- Hello and welcome to Applause Performances.

I'm Ideastream Public Media's Amanda Rabinowitz and host of our music podcast, "Shuffle."

I'm joined today by Cleveland singer-songwriter Ngina Fayola.

Born in Guyana, South America, Ngina moved to Cleveland with her family when she was five years old.

And while she's called Northeast Ohio home since the 80s and has performed here since 2004, Ngina plans to return to Guyana next year to record her next album.

Meanwhile, today she joins us at the Idea Center in Playhouse Square for "Applause Performances".

Ngina and band, welcome.

- Thank you for having us, thank you.

- I would love for you all to start with a song.

Can you tell us about the first song you're gonna perform?

- Yeah, the first song is called "Time."

It's just about navigating life as a parent, as a caregiver of anyone, and just being responsible for your task and moving forward in life, just not being stagnant.

So I think that's what "Time" is about.

- Right.

- It's really about Donny, Donny's whole life.

You know, I write Donny's whole life.

Okay, so this is "Time."

Ready?

(gentle music) ♪ Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm ♪ ♪ Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm ♪ ♪ Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm ♪ ♪ Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm ♪ ♪ Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm ♪ ♪ Baby's gotta eat ♪ ♪ Daddy's gotta work ♪ ♪ Mama's gonna fix us a big old meal ♪ ♪ And I made up my mind ♪ ♪ That I'm gonna to church ♪ ♪ These two Sundays out the month ♪ ♪ 'Cause I got myself two little ones that do ♪ ♪ Exactly what they want to all the time ♪ ♪ And I'm going raise 'em right ♪ ♪ One day at a time ♪ ♪ We're gonna be all right, we're gonna be all right ♪ ♪ Be all right ♪ ♪ Because time's wastin' ♪ ♪ And I ain't got the time for chasin' ♪ ♪ I'm facing tomorrow with determination ♪ ♪ We ain't got a lot ♪ ♪ But we got enough ♪ ♪ Sometimes it's slick and sometimes it's rough ♪ ♪ Sometimes it's rough ♪ ♪ And I made up my mind ♪ ♪ We gonna go to church ♪ ♪ These two Wednesdays out the month ♪ ♪ Because time's wastin' ♪ ♪ And I ain't got the time for chasin' ♪ ♪ I'm facing tomorrow with determination ♪ (instrumental music) (instrumental music continues) ♪ Because time's wastin' ♪ ♪ And I ain't got the time for chasin' ♪ ♪ I'm facin' tomorrow with determination ♪ ♪ Time's wastin' ♪ ♪ And I ain't got the time for chasin' ♪ ♪ I'm facin' tomorrow with determination ♪ ♪ Baby had to eat and daddy had to work ♪ ♪ Mama's gonna do it 'cause daddy's gone ♪ ♪ And I made up my mind ♪ ♪ We gonna go to church, yeah ♪ ♪ These two Sundays out the month ♪ Time.

- Beautiful song.

- Thank you, thank you.

- I'd love for you to take a moment, Ngina, and introduce your band mates.

- All right, right.

Well, to my left, this is Donnie Lena, beautiful vocalist.

I've known her for many years.

This is my great friend, Jerron Thomas.

He's a keyboardist, drummer, bass player extraordinaire.

And, yeah, that's us.

- You all sound beautiful together.

- Thank you.

- Great start.

Ngina, I want you to start and talk a little bit about the music video for that song "Time."

- Oh, that was filmed when my family went back to Guyana, maybe about, I'd say maybe five years ago.

And it was filmed on a bus ride through the city.

I had to find the best visual to tell that story and that was the closest I can find.

- Yeah, it's a beautiful video.

- Thank you.

- Can you talk a little bit about your homeland and the music that you have kind of adapted from your homeland?

- Well, I was exposed to every style of music, actually, in Guyana.

Before coming here, I think I was exposed to country music in Guyana before experiencing it here.

You know, country music, I guess they have the best satellites in the world.

And then a lot of 70s, 80s music, really pretty melodies.

But the traditional music of Guyana is Soca music and Calypso music.

So it's I'd say almost like Reggae, Afro beat, all merged in one.

That's the main music that I was, you know, around.

But the R&B and the Country music and the Rock and Roll, those just kind of filtered through my house.

My father was a musician and, you know, I was exposed to everything because of his musicianship.

- Yeah, can you talk a little bit more about that?

