The basis for my artistry is really my humanity
first. I would say whatever I want to achieve
as a human comes first. And then my art, the
fact that I happen to be a pianist and that I've
got this technique on this instrument or I've
got this voice that I can use on the stage and
so on. That's just a vehicle to try and achieve
those things. I'm really attracted to both the
meaning behind the pieces. How do we translate
an inert piece of musical notation into something
that has meaning for real living humans with
a beating heart? Impact is something I should
chase a lot more than recognition. I wish more
musicians fly with their ideas and actually make
something that they own and that they can, you
know, move the needle in a way that benefits
artists and benefits our industry in real terms
rather than benefits institutions. Welcome to
another episode of Season 6 of The Piano Pod,
everyone. our season of creativity and connection
where we explore how artists are reshaping our
musical landscape with bold ideas and meaningful
storytelling. Today's guest embodies that spirit
in every possible way. Aida Lalu, a Moroccan
-born concert pianist, creative director, activist,
and thinker whose debut album, Mirrors and Echoes,
reimagines Ravel's memoir through an extraordinary
global lens. Her album weaves together piano
miniatures from five continents, revealing hidden
kinships across cultures, histories, and sound
worlds, and offering listeners a new way to experience
classical music as interconnected, imaginative,
and deeply alive. Aida's career spans major stages
around the world, from Wigmore Hall to Mozart,
but her artistry extends far beyond performance.
artivist, and entrepreneur creating new concept
models engaging in environmental and political
work, directing a one -woman show blending stand
-up comedy with classical piano, and actively
challenging what institutional success means
for musicians today. In this conversation, we
dive into everything from Ravel's elemental sound
world to artistic agency, intercultural storytelling,
activism, curiosity, and what it means to build
a career with purpose, not permission. Before
we begin, thank you to our listeners and community.
Every rating, share, and subscription helps us
continue bringing these conversations to life.
Here's the new episode with pianist, creative
producer, and artivist, Aida Lalu. Mirrors and
Echoes. a global journey through sound, storytelling,
and artistic purpose. Please enjoy the show.
You are listening to The Piano Pod, where we
talk to the brightest minds in the industry about
how they are bringing the piano into the future
and thriving in a complex, ever -evolving world.
Welcome to The Piano Pod, and thank you so much
for being here today. I've been really looking
forward to this conversation. Thank you so much.
It's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for the invitation.
Of course. And your album, your artistic vision,
and your work as an artivist and entrepreneur.
I love those words. And then just so much to
explore today. But before we dive in, I want
to start with the foundation of your artistry.
Your work has been described as... imaginative
and poetic and unafraid of exploring sonority,
color, and inner voicings. So let me begin here.
What drives your artistic choices? What is the
core mission or vision behind your music making
today? Wow, what a deep question. We're really
stopping. Throwing me off the deep end, right?
Well, I think the basis for my artistry is really
my humanity first. I would say whatever I want
to achieve as a human comes first. And then my
art, the fact that I happen to be a pianist and
that I've got this technique on this instrument
or I've got this voice that I can use on the
stage and so on. That's just a vehicle to try
and achieve those things. So that's my first
sort of... element of an answer and in terms
of in concrete terms on the piano what attracts
me I'm really attracted to both the the meaning
behind the pieces so how do we translate an inert
piece of musical notation into something that
has meaning for real living humans with a beating
heart And then the other aspect that really fascinates
me is the mechanics of sound production, making
beautiful sounds on the piano and just the myriad
of ways we can approach that. So that's really
interesting to me too. Wow. Yeah, but it really,
those really show in your playing, whether that
is the tone color or even the selection of pieces,
how thoughtfully curated. all the pieces into
your album the latest album which is your debut
album so let's dive into them so the title of
your album is called mirrors and echoes you've
taken ravel's miroir and set in a dialogue with
piano miniatures from across Five continents.
Yeah, so wonderful. And turning it into what
you've described elsewhere as a kind of a musical
treasure hunt. I love that. So what is this album
about? So before we go into details, could you
give us, our listeners, an overview of Mirrors
and Echoes? Sure. So the best way to describe
this album, it sounds a bit cliche, but it really
is a journey. because normally in albums let's
say there's maybe one overarching theme but maybe
we're going to explore different aspects of the
theme in a sort of ordered or sort of sectioned
approach whereas here the themes are explored
in a much more organic way so they're much more
implicit there's nothing so obvious however somehow
you do feel a connection through all the pieces
and those connections If I were to describe the
atmosphere behind the album, what it feels like
listening to it, it's very introspective. There's
a lot of space for, well, reflection, which we
come into with the mirrors theme a little bit.
And also about feeling things within you that
you might have forgotten about. For example,
old songs, old rhythms, things that you've viscerally...
may feel connected to, even though they are very
remote from, let's say, your everyday life, what
you listen to on a daily basis. So it's about
reconnecting with, well, a deeper aspect of ourselves,
let's say. And when I listen to this album, from
the beginning up to the end, they have to be
in that order. Yes, it doesn't work. I've tried,
but really the order is absolutely essential.
which means that when I have to do slightly shorter
versions of the recital, it's really putting
me in a pickle because I think very carefully
about what makes sense because I've conceived
these so carefully from start to finish. And
then if I have to do a 30 -minute version, I
have to start somewhere in the middle that makes
sense somehow, but I can't just pick and choose
the pieces. You're starting from Beethoven, but...
It's Polonaise. Not a lot of people play Beethoven
Polonaise. Yeah, it's very obscure. I'm kind
of, this is me provincializing the Western classical
canon. I mean, if I had put any other piece by
Beethoven, it wouldn't have fit because the point
is to disorient the listener a little bit. And,
you know, you look at the program and you see
Beethoven and Brahms and you're like, okay, familiar
territory. And actually not at all because...
