Christel Veraart
Singer /Songwriter
Some have their most creative insights while traveling to distant lands and experiencing new cultures. Thus so for Christel Veraart. Removing herself from the familiar environment became a way to realize her own true inner voice. Once that inner voice was found, in this case through the interpretation of existing songs, it was then used to express herself through the creation of her own compositions.
Christel’s musical carreer began in the classical environment of Europe. Born and raised in The Netherlands where she began her music education, she first studied piano and later voice. Leaving that familiar culture behind, her studies then lead her to South America. After immersing herself in the languages and cultures of both Argentina and Brazil, she collected songs that were passed on to her by friends or handpicked from libraries in Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. These became the basis of her first album “Terra Incognita”, recorded in 1998, containing classical songs based upon folklore music from both countries.
After numerous concerts in Europe and the Americas she settled first in Mexico where she met her husband with whom she now lives in San Diego, California. Extensive travels together to Baja California, Mexico, left her intrigued with the old colonial missions she came across and which brought back memories of music from her past and numerous concerts she sang in churches all over Europe. In March of 2007 Christel performed a concert at the remote Mission “San Francisco de Borja Adac” in the desert heart of the peninsula. This concert of favorite sacred arias from the times the missions were founded was recorded as her second album “Musica Sacra” and released in december of 2007.
The artist has continued in new directions, this time as a singer-songwriter. Her first steps were taken years ago with the Jazz Trio “Alazan”, which mixed her own compositions with those of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla. The years of classical training and multi-cultural influences have lead to the finding of her own inner voice and converged into a vocal style that is highly personal. Her third album, currently in production, is composed entirely of her own compositions.
