AsiansOfMixedRace.com Interview
Jeni Fujita

AMR.com: It's been a long time coming and finally your solo album, "This Little Light Of Mine" has dropped. I have to ask the obvious. How excited are you?

JeniFu: Since working on my solo album with Sony in 1999 and then being dropped alongside Fitty Cent and Alicia Keys, I've gone through many emotions and thoughts about whether or not to even release an album. So this is a huge step for me. I'm VERY excited.

AMR.com: What is "This Little Light Of Mine" all about?"

JeniFu: This "This Little Light Of Mine" is a journey towards discovering your inner light, your power, what makes you special and different, believing in it and then not being afraid to let it shine. It's a collection of mid-tempo soulful songs expressing different experiences we go through on our way to self discovery.

AMR.com: What are your expectations for this album?

JeniFu: I'd like to gain visibility with "This Little Light of Mine" and be considered for the Grammys in 2010. I mean, why not aim high? I've been nominated before, and this time I'd like to win. Of course I also hope for people to download it, enjoy it and then invite their friends to download the album. I wanted to make an album that I felt good about at the end of the day, music that inspires others. Hopefully we accomplished that.

AMR.com: Do you have plans for a tour, maybe some videos, etc.?

JeniFu: I just finished a video for "Love Haze" of the album which I put together myself with the help of some friends at YouTube, Jeni Fujita and now I'm being courted by videographers, directors and producers for the next music videos to come. I'm definitely interested in as many paid bookings as I can manage this year, yes.

AMR.com: What compelled a California girl to head to New York to start a singing career?

JeniFu: I had been performing professionally for as long as I can remember in the voice over world and musical theatre. I had also had to supplement income by waiting tables for as long as I could remember. In 1995 I developed vocal nodes on my vocal chords and lost my voice. I was on vocal rest for 6 weeks then speech therapy. During that time, I'd been chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo but since I had to rest my voice, I learned how to meditate. In one of my meditations I had a vision of working with Lauryn Hill. My intuition told me I should be in NY. So I went.

AMR.com: Has it always been your aspiration to sing?

JeniFu: My mom is a singer and a vocal coach and her parents were on Broadway, TV and film. I started performing when I was 5 and my first musical was when I was 8 years old. The stage is where I feel most at home.

AMR.com: Did anyone you listened to growing up influence you?

JeniFu: Joni Mitchell, Minnie Ripperton, Sister Carol, and Bob Marley have been big influences, and lots of Broadway since that's what my mom had around the house growing up. I've always loved and connected to reggae and the broken down purity of folk music was always beautiful to me. I discovered Minnie Ripperton after being compared to her over and over. The first time I listened to her voice and her lyrical content it almost felt like I was listening to myself. I am nowhere near the vocalist she was, but there is a karmic soul sister connection there that can't be denied.

AMR.com: Your first day in NYC you ran into someone famous. Who was it and what happened from there?

JeniFu: I met John Forte' at a club on my first night in New York and he asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was a singer and he asked me to sing. I sang for him right then and there, we met the next day and jumped into the studio pretty much immediately.

AMR.com: How did you feel when John was pardoned by President Bush?

JeniFu: When John's sentence was commuted I felt like I was in The Twilight Zone. I had just finished putting my songlist together for "This Little Light of Mine" and had just decided to include the song i wrote for him on the album. The next day I heard he was getting out. It didn't feel real. The feeling was indescribable. No words, just tears. Of joy. For his first offense he served plenty of time. 7 years was a long time.

AMR.com: You sang on Wyclef Jean's "Guantanamera" off the multi-platinum album, "The Carnival". After the song was nominated for a Grammy, how did you feel to be part of something special?

JeniFu: It felt amazing to be a part of something special way before the Grammy nod. It was completely surreal and at the same time almost normal to be sitting next to Miss Hill in the studio after having that vision of working with her. It felt like it was supposed to be happening and this was where I belong.

AMR.com: You have sang with some heavy hitters and I am putting you on the spot. Who were your favorites to work with?

JeniFu: Well, most of them. Canibus, Lauryn, Forte', and Pink were the ones I got to know the best. They are completely down to earth and I always observed them treat everyone around them with respect.

AMR.com: Is there anyone out there in particular you would like to collaborate with?

