After seven years in New York, the singer and musician returns to Saint-Nazaire to prepare her new show. We take a look at the situation after a five-day residency at the VIP.
For five days, the soul singer from Saint-Nazaire has been rehearsing at the VIP, which gave her carte blanche. “We have accumulated 45 songs,” says Hervé Batteux, director of Tam Tam Production and drummer of the group of musicians he has gathered to accompany her on this residency.
Since his debut, Dajla has regularly set the VIP on fire. “I’m back with my family here after seven years in New York. It’s a bit of a story about a young girl from Saint-Nazaire who lives her dreams”, she declared during a presentation to a “privileged” audience, composed of the press and local personalities. But she warns, “What you’re about to see is only a first form of culmination.” With her communicative energy, Dajla presented a few songs, five of which were taken from her new album Day by Day, produced by the legendary American producer Gordon Williams (who has produced famous artists such as Amy Winehouse, Alicia Keys, Santana…). This very private concert will feature his single Why featuring Steven Marley, one of Bob Marley’s sons, which was included in the reggae compilation released by FIP radio last September. The album promises to be very vintage reggae, as she likes to call it. Indeed, she has collaborated with some of the biggest names in reggae and ska: the Wailers, the group of musicians who accompanied Bob Marley, and the Skatalites’ brass section.
In 2003, the young singer from Nazaire was spotted by producer and musician Benjamin Bouton, with whom she wrote and produced her first albums between 2006 and 2009*. In 2005, Jean-Louis Brossard, the programmer of the Transmusicales de Rennes, spotted her potential and put her among the discoveries of the festival. The producer and DJ Wax Tailor also noticed her and opened the doors of his label “Under Cover Music”. This adventure resulted in a first album of 12 tracks in May 2006: Soul Poetry. The single Remember me made her known to the public. The singer then went on to collaborate with a number of artists including ky-Mani Marley, Morgan Heritage, De La Soul and Harry Belafonte.
This first residency at the VIP will be followed by others, as the singer, musician and producer will return to prepare the second act of her show. We can’t wait to be “privileged” again to relive this moment. Even if we’re sitting two meters apart.
