Roxanna’s Exotica features her beautiful, breathtaking voice along with a variety of sounds and feels ranging from Latin to more of a pop-jazz. Each song is unique and tells a story, many of which are real life experiences that Roxanna has dealt with.
Roxanna was born in Iran and later moved to Toronto, Canada. It was while she was studying to be a nurse that she first realized that music naturally heals; a woman Roxanna was taking care of wouldn’t eat because she felt too ill began eating after Roxanna sang to her. Roxanna then starting singing for other patients. One of her patients had cancer, so she sang to him daily until he eventually healed. When he left the hospital, his mother thanked Roxanna because she believed that if it weren’t for her singing, her son would have never survived. I guess it’s no coincidence then that if I had describe her voice in one word, I would describe it as “soothing” since listening to it seems to melt away all of your stress.
Roxanna soon discovered that her true calling was to be a singer, but could not afford the costs to produce her own album. However, a family member of one of her patients was so touched by Roxanna that they helped cover the costs for her to sign with a record company. Roxanna began working on Exotica two years ago, and now her first album will be debuting in less than a month on July 8th, 2014. The album features 13 songs and is just a few seconds under an hour in length. Her songs “ Unforgotten”, “Close Your Eyes” and “Beautiful Rose” are all stories about her life; “Unforgotten” is about the time when Roxanna’s fiancé left her just a few days before the wedding, “Close Your Eyes” is a song about when Roxanna would sing to her patients, and “Beautiful Rose” is a song dedicated to her mother, who died in 2013.
I had never heard of Roxanna until I took on this CD review, but I must say I have loved every song on the album, and if you are a jazz lover like myself, then you will absolutely love Exotica. In fact, I’d argue that anyone who enjoys love songs and relaxing music would fall in love with Roxanna. It was hard for me to choose a favorite because I love that each one of her songs has a different feel and sound to it, and that the majority of her songs are original. However, “Here with me” was heartwarming and made me want to get up and dance. The mixture of the trumpet, violin, and piano gave the song a dramatic touch and I experienced many emotions when I listened to it, making it my favorite.
Several of her songs cater to different types of music lovers. Those who enjoy the saxophone would appreciate “Hello” and “The Air I breathe”. Latin music fans would adore “Only you”, “El Amor”, and “Exotica”. For guitar lovers there are “Unforgotten”, “My best friend (Miko)”, and “Today”, to name a few. I would argue that any music lover should check this album out because there is a song for everyone. Which songs do you like?
The following are the official music video's for "Unforgotten" and "Close Your Eyes"