Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
It sounds like a hit.. like the kind of record you might hear next to Jewel or Fiona Apple on the radio. It's got a great pop sound." - Billboard
"Bari Koral is an independent force on Par with Ani Difranco!" - Time Out New York
A classic...Bari Koral's 12-song Confessions of an Indiegirl looks, sounds and, more importantly, feels like it should be a blockbuster hit. A sure bet to be one of the biggest releases of the year given the proper exposure, comparisons to such artists as Chrissie Hynde, Lucinda Williams, Roseanne Cash, Norah Jones, Shelby Lynne, Fleetwood Mac and Ani DiFranco, while inevitable, are in no way limiting. - The Aquarian
Somewhere between that misty emotional territory charted out my Joni Mitchell and the agit-punk roots of Ani DiFranco, Bari Koral has found a comfortable neo-folk niche. - Newsday
"Bari's got the best voice in NYC. Also voted among the most likey to succeed by the Village Voice." - The Musician's Exchange
The Lizard King's Daughter
by Julien R. Fielding
Career Girl on a Quest for Love:
Thumbing through the liner notes of Bari Koral?s latest CD might cause perusers to do a double take. In the acknowledgement section the indie singer-songwriter thanks "all the colleges and clubs I?ve driven miles to play ? especially you guys in the Midwest." In a recent phone call from Woodstock, N.Y., the brunette songbird revealed just how unusual this level of affinity with Nebraska, and more specifically the River City, has become.
"When I?m in Omaha I like to go to M?s Pub," she said. "I?m a vegetarian but I eat fish. [She also mentions McFosters.] I know my way around the Old Market and I like to hang out there. My entire wardrobe is from Nouvelle Eve. The cover of Cloud Walking ? the jacket I have on ? everyone asks me where I got it ? it?s from there. The shop girls are really savvy. I like to go in when it isn?t very busy. I?m a New Yorker; I love New York, but I really like Omaha."
Chord Progression Omahans can return the gesture by catching one of her three area gigs, including a Sept. 3 concert at Bellevue University, a Sept. 4 date at the 49?r and one Sept. 7 at the Singer Songwriter Festival, scheduled to be on the Gene Leahy Mall. (She also has dates in McCook, North Platte and Kearney.)
During her three-month Midwest tour, Koral will promote Cloud Walking, her sophomore 12-track effort that features songs about love and loss but with a melody that?s peppy and friendly, much like the chanteuse herself who, in her early 30s, seems to have found her true calling.
As the story goes, Koral was a radio, television and film major at Syracuse University when she got the urge to pull a guitar she had purchased two years before from underneath her bed.
Her first lessons were the E and A chords, which she said opened up a tremendous number of tunes, including ones penned by the Beatles and Rolling Stones.
"Then someone showed me D," she said.
By the second day she was playing songs and by the fifth day she was jamming with others.
"It just clicked," she said. "It was like osmosis. It was meant to be. I always sang but had no way to accompany myself. It was very innate. I was in college with these people for four years and [all of a sudden] I was singing and writing songs and they asked, ?Who are you?? This is so who I am. I finally landed on my feet after searching for years. Everything just fell into place."
To get her career going, in 1998, Koral compiled several demos and pressed them into a self-titled album. Then she hawked them after concerts and out of the back of her car. About 3,000 copies were sold, many of them in Japan.
"In Japan and Europe good reviews mean sales," she said. "People there will take a chance. Here positive reviews don?t necessarily mean more sales. Here it?s word of mouth."
Getting the word out is one thing Koral is trying to accomplish on her tours, hitting the college circuits and clubs. "It?s important to get into the clubs," she said.
Growing up in New York has given the singer an urban, street smart, savvy quality that not only reveals itself in her music but also in her diary entries, which can be found online at www.barikoral.com/confessions.html.
- The Omaha Reader
Discography
"Joy" 1999
"Cloudwalking" 2002
"In the beginning" - single, EMI, 2004
"Confessions of an indiegirl girl" 2005
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Bari Korals new record Confessions of an Indiegirl has been the best-reviewed record of her career. Many fine musicians donated their time and talent as a labor of love after hearing her music. The results are 12 strong tracks, including the standouts Dont Give Up, Aspiring Angel and Midnight Train to Georgia, which has been spun all year on music choice and sirrus radio.
Bari's a graduate of Syracuse Universitys Newhouse school. She was just learning how to write songs and play guitar when she landed her 1st job in television as the head researcher on the Jeffrey Dahmer trial for Court TV. She soon realized that tracking serial killers for a 24-hour news network was a sure path to a nervous breakdown.
Instead, she walked out at the height of the tv networks popularity to pursue her sweeter ambition music.
Independent in spirit, and mindful of the direction the traditional record companies were headed, Bari decided to take matters into her own and not wait for anyone to give her a career.
She released JOY, her first collaboration with producer Jimmy Bralower and
Suzanne Vegas original touring and recording band. It was this release that led to hundreds of write-ups in local and national newspapers including a glowing full-page spotlight in Billboard.
Landing a college-booking agent on the strength of JOY, Bari jumped into her car and began what would basically become a 4-year tour. She quickly became one of the highest grossing & popular acts on the college circuit.
The touring ranged from the sublime to the absurd. She drew on some of these often hilarious touring experiences to write her first novel (also called Confessions of an indiegirl). Gigs backing up Sponge Bob Square Pants at state fairs, or a relationship with a touring drummer that took place entirety via text message all set the stage for Baris just completed charming novella about life, love and a 5,000 step program towards success.
She was also routinely being pegged to appear with many well-known recording stars such as Norah Jones, Lenny Kravitz, Joan Osborne, Lisa Loeb, and the cast of Saturday Night Live.
It was the road, which would lead her to many of her current collaborators. Bari met the Jayhawks backstage in Iowa. Most of the popular alt-country band would come to play on confessions of an indiegirl and make important contributions to her career. They would also go on to drink lots of tequila together.
She also teamed up with famed drummer Jerry Marrotta, whose regular work with the Indigo Girls and Sheryl Crow became a guiding force in recording all the basic tracks for Confessions of an indiegirl. Jerry brought in help from pals Bill Dillon (Sarah Mclachlan) and Tony Levin.
She also met drummer Pete Caigan (who she dragged to Kansas for almost a month of shows), and who used Bari as a catalyst to take out a loan to get his own studio off the ground and the first record he made would be Confessions.
At a critical stage, Bari again hooked up with Jimmy Bralower who did some additional recording and mixed the album.
Confessions of an indiegirl is a result of years of writing, touring and searching. It relies solely on the strength of the music. Its constantly been described as a very rewarding record. Every track maintains this inviting energy.
Baris warm voice guides you through the journey, almost whispering in your ear Come along with us and dont worry, youre in good hands.
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