I know your dad introduced you to rhythm at a very young age.

- Yeah, he did, he did, at about three or four years old.

My dad was a percussionist, but his main instrument was the flute.

- Mm.

- So, you know, as I was coming up, he wanted to teach me how to just stay focused while making music.

So he taught me to just maintain rhythm.

He had me doing.

(plays rhythm and beat on guitar) - Right?

So I had to maintain that while he did a lot of intricate stuff around me.

And he was such a strict man and he was so serious about music that I guess I had not, not so much a fear, but I was just really focused on not falling off of the beat just so I wouldn't mess him up, you know?

So that was my first experience with, you know, with just learning how to listen - Yeah.

- And play at the same time.

- Hmm.

I know as a teenager you got a chance to go back to Guyana.

- Yes.

- Can you talk a little bit about that?

I know you said it tickled your senses.

- Yeah, man, it was great to go back home.

It been since, like I said, since I was five years old, so I hadn't been in the weather, I hadn't been in just in the environment, hadn't been around many of my cousins and my grandparents.

We had went back because my grandfather had recently passed away.

We were supposed to get there before he passed away, but we didn't get a chance to make it there, you know?

So we went there and just got a chance to just get re-acclimated with the scenery, with the family, with the food, with the music, just with the sounds, just the breeze, you know, the water, yeah.

- What was it like to kind of immerse yourself in the music when you went back there?

- Oh, I didn't, that's the thing.

- Not really?

- I didn't when I went back.

- Yeah.

- I wasn't even interested in.

I think I was too shy to, you know, share music.

I think I was just trying to navigate teenage-hood when I got back, you know?

- Mm-hmm.

- I don't think I was really interested in publicly doing music.

I didn't mind doing it privately.

- Right.

- But I wasn't interested in being public with my art until maybe my late 20s.

- Right, so do you think when you came back to Cleveland, how much did Guyana influence your music?

- Well, that's my main influence, you know?

- Yeah.

- I can't get away from my Caribbean background, you know?

I can't get away from the rhythms of Guyana.

And that's what really, really influences every style of music that I create.

You know, it's just the Afro, the African, Caribbean, you know, Indian.

- Yeah.

- Those type of elements.

- Well, I'm excited to hear another song.

- Yeah.

- Can you play another one for us?

- Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

- Tell us about this next song.

- This one is called "The Life, The Love, The Pain, The Rush," a pretty long title, but it's.

- Yeah.

- About just having a desire to do something that is not normal.

- Hm mm.

- And having to fund it, right?

- Okay.

- So we're all musicians and, you know, we all have to work regular 9-5's.

We don't wanna go to our 9-5's at all.

You know.

- Yeah.

- We'd much prefer to stay home and work on music.

- Hm mm.

- Every day and just release new content.

But we're forced to go in because we have to pay rent.

We have children, we have responsibilities.

So "The life, The Love, The Pain, The Rush" is just about just navigating life and balancing, finding the balance between your art or whatever you dream of doing and your 9-5.

- Okay.

- Okay.

- Looking forward to hearing it.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Does anybody know how the story ends ♪ ♪ Where does the plot begin ♪ ♪ When does the show begin ♪ ♪ 'Cause I've been chasing dreams ♪ ♪ And nightmares the same ♪ ♪ It's necessary game ♪ ♪ Necessary game, yeah ♪ ♪ Since I can't get enough ♪ ♪ I want more and more, so insatiable ♪ ♪ Since I can't get enough, I play the driven whore ♪ ♪ But I don't want to work for this pimp no more.

♪ ♪ But today, I guess I'm going to work ♪ ♪ For this pimp once more ♪ ♪ The life ♪ ♪ The love ♪ ♪ The pain ♪ ♪ The rush ♪ ♪ The life ♪ ♪ The love ♪ ♪ The pain ♪ ♪ The rush, yeah ♪ ♪ I heard of a place where true love engorws ♪ ♪ Milk and honey flow ♪ ♪ Maybe we can pack up a things and go ♪ ♪ Complete our mission ♪ ♪ Let peace unfold ♪ ♪ On this world so cold ♪ ♪ On this world so cold ♪ ♪ I've come to far to turn back ♪ ♪ I'm going on ♪ ♪ Since I want more and more, I play the driven whore ♪ ♪ But I don't wanna work for this pip no more ♪ ♪ But today, yeah ♪ ♪ But today ♪ ♪ The life ♪ ♪ The love ♪ ♪ The pain ♪ ♪ The rush ♪ ♪ The life ♪ ♪ The love ♪ ♪ The pain ♪ ♪ The rush ♪ (guitar plays) (instrumental music) ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Does anybody know how the story ends ♪ ♪ When does the plot thicken ♪ ♪ When does the show begin ♪ ♪ 'Cause I've been chasing dreams ♪ ♪ And nightmares the same ♪ ♪ This necessary game ♪ ♪ Necessary game, yeah ♪ ♪ Since I can't get enough ♪ ♪ I want more and more, so insatiable.

