Anam Owili-Eger
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Anam Owili-Eger

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Band Alternative R&B

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"These Subtle Declarations - Album Review"

There's an old saying: Less is more. These Subtle Declarations is an EP that proves that saying true. Being the trained jazz musician that he is, we could have easily received an 80 minute disc packed with the genius that Owili-Eger clearly contains, but instead we get a five song EP with intimate production that truly showcases his brilliance with a maturity and confidence that surpasses his years.

Recorded with Owili-Eger at keys with a bass and drum combo, These Subtle Declarations is a fusion of influences...Gil Scott-Heron meets Tori Amos with some Lonnie Liston Smith thrown in...but without copycatting anyone. The chords are jazz based, but there are influences from folk and rock that bleed through, truly setting these songs apart from anything I've heard in a long time.

What shines brightest on this collection is the songwriting. I would go so far as to say that Anam Owili-Eger is one of the best new songwriters of the past 10 years. In an era where real songwriting seems to have been forgotten, Anam is a writer who truly is a craftsmen of song. Each word is specific and on purpose...no filler here.

This collection of songs is a tour de force of the emotional landscape of the human psyche. "Reason To Be" is a naked and introspective look into one's coming of age, while "The Crying Shame", a tale of the worries and woes of love. "The Coin" takes on universal concerns, speaking for the disenfranchised and powerless.

It is "The Moment", for me, which stands as the centerpiece of the album. It is breezy and jazzy...and is a quintessential example of what we can look forward to from a full length project. The lyric paints such a profound picture and Anam gives us an emotional and soaring vocal performance that lets us see the color and scenery that the lyric suggests.

In short, this is a strong, strong effort from a triple threat--singer, songwriter, musician--who has a bright future ahead of him.

Reviewed by Tim Dillinger (Music City Soulman, singer/songwriter - Nashville) - Tim Dillinger, Stave Magazine (stavemagazine.com)


"Sonic Soul - Short Cuts"

(Text appears in German, English translation forthcoming)

Eigentlich ein Mann großer Worte, über den auch einige weitschweifendere Ausführungen angesagt erscheinen – dennoch hier und jetzt in der Rubrik SHORTCUTS…zunächst weil „These Subtle Declarations“ als lupenreine 5-Song EP daherkommen und dann, weil Anam Owili-Eger ein Artist mit vielfältigem Potential ist. Singer-Songwriter Soul, reduziert auf die wesentlichen Elemente aus beseelter Aussage, dem unabdingbarem Rhythmus-Gerüst aus Drums & Bass und einem omnipräsentem Pianospiel (das er bei Bedarf um eine hübsch-nostalgische Orgel anreichert) des Herren höchstselbst. Songs, bei denen Frank McComb nicht weit entfernt erscheint - irgendwo zwischen einer Art skeletiertem Stevie-Wonder-Styling und Gil Scott-Heron Attitüde (ohne sich dessen Botschaften anzueignen); dazu eigenständige Melodien, verschachtelte Harmonien – Spannung und Kurzweil durch stete Bewegung in allen Abteilungen der einzelnen Songs, die nicht ohne Grund schon auf diversen Contests für erhöhte Aufmerksamkeit sorgen konnten. Talent setzt sich durch – von Anam Owili-Eger wird man in Zukunft noch hören.

Jöerg Michael Schmitt, SoulSite.de
- Joerg Michael Schmitt, SoulSite.de


"SoulSite interview, May 2006"

1. In your artwork I see two persons obviously in love. Now tell me, is this what musical is all about: love, heartaches and come togethers?

Anam:
I think a lot of the music I write has to do with love, but it’s not always about love towards another person, nor is it always about the positive sides of it. But "The Moment" is about a joyous expression of love toward someone, whereas "Day of Knowing" is about love that perhaps once was strong and isn't anymore. "The Crying Shame" is about a troubled relationship that keeps falling apart and coming back together.

What I like about the artwork, done by my friend Doug Goudy, is that it expresses a lot of the themes I like to work with in my music: love, longing and desire, loneliness and heartache.

2. “Reason To Be” and “The Coin” are my personal favourites on the album, specially the first one because its songwriting shows off more wisdom than the average soulsinger. What is it about, each song?