JeniFu: I plan on collaborating a lot this year with composer and saxophonist Tyrone Smith. I'm looking forward to working with John Forte' again of course. I was also fortunate enough to do some work with Monday Michiru which should be coming out this year as well. J-San another Hapa. He rules the dub rock!: www.myspace.com/jsanandtheanaloguesons. I'd love to work with Santo Gold, I love her thing she has going on, The Black Eye'd Peas need to have some JeniFu up on their next album. I'm sure there are many more but those are the ones off the top.

AMR.com: When you are making music, what are you striving for?

JeniFu: My goal is to make quality music that inspires folks to feel something...music that allows them to escape reality for 4 minutes and experience something better...music that makes someone smile and another one reflect on the changes they want to make in their life...music that I can feel good leaving behind…like how Minnie Ripperton did.

AMR.com: Back in the day, something happened with Sony Records. What happened and how is this pushing you to bring more awareness to Hapas in the music industry?

JeniFu: Back in the day it was a lot harder to be a mixed person and be accepted in the music industry. Back then everything including the industry was more black and white and if you didn't fit into a mold that had been done before you were not going to be signed let alone released. I think now is a much better time. I am excited about the resources we literally 'have at our fingertips' and i intend to use every last one of them to get my Hapa-self seen, heard, recognized and purchased by the general public!

AMR.com: What is The Soulfolk Experience?

JeniFu: The Soulfolk Experience is a collective made up of Solo 'Soulful Folk' singers/musicians based in NYC who come together and support each others projects in Super Group performance style. You can hear some of our live music at The SoulFolk Experience

AMR.com: In August of 08 you performed in Japan. How did that go?

JeniFu: Myself and Japanese producer Yuma were invited by Apple itunes Tokyo to perform our dance single "I Am The Light" and it was AMAZING! We were very well received and are headed back soon. Yuma's album "Sound Multiply" which I am a featured vocalist on was selected as one of The Best Albums Abroad on itunes. Our single "I Am The Light" was No. 4 on itunes Japan in downloads in 2008 and No. 22 on itunes USA for downloads in 2008.

AMR.com: You have a song called "Sparrow". What's the story behind this beautiful song?

JeniFu: Aaaaaw....My Obachan (Grandmother) passed and I was asked to sing at her service...I'd never played the guitar but I knew i couldn't sing someone else's song...I knew I had to write one for her and I knew I wanted to write a song about celebrating life not mourning death. I'm not sure what happened, but the Spirit hit me and out popped this song. It is a reminder of why it is so important to remember to celebrate life and love each other while we're here.

AMR.com: When you're not singing, performing and promoting, how do you spend your time?

JeniFu: Other than career and family I am usually striving to learn more about myself and how to better myself. My health and how I can be healthier is very important to me. I'd like to be around long enough to see my son's children grown and be able to pass on whatever jewels and pearls I have to them. I'm passionate about spirituality and developing self awareness. Relationships are our best mirror. I love and appreciate the relationships in my life and my goal is to become the best person I can be so I can be the best I can be in my relationships with them.

AMR.com: You are a practitioner of feng shui. In what ways has it helped you?

JeniFu: Feng Shui has taught me the importance of clearing out the clutter from our homes and from the closets of our minds and spirits as well. Feng Shui is one of the ways I release the junk. It is my therapy. It is a way to gain control when other things may feel out of control.

AMR.com: Who is Jeni Fujita?

JeniFu: Jeni Reiko Fujita is a spirit in a female body I'm here to enjoy life, love myself and others, have more fun, be an inspiration, make good quality music, be happy, at peace, and effortlessly abundant and prosperous. I am a healer, a writer, a mother, a good friend, and a driven ambitious artist till the end.

AMR.com: Who are you listening to now?

JeniFu: I'm already working on the next album, so I'm listening to a lot of Jeni Fujita rough mixes! Some other folks in the itunes folder would be: Tyrone Smith, Carla Duren, fellow Hapa Monday Michiru, Santo Gold, India Arie, Ben Harper

AMR.com: Do you have any advice to those who want to get in the music industry?

JeniFu: Find a reason bigger than yourself for what it is you want to do. Create a vision, get focused, set your intention/goal/bigger reason and stay true to it throughout your journey, hone your craft, be prepared, be on time, do your best, be gentle on yourself through the times that feel like failures, keep practicing, never burn bridges, make a positive name for yourself in the industry, become indispensable, be good to the people around you, and never, never give up. Rumi said it best, "Let the beauty of what you love be what you do."