a small part in the new production by
Moscow's Musical Theatre. Since then she travelled extensively performing in shows,
fronting a band or singing background vocals for well-known Russian artists. She sang Yiddish and Israeli songs in Russia, folk music in Switzerland, jazz in Poland and cabaret in Spain. Her credits also
include several sound tracks for Theatrical plays and Russian TV series.
With her family Alla immigrated to Canada in 1992, where she began writing and recording
her own material. She often works as a session singer, writes music for Films and
Television and performs in local venues. "Perichole's Sincerity Theory" is
Alla's independently released Canadian debut. One song from this album was recently placed in a movie produced in Canada, two others landed a spot in an American picture. Songwriter's latest acievement is the feature song for the Hong-Kong thriller "Full Time Killer". |
Unofficial
BEFORE
I was born in Moscow, started singing professionally at 19, bore a child a little later, dragged myself through University in between the gigs and nursing schedule, cheerfully
dismissing everything I was taught right after graduation. Who wants to be an engineer if
you can make a living by being on stage?
And so on stage I was, touring a lot and enjoying the attention, not famous yet, but very
busy and in demand, until one day me and my husband boarded a plane heading to Toronto and
somewhere at 30 000 feet he told me we were not coming back. I don't remember feeling any
remorse; excitement maybe as if I was heading for a big adventure. Only when I stood in
front of an immigration official did it occur to me that starting from scratch in a
foreign country with no language, no friends and no definite plans for the future would be
a tough one. With the loud 'clank' of his stamp landing on my passport the life I knew
came to a halt. At 25 I had finally grown up.
AFTER
I don't remember much from my first couple of years in Canada - I must've been in shock.
Lack of communication, total loss of self-confidence… Oh, I know how The
Perichole must've felt: "Life is too fearful to bear. When may I die?"
I wrote a lot of moody music, which my husband refers to as "The Music of Postnatal Depression".
I can't say exactly when things started to pick up, but one day life didn't seem so
unbearable anymore and then everything began to fall into familiar patterns: Schools,
gigs, travelling, recording studios and this time writing, lots and lots of writing.
I struggled with my crippled English in every song and embarrassed myself numerous times,
but I had something to say whether or not anybody else intended to listen…
My friends tell me it takes 10 years to get back where you were and become comfortable. I guess I've served that sentence.
I'm at home in Canada, I'm singing and writing again and it appears I've got quite a few
fans believe it or not!
I also remembered suddenly, that I used to be very eloquent in Russian, armed myself with a pen name and began writing a column for the Russian/Canadian newspaper... But that is another story entirely.
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