The Polonaise by Beethoven, who no one's ever
heard of. And then an obscure motet by Brahms
that doesn't even exist for the piano, that I've
transcribed for the piano. So it's really, I'm
kind of playfully putting everyone in a difficult
situation. Yeah, and a mission accomplished,
really. And then tell us more about... The pieces,
so composers, right? So the second piece, so
starting out with Beethoven's Polonaise in C
major, then followed by... Are these French words?
This is not actually a French word. I'm assuming
it's either Ukrainian words or something Slavonic
or something like that, because it doesn't mean
anything in French. It must be the name of the
dance itself. So yes, the Beethoven starts off
as a sort of cartoon raiser. It's very much out
of character with the rest. The Beethoven is
this really jokey sort of tongue -in -cheek composition
that I use just to put everyone in a good mood
and act as a big contrast between that and the
desolate sort of... very eerie atmosphere of
the piece that comes after. And that is really
the start of our journey. I mean, the bit of
it is just a cartoon razor. This dance piece
by Armenian composer Spendi Arian was followed
by La Vallée des Cloches from Miroir by Ravel.
Why you didn't put Ravel's pieces in order? So
one of the reasons was in order to accommodate
that larger narrative. The other reason is I
feel that as a set they work really well, of
course, one after the other. But also each of
them is so individual and so good at setting
its own little bubble and character that I think
putting them out of order is not, you know, sacrilegious
to me in a way that... you know, perhaps another
set wouldn't have worked as well. I think for
this particular selection of five pieces, they
can be taken apart. So I just, yeah, I just thought
they offered the perfect framework to build a
larger narrative because they're each so good
at transporting us to very different ambiences.
Like, okay, what about just imagining a story
that links all of these very, very distinct elements
together? What might that? look like and sound
like. And that's basically what the album ended
up being. Wow. And yeah, almost like you're sharing
your playlist. You know what I mean? What do
you mean by playlist? Like, for example, before
your time, there was a thing called cassette
tape. I don't know if you've heard of it. Yeah,
yeah. I'm not that young, you know. Okay, good.
Well, then I would create, we call it playlist
now, but I would have a favorite songs or favorite
pop songs, favorite piano music into this one
cassette in the order that I want. And I would
give this cassette tape to someone else. That
sort of idea. Yeah, exactly. I mean, the album,
if you want to think of it like that, yes, the
album is a playlist in that the order is as important
as what's on it. So yeah, it's a nice way to
describe it. In fact, the whole project started
as a playlist on Spotify. I was researching,
this is totally kind of a separate avenue of
the album, but I was researching folk music on
the piano. before having any idea about making
an album or anything. This was just out of interest,
out of curiosity. I was a little bit tired of
always, you know, hearing the same pieces when
we think of folk music on the piano. We think
Bartók, Kodály, that kind of stuff. And I thought,
how about we find other traditions? How about
Scottish music on the piano? Or, I don't know,
traditional... like Andalusian music on the piano
and so on. And so I started just compiling these
things. And actually, a lot of the pieces I found
through that search ended up on the album. Because,
yeah, it sounded like all of these pieces from
very, very different traditions actually had
some sort of spiritual connection almost it's
like they were all tapping into something so
deep within our humanity that it didn't matter
where it came from it all sort of pointed back
to something very very fundamental in our human
nature and I thought wow how fascinating that
you know a piece from Andalusia or a piece from
you know like Scotland or whatever can speak
to each other and resonate in you know in such
a deep way that was very interesting and I thought
there's something there and that was one of the
sort of parts that led me to the album as it
is today is looking at folk music and the intersections
between these genres. I'm also curious to know,
you've done two arrangements in this album. One
is a piece, chorale piece by Brahms that you
mentioned. And then at the end of this album.
Yes, very good. Well done. Thank you. Yeah, it's
an Arabic music, right? Yeah, absolutely. I listened
to the orchestral vocal version of this piece
this morning. Gorgeous. Played by Arab Symphony
or something like that. I mean, this is a standard.
It's like saying autumn leaves or something,
except it's from the 14th century. So everyone
in the Arab world would know this song. And there's
no strict arrangement. I mean, what we have maybe
is just the notation of the melody, but really
it's always transmitted through oral tradition.
And so across centuries, people have just improvised
on it, made versions of it for their instruments,
sung it. And so, yeah, there's not a particular
sort of authoritative version. It's just so embedded
in the culture. Yeah, so I made my little, I
had a little play around with it and I ended
up with a sort of Rachmaninoff impressionist
infused piano version. Did you learn to do this
sort of like a... doing your own way like arrangements
for example or playing by ear or maybe improvisation
as you were being trained as a musician? Yeah
I did have quite a lot of improvisation lessons
although they were quite formal classical improvisations
and I think that really helped me actually to
engage with classical repertoire a lot more than
just doing my own improvisation. I just felt
like I had suddenly a window into what a composer
might think of when starting a piece of music,
knowing how to create structure, how to create
certain expectations, understanding the harmonic
language. So I would say, yeah, ironically, my
improvisation. lessons really help me understand
written compositions better rather than like
actually turn me into an improviser, which I
wish I could be, but I'm just so terrified of
doing it. However, I do enjoy playing around
and I love arranging because I think in arranging,
you have the freedom of expressing yourself,
but it's like a little also intellectual puzzle
about how do you turn this given material into
something new? And you take off the pressure
of having to do it in real time, which obviously
you would have to do if you were improvising.
So yeah, my process to write this arrangement
actually was a lot of noodling on the piano to
try and find interesting chords and interesting
rhythms and so on, and then piece it all together.
So I suppose, yeah, I did improvise some bits,
but in no way did this just flow out of my mind.
