Artist description As a songwriter, Yasmine White wears her heart on her sleeve ... and her quickly mind and her ever-lovin' soul, as well. Right out there. She makes no secret of it: Life, hers and ours, is a ride that bumps along and bruises us, a thing that bears down on us like the boogie man and, often enough, leaves us shaken and just wondering. Hearing her songs, we know she knows -- herself and ourselves.

Music Style Folk

Artist History "As a songwriter I feel the need to surrender to the song," says singer/ songwriter Yasmine White. "For me, the hardest part of creating is giving up the fear and being honest to the song and myself. But that's also the best part." She believes that the beauty in a song lies in its honesty and that our closest connections come from vulnerability. Yasmine recently moved to Chapel Hill from Los Angeles, has begun to play at area clubs, and she was a finalist in the 2001 North Carolina Songwriter's Contest. She has recently completed her new CD, Simple Truths. Simple Truths features eleven of her original songs, sung in her unique, emotionally charged voice. Each song has a different inspiration. Melt Me Down is a yearning to find shelter under a lover's wing. I Am Not Your Saint is about giving up a family myth. Each of us has a role in his or her family and we carry it into the world. The song is about taking that mantle off and realizing you don't have to carry it anymore. The CD features Yasmine singing and on guitar, violinist Mara Beamish of the Elftones and bassist Jim Baird. For Yasmine, songwriting is a journey and an exploration into the soul, a way to try to figure out the world around her. "When I'm in the middle of a song I've written and the moment is all that exists and I'm riding it without any controls and all of a sudden it's just the soul of the song that exists...there is no fear at that moment only ecstasy...that's where I love to live." When she was a kid growing up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., she would walk home from school picking up leaves or kicking stones and singing. Sometimes she would just go over songs she'd learned and sometimes she would make up her own. That childhood fascination stayed with her as she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from the University of Maryland. At Maryland, she was exposed to an eclectic mix of musical styles, studying counterpoint, gospel choir, African drumming and beginning saxophone. Yasmine played in bands and did a lot of solo work in New York in clubs such as the Speakeasy and 8BC as well as more recently in Los Angeles playing at the Roxy and Coconut Teaszer "Family history is intense. So many of my songs touch on my past, growing up... my family. We all seem to walk around like a map ...we take our histories with us and it becomes part of the material we use to relate to the world -- what we give to the world and take from it. Each song that I write has elements of my history and I think I'm the better for it. But, it's also painful. Everyone brings things from their past that they need to work through and understand and forgive. I think that's where compassion is born. I feel very lucky that I have music to give me a way to work through these things and I get a gift at the end... I get a song."

Instruments Features vocals, guitar, violin, bass

Albums Simple Truths

Press Reviews The Spectator (Raleigh, NC) VIBES| DISCOLOGY 07.31.02 Yasmine White Simple Truths (Yasmusic) Yasmine White is a Chapel Hill artist who plays pure acoustic folk music with an earthy feel and angelic harmonies. Often accompanied by the lovely violin work of Mara Beamish, White sings clearly and sweetly; you can hear every syllable, every consonant, deep down in the ears. These 11 tracks flow right from the heart. In fact, the spiritual "By the River" is sung a cappella, as if she's pouring it right from her soul before even writing it down, while muses harmonize behind her. These songs aren't so much played as breathed into life, almost whispered. The standout is the bluntly honest "I Am Not Your Saint," with its realization of humility: "I'll take my crown off now. My wings have come undone. I am not your saint or your angel in the sun. I'm just looking for a place where I can rest my head." If you need soothing after that, the sensual love of "Melt Me Down" and "Hold Me" will make everything right again. This whole CD is a prescription for the frazzled and stressed-out. -- Jennifer Layton

Location Chapel Hill, NC - USA

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