The Shapeshifter

She has studied at a choir university, is a singing teacher at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, and has freelanced for many years. But now the time has come for American Trina Coleman to go her own way.

Many layers

Trina was introduced to the Harlem Renaissance by a high school teacher. The term refers to African Americans' cultural and intellectual life flourishing in the USA between 1920 and 1940.

– He showed me how these musicians were allowed to perform on stage but not sit among the audience, she says.

- And that it was the birthplace of jazz as we know it. It's my favourite historical period, without a doubt!

Trina's interest in this period has several layers, as she herself has an African American and European background, as do the other two singers she works with.

- It's a profound experience because we're processing a shared experience from different angles. I hope that vulnerability can be heard in the music.

Trina says that the Harlem Renaissance was very important for African-American identity. It was also the birthplace of the philosophical background for the civil rights movement.

Her master's project is about being from different places.

- It has made me a shapeshifter, a chameleon. Now, I'm trying to unravel all the influences and put them back together more consciously.

She describes it as having been on the net.

- I untangle it and weave it into a rope I can use in my way.

Out of the comfort zone

Trina's concert is called "Weary Blues: Poetic Texts from the Harlem Renaissance".

Conveying this art and knowledge to the audience is also essential for her.

- It's so crucial to love and understand traditional jazz.

She has noticed that the students, like the writer, do not know as much about the Harlem Renaissance as one would think at a music college. She uses a standard song from jazz as an example:

- "Take the "A"-train" is based on getting to Harlem for alcohol during the prohibition era.

The musicians will perform Trina's songs at the concert, with text by Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes. Co-musician Siv Misund is an opera singer, while Camilla Tømta plays a blues alibi. Trina is responsible for the jazz singing and says she loves how they sing together and thus weave together different influences.

- They are such fantastic performers that it will be a party, she says happily.

Do you rarely hear classical musicians and blues musicians play together?

- The only thing that separates us is really fear. While I am obsessed with staying in the middle.

Trina leads two choirs – one more classical and the other primarily rhythmic. Part of her master's project is to get the two choirs to perform together.

I want them to maintain their traditions and strengths and compose for them in that way. But when we rehearse, I want to push their boundaries a bit so they take risks and experience the reward.

A window in

She calls Hughes' poetry a reflection of the music from the period.

- Part of the idea behind the Harlem Renaissance was that so many different things came together and became something else.

According to Trina, the texts contain deep reflection and thoughts about identity that everyone can recognize, regardless of their background.

- We are all more than we look like. In that way, we all have a window into this topic.