I don't know, Mozart would just improvise. Well,
yeah, but it really, I'm very impressed with
your skills as an arranger. They're both wonderful
arrangements. Yeah, I wish that, are they available
as a score sheet music? Not at the moment, although
I would like to share them. So if you or any
of your listeners are interested in having them,
they can send me an email and I'll send them
to them. Okay. And then your, I think the best
way to be in touch with you would be your website
at aidalalu .com, correct? Yeah, there's a contact
form on there. I'm also very responsive on social
media. So what inspired you to reimagine Ravel
in this intercultural context, build these bridges
across cultures, rather than just playing, you
know, his pieces, five of them, and maybe other
pieces by him, for example, or other composers,
but in a chunk, for example, you know? Yeah,
of course. Well, I'll answer in two parts. First,
Ravel, I feel, was extremely cosmopolitan in
his musical writing. I had a teacher who said,
you know, Ravel is extraordinary in that he writes
music of a certain nationality better than the
people from that nationality. So, of course,
he was half Spanish to his mother. So you can
trace that through there. But he also wrote Greek
songs. He wrote in the Romani style with Zigan.
He wrote the Chanson Madagascar, which is like
after Madagascar. I mean, this is just a small
example, but he just wrote in so many different
idioms. So I thought I was very much at home
with this composer and also my love for exploration
of music of different cultures. I don't think
he would have disapproved at all. I think it's
very much up his alley. But also within the specific
opus, the miroir, I think there are so many influences
that I can hear. So obviously, Alborada is in
the Spanish side with a very clear Hispanic influence.
But in La Valle de Cloche, for example, I personally
hear quite Eastern influences. I hear sort of
almost Tibetan temple bells or something ringing
in the distance. I know some people think it's
more Switzerland bells or... parisian bells we
have different theories floating around but for
me it's just so serene and so um out of time
that i really imagine myself in this sort of
um extremely meditative ambiences and for me
that can only be somewhere very remote um switzerland
perhaps but i think i'm a bit more eastern in
my imagination and then um there are also other
illusions things like I hear, I mean, through
the harmonies that he uses in somewhere like
Wasotrist, for me, this is very, very influenced
by jazz and things that were coming out of, you
know, the new wave of writing at the turn of
the 20th century. Slightly more experimental
with harmony, slightly less, say, classical.
And of course, the... The two pieces that I haven't
spoken about so far, the Noctuelle and Une Barre
sur l 'Océan, also transport us to different
locations. Even though they're not specifically
named, we are very clearly in the forest in Noctuelle
and Boisotrist. And we are also just on the move
on a boat in Une Barre sur l 'Océan. So there's
already this... idea of travel, of voyage. And
also, we have also different, say, stops in different
locations. So that's why I felt allowed in a
way to expand on the message of this. Tell me
more about other pieces as well. So Four Piano
Moves by Alexandra Tansman. And then also their,
oh, Scottish piece. what the fairy piper told
me, Ronald Stevenson and Kaddish. Is that how
you say? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's also,
that was arranged by Siloti. Yeah, and there
are always links to Ravel. So some things I actually
found out after having done the program as it
is today, I contacted the chairman of the association,
Les Amis de Maurice Ravel, and he told me, oh,
you know that Tanzman and Ravel were friends,
right? I said, oh yeah, of course I knew that.
I did it. But it turned out they were actually
friends. I didn't realize that before I found
this stylistic connection between Urnbach Solestien
and the townsman. So what happens in my mind
at this moment is we're checking the road on
the boat in Urnbach Solestien. We are a bit disoriented
because we've been on this mega adventure and
we've been very much, you know. confronted to
the elements, challenged emotionally and physically.
And then the Tanzman comes as this moment to
center back on yourself. It's very introspective.
It's only one minute long. It's quite psychological,
I would say, as a piece. So it just bridges this
exteriority theme with the more interior theme
of the next few pieces. So that's a nice bridge
to Wasotrist and so on. which are a lot more
intimate and one could say even oppressive in
some ways. Ronald Stevenson is a Scottish composer
with a huge output for piano. You might know
him for his huge piece, Fantasy on the SCH, which
is 18 minutes long. This is a solo piano piece
and it lasts one hour and 20 minutes. So this
guy is used to huge large scale pieces. So it's
slightly ironic that my piece that I included
on his album is about 50 seconds long. But I
included it partly because it's an example that
you can play something that sounds Scottish on
the piano. And partly because... I mean in this
piece we're transported to the forest there's
a fairy nearby we really feel like we're in the
forest and it's great in that section of the
album because we are in the forest very much
with Wasotrist that little piece and Noctuel
it's like this supernatural forest where things
happen you see little beings they're not quite
sure if they're real or not So yeah, I just found
it by chance again through research, and I thought
this is the perfect piece for that section of
the album. Wow. And then followed by Malagueña,
by Lecone. No, after the Nocturne, then that's
the Malagueña, right? And then followed by Cara.
Cara, yeah. Yes. So should I introduce? And you
asked about Kadish as well. Yes. So Kara Karayev
is an Azerbaijani composer. Okay. Apparently
the most famous composer from Azerbaijan. I came
across his work by chance when I went to compete
there. I was invited by Morocco to represent
the country in a sort of international competition.
I played this piece for the competition, actually
because it was the easiest of the ones you could
choose from to perform. We had a list of things
we could choose from. And then I actually thought,
hmm, this is so broody. And this is so kind of,
yeah, almost like full of repressed passion in
a way. And it's so... You see it, it's calm on
the surface, but there's so much inner turmoil
that's just repressed in there. And then I thought,
well, we need some sort of link between the forest
and the explosive world of Andalusia and southern
Spain. And I thought, that's actually a very
unlikely link, but it works exactly perfectly
because you've got... yeah this seemingly broody
seemingly monotonous texture but then that's
the perfect link for the um the start of my laguna
i don't know if you remember how it starts but
it's like really dark pour it's done then like
gain in intensity and before you know it you're
like like full of um you know explosion virtuosity
passion typical spanish stuff so Yeah, that's
why it exists. It's so funny. My explanation
is so much longer than the piece itself. No.
