Interview with Pia Notoriyas

Monika: Today we are going on a journey to the United Kingdom where we are going to meet a talented female artist. Pia Notoriyas is a Filipino-born singer and songwriter, model, YouTube vlogger, social media influencer, and transgender activist. Pia is known for The Euphoria Song Project, a song about the discrimination and the empowerment of trans lives, which in 2020 became the transgender anthem of the year. Hello Pia, I am so happy that you have accepted my invitation!

Pia: Hello Monika! Hello everyone!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Pia: My name is Pia Notoriyas. I’m a transgender singer-songwriter and producer, Filipino, and based in the United Kingdom. 

Monika: Why did you choose Pia for your name?

Pia: Choosing your name is probably one of the most important stages in our transition, I wanted something that meant something to me and a name that embodied femininity and my culture, Miss Universe is a beauty pageant competition that celebrates femininity and countries from all around the world compete for the crown, in 2015 the Philippines won miss universe and she happens to be called Pia, and at that moment I knew that as the name I wanted, it represented strong femininity and my culture.

Interview with Amber Rose Washington

Monika: Today I am meeting Amber Rose Washington, an American author, songwriter, musician, producer, public speaker, and advocate for the transgender community originally from Liberty, New York. Amber has been featured on FOX, NBC, CBS, NPR, and a host of other media. In 2020 she published her memoir "Hiding from Myself: My Complicated Rebirth Into Womanhood and My Own Skin". Her new Podcast, "THE JOURNEY, Unscripted" is scheduled to begin airing in April 2021. Hello Amber!

Amber: Hello Monika! It’s nice to be here.

Monika: You are a woman of many talents. I have listed so many of your professions and interests. I am wondering which one you are most eager to pursue.

Amber: I’ve done many things in my life, partially due to what I call, self-inflicted Occupational ADD. I kept myself busy so I would have very little time dwelling on my incongruity. I spent nearly three decades in the music business.

Music was a perfect outlet for me. I began writing music at about the age of thirteen and was fortunate to have several successes along the way. Although I will always be a songwriter, I really enjoy writing stories as well as helping others tell their stories.

Interview with Brianna Tuerff

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Brianna Tuerff, a transgender woman who makes electronic and instrumental metal music under the alias ‘Brianna and the VSTs’. She documents her transition on Reddit.com as Neonnimrod and on YouTube with her channel BriannaIsGreat. Hello Brianna!

Brianna: Hello! Thanks for having me!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Brianna: Well, my love and passion is music. Everything to do with writing it, playing it, recording and producing it, etc. The science of sound has always fascinated me. My first serious musical project was a comedy punk band called Thunder Stump that I fronted years before I figured out that I was transgender. This helped me let out some rage.

My life pre-transition isn’t really fun to look back on, but I do have a comfortable nostalgia in listening to a wide variety of music and playing Super Nintendo games as they both remind me of the bits of my childhood where I could zone out of reality. I was born in and currently reside in Phoenix, Arizona in the United States, but I feel that my future in creative success lies elsewhere.

Interview with Mya Byrne

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Mya Byrne, an award-winning songwriter, poet, actress, and trans/queer activist. She made her stage debut at NYC's Dixon Place in 2014. She’s played some of North America’s best music festivals, and her art has been featured in The Advocate, Time Out, Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, MSNBC, and many other media. Hello Mya!

Mya: Hey there Monika! Thanks for having me.

Monika: You can boast so many talents. Which vocation do you regard as most appropriate for you?

Mya: When it all comes down to it, I’m a rock-and-roll poet to my core. I mean, that encompasses everything I do.

Monika: Is there anything like transgender art? What does it mean to be a transgender artist?

Mya: I don’t think there is anything that can be compared to transgender art. So much great art has come from trans people, and it’s beautiful to witness this being recognized -- from the music of Wendy Carlos, Ahnoni, Lynn Breedlove, Star Amerasu, and Laura Jane Grace to the celebrated writing of so many here on your website, the brilliant films of the Wachowskis, actress Mya Taylor, and all of the people before our time who might have been considered trans today -- especially in the Black lesbian and blues music scene pre-World War 2, and of course the countless people who were living openly as gender-variant in Weimar Germany. Lili Elbe was an artist and a muse, too, openly celebrated in her time.

Interview with Deena Kaye Rose

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Deena Kaye Rose, an American writer, lecturer, one of the most recognized Nashville songwriters of her time with over 400 songs published and around 200 of those recorded and released worldwide, the author of the biographical book titled “Some Days Are Diamonds” (2016). Hello Deena!

Deena: Hi, Monika! It is an honor to be invited to share a bit of my humble story with you. Thanks, bunches.

Monika: You are a woman of so many talents! Could you say a few words about your fantastic career?

Deena: Well, I appreciate your very kind words. I have often thought that even a stray dog finds a ham-bone now and then! So I have stumbled upon some minor successes in the world of entertainment.

Interview with Jennifer Maidman

Monika: Today it is my pleasure to interview Jennifer Maidman, a talented British musician, songwriter, actress, music producer, humanistic counselor, and writer. Hello Jennifer!

