Unless you have been hiding under a rock lately, which I admit to doing quite often, you know that things have been getting crazy in our world lately. Between the pandemic, protests (peaceful and not so peaceful), murder hornets, and who knows what else, I have begun to fill up my apocalypse bingo card! All joking aside, there are some serious issues our society is facing right now and it’s hard to know what to do or how to feel about some of it. It’s a journey that we all must take, so that we can find solutions to the issues that affect us. Today I feel as if I made a huge surge forward in my journey, as I talked with an artist with an amazing amount of passion, on so many levels. Today, I talked with Sima Galanti. Some of you may know her just as SIMA.
The talented film creator, actress and solo artist, just released her fantastic new song “Runaways” with a video. The song is from a forthcoming independent album, and the video shows off her equally fantastic film making skills. I don’t want to give it all away though, so let’s get to the “interview! I say it like that because it was more like talking with with a fellow artist about our creative processes than an interview!
I saw that you were Israeli-American. How long have you been in the country?
SIMA: I’ve been here for 20 years now, so it’s been my home all my adult life. I’ve been here in the states, in New York and here in LA and one year in South Beach. So this is home at this point.
What made you decide to come over to the US?
SIMA: Well, I always wanted to come to America as a young girl. When I was little I was very influenced by what was coming from America, the music, films, and the culture. People that live outside of America, we are very influenced with what’s happening here, because everything comes from here. The films, the shows… so I was very fascinated by it since a very young age and it’s always kind of there… you know when you watch a movie and you see Hollywood, and the Sunset Strip and the music scene. It’s just kind of like always in your face. Then the MTV culture when I was little; it was just so much that was coming from here.
So it was I guess in the back of my head I always kind of wanted to be here. I was fascinated by the culture and the fashion and everything, and then I just one day came to visit a friend in New York. I wouldn’t have thought that it’s gonna be 20 years later and I’d still be here and and have a home here. It was kind of like I’m going on a visit and that visit turned into just creating a life here. So it definitely was a dream to be here, but I thought it was going to be a visit that just turned into a journey, if you can say it that way.
That’s exactly what it sounds like. You’ve found your path.
SIMA: Yeah, yeah! I don’t know if you believe in manifestations, but I’m very into your thoughts create your life. I think that, always since I was young, I was singing and so fascinated by things that was coming from here, and I had this dream, like to be here and do music here. And I think when you’re young, you don’t know. Like now, I understand the power of manifestation and I understand how my thoughts and my vision created my journey. But you know back then as a kid, you don’t realize the power of that. It’s is amazing, like this is this is where it’s at. Everybody that I was influenced by came from here. I also listen to European music, like big bands and artists that came from Europe but a lot of them came from here. So it’s kind of like, I want to be where this originated, where this culture started.
MTV culture definitely.
SIMA: Oh my God, but that was like the best time. Now it’s like, you have the reality shows, and like, no music. Back then it was all these videos, the beginning of music videos and MTV Unplugged and all the countdowns. It was so much music all the new stuff, like you see the videos for the first time. MTV was a very amazing culture that I don’t think exists now.
No. My kids were totally oblivious to it. My sisters and I though, we grew up on it.
SIMA: Exactly, right? Now I feel with phones and technology, I don’t know. There’s so much information, so much content. Back in the day it wasn’t like that. Watching a video, it’s kind of like, rare in a way. You’re not watching a phone all the time, tons of stuff coming in and out of you. It’s like just crazy today. So I think we appreciate stuff as kids back then a lot more.
I can see some of that influence in the “Runaways” video.
SIMA: Yeah, I love visuals and creating videos, and just kind of preparing for it and creating what it’s going to be about. I like to create messages in my stuff, like if it’s photoshoots. I like to inspire through a visual. I like that it’s a creative outlet. You created a song but then you want people to see the song in a different way, like in a deeper way. Visuals are so powerful.