It's totally like that for the album. And then
we're in the Spanish section, of course, with
Malanguena, Andalusia, sorry, Alborada, Andalusia.
And then I thought, okay, we've had this, you
know, explosion of, you know, personality fire.
But then we... In the journey, we've met with
our deepest emotions and we've confronted them
and we've expressed them in this flamboyant way.
Now, we've kind of come full circle. We come
from contemplation, but then we need to kind
of make sense of that and digest that and say,
okay, who am I as a person in the end? And that's
why the last section of the album is actually...
still infused, so we're still informed by this
passionate outburst, but we're now back into
an interior mode where we kind of reflect on
these things. So the Kaddish and then the arrangement
of Lama Badai Yetetenda, you will still find
reminiscences of the explosive verse of passion,
but it's done in this almost like ritualized
sense of Yeah, like a prayer almost. I don't
know if you know the Sufi tradition of dancing.
So for them, in the Sufi tradition, dancing is
like a form of worship. It's a form of spiritual,
almost enlightenment or meditation. And that's
very much the end of the album's vibe. we are
back into celebrating our body, but in a sort
of connected way also to the spiritual world.
So it's not just, you know, just the earthly
sort of explosions of passions. We're also just
coming back to what it means from a spiritual
perspective. I don't know if that makes any sense.
No, no, no, no, no. It just makes sense. And
then the last piece, the last song, Lama Bada
Yata Hanna. Yes. What does it mean? So the title
is, if I translate it as something like, when
my beloved was walking. And the song is just
a very simple, beautiful poem about just this
vision of your beloved walking and how they're
far away from you. And you find it so cruel that...
You know, you're not with them. And it's kind
of this sort of love song. But there's also spiritual
undertones about the love for God and the love
for beauty. It's a beautiful little song. It's
difficult to kind of translate it in a way that
makes sense. But you can find some translated
lyrics on Wikipedia if that helps you a little
bit to understand. what a song is about it's
very much an ambience but why you wanted to end
with that was there those two pieces right so
was there did you have some sort of yeah did
you have a some sense of like a spiritual message
not in the oh this is what it means but more
like in a you know hint or suggestive way that
you wanted to include the spiritual message or
spirituality of who you are definitely so i mean
there's a very big spiritual element in the whole
album and um also i think different spiritual
traditions are referenced throughout it so of
course we've got the christian tradition with
the motet we've got the Jewish tradition and
we've got also the sort of Islamic tradition
with that song. It's kind of, yeah, a journey
through spirituality but in a way that's not
particularly attached to any tradition. Perhaps
in a way to just show how much similarities,
how many similarities there are between the essences
of all these traditions. Yeah, so I guess we
start... the album in a contemplative space and
we finished the album in a contemplative space
as well. To me, I mean, my relationship with
spirituality, let's say, is something that's
very practical and very embodied. So I think
of the album very much as also a reflection of
how we use spirituality, which is very much embedded
in the world we live in. you know, feeling at
one with nature, feeling at ease within yourself
and connected with the broader world or your
fellow human beings. Yeah, it's kind of my sort
of relationship to spirituality. And it may be
that some people view the end of the album as,
well, a way to bridge different traditions together
or just a way to celebrate. this part of spirituality
that is attached to beauty and attached to love.
So there's no one way to see it, but yeah, this
is what I have to say on this topic. No, but
you know, there's no one way to see it. Exactly.
That's why just, that's why there's music exists
and that we can see it in a different ways and
everybody has different ideas or feelings from
listening to this one album. Right. Yeah. So
you're also deeply engaged with environmental
issues, using music as a way to think, respond
and act within the larger conversation around
climate change. Well, I think the root cause
of climate change is that we've lost our feeling
of being connected to nature. Because if people
were really... still had this connection, there's
no way they would hurt the natural world in the
way that we do. The problem now is they don't
understand that they're actually hurting themselves.
For me, climate change is a psychological issue
to start with. It's the fact that we've become
alienated from a part of ourselves, which is
nature. So yeah, I guess that's just my two cents
on this issue as an artist. And that then manifests
itself in all the forms of destruction that we
see on an economic scale with exploitation, on
an ecological scale with deforestation, habitat
loss, exploitation of animals, industrial farming,
all of that. um and just the way we eat the way
we travel i mean all of that is just for me it
stems from the basic sort of lost connection
between us and nature so yeah there is a lot
of nature themes in the album um which also connects
to spirituality because as i said for me climate
change is first and foremost the let's say spiritual
psychological problem it's it's just a very subtle
but powerful message that is included in this
album yeah so congratulations it came out a few
months ago right Yes, just it's going to be about
two months in a couple of days. Yeah. Oh, wow.
Today is November 13th. By the time this episode
will come out, it will be February 2026. But
wonderful. And so far, what sort of feedback
did you receive? Yeah, a lot of positive feedback,
actually. I've been very lucky with the reception.
I didn't expect anything like that as a first
album from a relatively unknown artist. I was
told that I'd be lucky if I got one review or
something. But then I got two radio features
from BBC Radio 3. It got selected for record
review as well as one of the host's favourite
albums of the week, which is crazy. Then I got
invited to podcasts like yours. I was very fortunate
to have these invitations and share my vision
and my, you know, this work that I've done. A
couple of articles as well. So it's been great.
I was certainly very surprised. Oh, but, you
know, obviously you well deserve and well done.