♪ ♪ Since I can't get enough, I play the driven whore ♪ ♪ But I don't want to work for this pimp no more ♪ ♪ But today, guess I'm going to work for this pimp once more ♪ ♪ The life ♪ ♪ The love ♪ ♪ The pain ♪ ♪ The rush ♪ ♪ The life ♪ ♪ The love ♪ ♪ The pain ♪ ♪ The rush ♪ - Beautiful song.

- Thank you very much.

- Ngina, I know growing up in Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood.

- Hm mm.

- You started singing in a church choir.

- Hm mm.

- Can you talk a little bit about and share some of those memories?

- I did not like singing in church choir.

- No, you didn't like it?

- No, I didn't want to.

It was, you know, my mom forced me.

I didn't wanna go to church at all, honestly.

- Wow.

- I loved music.

I wanted to go to listen to music but I didn't wanna go participate in music, you know because I didn't want anybody to hear my voice.

- Yeah.

- So I was forced to sing and I would sing very quietly.

And the song director the choir director, the pianist, they would, you know they would call me out and they'd be like, you know if you don't sing louder, we're gonna make you solo.

So.

- Wow.

- So I would, you know I would try to sing a little louder, and eventually I guess I didn't satisfy them with, you know, my volume.

So they made me solo.

They made me solo a song, and the very first song I had the solo was the song called, "Jesus Is the Answer For the World Today".

And man, my heart pounded out of my chest.

It was just the worst.

It was the worst.

I sweated, you know, I forgot lyrics, but it definitely ushered me into having courage to do that.

But even then, I still wasn't ready until my, you know my late twenties to share.

- Is that when you started writing poetry - Yeah.

- In your twenties?

- I started writing poetry mid twenties.

Yeah, I guess I don't even know if I was trying to find my musical voice.

- Yeah.

- I think I was just trying to stretch myself, you know beyond my comfort.

And I had a cousin that I would let hear, she would hear me sing around the house and I would let her hear my poems.

And, you know, she guilted me into sharing it.

She told me that I owed it to God because she felt that I was that good.

- Wow.

- She was like, you owe it to God, you know, to go out there and share your music.

So I felt guilty and decided let me go pay God what I owe him.

- Wow.

- You know?

Yeah.

- So how did you overcome that and feel the confidence to perform?

- Oh man, I just jumped in.

It's funny how when somebody believes in you it kinda encourages you to believe in yourself.

So that's what she did.

She, you know, she told me that she thought I was really good, you know she felt that I would impress other people.

She invited me to her church and it was like a youth night.

And I did a poem about like, smoking weeded and all types of wrong things, but the pastor loved it.

- Wow.

- You know, and from there I got invitations to come to other people's open mics.

And then I bought a guitar and started teaching myself to play it.

And then eventually the poems kind of filtered out.

They turned into songs.

- Yeah, and I know that like your love for melody kind of came from your parents' extensive record collection.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Can you talk a little bit about that?

- Yeah, my parents, well, my mom, she strictly listens to Gospel, but my dad, he's a worldly man.

He was a worldly man.

- Yeah.

- So we had everything in the house, and I just gravitated to the prettier melodies, like the softer, I guess I fell in love with like yacht rock type melodies, you know, young.

And I was ashamed to tell people that I was listening to Yacht Rock.

- Yeah.

- You know, at 14.

But yeah, I just fell in love with the prettier melodies.

They made me feel a certain kind of way.

Like even before I knew what in love was, it made me feel like I was in love, you know?

- Yeah.

- And that's what I wanted to, I wanted to be able to create music and make people feel that same feeling for my music.

- Yeah.

I totally feel that 'cause those melodies come totally come through in your music.

- Thank you.

- And it's powerful.

- Thank you.

- I would love to hear another song.

