Lana Crowster will be pursuing a Master’s degree in Music Business at New York University in America. Picture: Supplied
Singer and songwriter, Lana Crowster, has released her latest single called Fake.
With a career already spanning 19 years, and which includes sharing stages with local and international artists such as Josh Groban, George Benson, Karen Zoid, Toya Delazy, Arno Carstens and Zaki Ibrahim, the Belhar artist is excited to release her latest single.
“Fake is a song I wrote about our generations’ tendency to give in to the perception of who people think we are, rather than embrace who we really are. It serves as a reminder that our truest selves deserve love, kindness and respect,” she said.
Fake is the current single off Lana’s latest album, Subconscious, which was released in 2020 on her independent Crows Nest Productions label. This body of work is co-produced by Lana and Raiven Hansmann (The Kiffness, GoodLuck).
“All the tracks on Subconscious are short stories that stem from lived experiences and the desire to make sense of these experiences, then find the silver lining or the lesson in those experiences. Fake is no different.
‘I have always dreamed of creating a concept album like Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black or The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Conceptual not only in design but mainly in depth of lyric and variety of style and essence. After years of writing and ideation, we officially started working on the album at Popsicle Studios in 2017. It took years of hard work, fundraising, patience, saving and focus to create and finish the album independently, but we did it and I couldn’t be more proud of this body of work.”
Lana, a singer, song-writer, producer, multimedia creative and music educator, started singing at the age of 2 and began her career in performance at the tender age of 6.
She is armed with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music and a Post Graduate Diploma in Jazz Performance from the University of Cape Town.
In 2018 she founded South Africa’s first professional all-women 20-piece band, The Lady Day Big Band, which was created with the aim of social upliftment through music, increased female representation in the music industry and the normalisation of the woman musician.
In September this year, Lana will start studying at New York University (NYU) in America to pursue her Master’s degree in Music Business. However, NYU doesn’t offer scholarships to foreign students and because of her age, she is ineligible to apply for a number of external scholarships so she has started a crowdfunding campaign to help realise her life-long dream of studying at NYU.
“I was supposed to start school in September 2019 but due to lack of funding and sponsorship, I was unable to attend. Fortunately, the Board of Admissions at New York University was granting a deferral which means they kept my spot for September 2020. Then Covid-19 hit and we all know how that went/is going. Regardless, I am extremely determined to start studying in 2021 and Backabuddy will be a great way to collect as much funding as possible for this cause.”
Having worked in the music industry for almost 20 years and the music education industry for 10 years, Lana has realised, through research, workshops, and discussions, that South African young creatives “do not have a clear understanding of the business of music, their rights as artists as well as standard business practices''.
“All these things combined are what makes a successful and financially viable career path in the arts, but unfortunately, South African schools and tertiary institutions do not place importance on this, therefore I am pursuing this Master’s degree.”
The funds raised will be used to cover tuition for the two-year degree. For Lana, the experience of studying at NYU will afford her the ability to fulfil another passion of hers – giving back to up-and-coming musicians on the local scene.
“I hope to learn foreign business practices within the scope of the creative industry and find a way to merge it with what I’ve learned in my years as a professional musician. It is my aim to share this information with young creatives, especially young women, so that they can make their way through the industry without making too many mistakes. I'd like to give young artists the resources to create longevity within their careers in the music industry.”
The crowdfunding link for Lana Crowster is https://www.backabuddy.co.za/lana-crowster
Fake is currently available for purchase on music streaming website, BandCamp: https://lanacrowster.bandcamp.com/releases. You can also visit https://soundcloud.com/lana-crowster/fake or https://www.youtube.com/lanacrowster or www.lanacrowster.com