IMPROPER SESSIONS presents JUNGLE JADE
-by Elizabeth Spouse (Development Coordinator / Curator at Improper Walls)
JUNGLE JADE delves into the fluctuating mental states that come with trying to create roots in a new space. Crossing paths as fresh arrivals in Vienna, singer- songwriter Yelvilaa (from Ghana & Hong Kong) and guitarist Shari (from Iran) quickly became good friends and collaborators, forming the project as a way to process their experiences.
An impromptu writing session led to intimate live shows and creative collaborations across the city, gaining the duo a newfound community who connected with their stories. JUNGLE JADE is staunchly vulnerable, refusing to shy away from the internal dissonance caused by migration, mental illness, ambition, heartbreak, healing - and the joys in between.
In December 2020, passionate supporters worldwide rallied together to make the duo's crowdfunding campaign for their first ever album an astonishing success. Produced by Austrian Apparel's Sebastian Wasner, JUNGLE JADE's self-titled album saw it’s long-awaited release on September 24th 2021.
This collection of songs is an emotive journey that swings from divine purpose to hopelessness, from fierce conviction to love lost. Through the creative process, JUNGLE JADE is able to access and articulate these realities. They connect with people who, like them, experience no fixed ‘home’ and invite them to find inspiration within the music.
Watch Jungle Jade’s Improper Session here. You can find a link to the full livestream in the description.
So, without further ado, meet Jungle Jade!
Yelvilaa: Hi, we’re Jungle Jade and we’re playing at Improper Sessions today.
I really like how you describe yourselves as “staunchly vulnerable, refusing to shy away from the internal dissonance caused by migration, mental illness, ambition, heartbreak, healing - and the joys in between.“ Here at the gallery, our team is made up of migrants into Austria and we really like your “refusal to shy away from” these vulnerable topics because not only is finding and creating community important to us, but in recent years we’ve started focusing on how we can normalize discussions about mental health - and as you said, “the fluctuating mental states that come with trying to create roots in a new space“ which is a big part of being a migrant.
Do you have any specific memories of your first days/weeks/months in Austria of a time when someone reached out in a way that made you feel welcomed? Or offered a seat at a dinner table or invitation that made you feel seen? You describe finding each other as this beautiful, serendipitous experience. Is there something specific that made you feel welcome or at home?
Shari: Right at the beginning, the time that we met each other, it felt like a safe space already. We didn’t sit together and say, let’s make a band, or let’s do this or that. The process of making the music itself was very helpful, it was like a self expression, in a way, a settling down. The process of making it and showing it to people. That’s how we started making music and one of the first moments when we felt like, ok, this is a safe space in Austria.
Yelvilaa: Also, at that time, there was a WG [shared flat] where we met, and there were people from different places and we would hang out and party sometimes, and I think in that space it was also one of the beginning phases of trying to find some community in Vienna.
In a previous interview you said that you’ve each been on your own journeys with mental health - which is a topic that we as a gallery are keen to explore (as with the mental health awareness exhibition). You describe your songs as an “emotive journey that swings from divine purpose to hopelessness, from fierce conviction to love lost“. What have been the best resources for you in Vienna when confronted with the lows that accompany these periods of hopelessness and love lost? Be it a sincere resource or something as simple as watching The Great British Bake Off on repeat.
Yelvilaa: For me there are different things I turn to depending on the stage that I’m in. Sometimes it’s been friends, sometimes it’s been just little community activities, but a lot of it was making the music itself, which was really therapeutic in a sense, a way to process everything. I feel that’s what we also connected on, going through all these ups and downs, it’s through the music that we’re feeling our way out. Through it.
© Photo by Ina Ayydogan
I also wanted to say congratulations on the release of your new album! Is there anything you would like to say to people just discovering your music, anything specific to pay attention to? What breakfast food pairs best with it?
Yelvilaa: Do you have ideas on breakfast?
Shari: Ohh breakfast, you’re putting me on the spot.
Yelvilaa: The way we write is taking people on a journey, there’s a lot of storytelling in it, so I hope that people go to it open minded and see what comes to them through the sounds that they hear, the words, the stories in it, kind of like you’re reading a book. I also know people that really like to listen to it in certain kinds of weather, like it was raining one day and someone said, ‘I’m listening to Jungle Jade now and it’s the perfect weather’, and I thought, yeah that’s cool.
Shari: I think the music is also open to interpretation. We’re happy if people want to connect to it in different ways, in their own way. Through the music, through the instrumentals, or through the stories. Exactly how we made the music; we never really had one specific idea where we were like, ok let’s do this in this one song, we just did it. The things that we experience in life, we just give them back, through the music or through the words. I’ve seen people from back home, my friends in Iran, and the people here connect to the music totally differently. Some people say, ‘Oh I hear Middle Eastern elements’ and that’s something they kind of identify themselves with, which is open to interpretation, so you can connect with it the way you want.
How do you feel about pineapple on pizza?
Yelvilaa: I feel good about pineapple, I feel good about pizza, but not pineapple on pizza.
Shari: Really? I like it! Well...where did we land right now? It started with a Hawaiian burger, then I made friends with pineapple on pizza.
I thought you were going to change the subject when you asked where we landed, but yesss, me too, I like it! Hey, thanks you two.
Improper Sessions is a new concert series in which we’re inviting musicians to play in the middle of an existing exhibition, with the entire evening dedicated to the musical act. It’s a platform for musicians to present their music outside of the standard concept of the concert stage or music video; a space where we can create something together, allowing for more sides of the musician to be seen.
Each performance takes place in front of a small audience and is live streamed. You can learn more about each musician/band via a short interview released in each Improper Dose following the concert, as well as an additional edited video that we believe will be quite beautiful, so make sure to check this out and be on the lookout for future acts!