Zefora

Written on the Winter Solstice 2013.  Vocals and production by Zefora.  Mastered by Jon at smallfishrecordings

Elysian Dreams

Buy the EP

Solstice

Oliver Sadie was kind enough to let me add my own musings to this wonderful song.  You can hear the original here:  https://soundcloud.com/oliversadie/the-muse-ii  
Check out his EP on Bandcamp and please consider supporting his talent!  http://download.oliversad.ie/album/the-muse

Support Oliver!

Oliver Sadie - The Muse II (Zefora's Vocal Version)

Guitar:  https://soundcloud.com/themonkbythesea
Vocal and mixing:  Zefora
Featured in the Red Bull "Storm Chase" film (2014) http://www.redbullstormchase.com/

"Image by Olli under a Creative Commons license."

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gruenewiese/10908762935/sizes/l/

creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

Monk by the Sea (ft. Zefora) - November [Red Bull Storm Chase OST]

Jon Brion - Bookstore - [Ft. Zefora | Hugh Doolan] - (Máistrí interpretation)

Based on the original works "Bookstore" from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind OST by Jon Brion © 2004 Hollywood Records, Inc.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_4wsGTkOC8

Piano arrangement/orchestral/ambient accompaniment written & recorded by Máistrí © Copyright 2014 Máistrí @maistri | Twitter - www.twitter.com/maistri

Vocals / vocal textures © Copyright 2014 Zefora @zefora

Guitar / guitar textures - © Copyright 2014 Hugh Doolan @hughdoolan

Interpretations

Jon Brion - Bookstore - [Ft. Zefora | Hugh Doolan] - (Máistrí interpretation)

Forest Rain

Midnight improv for practice.  Drone courtesy of @experimentator

Zefora - The Witching Hour

Composed by Marc Aaron Jacobs
Vocals by Zefora

Lyrics:
Adeni kahteh
Iseri koveni
Edenash adeni

Askadeh er crado
Saka nedisheh vado
Isa keni-eh ehdi

(additional high part on chorus repeat:
Ahdikah veh
Keh dehsha va-ni
Isa keni-eh ehdi)

Sakesh vetah edah naro


Translation:
“Adeni kahteh”:  To quest for the nature of divinity; to strive for the divine; to find the center above.  Not a calm quest for enlightenment, but an intense need for it.

“Iseri koveni“: To strip the self; to rip away flesh; like peeling an onion to achieve that enlightenment.

“Edenash adeni”:  concludes the thought by turning the whole thing around - The light is in the shadows, the wheat is in the chaff, or, that the nature of divinity are the pieces stripped and thrown away in the previous step.  On a poetic level, it's saying that the perfected form, the divine state, was the need itself.  The beauty and the truth were there all along.

“Askadeh er crado”  excelsior plus suffering; a noble ordeal, the honor of having endured, plus the humility of the price you had to pay for it

“Saka nedisheh vado”  literally ‘spoken prescription vessel’

“Isa keni-eh edi”  literally ‘a mote of dust among ashes twinkles’; all vocal parts converge on this phrase to emphasize the profound importance of such a seemingly insignificant thing.  "Edi" itself means particle, but it's also an affectionate diminutive for beauty in simplicity, so the entire language of the phrase literally ends on the single imagery of that one shining particle.

Together, the last two lines allude to the noble ordeal ironically, setting it up as a huge event that ends with all focus on the smallest, most insignificant part of it.  In essence, to go through a huge, epic struggle or battle for enlightenment only to look down at the end and find it in a tiny twinkling speck of dust.  The chorus can be summarized as “This great thing in its smallness.”

(The additional refrain in the 2nd chorus contains less meaning.  It is mostly a sing-songy echo of the above translation as it was added much later in the writing process.  It merely supports the underlying meaning of the rest of the song.)

“Sakesh vetah edah naro”:  ‘Seek ye here what you already know.’  The last line alludes to the end of the verse--that beauty and truth were there all along.

Buy it on iTunes

Marc Aaron Jacobs (feat. Zefora) - The Fallen Will Rise [Twisted Jukebox]

"Finding the right vocal samples to complement your tracks is never easy, so we've done the hard work for you and put together this classic vocal library packed full of beautiful ethereal voices from gifted songwriter and film score vocalist Zefora.

Whether you are composing for the next Hollywood blockbuster or producing the a storming house, trance or drum and bass hit, the intimate and smoky tones of Zefora’s vocal samples will sit beautifully in your tracks and elevate your production to a whole new level.

Within the sample pack you will find over 500MB of unique chorus lines, harmonies, phrases and ad-libs, all expertly recorded and neatly packaged into 6 construction kits.  The acapella samples come in a variety of tempos and are ready to be arranged, chopped and manipulated however you see fit.

All loops and samples contained within the library are completely royalty free and come ready to download in 24 Bit Wav as standard."  -- Samplephonics.com

Full pack:  http://store.samplephonics.com/products/zefora-ethereal-voices
Free demo:  http://store.samplephonics.com/products/zefora-ethereal-voices-freebie

Drone by https://soundcloud.com/experimentator

Ethereal Voices [Royalty Free Vocal Sample Pack]

Free stems for download and remix.  Enjoy!  Make pretty things!

Zefora - Touch The Sky (melody 132bpm, F# minor) [free stem for remix!]

The Day Is Done
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The day is done, and the darkness
Falls from the wings of Night,
As a feather is wafted downward
From an eagle in his flight.