So congratulations. Thank you. For listeners
who want to explore this album, and which you
all should, please go to any music streaming
services. And the title of the album is called
Mirrors and Echoes. And the physical copies are
available also? Yes, you can order them on the
label's website. So that's Resonance Classics.
And I'm pretty sure they ship worldwide. But
I'll have to check that. Okay. Yeah, and then
I will make sure to insert that into the show
notes as well. Now that brings me to a different
but connected question, understanding who you
are behind all of this. So because listening
to Mirrors and Echoes, it's clear that your artistic
choices come from a very specific sensibility
shaped by where you come from and the people
who guided you. So you were born in Casablanca
and started piano at age five. What do you remember
about your earliest connection to music? Really
listening. was my first connection to music I
think. You know, to my mom sing songs and teach
songs to me but also in the car I was just bombarded
with recordings of like Marta Argerich playing
the Schumann concerto or Tchaikovsky concerto
or Glenn Gould play all the inventions and symphonies
of Bach. These are the sort of core memories
I have as a child growing up. I very much loved
listening even before I even started piano. I
just had this connection with the material but
also I guess the social connection that my mom,
you know, she used this to deepen her connection
with me so we shared this. I think it really
anchored that love even more. My dad also likes
music very much, although it's not so much classical,
but we also, again, in the car, I've got my classics
that my dad always plays. So that's super nice,
you know. Every now and then I just put on a
playlist and it's like a time machine. So yeah,
that was my earliest connection to music, I would
say. And then I started piano lessons. Actually,
I had sort of classes to introduce music to children.
I think you have that in the States a lot, probably.
Just, you know, basic children's group with like
a teacher with like basic musical instruments
and we clap and sing songs, whatever. And then
I started formal piano lessons at five with a
Ukrainian teacher. I wanted to play violin, but
my mom said it's harder, so I should start with
the piano. And unfortunately, I never made it
to the violin. Piano was hard enough, but also
probably you fell in love with the instrument,
right? It's a great instrument. I kind of wish
I could play violin too, though. But, you know,
who got one life? And a piano, with piano, we
have too many repertoire, too many. piano pieces
out there. You can't even accomplish all of them
in one life, you know? Yeah, exactly. There's
enough work for one person. Then your training
took off and from Morocco to the famous Yehudi
Menuhin School in England, right? Yeah, so it
was created by Yehudi Menuhin, the violinist.
He's actually buried there. Crazy to think about.
It was his house. And he started the school in
the 20th century with, I think, 10 students or
so in London. And then he moved to Surrey. And
at the time I was there, it only took around
maybe 70 students from all over the world from
age 8 to 18, 19. And I was selected to go there
after an audition in the autumn of... 2013, I
think. Then I was there in 2014 at the age of
15. It was a very formative experience to be
just surrounded by music and by extremely talented
young people from all over the world. It was
very demanding, but I liked that because I was
there to learn. The level of teaching there was
phenomenal. People there were there not because
they were paid great or anything, but because
they just loved to be there in this institution.
And so we got the best of the best of musical
teachers, from people who thought theory or composition
or things like that, to piano teachers, to harpsichord
teachers, improvisation teachers, chamber music.
Everyone was just on such a high level. It was
honestly the privilege of my life to attend that
school. Wow. Such a very significant age to really
learn music, right? 15, 16, 17. Well, people
usually go, this is considered late because most
people go there in primary school sort of age.
It's the minority of students that come for sort
of the finishing touch of their education. So
at 15, I mean, it's quite a late age to really
like. learned from scratch but I didn't obviously
I didn't come from scratch like I had I had won
a lot of competitions I had had serious training
in Morocco but it was let's say some people like
most of the school actually come there much earlier
so I was one of maybe five or six people who
joined at that age at that time um but yeah for
me it was enough um because Yeah, it's enabled
me to live my life as a kid, like a normal kid
in normal school and then come there for inspiration
and learning. I think that was the right balance.
I'm not sure I would have liked to be there from
such an early age. Wow. Then that fast forward,
you got into Cambridge. Yeah. And then later
to Guildhall, which is a very, very prestigious
school with and graduated with distinction. So
how did these two. environment shape you academically?
Cambridge was great because I mean it's Cambridge
it's like you know Hogwarts almost in terms of
like I don't know I'm always a very I was always
a very academically driven person so going to
like such a center of academic excellence and
be able to meet you know specialists in the field.
All my lecturers were just so brilliant. And
I could just meet them for supervisions on one
-to -one. You're sat with them in a room with
maybe one other student and you have to discuss
their work and sometimes criticize their work
to their face. And then they criticize your work
with their towering amounts of knowledge. That
was fantastic. Yeah, it just really broadened
my... I mean, I already had such a broad idea
of what music could be when I left Menuhin School.
I realized that it's not just about executing
a musical text. Music is so broad that almost
any skill set, any personality type will fit
somewhere with the music. In Cambridge, it was
just even more of that. sort of idea being reinforced
in that i looked also at how it fits with other
disciplines um you know obviously any university
now is very big on intersectional studies and
things like that so you see intersection with
for example music and colonialism or like um
how musicology was shaped the very science let's
say of musicology was shaped by ideologies that
were going around in the Chinese century and
how that influenced the very knowledge that was
produced, all the focuses of that science. Cambridge
was great to allow me to look critically on a
meta level at any sort of discourse that I encounter.
Not just seeing what the argument is and what
it's doing, but also asking why is this argument
being made in the first place? What informs that
point of view etc so that was absolutely great
and also I met people from other subjects which
is very enriching for me so I could have conversations
about politics or economics or anything because
everyone is kind of there and interested in everything
and then at Guildhall very different vibe obviously
back to very narrow music focus but it's a fantastic
group of people great connections within the
music industry and yeah I think I'm happy I did
it in this order because it just allowed me to
take things I learned and gild her with a pinch
of salt sometimes like I think if you go straight
to a musical institution sometimes you can feel
like what your teacher says is the end will be
all and if they say something that's it that's
the truth from God you know that's been applied
But having had this background in Cambridge of
being used to questioning everything or contextualizing
everything, it was useful in sort of surviving
the music profession and looking at it a bit
more critically. Well, I can tell from the way
you explained to me. to us about your album.