Yes and like the contrast between the confining of the chains and the circular,I guess it was a concrete pipe you were in, and the the freedom of the flames…
SIMA: Right, right. All those elements that I felt like were so powerful, to kind of pass the message of letting go, breaking free from all the things that don’t allow you to be who you are, which I felt so much growing up. I feel like I wanted people to kind of break free from society, from judgment from even their own story, their own fears, your own judgment towards yourself. All those negative things that don’t allow us to really fly, to spread those wings.
There are so many layers. It’s like there is you, but there are so many layers put on top of you throughout the year. So sometimes you don’t recognize who you are now, who you are anymore because it’s not the pure version of yourself. And with society, people thought that I wrote a song about what was happening with Covid-19, the protests and all the injustice and the police brutality. You know I wrote this song before all those things happened. I don’t write about a specific situation. I’m a deep person, I like to think, I like to explore what’s happening in the world. So for me, when I wrote it, I wrote it in a global way, I saw how the world is on a bigger scale. Now things are coming to the surface but it’s stuff that’s always been there, that I was kind of investigating and bothered by, like society, and things I know that are happening on a daily basis. So I think that’s why a lot of people connected, and were drawn to the song. It spoke to what’s happening right now, for them, on a personal level. It was great, but I feel like people need to start understanding that, so much injustice is happening all the time. We need to be a lot more conscious and care. Like you care about what’s happening in your circle, stuff you are affected by. A lot of things people don’t understand, there’s so much happening that we don’t know about, until it affects us personally.
It’s like people live in a bubble and don’t think outside the bubble.
SIMA: Exactly. I think that’s stuff that I always explored, you know with music. Because I think the journey that I took and all the struggles that came with it and you know things that matter to me,
The question I always asked, since I was young. It wasn’t enough for me, when somebody said this is what it is, about religion whatever, this is how things are and you have to accept it. I was always asking, but why? Like if this is supposed to create this why is this? Why are you not judging? Why are you not asking questions? So I feel like I’ve always been that kid and that person that wanted to know more, you know, and it’s funny that we were talking about being personal with people because I always see everything is like one-on-one. It’s a relationship. Everything you do, it’s like a human connection and exchange of energy.
Humans are social people and that’s the way we are meant to be and pushing people away and not thinking about other people in especially in a global sense. It doesn’t fulfill what we are made to do, if that makes sense.
SIMA: Exactly! You got it. It’s like that separation that’s constant, a separation that we have. You see it in politics. You see it’s a divide. You have your own divide in your own self because, since you’re young, somebody told you something about you and how you’re supposed to behave. Especially as women we have so much more stuff thrown at us from such a young age, you know? It’s like you always try to please; am I doing this right? Why? Oh my God like in this video. I felt like my mom. She’s very, I don’t want to say judgmental, but it’s like I grew up with a sense of, it’s always the woman’s fault. Like we have to cover ourselves, we have to dress a certain way and I’m attracting the men’s attention and if something happened it was my fault. It’s like the shame that you have about yourself and your body as a woman. It’s like so much in this video is like, oh my God, my mom is probably going to see me like that and it’s so crazy that as an artist I shouldn’t think about those things. I should be free to express because part of my expression as an artist, but as a woman, I know I’m going to be judged. You have it in the back of your head, it’s so crazy. And I said, you know what? I’m just going to go for it. I’m going to be powerful. I’m going to be risqué, I’m going to be sexy. I’m just going to be me! All the things that we have as human beings like that, we have to show, we don’t have to hide it. It’s like yeah you’re a sexual being, you are beautiful. You are all those things. Why don’t you show the world? They’re like dimming your light all the time. I saw that I’m doing that throughout my life, even with my art. I’m like, I’m not being honest to myself, you know.
I was watching the video for the first time, I got this feeling. Empowering doesn’t even come close to how it made me feel listening to those words. I mean, it just doesn’t do enough. I need to find a stronger word because it just, it exudes so much empowerment and freedom.
