Chloé Ferguson Feature

Chloé Ferguson is a 27-year-old singer from North Wales.

Music came into her life when she was four years old, influenced by pop music because of her father and brother, writing her first song when she was five years old.

Being home schooled by her mother, musical education didn't come into her life until she was 16, when she moved to Yorkshire, England to attend a music college, then she did her undergraduate education in pop music at the University of Chester and her master's in music production at the University of South Wales.

Speaking to Chloé we talked about what it was like studying pop music during her undergraduate degree "I didn't realise I liked music writing until I finished my undergraduate", so in 2018 she applied for an MA at the University of South Wales, for Chloé "because it helped me how to write and produce my own work".

Chloé’s music is on Spotify, YouTube and Facebook, and her music was played in 2017 on BBC Radio's HEREFORD & WORCESTER channel, "a weird feeling, probably getting to die in peace" - referring laughingly, because "when you're a kid a lot of people tell you to carry on but inside you never expect to be on that kind of channel or radio".

We talked about the pandemic that we are going through now as we know that over 60% of small and medium sized artists have been left without venues because of the closure of restaurants and bars,  "people in this environment are all bankrupt because of the pandemic".

The pandemic affected her when she came back to North Wales about a year ago and was in a band, they were playing in London, even though it was complicated the band for two months were doing gigs all over the country - Bristol, London, Swansea, but when the pandemic hit in February the band was forced to split up but hoping that when the pandemic was over they could gig again, so until then Chloe has dedicated herself to her solo career.

Chloe considers her style of music Indie, more alternative, Chloe states "Honestly I want to be known as Indie Pop".

Talking about future projects Chloé is thinking of doing a PHD with researching the connection between music and memory, but Chloe right now is working on a project with a member of her band, it is still in progress, and is Indie Pop related.

Chloe is hoping that at the end of the pandemic she will return to Cardiff and reunite with her band and continue to play gigs.

The last topic we spoke about was where she gets her imagination from to write lyrics for her songs, Chloé says "I think most of the time it's from my own experiences, but a lot of the time it's from people I know, sometimes having coffee with family or friends, and when I write I go back to the past and write my own lyrics, but usually it's from my own experiences".

Chloé explains that her imagination when writing is made up of connections between personal stories and those of people she knows, stating that "sometimes I can only talk to people through the lyrics I write".

Francisco Diońisio

Music as an encrypted message for freedom

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"Grândola, vila morena, terra da fraternidade,o povo é que mais ordena, dentro de ti, ó cidade".

These were the words that started a path to freedom and the verses that began the Carnation Revolution in Portugal, 47 years ago. 

It was the song Grândola, Vila Morena, by José Afonso, forbidden by the dictatorial regime of Dr Antonio Oliveira Salazar, who ruled and suppressed the country since 1926. 

In the early hours of April 25th, 1974, the Portuguese people were in suspense, waiting to hear the two signals agreed upon by the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) to begin the uprising against the established power.

The first "alarm code", sounded at 10.55 pm on the 24th of April with the song that represented Portugal at the 1974 Eurovision festival, "E Depois do Adeus" by Paulo de Carvalho.

This song was transmitted by the journalist João Paulo Diniz from "Rádio Emissores Associados de Lisboa". 

On the following day, the long-awaited day of freedom, at 0h25, the military of the MFA occupied the studios of Rádio Clube Português and, through the radio, explained to the population that they wanted the country to be a democracy again, with elections and freedoms of all kinds, and songs that the dictatorship did not like, like Grândola Vila Morena, by Zeca Afonso, were put on the air. 

That was the second signal, indicating that the revolutionary military should occupy the strategic points of the country. 

In the following hours, the dictatorship collapsed, unfortunately with four deaths, and true, compared to other revolutions there were few deaths, although these deaths were committed by PIDE, police of the dictatorial state.

The Portuguese Revolution was with the aim of a peaceful revolution because all people create the same, FREEDOM! 

The Portuguese revolution just proves that music is something that connects us all and brought freedom to a country that was suffering and suppressed for a long time.

Francisco Diońisio Is a Portuguese Student Studying at USW Atrium, Cardiff, and a Valued Contributor to KCL.

My First Music Memory

The music that my parents used to listen to on the radio is still played at home.

It is music from the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Besides that, they also loved listening to the traditional Fado music, music from Portugal and Lisbon, my home city. 

Famous music like “Dancing Queen” by Abba (one of my mother’s favourite), “Ain’t no Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and the legendary “Baker Street” by Gerry Raferty has been present through my life growing up.

Fado was listened mainly on the weekends especially at my grandparent’s house as they lived in a typical Lisbon bairro (Portuguese name for a small neighbourhood). 

I always heard my grandparents old neighbour singing through the window while I was playing outside. 

He was a retired mechanic and was always playing Fado music especially those from the bogged legends of Fado, Amalia Rodrigues and Carlos do Carmo.

My first memory of someone singing to me was my mother, before putting me in to bed she always sang the music "Na Cabana Junto a Praia" sung by José Cid, it is a lyric that I personally love, not only because it touches on a memory when I was a child, but it is a lyric of love and has a melody that is very romantic and moving.

I remember my mother after having had an operation on her vocal cords a few years ago, trying to sing this song and feeling disappointed and sad with herself because singing was something she had always loved and after the operation it was no longer the same voice, but as I always told her and I always say, her voice marked my childhood, and influenced me a lot in my life, because without music I can't work, and that's thanks to my mum and dad that every time we cooked we had music playing and every time we sang and danced.

These are memories that during this pandemic we will not be able to repeat again, but it is moments like these that make us who we are daily, and that offer us a better way of living.

The pandemic brought a lot of bad things to our mental health but personally made me reflect with life, moments that we always took for granted and now we can't have them, the pandemic made me realize that we have to live every moment as if it was the last, whether it is music, family or school.

Life during this last year has turned around, Everything that we programmed and dreamed of was destroyed or postponed, teaching us to accept a “No” and to understand that we have to be stronger and improve our lives.

We Have learned to remember things that we miss and dreams that were not realized.

I can say that this pandemic made me stronger, and taught me not to give up.

The music was a help and inspiration to me during the Lockdown.

Francisco Diońisio