So I almost wondered, your undergraduate degree
in Cambridge, did you double major in anything?
Or did you just focus on music? So in the UK
system, there are no such things as... Oh, I
think in Cambridge, you can double major. Other
universities you can, but in Cambridge, I just
did music. But again, it's applied in such a
broad way that if you wanted... I mean, I did
my... One of my essays was about ASMR. And the
cultural sort of underpinnings of that and implications
on classical music of the time. But other people
did things to do with economics or colonialism.
So you say we're studying music, but really we
can study anything, just as long as there's some
sort of musical link. Wow, that's brilliant.
How fortunate. Then any memorable teachers you've
had in the past? yeah I would like to say yeah
all my teachers were memorable in one way or
another um yeah I mean I can't possibly you know
pick some because it would be it would feel sacrilegious
to pick one or two over the others so I'll just
say yeah I've had really fantastic teachers and
I've put um for my most direct influences I've
written an acknowledgement section um on my blog
um which kind of gives personal thanks to some
of them and what they've brought me and I've
put into the album. Wonderful. Then, since then,
you've performed everywhere, you know, to Azerbaijan,
Ibiza, Morocco. Is there a concert experience,
small or big, doesn't matter, that remains unforgettable
for you? Something that changed or confirmed
something about your relationship to performing
or music? Oh, that's a big question. I think
a lot of concerts are memorable just for different
reasons. Obviously, Wigmore Hall is very special
because, well, the piano was fantastic for one.
Wigmore Hall piano is insane. The acoustics were
great. And also the occasion was incredible.
So it was the graduating sort of concert. And
the hall is kind of the entire school watches
you play. Normally, when the school watches you
play, everyone's kind of in a criticising mode,
like, oh, you've missed a shot there, or you've
made a mistake or something. But at that moment,
the whole school is just there to celebrate your
achievements. And so you just walk onto the Wigmore
Hall stage with a thunderous applause and people
shouting and screaming. It feels like you're
a rock star. So that was really fun. The stand
-up comedy things I did. were also super super
fun just because yeah it was such a wholesome
and genuinely fun moment and one that i felt
i had a big part in actually creating because
i really felt like i had created a show not just
played some pieces but created something new
and then yeah a lot of a lot of others i mean
it's too many to count Are we feeling good? Just
to introduce myself, my name is Aida Lakhloo,
I'm a concert pianist. The funny thing though
is that I did not want to be a pianist growing
up. I actually wanted to be a brain surgeon,
but my parents were not supportive. They didn't
want a doctor in the family, they thought it
was a bit weird. I still do surgery for fun though,
but on the weekends. I've got a kneecap replacement
gig coming up. Did you choose the piano as an
instrument? I want to talk about this stand -up
comedy thing. Yes. So when I think of comedy
with... So you combine comedy show with the piano?
Yeah. So I think of the very famous Victor...
Bourget. Yeah. And then so is that similar to
his style or is it more like... No. Okay. So
what he's doing is more like slapstick, I would
say. Yeah. you know fun routines and kind of
jokey routines to do with the act of piano playing
I don't do that so the piano part is really serious
piano playing and the comedy is stand -up so
a lot of the material will be tangentially connected
to like the music industry or what it feels like
to be a pianist or making fun of that world I
inhabit but it's just strictly stand -up so I'm
not going to make sort of yeah fun routines about
like I don't know playing piano like with my
shit music upside down or something like that
it's not like that it's really stand -up wow
where does this love of comedy or stand -up comedy
come from I love stand -up comedy watching you
know do you have any favorite comedian or something
someone yeah I have lots of I also I've been
great fan of stand -up comedy um a lot of my
favorites comedians are like french speaking
so i'm not sure how okay okay for your audience
but um yeah i've always loved stand -up comedy
and i thought it's so i love it because it's
so genuine there's nowhere to hide but at the
same time there's such a craft in actually making
it good and i found so many interesting similarities
with music with the timing they're sort of accuracy
at which you have to deliver that timing for
it to work the genuineness of it so like playing
with integrity and also just writing and performing
with integrity as a comedian writing material
that's also true to you and that's not just you
know hackneyed or stolen or whatever so yeah
there were interesting connections and I thought
that kind of came out of a period of my life
when I was a bit frustrated with my impact as
a pianist because I thought I want to talk about
the big issues of the day but how can I do that
in a piano recital and I thought okay maybe I
can actually allow myself to talk and so I did
this stand -up show and I didn't hold back so
I talked about all the stuff I want to talk about
you know my frustrations with politicians and
climate change like discourse around immigration,
things like how people view artists and all of
the prejudice, all of that, I really didn't hold
back. But yeah, somehow I always connected the
two pieces. So, for example, like for In Bartholomew,
I was doing something about like, you know, how
I found some of the discourse around refugees
just stupid. And I thought, so this is In Bartholomew.
People think it's about a day at the beach, but
really it's quite terrifying when you listen
closely. And I think it's about the immensity
of nature and the powerlessness of humans in
the face of nature. And I want to dedicate this
to anyone who's tried to cross the sea for a
better life. So there was some sort of link between
the social commentary and the art, like the pieces
I was playing. So it was kind of speaking to
each other. The two components were speaking
to each other. But they were very much respecting
each other. So like, I wasn't trying to make
the music funny. I was playing serious pieces.
