SAW Notes

Anita Aysola's Heartbeat (co-written with her husband Dhanu Meleth, with videographer Cameron Mitchell) won Finalist awards in both the Video and Freedom song categories. She talks about what inspired her to write the song, how her early training in classical piano and Indian vocals influences her music now, and introduces us to ragas and sargam, and end with a bit of her song "Beyond Our Dream". Anita's website is https://www.anitaaysola.com/

Our Silver Hip Hop / R&B Winner is grounded in a generational family of music and he talks about his doubts and his song "Doubt" 

Griefcat (Louisa Hall and Anne Nardolilli) won some prizes in the MASC. Steve Pendlebury caught up with them online to discuss the past, present and future of their collaboration. You can find more of the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest conversations at saw.org. Let us know what you think and what you would like to see. 

Anne-Marie Pietersma submitted a comedic video about depression and Diana Quinn caught up with her on zoom to talk. Songwriting, comedy, mental health and the state of keeping on track in a pandemic world. She was also one of the songwriters at the Louise Goffin songwriting 5 week class that SAW sponsored this year. #depressedbutdressed

Adalia won the Gold in the MASC Video Category. We got to visit with her and find out what inspired her song "Come Home", how and where it was filmed, and how she is handling the transition from Sedona, AZ to Suburban MD. https://www.adaliatara.com/ is her website.

We stopped in for a chat with the hardest working man in local music, rob hinkal. He talks about why he entered the contest this year, the inspiration and influences behind his song unEven, how he balances his art and the rest of life, music during the pandemic and beyond, touring vs streaming, and more. rob's wife, Kristen Jones is featured as part of her excellent use of NS's electric cello in this video.

We talked to just some of the songwriters of "We Rise", written by the Music Team of Zero Hour, a youth-led climate action group. Arielle Martinez-Cohen, Andrea Manning and Gabrielle Zwi joined us from all over the US to talk about this Silver Award winning song, originally written to be performed at rallies for the Climate Justice movement.

Diana Quinn recorded a zoom interview with Tony Denikos about his Mid-Atlantic Song Contest winning songs. Songwriters' Association of Washington is celebrating our MASC winners with these conversations. Videos for Gravity Wins and Lil' Chrome Fish are included. Tony's website is https://www.tonydenikos.com/

SAW got to check in with Heather Lloyd of ilyAIMY for a conversation about her Gold prize winning song about surviving the year of isolation. Her upbeat take was a refreshing jolt and the story of how she came to write a happy song about such a difficult year is revealed in the talk we had. Her inventive and delightful video of this song is going to be premiered this Valentine's Day at noon. It is a love song to the domestic pursuits and the many hats a woman wears. Watch the interview and My Kinda Quarantiner video below and visit Heather's website.