- Lets just cry like a baby.

(guitar plays) ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Crazy ♪ ♪ I must be, 'cause I'm in love with you ♪ ♪ And my vision's hazy ♪ ♪ Tears are overflowing brown eyes, blue ♪ ♪ I cry like a baby ♪ ♪ Baby ♪ ♪ Cry like a baby ♪ ♪ Baby ♪ ♪ All over you ♪ ♪ All over you ♪ ♪ You give sweet love and take it away ♪ ♪ Leaving me to free fall back to hell ♪ ♪ There's no sunlight ♪ ♪ All is dark and gray ♪ ♪ I'm desolate and there's no one to tell ♪ ♪ There's no one to tell ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ It feels like I'm crazy ♪ ♪ I must be 'cause I'm in love with you ♪ ♪ And my visions hazy ♪ ♪ Tears are overflowing brown eyes, blue ♪ ♪ I cry like a baby ♪ ♪ Baby ♪ ♪ Cry like a baby ♪ ♪ Baby ♪ ♪ All over you ♪ ♪ All over you ♪ ♪ You're my every thought ♪ ♪ And all that I want is you ♪ ♪ And I'm trying hard to hold it down ♪ ♪ I'm lost in your love ♪ ♪ And I don't know what to do ♪ ♪ But cry like a baby ♪ ♪ Baby ♪ ♪ Cry like a baby ♪ ♪ Baby ♪ ♪ All over you ♪ ♪ All over ♪ ♪ All over you ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ All over you ♪ ♪ All over you ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ All over you ♪ ♪ All over you ♪ ♪ All over you ♪ (guitar plays) ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ - That was a great breakup song.

- Thank you.

- Beautiful.

- Thank you.

- Loved it.

Ngina, we discovered your music when we actually did a Shuffle episode in 2021.

- Yeah.

- On this compilation that 12 literary arts put together called, "In Search of the Land".

- Hm mm.

- What was it like working on that very Cleveland centric album?

- Man, it was, a great experience.

It was one of my favorite experiences as a musician.

I didn't find out about the project until, you know the tail end of it.

Donnie actually, you know, called me.

- Oh.

- And told me about the project.

She was like, Daniel Cantor is, you know trying to reach out to you, doesn't have a number.

And when I linked up with them basically the whole album was done.

They were looking for like, just one acoustic song.

- Oh.

- They sent me a track and asked me to, you know write the song for that track within a week.

So they gave me the track on Sunday, and by that Saturday, the following Saturday I had finished writing the song, I had submitted and they loved it.

So when I went into the studio to record that song, they were telling me that they needed one more song and they wanted it to be just acoustic.

So I submitted my song, "Why Not Give Our Best to Love" And I went home, you know, just thinking that, you know maybe they'd like it, maybe they wouldn't, you know Daniel called me and told me that he was crying, you know I don't mean to put you on blast, Daniel, but he was crying you know, and Terrell Tall Black Guy he also said, you know, it made him cry.

So I was like, okay so that means the song is on the record, right.

So I ended up getting two songs on the record, you know?

- Wow.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, your songs are definitely a standout on that album.

- Thank you.

- So.

- Thank you very much.

- It was a really cool thing to have you be a part of.

- Yeah man, I'm glad I got in on the tail end, even though, you know, I missed out on a lot of the full experience of recording the full project.

I'm glad I got in when I fit in.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- I know you have big plans in 2024.

- Yeah.

- You're planning to go back to Guyana.

- Hm mm.

Yeah, that's my plan - Can you talk a little bit about that?

- Yeah, I just wanna take a break from America.

You know, I wanna finish up my album, honestly.

I have a lot of songs and it's been a struggle for me to decide which songs to put on an album, you know?

So I feel like when I go back home I can reconnect with my roots, you know get around some of the Guyanese people and maybe they can inspire me on, you know choosing which songs I wanna use.

And then it seems like America embraces foreign music you know, easier and faster than they embrace, homegrown, talent.

So I wanna see if I can capitalize on that and release from Guyana and see how it's received coming from, you know, abroad.

- Wow, so you're gonna record there?

- Yeah, I'm gonna record, I'm gonna hopefully shoot a couple music videos there.

Yeah.

- How exciting.

- And just finish it up and release, yeah.

- I bet that's gonna be such an incredible experience for you.

- Yeah, and the good thing is, my dad's old band mates they're willing to work with me once I get there as well.

