London's burning...

A man who has a fascination with aeroplanes, a musician who falls in love with cities and then captures stories of random meetings and moments, in song. We chatted to Ryan Koriya about his recent EP release, London's Burning.

Which cities did you dream of visiting when you were young? 
New Orleans is definitely a place I thought would be amazing to experience in person when I was young. Vibe and culture certainly seem to run through its veins.

What is your fascination with cities, I recall you wrote a song titled Istanbul in 2007? 
My first ever trip to Turkey was four years into being away from Zim, so it touched me with that warm Mediterranean air having flown directly from London. I think cities are like people with their different personalities that you get to know over time.

Are there any other city-inspired songs on this EP? 

• Ballrooms In The Sky is about a girl I met on South Bank right after quitting my day job. She was crying hectically and I was on my way back to the London Bridge hostel that was my new home after busking under Southwark Bridge.
• Mirrors Don't Work In The Dark as an idea actually came from living in Harare. It's funny the things you're forced to think of when flung into darkness with incessant power cuts.
• Bruised Fingertips was written when busking in Birmingham City Centre and living in a village nearby. My fingers took a beating with all the hours of playing.
• Lonely Dancer I wrote on the bathroom floor of the London Bridge hostel where I played so as not to wake people who were sleeping in the dorms.
• London's Burning itself was recorded at a backpacker's here in Victoria Falls and the ambient sounds you hear right at the end are from right outside my door. The helicopters are always in the air flying tourists over the falls.

How does your music flow when in big city v small city? 
It was easier to assemble songs about London in a quieter place to London, a place where I had the space and time to make sense of all the musical static within that was looking for a way out.

What is your favourite city in the whole world and why? 
Definitely Cape Town. I love how I feel when I arrive there each time and that mountain adds this strange older brother who is 'always looking out for you' element. The beaches, the people, the diversity, the energy. I'm all about energy. Plus at night, the city has this unique pulsating glow with all the lights that are just mesmerising!

You've lived in both Harare and Vic Falls in Zim, what is special about each place?
Harare has a wonderful two season climate, warm summers and dry winters. Score! The people are something you need to experience. Even in times of trouble, they are still positive and friendly. Victoria Falls has this beautiful energy about it, that's why I moved here before heading overseas. You find the highest concentration of negative ions in the world here which is apparently a very good thing for your energies. There are loads of great activities to do and I just did my first-ever bungee jump the other day. Amazing! The night sky is to die for, one of my favourite things about our universe.

Photo by Go Barefoot Photography

You've always loved travelling and flying, how has your music enabled this dream? 
When I was at school I played violin/cello in a string quartet and we'd get flown to Vic Falls and Kariba to play at weddings. I also toured South Africa with Mann Friday and got to see parts of the country I'd never been to like the Drakensburg and Durban. Mykonos in Greece was another destination for a rock contest and Istanbul Turkey saw me acting in a short film/doing the soundtrack.

Which city do you hope to live in next and why? 
Los Angeles. It has the pre-requisite 'more sun than cloud' quota and it's a vibrant place ripe with other artists. Becoming a part of the scene involves being immersed in it. I hope to take things to a whole new level by being in places like LA over the next while.

Rock on city-inspiration,
x