But I think it really helped each other kind
of shine in a way, all the different art forms.
So first you performed and then the comedy. Is
that how it went? No, it was completely, it was
like back and forth. So in total, there was 30
minutes of music and 30 minutes of comedy. But
it was interspersed. So I started with like a
flashy piece. Then I said, you know, I always
start with this piece. People think I'm legit.
And then I start with my comedy routine. And
then I introduce the piece linked to the comedy.
And then I play it. Then again, it's the back
and forth. Yeah, but you know, really, that's
the spirit or the origin of comedy, right? Like
when you are struggling or you have this, you
want to... bring this challenge into the world
but then what's the best what's better way to
do it of course comedy because we can all laugh
at something so wow that's very clever but also
i'm sure it took a lot of courage to do it yeah
i'm a bit crazy so it's fine that's so cool so
i want to talk more about this you know creativity
um so Because you said something about, you know,
despite all the awards you collected, you have
won 20 plus awards internationally. And then
you said that the institutional success is often
neither achievable nor even desirable for many
musicians. Can you explore a little bit more
of that, about that? Of course, I'm very passionate
about this. I used to think that the way to be
successful, whatever that means, is to win competitions
or be respected by the establishment. So either
being a conservator darling or win a big competition
or get hired by an agent or whatever. And then
I saw the results and I thought, OK, well, I
see a lot of conservator darlings who are getting
all the opportunities. Two or three years later,
there's a new conservatoire dialing and then
they're not getting anywhere because it just
in terms of actual concerts and just, you know,
outward signs of success in inverted commas.
Competition, same thing. So you might win a competition,
even a big one, and then you're still doing gigs
that don't pay very much or whatever. So even
for the very outward sort of basic. crass signs
of success in terms of pay or number of concerts
and so on it's not necessarily a panacea and
then um yeah agents again um i feel like agents
nowadays um with all due respect to agents a
lot of them um only take you on when you don't
really need an agent so i thought okay but let's
say as a thought experiment and say okay let's
imagine i want to be competition or I've landed
one of those things, would that make me feel
happier? What would I have achieved in real terms?
And the only conclusion I could get from that
answer is an ego boost, maybe a bit more money.
But I thought, okay, do I really want that? And
the answer was no. I was a lot more interested
in just doing something that... like has real
meaning outside of just the cloud because these
sort of institutions first of all have yeah not
sure they're always right but they also perpetuate
a lot of the things that i think are wrong with
the industry so i thought okay um first of all
if i go into this and i win something in there
i'm just gonna reinforce those negative aspects
but also yeah even if i look at just the positive
sides for me it's just not that much and I thought
okay well let's look there's so many examples
of people who achieve those same hallmarks of
success without going through the institutional
route so for example let's say there's a money
price for the competition people achieve that
money in other ways not winning competitions
or you perform in big halls people have performed
in big halls without winning competitions or
being a conservator or darling so there are ways
to do that and that way you're not dependent
on you know the approval of one or two people
who might just not like you or be biased against
you and I think chasing the approval of just
the establishment is such a waste of time my
advice and my sort of experience is you're much
better off just trying to make your objectives
happen independently of whether or not someone
gives you permission. And from my personal perspective,
like now I feel like impact is something I should
chase a lot more than recognition, if that makes
sense. Yep, yep. So I'd much rather, you know,
make a positive change in something that is bigger
than just me, rather than be, you know... spotlighted
or chosen by an establishment figure or yeah
but our industry is the classical music is sort
of based on that you know recognition and being
admitted or nodded by or you know even since
your training era does that make sense? being
admitted into this studio, for example, or this
school day. So that's the sort of mindset. And
then everybody is sort of afraid of everybody,
right? Yeah, I would say, I mean, you have to
be pragmatic. I was certainly pragmatic in my
approach. I said, you know, what's the minimum
institutional success that I need in order to
be credible? And I think, I mean, most conservatory
students already have that. But then going beyond
that and seeing institutional recognition as
end -all, be -all, I think that's inefficient.
I think just go and get some credibility that
you can demonstrate. And an easy way, well, in
inverted commas, an easy way is to get a diploma
from someone respected. But then take that diploma
and do something with it that doesn't require
authorization. So for example, I mean, as an
artist, you may think, you know, I've released
my CD, it's going to be really easy for me to
find concerts and so on. It's really hard to
find concerts because the environment, at least
in the UK, just doesn't pay people enough or,
you know, it's saturated and so on. And competition
is the same thing, the amount of money you need
to just apply and then they don't even give you
feedback when you're rejected and so on. So I
actually made my calculations and I started my
own concert series. And now I offer paid opportunities
for musicians. And I started with zero budget,
even though if I had, you know, gone through
the route of competitions, I would probably be
in the red for, you know, probably several thousand
pounds between recording and lessons. And so,
yeah, I think. It's actually a much more efficient
way to start your own thing sometimes than wait
for authorization to do something. But you have
that sort of mind to do it. And also, you're
very eloquent. You can express yourself, present
yourself with words really well as well. So I
think that's a huge advantage. But I'm sure you
had your own challenges. moments where you probably
you had to pick yourself up and keep going right
yeah definitely but to be honest i find it much
easier to be in control i'd much rather be sad
or be challenged by something i own um rather
than you know be at the mercy of whatever rejection
is gonna be on my plate on the day because this
jury or that um agent or whatever has not um
wanted to work with me or something but you know
enterprises like for example your podcast or
any artist -led venture that creates real value
like actual value and creates actual communities
and creates actual you know positive change I
think it's something to be so much more proud
about than just being picked randomly by an arbitrary
group of jury members in a way that's kind of
the logic behind me trying my own thing is I
want to of course build something meaningful
we all want to but also hopefully in a way that's
less speculative and a bit more linked to hard
work rather than just circumstance I would say
yeah Well, thank you for including me, my podcast
into your... No, no, of course. I'm very admirative.