SIMA: I’m so glad you felt that, because that’s, even for me, when I watch it, I keep getting goose bumps. I really feel like…I really broke free. It’s kind of like you have to do all this work, and all of a sudden you see something, or you do something, you say something and it clicks? It’s kind of like you broke the spell. I felt that even now, when I’m watching and I’m like, wow, gives me goose bumps. I really went through a transformation here. And if the audience, and people watching it are feeling that, wow. This is for me, like everything.
Yes like I said, I just can’t even find a strong enough word right now, it is just so beautiful. So many people I know will love this, I can’t wait to share this with them.
SIMA: Thank you! Thank you so much. Yes please do!
One other thing I wanted to ask you about. I saw it on your website and it really touched my heart. Broken Wings
SIMA: . My documentary? Yeah, I’ve been working on this film 5, almost 6 years now. It’s been such a process. I direct it, I produce it, I fund it. It’s something I’m very passionate about. Creating peace, bridging gaps through music and creative transformation and bringing people together, starting a dialogue about things that matter in the world. It’s kind of going back to “Runaways” and the message and what’s happening in the world. It’s kind of like, I came to this conclusion that everything connects. Everything is connected to everything. The wars that we see, the hunger in the world, all is connected. I really felt, you know, as I’m going through this journey of working on Broken Wings. I really felt like everything connected, in that there are people that want us to fight, wanting the divide, this power and politics, and as long as we are busy fighting each other; You have black and white and we have Palestinian and Israelis, you have it everywhere in the world. If we’re hating each other and we are enemies, there are other people that are benefiting from that. They’re making money. You have people making millions, building a wall that’s separating us. You have people making billions of dollars of selling guns and weapons. So I just kind of felt like I wanted to create. As somebody that was born in Israel and my family is still there, it’s a subject that has affected my life and still is. I’m still very drawn to do something inspiring. I didn’t know how and I thought music is the best way for me to create something inspiring that will put people in the heart. Everybody can have their own opinions and we take sides and it’s easy to do that. I just wanted, through music, and through personal stories, to show people, instead of showing news and the bad side of humanity. I wanted to show people and how certain things affect them on a daily basis. Then I wanted to bring the aspect of music and which the whole film started with me writing “Broken Wings”. When you hear that song, I think you understand “Runaways” a lot more, you will understand me as an artist too, a lot deeper because it’s really about, people being who we are, in a sense, as we come into the world, coming to this earth, and going through life experiences and our circumstances and things we’re born into that we don’t have any control of, that break and damage our wings, our freedom to fly. I just saw us as angels with wings, you know…white beautiful wings, walking on Earth, walking through our lives with broken wings. It’s kind of like I said, all those experiences we had that wounded us, that broke us. So for me, I wanted to create a film that analyzes all those things about humanity. Like the trauma, the generational trauma that we all have, and show people the writing process and the creative process of “Broken Wings”, and my journey. From somebody that was born and raised there, and left and was very disconnected for many years coming back to where everything started for me. Where I felt like I was scarred, and broken and wounded, going back to everything I left behind. Throughout that, you see the journey of me going to the West Bank, meeting all those people and talking to all those people and then you see the creation of “Broken Wings”, the song. An amazing Palestinian musician that was a part of it and Israeli artists in Israel. So it’s a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, powerful project that I’m hoping that I finally get to finish it this year. It’s like a passion project. It’s like I’m taking all these elements, the visual elements that I’m so passionate about, the media of films and music are still powerful to pass the message of telling people this is what it is. That’s how you need to feel, to think. It’s just that you show them. You just show them through a story, you know, like a storytelling, in music. When you’re in the heart, when you feel, when you hear a song and it puts you there, it’s so easy for you to be more compassionate to other people and understand it.
Music, it crosses cultures. Sometimes you don’t even need a common language. You can speak to each other in music.
