'Elequen' General
Toronto, Canada | Established. Jan 01, 2015 | SELF
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Home Archive Forest teen records ode to Chilean miners
Seventeen-year-old Megan General of Forest, Ont. had an original song about the trapped Chilean miners posted on iTunes in late September, 2011. SUBMITTED PHOTO/THE OBSERVER/QMI AGENCY.
Forest teen records ode to Chilean miners
By CATHY DOBSON, The Observer
Updated 12 days ago
FOREST — Megan General is her name for now.
But the 17-year-old Lambton teen aspires to be a famous singer and actress known by only one name: Elequen.
"I've always dreamed of having one name, and Megan is so common," she said.
Her mom Paula General cooked up "Elequen", apparently out of the blue.
"She just really liked how it sounded and it grew on me too," Megan said.
Since she was a small girl, she's taken dance lessons, had paid modeling assignments and written music.
By age 12, Megan had composed more than 50 original songs. Last year, one of her songs was critiqued by a panel of Canadian music professionals including songwriter Dan Hill and singer Emm Gryner, another Forest native.
It was called "Little White Butterfly," a tribute to the 33 men trapped underground for 69 days in a Chilean mine.
"I watched their rescue on television and I started to cry," said Megan, who is in Grade 12 at North Lambton Secondary School. "I went downstairs and wrote the song. What they went through really means a lot to me."
After hearing news reports that the miners stopped to look at a white butterfly moments before the shaft collapsed, Megan was overwhelmed by the sense that the butterfly had saved their lives.
If they hadn't stopped to enjoy it, the miners may have been buried alive, she said.
About a month after the rescue, Megan recorded the song at a studio in Toronto owned by her voice coach Ryan Luchuck.
She describes her style as "jazz with a pop rock feel."
This week, almost a year after the miners safely reached the surface, the song will be posted on iTunes.
It's already been on YouTube and caught the attention of a group from Las Vegas that has created a ceramic mural commemorating the rescue. When the mural is unveiled later this month, the Chilean Consul has requested permission to play "Little White Butterfly."
In the coming months, Megan plans to have her song translated into Spanish so she can re-record it for the miners.
"It's really important to me that they hear it," she said.
There are plans to send the mural from Las Vegas to Chile where another unveiling will take place next August, this time with Megan's song playing in Spanish.
cdobson@theobserver.ca
- The Observer
Discography
To date nothing is released but view music tracks on EPK and You Tube for some of my work.
http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?ns=1&video_id=lV_yy1JLy8Y&next=%2Fmy_videos
'Raw Wound' and 'Little White Butterfly" are being recorded professionally now
Planning on 4 - 6 other songs for Demo CD scheduled to start recording October 2011.
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Bio
ELEQUEN (ella-k-when)
http://www.elequen.com/
Elequen is a 21 y.o. Singer/Songwriter, Model and Actress. Born and raised in Sarnia, Ontario and from a single parent home, it was Elequen who guided her Mother into realizing her dream. From a very young age, Elequen knew where her standing would be in life and has spent many hours writing, creating songs and developing her talent. Not only does she sing, write songs, dance and act, she is also in the process of writing a screenplay.
Inspiration and encouragement from friends and family is what keeps this 21-year-old Canadian talent steadfast in her pursuit of becoming one of this country’s best-known singer-songwriters. And her pursuit isn’t always easy, especially when confronted with skeptics who ask: “Yah . . . but what are you going to do for a career?” Her persistent response? “I’m going to be a Singer and Actress!” The question is not what she is going to be, but how soon.
Even before Elequen could walk, her focus was captured by singers and performers on television. Elequen began lessons in dance at the age of three and her love of performance, took her to the world of modeling, which she entered a few years later, at the age of 6 earning her several paid assignments.
But in the end, her main focus was with paper, pencil and recorder which she never left home without, and life events would always end with a lyric and tune in creating her original songs.
By the time Elequen reached the age of 12, she already had over 50 songs in her repertoire. And with the help of a piano, a mixer, recording software and voice lessons, 'Elequen' began to evolve.
A very close friend and a true inspiration, Actor Glenn Morshower, best known for his character, “Aaron Pierce’, in the drama series ’24’, once told her; “Getting what we want in life is not done by contemplating its difficulty. We must recognize that the very first thought about our desire gets things underway. See it as achievable, and simply do it”. And, as Elequen says, “So, I just keep on doing it”.
Elequen was inspired to write a song for the Chilean Miners, trapped 69 days underground. On the CNN news reports of this tragic incident, she heard that just moments before the shaft collapsed, the miners had stopped to look at a white butterfly that had made it’s way into the mine. If they had not stopped to enjoy this rare moment, they would have been buried alive under a pile of rocks and rubble.
Elequen says; “I was so touched by this story, that it brought tears to my eyes and I just had to write a song about it.” She wanted to share it with the miners so she spent 2 nights emailing the story and the song to various media in Chile and South American. Within a couple of days she was contacted by the only English speaking news/radio station in Chile. Dan Brewington, owner of “I Love Chile” asked her to write more about herself so he could do a story. She has also dedicated ‘Little White Butterfly’ to the survivors around the world that have suffered through the many disasters that have plagued our planet in recent history.
Last year, Elequen attended an event at the Songwriters Association that featured Canadian Singer/Songwriter, Dan Hill, known for his major hit, ‘Sometimes When We Touch’. Near the end of the event there was a panel of renowned music industry professionals to critique songs written by other songwriters of which Megan was one of the chosen writers with her song “Little White Butterfly”. This panel consisted of Dan Hill, Sony Music, CBC Radio 3 as well as Emm Gryner, Sarnia’s born and raised Independent Artist.
Dan spoke to Elequen saying; "My comment to you is, "Wow! I could have never written a song like that when I was 16".
Emm also believes in Megan, expressing; "It's only a matter of time because Elequen General is known all over the world! An amazing voice!"
In January, Elequen graduated with an Advanced Diploma from Metalworks Institute of Sound and Technology (Mississauga) as Vocal Major, also receiving the Tom Cochrane Songwriting Award. She is in the process of writing and recording originals. Stay Tuned.
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