I hope I've said that enough. I'm just very,
like, I wish more musicians would, you know,
fly with their ideas and actually make something
that they own and that they can, you know, move
the needle in a way that benefits artists and
benefits our industry in real terms rather than
benefits institutions. Well said. I'll quote
this. Aida, you're very smart. Then you also
talked about bringing back this impresario. Oh
my gosh, that was a eureka moment. Because in
that sense, aren't we both impresarios? Like,
aren't we doing this? Because it's all about
being a creative person, creative producer. So
impresario meant you have to raise funds, you
have to... put people together and you kind of
have to sort of you know taking risks for bold
new ideas shaping culture is not exactly what
you're trying to do and then i'm i mean i'm trying
to do the same thing so yeah absolutely i wish
agents at the moment were a bit more like impresarios
at the moment agents they're just extension of
booking secretaries, I would say. They contact
Concert Series and they try and push their artists,
but they don't create Concert Series of their
own. That means they don't take any financial
risk. Whereas in the past, you know, if you think
of the big impresarios like Diaghilev, he would
actually pay for the theater. He would organize
the promotion, everything. He would book artists
he thought could fill the hall. And then he would
pocket the earnings and then pay the artists
their wage. But he was the one taking the financial
risk. He was the one understanding art enough
to see what would be successful and what wouldn't.
And that's something we need more of. Someone
to take financial risk, but also who has artistic
sensitivity to make it work. At the moment, agents
don't take any financial risks. They book you
a concert and then they take a cut or they don't
book anything and then they don't take anything.
There's no risk to them at all. And I think for
me, it's a bit lazy and it puts so much more
pressure on the musicians. So, yeah, I wish,
you know, at the end of the day, we had a bit
more of a side of the industry that took financial
risk to put on concerts rather than just trying
again to convince the establishment to book this
artist or that artist. Wow. So we're coming closer
to the end of our conversation, but there's just
one or two more questions for you. How do you
measure success for you now that we spoke about
all these things? I would say happiness doing
the work and impact. So I wouldn't say, you know,
sitting back and having passive income is success.
I think that's not very fulfilling at the end
of the day. So I'm pro working very hard, but
I'm also pro like making an impact that is positive.
So yeah, that's how I would do it in a nutshell.
Beautiful. And what's next for you? You know,
you just produced an album. Is there any new
project coming up? Maybe you don't want to share
the details yet, but the floor is yours. So please
tell us what's next. Sure. So, of course, I'm
very busy with my concert series that I've mentioned,
the one I've created eight weeks ago. So that's
Oxford Concert Circle. So very exciting. We're
building partnership, applying for grants and
hopefully growing even more into the new year.
So that's a nice project. And then piano -wise,
I might have some exciting masterclass and recital
projects in the new year in Morocco, but that's
still to be decided with the French Institute.
So that's something that might happen in the
spring as you listen to this podcast. And yeah,
I've got a million ideas, but it's just about
what am I going to do next? Prioritizing. And
again, with the question of impact, which is
increasingly more important to me. Wonderful.
Wow. Thank you so much. This was a really fun,
inspiring, really, truly inspiring conversation,
Aida. So, but I didn't explain this to you, but
before I let you go, we have one more segment.
It's called the PianoPod Rapid Fire Questions.
So we take this part very seriously. We create,
you've shared so much depth and insight today,
but these questions. carefully curated by my
team, which is me, offer a glimpse into who you
truly are. So let's do this. Please answer each
question with the shortest response possible.
No explanation is needed. Question number one.
What is your comfort food? Chips. How do you
like your coffee in the morning? I don't drink
coffee. Okay. Do you like drinking tea? Not even.
No? What do you drink? Water? Water. That's great.
That's great. Are you a cat person or dog person?
A dachshund. Oh, so cute. Sunrise or sunset?
Sunset. Okay. Summer or winter? Summer. What
skill have you always wanted to learn but haven't
had a chance to? Maybe violin. Oh, that's what
you mentioned. Now, what is your word or words
to live by? Be happy. Don't take yourself too
seriously. Be a good person. That's enough, I
think. Great. Favorite venue you performed in?
Maybe you mentioned. Or maybe dream venue. I'd
love to perform in a house, like a cozy house.
Yeah, it's actually trending. Yeah, especially
in the States. It is trending. That's a business
idea for your listeners. Yeah, that's right.
Now, what is the most important quality you look
for in other people? Honesty. Name a composer
you wish more people knew about. This is really
controversial, but Mozart. I think Mozart is
underrated. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think Mozart is
underrated because, yeah, I don't have to explain,
but he is a genius. And it's not because he's
written a few hits. He is actually such a master
composer. And it's not boring. Please, it's not
boring. It's actually every time he writes anything,
it's... Please do not say Mozart sonatas are
boring. They're not. Okay. I'm guilty. I say
Mozart sonatas. Okay. I will listen carefully.
Yes. All right. Then name one piece currently
in your playlist. Schubert's Late Infant Fuse.
Wonderful. Fill in the blank. This is the last
question. Fill in the blank. Music is blank.
Great. Very nice. All right. Thank you so much
for joining us today and for sharing your wisdom,
artistry and incredible energy. This has truly
been a meaningful conversation. So to our listeners,
if you would like to learn more about Aida's
work, visit AidaLalu .com. Follow her on Instagram
at AidaXLalu. and listen to her album mirrors
and echoes wherever you stream your music all
links are in the show notes and to our community
thank you for tuning in please subscribe rate
and share this episode your support helps us
continue connecting through music story and creativity
until next time this is yuki miso and you're
listening to the piano part thank you so much
thank you thank you so much that was a great
conversation