SIMA: Yeah, the sound. The vibration, like a sound current. Everybody understands. Sometimes it’s amazing, you listen to a song and all of a sudden you cry, and all of a sudden your heart expands and it takes you on a journey of, like, your childhood. ‘Oh I remember that song when … this n that’ or ‘When I was a kid I heard it and it made me feel this n that’, and ‘It helped me to overcome’…whatever it is that song did to you. I feel like that’s the powerful thing that I experienced as a kid when I heard certain songs or when I filmed a certain film. It was kind of like this world, with everything going on outside, but you have your own world that you feel safe in it.
Music is healing.
SIMA: It is. It is definitely a healer and a great tool to bridge gaps and bring people together. It’s like going through some transformation.
I saw that video on your website it about brought tears to my eyes. I cannot wait to see it finished because, like you said it goes back into “Runaways.” It’s powerful, I can’t wait to see it finished.
SIMA: Thank you for asking. I feel like everything I do is connecting the dots. Like when you asked me about me coming here (see the beginning of the interview), sometimes I feel like you’re on a journey, sometimes you don’t know where you’re going. You’re on this journey, and you’re in certain situations, when you create certain situations, when you create certain things, even when I wrote “Broken Wings”, it’s so powerful sometimes, how things happen, and you’re in it. You’re like “How’d that happen?” Then you understand that you needed to see certain things. You needed to create certain worlds, you needed to be in certain places, because it’s part of the next thing, and the next thing, it’s part of your journey.
Not a lot of people can see those connections. It’s awesome that you can.
SIMA: Yeah, you know a lot of people don’t. I spent a lot of time healing, searching, doing a lot of work that people are not doing or are afraid of doing. I’ve spent years doing deep work, to kind of find out, why certain things are like that. I really analyzed a lot of things, I did a lot of therapy, I did a lot of yoga, I did a lot of meditation, I traveled around for certain things. I studied certain things. I studied psychology, I studied acting for many years and it’s all about the human condition. Philosophy and these things have really made me kind of who I am as an artist, and as a human being. You really need to take the time and it’s really a lot of work. but it’s so necessary.
We are a complicated species.
SIMA: Exactly, we are and so beautiful at the same times. It’s like this complex thing, a human being that has so many levels. We process things on so many different levels. It’s not black and white, some people just see what’s in front of their eyes, and that’s it. They don’t believe in magic. They don’t believe in spirits and they don’t believe in the these amazing things.
Oh, so many people, it’s this way or that way. There’s so much more behind it.
SIMA: Yeah. There’s so much more underneath that you don’t see. That’s why I’m saying, you have to think a lot, you have to think outside of the box. You have to understand and then you humanize and see certain things but there is a lot of dimension and there is a lot of energy all around us all the time, and that’s why I’m doing certain things the way I’m doing them. That’s why I’m writing certain songs. I feel like it’s amazing, how you see that shift, like you see how even those lines in my song, you know, “let’s start a revolution” and people thought I was talking about the revolution. I was like I’m talking about revoLUTION, humans waking up to owning their own power, understanding that they are in charge. Talking about empowering, like that’s why I feel like my message is always about you, it starts with you. US, on a personal level, can change. Our society can change the world, or anybody, if you don’t have that ability to transform your life or, if there’s certain things that you’re not happy about. You need to do that work with you first so you can go in the world and spread positivity and not lash out at people… There are people that don’t understand that you have to put yourself first sometimes. It’s like if you don’t do that nobody’s going to do that for you.
That is so refreshing to hear! If you can’t take care of yourself, how can you be a force for change in the world?
SIMA: That’s what it is. Take care of yourself first. Heal first, love yourself first, then give yourself first.
Wise words especially considering the current situation around the globe. I hope everyone reading this enjoyed it as much as I did. The positiveness I felt afterwards had to be because of her! We talked about more than just her music, but the connections her music has with the many facets of life. Be on the lookout for the album coming out soon, and check out the trailer for her documentary “Broken Wings.”
I’m Music Magazine Photographer/Writer Michele Hancock
