A lot is happening behind the scenes, and I am excited to share a few updates with you. First of all, my upcoming album ‘Current’ is now officially off to mastering. We are also putting the final touches on the documentary and have started working on the artwork, and I am very happy to share that it will be released on June 26.
We just returned from the Grammys in Los Angeles, which always feels like stepping into a parallel universe. I’m still buzzing from the events, reconnecting with old friends, meeting new ones, and being inspired on so many levels.
If you know me, I talk about my supermarket often. And that’s because it’s not really just another supermarket. See, where I live in Brooklyn, the Park Slope Food Coop is an institution – a community and food-safe haven for all members. Members? You have to be a member of a supermarket? Alright, let me explain.
This summer I recorded vocals in a midnight waterlock, saxophone in a canal with confused dogs, and bass on a lake with chirping birds. Every sound became part of the music.
We’re so close: already at 95% of our fundraising goal for Current!! … The more we raise, the more we can pay guest musicians fairly, hire top-tier engineers, press more beautiful vinyl & CDs, film the journey … So, even a single pre-order helps us make more music, tell a deeper story, and reach more ears and hearts.
I’m so excited (and a little nervous!) to share something deeply personal and I need your help: I’ve just launched my new project Current, a full-length album that I’ll be recording entirely on my tiny 1951 Dutch sailboat, de Vouw … This isn’t just about music. It’s about connection. Stillness. Water. The sounds that hold memory and movement.
The past few months have been a whirlwind—starting with the Grammys LA in February, which was an amazing and unforgettable experience… I’ve been teaching at Berklee, taking classes in engineering, composition, and film scoring, all to prepare for my next project. I’ve written over 20 new songs, and while I can’t reveal everything just yet… I can say this: They’ll be recorded on our tiny 1951 Dutch sailboat, de Vouw, floating on the lakes of the Netherlands this August.
“We still have the music,” I remind myself in moments when life feels overwhelming. If you’re feeling the same, take a deep breath and let this thought bring you some peace. Sending love and light your way—I hope this message finds you well.
ViviTalks is a podcast where I sit down with the 100 women who helped shape my album Typuhthâng. Each episode explores their stories, creative journeys, and the role of community in music, offering an intimate look at the voices behind the sound.
Vocalist, performer & composer Vivienne Aerts’ new album Typuhthâng will be released March 3, 2023 in conjunction with International Women’s Day. Together with 100 next-generation female musicians, and in collaboration with Original Beans Chocolate, Typuhthâng aims to empower the female cacao farmers of Virunga State Park in Congo and replant the rainforest.
This project has received funding through a grant from the Netherland-America Foundation and SENA production Fund.
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Here is the first single ‘Just go’ from “Vivienne Aerts | Typuhthâng” with vocal arrangement by Linnea Lundgren. It features 26 amazing singers, from all over the world. It was filmed and produced in New York, walking in Prospect Park, and driving around in Brooklyn and Manhattan in our BMW Z3.
A black-and-white dance interpretation by Quincie Hydock. Hydock is an up-and-coming dancer/choreographer that specializes in movement in the broadest sense of the word. Seamlessly combining styles from ballet to hip-hop, Hydock translates the soft voice, strings, and Nadje Noordhuis’ trumpet solo into an elegant play of lines.
A stop-motion animation with the “Pajarones” (Birdies) by Pataka Productions, featuring anthropomorphic birds made out of felt, created by the Chilean duo Coty Luzoro & Kike Ortega, who made the video specially for Vivienne Aerts’ single. In the series, the birds who move to Santiago to study are portrayed with wit and an urban Chilean swagger.
The staggeringly versatile skill-set of NYC-based Dutch Singer, Educator, Psychologist and Artist-preneur Vivienne Aerts busts myths around the ‘Jill of all trades’ paradigm with a nonchalance that leaves even the most skeptical purist taking a bow. A practicing clinical psychologist and choir conductor in Europe before she went on to be a Fulbright scholar and Suma Cum Laude Berklee graduate, her collaborators since have included some of the most iconic names in the world of jazz. Her eclectic ‘experience’ events in collaboration with her husband, renowned pastry chef Ted Steinebach was the root of her multi-disciplinary approach to the making of her new album, ‘Typuhthâng’, which not just features a 100 female musicians from around the globe, but also comes with a bar of bean-to-bar chocolate from Original Beans Chocolate, a company that pro-actively empowers female cacao farmers of Virunga State Park in Congo. Besides this, she is a voting member of the Grammy Recording Academy and a faculty member at Berklee College of Music where she has been instrumental in building a new generation of performers who are not only skilled musicians but also mentally and physically healthy individuals. The Fulbright scholar is known for addressing core issues artists and educators alike have been grappling with unnoticed for generations: mental health, well-being, and the hamster-wheel effect the neglect of the same threatens to have on the arts eco-system. With side-notes of entrepreneurship for the artist, disparities between European and North American attitudes towards education, and chocolate.