Anam:
I'm glad that you like them! I think they might be my favorites, too. "Reason To Be" is about ambivalence, depression, trying to heal oneself, and having a "crisis of purpose," something I seem to go through every now and then. At the time when I wrote it, I was working at a midsize financial company--the kind of place I never thought I'd end up working in. I was there for about four years, and hated much of my time there. Every day felt like an extension of the one before it, except the feeling got worse. Some of the executives and managers scoffed at the idea of me devoting time to music, some even saying that I would outgrow it. I was pretty insulted and disappointed, especially since they had never even heard my music. But aside from that, it was the feeling that they didn't value any kind of creative endeavor. So that song came out of trying to figure out what my purpose in life was, something I imagine I'll always be trying to discover. At the very least, I knew I didn't want to be like them.

My friend Tim Dillinger, an amazing soul singer/songwriter from Nashville, just asked me about "The Coin" the other day, so that's a funny coincidence. The song is inspired by that famous poem by Pastor Niemoller--I think it's called "First They Came". The poem inspired me to play with the idea of a lead character who had either real power or the feeling of power over another. Then I wanted to artificially remove that power and make that person the outsider that they once shunned, and explore how their feelings might change.

I'd also been thinking a lot about wars and conflicts, and how both sides are usually wrong in some way. However, in many situations, I think one could argue that one of the sides has a lot more power than the other--for example, the U.S. with regard to Iraq. I think the stronger side has a moral responsibility to be just, fair, compassionate and to weigh the pros and cons of every course of action. Unfortunately, that power is often abused and that moral responsibility is often ignored.

So I guess the short answer would be: wars and conflicts, the meaning of power, and the moral responsibility of power.


3. What was your first thought when having been informed that you won at the Singer/Songwriter Awards for “The Moment”?

Anam:
I was shocked and surprised that I'd even been acknowledged at all. I'd been trying to play showcases at conferences, and had entered some other contests, but didn't have much luck at all. The only other acknowledgement was for "The Coin", which was a semifinalist in the UK Songwriting Contest. But beyond the shock, I was very pleased and flattered.

4. You titled your EP “These Subtle Declarations”. Does it mean lyrics and music in general always have to be subtle couldn’t messages in music be much more obvious?

Anam:
I think there's already a lot of music where the messages are pretty obvious and repetitive. I'm sure that I do that from time to time, but in general I like to play with words. I love words. I love writing them, writing music to fit words, writing words to fit music, creating song worlds to explore and get lost in. I guess I want to share how I feel about words with others, and I hope that people not only enjoy the music but also enjoy the lyrics.

"These Subtle Declarations" comes from a line in "Reason To Be" that to me is about trying to heal one's own psyche and having the strength to find one's own purpose and place in the universe.

5. How come you released your first solo-EP on your own – isn’t
Philadelphia the place to be for not only getting inspiration from other
artists but also getting the support from just any (underground) label?

Anam:
I'm not quite sure where the underground labels are here, but if they are, I haven't found them and they haven't found me! :)

Even though Philly has a great reputation with regard to jazz, soul and R&B, and even though a lot of fantastic artists through the years have come from Philly or spent a lot of time here or are even still living here, I think the indie rock scene gets the most notice here these days. There are many, many great jazz and soul musicians here, and sadly, there aren't enough places in town for everyone to play regularly. We also don't get as much press either.

Anyway, I really wanted to record again, and since it didn't look like I was going to be recording with any of the other groups I was in anytime soon, I figured I'd record some of the songs I'd been playing most, just so I could have them for myself. Somewhere during that process, I decided that perhaps I ought to think of it as an EP and release it as such.

6. You are not only a musician from the heart but also a studied one. Why is it so important for an artists like you to not just believe in his skills themselves but also in a profound education on this?

Anam:
I think education is really important. Perhaps it's not absolutely necessary, but I'm personally glad to have the background in music that I do. And because of that background, it makes learning new things a lot easier and a lot more fun. Education ought to be thought of as a lifelong process.

I think it's great to be able to play by ear, but I wouldn't want to rely solely on that. My sight reading isn't what it used to be, and I often have to look stuff up to refresh my memory, but it's comforting to me that I understand music theory and can read music. It just makes things so much easier.

7. It is obvious that the piano is your organ to express what’s inside
of you. But to be honest most people think of the sax when being asked about a typical jazz-instrument. Why did you choose for the black and white keys?