Jennifer: Hi Monika. Thanks for getting in touch.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Jennifer: Well you've covered quite a few things with your introduction. I suppose it seems like I’m someone who wears ‘different hats’, but I think of everything as belonging under one creative umbrella. Being human is about creativity, and I think any activity can be approached with an artistic perspective. I’m also fond of a term that is used in the world of counseling, the idea of the ‘reflective practitioner’. It’s an approach that can be applied to almost any field. That seems like a good place to start a conversation!

Interview with Ellah A. Thaun

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Ellah A. Thaun, a transgender woman, an artist from France, singer & guitarist, co-founder of the electronic duo Valeskja Valcav and playing solo as a folk songwriter. Hello Ellah!

Ellah: Hi Monika!

Monika: When did you decide that music will be your profession?

Ellah: I was 5 or 6, after watching the documentary "Imagine" (about John Lennon) with my mother, I think. I remember being deeply moved without knowing why exactly. I started my first band at 13 after listening to 'Nevermind', like a lot of teenagers born in the eighties and I haven't stopped playing since.

Interview with Paulina Ashley Angel

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Paulina Ashley Angel, a transgender activist from USA, songwriter, musician, singer, producer, and blogger. Hello Paulina!

Paulina: Hola Monika, hella great to meet you!!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Paulina: WOW, where should I start? I’m a 32-year-old Transwoman from the town of Indio, in California. I’m a songwriter/singer, multi-instrumentalist, student leader, LGBTQIA Rights Leader, and a dreamer. I'm the creator of the Facebook page, Trans Role Models, and its sister page, Trans Fund Raising. I have my own music company, P.A. Music, Inc.

Monika: You have written over 200 songs. Where do you get your music inspiration from?

Paulina: I’ve always had a knack for writing lyrics. Some songs are written just by coming up with a song title, or if a lyric pops into my head, and at times from real-life experiences, or dreams of experiences I can have in the future. The first song I wrote, The Rain (which can be heard on my first album), was actually based on a suicide letter I wrote during the summer of 1997, but I'm still alive and decided to make a song out of parts of it.

Interview with Namoli Brennet

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Namoli Brennet, an Iowa-based singer and songwriter, 4-time Outmusic award nominee, recipient of the Tucson Folk Festival Songwriting Award and finalist in the ISC songwriting competition; her 2010 album "Black Crow" was named one of KXCI FM's 50 best albums of the year. Hello Namoli!

Namoli: Hi Monika.

Monika: When did you decide that music would be your way of life?

Namoli: I’m actually one of those people who - I just always knew that I would do something with music - I’m pretty sure I knew I was a musician before I knew I was trans. So I didn’t have to think about it too much, except for what form it would take.

I had always felt like I wanted to write, record and tour but I think in part I was underconfident, and I also hadn’t begun to deal with transitioning yet so I felt kind of stuck. Seeing the show “RENT” when I was 29 was a pivotal moment that made me feel like, “I need to do this - now.” The theme of that show is “No day but today” and it was exactly what I needed to hear at the time.

Interview with Shawna Virago

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Shawna Virago, an American singer/songwriter, writer, and Artistic Director of the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival. She was one of the first American openly transgender women to perform and tour nationally, and performing as an out transwoman from the early 1990’s. Her song “Objectified,” was recognized as one of the nation’s top Transgender Anthems whereas her last full-length album ‘Heaven Sent Delinquent’ was featured in many national publications and year-end best-of lists. Her work appears in Gender Outlaws: Next Generation and in the anthologies Trans/Love: Radical Sex, Love and Relationships Beyond the Gender Binary, Take Me There, and Transnational Queer Underground.Hello Shawna!

Shawna: Hello Monika. Thank’s for interviewin’ me.

Monika: When did you decide that you would like to be an artist?

Shawna: I’ve wanted to be a songwriter and musician for as long as I can remember, since I was very young. Music for me has always been magic and I’ve been drawn to it my entire life.

Monika: Your 2012 debut album “Objectified” was a tribute to the power of women and their fight with the patriarchal system. Are you a feminist?

Shawna: I believe we need to raise our voices for the rights of women, including of course transgender women. The second you transition you are experiencing female socialization and all the discrimination that goes along with it. I used to love reading ‘Transisters: The Journal Transgender Feminism”. I especially looked forward to reading the letters section, which were full of fantastic bickering.

Interview with Adèle Anderson

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Adèle Anderson, an inspirational British songwriter, actress, and member of the acclaimed British cabaret group Fascinating Aïda. She is a patron and humanist celebrant of Humanists UK (formerly known as the British Humanist Association), specializing in non-religious weddings. Hello Adèle!

Adèle: Hello, Monika. What would you like to know?

Monika: Last year Fascinating Aïda could boast the 30th anniversary of its creation. You joined the group, a year later, in 1984. So you have been singing with Dillie Keane for almost 30 years. (Liza Pulman joined the group in 2004.) How have you managed to stay together for so many years?

Adèle: First of all, I hugely admire Dillie and her extraordinary talent. We discovered that we just “clicked” as a writing partnership. She has made me a much better songwriter than I would ever have been on my own.

Secondly, it is extremely satisfying to perform a show that one has written and to enjoy the reactions of the various audiences up and down the country and, sometimes, abroad. Dillie and I have learned to be upfront about any disagreements and not to be offended if one of us doesn’t like a lyric that the other one has written, or thinks it isn’t good enough.