I see the lights of the village
Gleam through the rain and the mist,
And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me
That my soul cannot resist:

A feeling of sadness and longing,
That is not akin to pain,
And resembles sorrow only
As the mist resembles the rain.

Come, read to me some poem,
Some simple and heartfelt lay,
That shall soothe this restless feeling,
And banish the thoughts of day.

Not from the grand old masters,
Not from the bards sublime,
Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors of Time.

For, like strains of martial music,
Their mighty thoughts suggest
Life's endless toil and endeavor;
And to-night I long for rest.

Read from some humbler poet,
Whose songs gushed from his heart,
As showers from the clouds of summer,
Or tears from the eyelids start;

Who, through long days of labor,
And nights devoid of ease,
Still heard in 

Dave Greening 'Numb' Remix Contest - Zefora's Wings of Night Aria

Words and music by Zefora
Released under a non-commercial creative commons license.  Please feel free to download and remix as you'd like.  You don't have to ask first.  Proper credit for these vocals in remixes must be listed somewhere in the credits.  Permission for sales of remixes must be requested.

And don't forget to share a link to your track when you're done!  I love to hear them!  :)

Zefora - Live the Night - Vocal Stems (130 bpm C# minor)

http://www.zeforamusic.com/

Michal Cielecki - Rebirth [Two Steps From Hell]
Driftmoon - (R)Evolution (ft. Tina Guo & Zefora)
Matt Bowdidge - The Calling [FSOE]
Aakaash Rao - Planet Explorers Main Theme [video game]
Pawl Lawler - The Stolen (Opening Titles) [feature film]
Driftmoon - Jericho (ft. Zefora)

2017 Vocal Reel

The percussion in this track is a remix of http://soundcloud.com/stizreth/beat-box-2012-stizreth .
I did this remix/production with original vocals as a 24-hour weekend project for fun.  It consists of nothing but Seth's beatbox, a single bassline, and my vocals.  My voice is still a bit hoarse from having the flu the last couple of weeks, so my apologies if I didn't hit every note.  :)

Many thanks to Seth for letting me use his amazingly awesome beatboxin'!!  ♥

♫ Lyrics ♫

Curious how time reveals
The crossroads of these shadows
And the days my heart would steal
To be near you
And have you

Fly to the inlets of my mind
In the broken verses of my pen
Here in the sorrow so entwined
will you be back again

I'm calling you.....


Strange, this dance, your ghost and I
As we whirl around the mist of memory
As the leaves fall from the vine
I whisper your name
And then I

Fly to the inlets of my mind
To the broken verses of my pen
Here in the sorrow so entwined
Will I ever love again?

I'm calling you....

Zefora feat. Stizreth - Calling You

mastered by Jon at smallfishrecordings

This is technically a remix of "Fluid in Blue" using some of the background stems.  Thanks to DeeperNET for the Amen Break sample.  

Lilu's Song

Written, performed, and recorded by Zefora
Artwork based on original photo by Erik Witsoe
https://unsplash.com/photos/XFkWLJQj22A

Refuge

My remix of "Flaming June" from BT's Electronic Opus.  This is my tribute to my all-time favorite BT song.  I started this as soon as the Kickstarter backer gifts went out but set it aside for a very long time.  There were parts of the mix I wasn't sure how to fix and I originally wanted to add vocals to it, but never got around to recording them.  I finally dusted it off this evening and put the final touches on the mix to get it all to sound right.  I hope you enjoy.  :)

BT - Flaming June (Zefora's Ambient Remix)

This track is meant to tell a story.  My mom's been ill for the last 3 weeks, dying from congestive heart failure and kidney & liver failure.  At 80, her body was finally just shutting down.  I wasn't able to go see her before she died.  In the beginning, when she was still able to talk, I would call my dad on the phone and he'd put me on speaker so I could talk to her and say goodbye and offer some comforting words.  The spoken-word samples in this track reminded me of those calls, so I used these stems to tell a story about saying goodbye.  She always loved my music, so it seemed like a fitting tribute.  It starts off quiet, builds to a climax, and then, in the end, at the last minute, everything flashes by in a brief moment and then it's just...over.  I finished the mix last night at 2am.  My brother called this morning to say she passed away at 3.  I cried through most of the production of this track.  It really helped me through the grieving process while we were waiting for the inevitable and gave me something to focus on.  It helped me out a lot and I'm forever grateful to Owsey for the chance to use these amazing stems.  Thank you for listening.  ♥

Lyrics:
Take your time 
It's all right 
Everything will work out fine
I'm seeing colours lately 
The life around me, vividly 
I'm seeing others drive in circles
It's me
I'm just calling to say
Don't go

Owsey - Thousands Of Summer Twilights (Zefora's Afterlife Remix)

Video:  https://youtu.be/BY76NJc1xHM?si=646cBrk5yO1BPjAm

Winter

Spontaneous day projects are fun!  :)  I got a link to these stems in my inbox this morning and decided to try my hand at remixing.  I have a cold and can't sing at the moment, so I used some of my "live the night" stems for it instead, since it's in the same key.  Enjoy!   ♥Z
Original song:  https://soundcloud.com/gravitas-recordings/mr-bill-cheyah/
Remix and vocals by Zefora
Contest info here:  http://gravitasrecordings.com/cheyah/

Free Download!

Mr. Bill - Cheyah (Zefora's digital rain remix)

Just a sketch I made tonight.  I wrote this on the piano, then edited it in midi.  I'll be making more with it but I wanted to share.  Update:  I got a new piano vst and edited the velocities.

Zefora

cavunca