Scene: Taliraw

Czech artist, singer/rapper and cellist Taliraw is set to perform at Prohibition Cabaret Bar on Thursday 27th July, as part of Newcastle Fringe Festival.

Her latest single Ode To Spring points to a folk sound, with multiple cello layers and loops too giving of an ethereal atmosphere. The piece was created just in a few hours at Wingroove Studio, part of an experimental session with her good friend and fellow musician, Ian Dodge Peterson.

Here, Taliraw talks about the queer/alternative community as well as a personal outlook on being a foreign/independent artist…

I’m still very new to Newcastle and the music scene in general, as I only moved here at the end of 2020. It took me a while to integrate and connect with local musicians but I eventually did and I started slowly releasing singles. The time when things started to build up and move forward was in 2022 when I entered First Notes Generator, delving deeper into the music scene. I got together with two amazing musicians – Tom James and Dan Wright (Porcelain) and worked for almost a year on my second EP ‘English Weather’ which was released in January 2023.

I had never thought about how other people portrayed me, as a person or as part of a certain community. But being queer and a cellist would soon be seen as the two major aspects.

Never in my life have I felt this free. Being part of the queer community gives me the opportunity not just to be myself in my personal life but to also be my truest self on stage. Meeting incredible people, fellow musicians and having them see me at my most creative, my most freeing moments is incredible. I must mention Melanie Baker, a very genuine, raw, and gentle human being – sharing personal stories whilst performing, putting herself fearlessly out there.

My music just as myself is ever-evolving and that reflects onto the genre which I feel people try to pin down. Every time someone asks, I struggle to describe what it is I’m actually going for. In general, I would like to be seen as Taliraw; an artist/musician who wants to connect to others through telling stories, make them feel something, whatever that is. If it’s a spoken word, folky song, an instrumental cinematic piece recorded in my room late in the night, it’s still going to be me – wanting to share a tiny little reflection of where I stand in life.

I am beyond grateful to be part of the queer community but I have more to tell. There is more to me than being gay or being a cellist, it isn’t to reject the labels but is to say I am still exploring and growing, I want to give a true reflection of who I am.