Anam:
My mother told me that when I was about two years old, she noticed that whenever there was a piano, or an organ, or any kind of keyboard around, I was always drawn to it and would start trying to play it. I think a lot of little kids probably do that, but I think she and my grandmother saw something in me that was more than just banging on keys. My mother got a toy organ and I loved to play it so much. Then when I was five years old, my grandmother took me downtown for a surprise. She'd bought an upright piano, an electronic keyboard and started weekly piano lessons for me. I was thrilled!


8. You are not only a solo-artists but also involved in the music
projects like Blue Scheme and Puzzlebox Experiment. Your colleagues in those bands have all kinds of heritages. But how come that in the Jazz- and Soul music scene there are still blacks the majority in making money?

Anam:
In the local scene here, a lot of us--black, white, asian, latino--are struggling to make any money at all! :)

But at least as far as there being more blacks making money, if that's the case, then I would guess that it's for the same general reason that one might find any particular ethnic group as the majority within a particular genre: that the music came out of the social and cultural situations where those people were, which eventually led some to try to make the music for profit (or for outsiders to try to exploit the people or their music for their own profits).

Of course, for many different reasons, there has always been overlap in social and cultural spheres, too, which is why jazz exists, and which is why there are examples in music history of great black classical singers, great white jazz musicians, and really any kind of combination one could think of.

And the continued growth and power of the Internet and instantaneous worldwide media can't be ignored. Hip hop is everywhere. Soul is everywhere. Jazz is everywhere. Rock is everywhere. Classical is everywhere. But although everything is everywhere, people still have to decide what they want to listen to. Right now, rap is marketed strongly, and classical, well, not so much. And it's much easier to find the stuff that is being marketed.

In the U.S., sometimes it seems that the choices that listeners make are "Hobson's choices." That is, giving people the freedom to make choices but then not really offering them a choice. For example, people can turn on the radio to hear different rap songs, but I think a lot of it these days is so similar that people aren't really getting a choice. People have to want to find something different than the usual fare, and that often takes a decided effort on their part. I think people often decide that it's easier to just try to like whatever they hear, since there isn't a whole lot of choice on mainstream radio.

But with satellite radio and high-speed Internet access becoming more popular, I think more and more people are realizing that there is so much more music to discover. And I think because of that you'll continue to see more people listening to different types of music, as well as more musicians experimenting with genres that they might not normally try. The Internet has only recently become a new social arena in a mainstream sense, where people who wouldn't normally interact in the physical world can now meet, trade ideas, learn about one another, and expose themselves to new kinds of music in the virtual world.


9. Talking about stereo-types: some people consider (soul-)jazz as the
“Black Classic Music”. Would you agree with that?

Anam:
I'd pretty much agree with that, although for the sake of being specific, I'd call jazz "African-American Classical Music." I think it's important to note that although the music has gone worldwide, that at it's core, it has its roots in the African experience in early America. From spirituals to work songs to blues to ragtime, I think it's truly amazing to look back at the evolution of jazz. It's important to acknowledge the African aspect of it as well as the American aspect. Neither can be denied, because jazz wouldn't have become what it did without both of those.

I think soul is a little more modern, coming out of that old original R&B (back when it was -really- about rhythm and blues). The great thing about soul or jazz and music in general is that no matter who you are, as long as you love, appreciate and learn about the music, you can be a part of it. Like Bobby Byrd said, "I know you got soul...if you didn't, you wouldn't be in here!"


10. You have a wide open mind concerning music. Where do you wanna to go next?

Anam:
Well, physically, I'd like to perform anywhere there's a receptive audience, especially outside the U.S.! :)

But seriously, as far as the music goes, it's hard for me to keep the music in a tight box. I grew up listening to so many different kinds of music that I can't and don't want to limit myself. I like to do songs that people can just groove to, but I also want to do more moody stuff, songs that are a little more trippy and atmospheric.

I look at one of my favorite artists, Björk, as an example. Whether you love her or hate her, everyone definitely knows her. And her fans trust her so much that they’re willing to follow her music wherever it may take them. I would love to have that kind of freedom, but I know that it takes time to build that kind of relationship.

When I start work on my full length album--hopefully toward the end of this year--I want to make the overall sound fuller. For one thing, I’d like to have some additional instrumentation to bring some different shapes and feelings to the songs.

It’s important to me that my music is sincere and from the heart. If it’s not, I can’t enjoy it. And if I can’t enjoy it, then it would be hard for me to expect anyone else to, since I'm not expressing my true self through it. Even if the song is a story that I made up, I still have to believe in it. Perhaps there are some people who can or are doing music that they don't truly enjoy or believe in, but I’m not one of them. It’s just too important to me.