So, you know, my dad is no longer alive, but I'll be able to, just get in the thick of things with his old band mates and see what comes out of that.

- So you have some songs already written for that?

- Yeah.

- Do you think?

- Yeah, I have thousands of songs I just haven't chosen - Oh wow.

- Which 10 to put on an album.

- Yeah, do you think you'll also do some writing there as well?

- Absolutely.

- Yeah.

- Absolutely, yeah.

- How do you think that, you know the music that you've been doing here in Cleveland will influence what you record there?

- Ah, man, that's a good question.

I really hope that my style of just creating music, just my approach, I hope it's well received in Guyana because like I said, it's a Caribbean country, you know?

- Yeah.

- I sing a fusion of R&B and everything, you know so I'm hoping that, when I get there it'll be well received and I can pick up what I need to pick up from them and add that to the fusion as well.

- Yeah, I can't wait to see some of the music videos and the songs - Yeah, me too.

- That come out from that.

Me too, I'm excited.

I'm excited.

- Yeah.

- And, you know, I can't wait to get back to the warmth and the organic food always.

And the water and yeah.

I just wanna breathe there.

- Is this something that you've been planning for quite a while or?

- No, no.

- It just came to you?

- No, no, I got dumped and then I decided that I needed a break from the United States and that, you know, that was the next thought.

You know, I went through a pretty bad relationship and because of that I just wanted to take a break from being here you know, and it just made perfect sense to finish up the album once I got home.

- Yeah, how incredible.

It's gonna be an amazing experience.

- Yeah, I think it's gonna be great.

- I look forward to that music that comes outta that project.

- Yeah, yeah.

- I really hope you and the band will play one more song for us.

- We absolutely will.

- Before we wrap up.

- This song is called "More and More" and it's actually the opposite of Cry.

A baby's about, you know, giving more love.

- Okay.

- And you know, loving a man and being loved back and that whole good feeling, you know?

So.

- Right.

- Yeah, "More and More" is a happy love song.

"Cry Like A Baby" is a sad love song.

- Okay, so we're gonna - It will always end on a high note.

- Be contrast.

- I love it.

- Yeah.

So let's leave on a high note.

- Yeah.

(guitar plays) (guitar continues to play) (guitar continues to play) ♪ Maybe I'm not as fine as some ♪ ♪ Of your other lady friends ♪ ♪ But I got something ♪ ♪ I know how to love a man ♪ ♪ I'm not so fancy ♪ ♪ I don't know the ladies dances, no ♪ ♪ But I'm a classic ♪ ♪ And know how to love a man ♪ ♪ More and more ♪ ♪ More and more and more and more ♪ ♪ We keep giving more ♪ ♪ More and more ♪ ♪ I never finished college ♪ ♪ I only got my GED ♪ ♪ Sense of knowledge ♪ ♪ On just how to love man, yeah ♪ ♪ Many will never know the type ♪ ♪ Of love I've reserved for just the right one ♪ ♪ My love is his and his is mine ♪ ♪ We never unsatisfied 'cause we keep giving more and more ♪ ♪ More and more and more and more ♪ ♪ 'Cause we keep giving more and more ♪ ♪ More and more and more and more ♪ - That's right.

(instrumental music) - Nice.

(instrumental music continues) (instrumental music continues) (instrumental music continues) ♪ 'Cause we keep giving more and more ♪ ♪ More and more and more and more ♪ ♪ We keep giving more and more ♪ ♪ More and more and more and more ♪ ♪ More and more ♪ ♪ More and more and more and more ♪ ♪ Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm ♪ (guitar plays) - Thank you.

- I love the positive vibes on that one, beautiful song, thank you.

- Thank you so much.

It's been such a pleasure, Ngina talking with you.

- It's been our pleasure.

- And the band, thank you all for being here.

- Yes, man.

Thank you for this.

- We really enjoyed it, can't wait for the music to come.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- Looking forward to it.

- We are blushing, so yeah.

Thank you.

Please have us again if you want.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- For sure.

Thank you.

My guest has been singer songwriter, Ngina Fayola, accompanied by vocalist, Donnie Lena and Jerron Thomas on the keyboard.

I'm Ideastream Public Media's Amanda Rabinowitz.

Thank you so much for joining us for this edition of Applause Performances.

And be sure to follow along with Northeast Ohio's independent music scene with our podcast, "Shuffle".