We Talk to Elan Lea

Music is from the heart – It’s not a job…

By Louw Mulder

Let me start by being very honest. Before I received an e-mail about a new single from Elan Lea, I had no idea who he is. My first thoughts were that it is yet another new South African artist, with higher-grade dreams of becoming famous, releasing a CD, and open up a show for the Parlotones. As I prepared the article and read through the press release, I realised that I couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Elan Lea is a martial arts fanatic, the CEO of Big World Mobile, who happens to be a singer who, just for interest’s sake, worked with the likes of Robin Gibb from the Bee Gees, Tiësto, and Mark Crew, producer to Bastile, during a venture he pursued in Los Angeles. The introduction to this musician was so impressive, I immediately accepted an invitation from his publicist for an interview.

Once upon a time, in his early days, Elan Lea was singing along to a song, when his friend commented on his singing voice. Even though his dad was a musician and he had been disagreeably committing to piano lessons from a young age, Elan did not think anything about singing or even being a musician. After some years, as fate would have it, Elan Lea realised his ability, leading him to get more and more involved with the new passion of his heart – music.

As time went by, Elan sat at his piano, words crossed his mind and he started to write down his thoughts without any particular reason. This moment, was the beginning of a new, focused and passionate song-writer. This was so much so, that at age 17, Elan Lea signed his first record deal with David Gresham.

As I was getting to know this artist, I learned more and more about how he sees things, ironic and interesting views, which put him in a very rare and secluded league of musicians and artists. For Elan, it is not about fame. It is not about rushing the lyrics for a new song, just to get a song released. Music for him, is a way for his inner self to communicate with his soul. “The more real the feelings and intentions are, the more special the written song will be.” Elan explained.

I boldly admitted that I find it very interesting because for the first time, I understood why music should not be a commercialised way of temporary stardom and popularity, as I carefully label the larger part of SA’s music industry today. No wonder I haven’t heard of this man. He is not part of any industry.

“People don’t listen to music any more. They don’t listen to the words in this fast passed world.” Elan tries to analyse his music audience: “This is very frustrating. Singing a song, and conveying the message is very personal in that you are writing it to get it off your chest, but people are not hearing it any more. Lyrics in today’s industry have less meaning. There are very few Bon Jovi’s left,  those guys who sit on top of their tumble dryer in a packed garage, writing songs from the heart.” As Elan Lea kept talking, more and more admiration towards him developed and the sincere, almost deep songs he wrote started to explain themselves. “Artists, in the real definition of the word, are very few and far between, as it becomes a business for most.”

At this point of the interview, I closed my iPad with all my prepared questions. I just had to let this conversation go with the flow. And so, I just asked him to continue. “The meaning of a song is important to the writer when he writes it. For me, it is everything, because I write for the purpose of writing, and not for the purpose of selling songs,” Elan said, almost repeating himself: “But the industry is evil, a kind of a battle for survival.”

With no intention of writing a sensational scoop on the music industry of today, I asked him to elaborate on that statement. “One day, I was writing a song with a friend of mine overseas, sitting in a very tiny room. I was writing about everything I believe in, because I didn’t know what was left to do at that stage, as I had done everything I could.” Elan continued, talking about the song, Calling on Angels. “So this super personal song, was heard by Tiësto, who took this basically finished track, and put his brand on it. I entered this- call it a collaboration if you want- with me as the writer, putting my heart and soul into it, who then kind of hands it over for the next phase.”

All of a sudden the tone of Elan’s voice changed, and I am still not sure whether it was to a sad, or an angry tone. “Unfortunately, if I can be dead honest, when it came to the time of Calling On Angels’ release and he [Tiësto] was questioned about the song, he would say that he wrote the song, and that the song is without any special meaning.” My response was that it sucks, and before I could apologize for commenting so frankly on what was clearly a very tender subject, he said “No, it doesn’t suck, it is just the worst thing ever!”

As I wrote down something he said, that the industry is evil, a kind of a battle for survival, this statement was explained by Elan revealing the fact that the big guys do not give the little guys any credit in today’s world.

I eventually returned to my planned interview structure, which was to talk to this musician about his latest released single, In the Hands of the Gods. What I initially thought of this song when I prepared for this interview, was now an unexplained memory, because I started to realise the deeper methodology behind the pen of the writer. It wasn’t just a new song anymore, it wasn’t just a bunch of words that pitched together with a melody in the writer’s head. It was the sequel of yet another personal heart’s cry, between heart and soul of Elan Lea.

With previous titles like Calling on Angels, and now this one, In the Hands of the Gods, I had to ask whether there is a religious or spiritual connotation to his work. But Elan firmly said, “No.” “It’s up to people to hear what the songs tell them,” he said. “I was sitting in my apartment in LA, with my acoustic guitar in my hand, and I just started to write, almost in a state of despair, feeling helpless,” he tells how his new single got born. “The first lines came to me, which is ‘what will be, will be,’ and so the rest of the song just flowed from there.”

The message Elan Lea would like to deliver through this new single of his, is that we are not alone in the world. “You are just human. You will one day look up at the sky and realise that you are just another person in a big world and that one day, it will all be gone. For this reason, you have to give it everything while you can. You cannot leave it [anything] up to someone else, give it all you have and never leave it in the hands of someone else. For me, the song is about the fact that it [life] has nothing to do with me anymore – it’s now in the Hands of the Gods.

My 30 minutes with Elan Lea, was only a half an hour but I took so much out of this conversation that it felt like our meeting could’ve been hours.

Elan Lea, is not a celebrity musician. He is a businessman who spends his time traveling, and practicing martial arts at the Chinese Martial Arts and Health Centre in Johannesburg. He is just a young guy, with a soul, who likes to sometimes put out his heart in songs.

In the Hands of the Gods is now available on iTunes.  Here is the video.