---
- Linda Konnecke, SoulSite.de


"IAreConscious, March 20, 2007"

(excerpted)

...There’s an extreme potency within the subtleties, a simple complexity, definitely an inspiring sound. With a hint of Ayers along with a portion of Wonder, Anam channels the energy of his great predecessors without copying them. Anam sounds like Anam. - mog.com


"Straight No Chaser (UK) - Spring 2007"

Anam Owili-Eger / These Subtle Declarations

Anam Owili-Eger (uh-NAHM oh-WEE-lee ee-GAIR) is way up there with the new school of multi-talented Philly singer songwriters. He can sing, he can tell a story, he can perform. This impressive five-track trio debut EP pulls in influences from the likes of Gil Scott-Heron, Omar, Stevie, Jamiroquai and McCoy Tyner -- warm, original, imaginative soul-jazz music. You'll be transported into the raw, live experience when you switch from 'Reason To Be' to 'Day Of Knowing'. The dexterity and smoothness of the vocals and keys on 'The Moment' and 'The Coin' proves that Anam ain't afraid of performing alone on stage. Quite the opposite. He gets off on it and is right at home reworking his songs and the artistry of storytelling. Already adorned with a Singer/Songwriter award, Anam will deliver a full-length LP with more instrumentation and a horn section for 2007. It's all very exciting in Philly again! - Raggy


Discography

These Subtle Declarations (EP), February 2006.
absolute!! Sounds from Tokyo -- "The Moment" (CD, compilation of various artists), November 2008.

Photos

Bio

"Anam Owili-Eger is way up there with the new school of multi-talented Philly singer songwriters."
-- Straight No Chaser Magazine (London, UK)

Growing up with a charismatic, hard-drinking grandfather and an insightful yet mentally unbalanced grandmother who (somewhat illegally) home schooled him until he was nine, Anam Owili-Eger dreamed of becoming an astronomer. Instead, he evolved into a "jazz-soul dreamboat" (A.D. Amorosi, Philadelphia City Paper) whose musings on everything from loneliness and love to paranoia and politics have led to acclaim as "one of the best new songwriters of the past 10 years" (Tim Dillinger, Stave Magazine).

Defying genres at every turn, Anam's edgy, adventurous and thought-provoking alternative soul music calls to mind such diverse artists as Stevie Wonder, Tori Amos, Gil Scott-Heron and Bjork.

"Playing it safe by doing the same thing over and over is creative suicide," says Anam. "So I suppose in that sense, I've decided not to kill myself."

Armed with both "a pure, soulful voice that immediately resonates" (Lior Shamir, Singer/Songwriter Awards) and an idiosyncratic approach to the piano, London's heralded Straight No Chaser magazine lauded Anam's music in their Spring 2007 issue.

Born in State College, PA and raised in Philadelphia, Anam Owili-Eger (pronounced uh-NAHM oh-WEE-lee ee-GAIR) discovered a wide variety of music at an early age: the jazz of the 1940s and 50s, the folk, rock and soul of the 60s and 70s, the classical music of times past, and the pop music of his generation.

After fronting and writing songs for Blue Scheme, a jazz-rock band that he co-founded a few years after college, Anam realized he missed playing piano on his own songs and decided to pursue a solo project. In 2006, Anam independently released his debut solo EP, These Subtle Declarations, to critical acclaim.

Anam’s song, “The Moment,” was included on the recent “absolute!! Sounds from Tokyo” compilation on the Unique Uncut label. It was subsequently featured on several programs, including Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide International program, BBC Radio 1xtra, and Toronto’s Higher Ground program, which named it a top song of 2008.

Recently returning from a brief tour of Switzerland, he is concurrently working on both his first full-length album as a solo artist and an EP of a solo side project, both scheduled for release during the summer of 2009.

Anam's music has appeared on a number of terrestrial radio shows and podcasts including:
Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide International
BBC Radio 1xtra
Higher Ground, 89.5 FM CIUT (Toronto, CA)
The Goods, 90.3 FM CKUT (Montreal, CA)
Beyondjazz.net (Belgium)
Novaplanet, Rodon 95FM (Greece)
George FM (New Zealand)
Off Limits (featured on the Giant Step label's online jukebox)
Out the Box (UK)
MoveOnUp (Norway)
South China Morning Post Online