Eda: In my early twenties I was in a black comedy cabaret, like a vaudeville troupe. Very San Francisco.

It was called Hyena Cabaret, and we did a couple shows in the Mission district. I wrote the music for a song called Sex Pig, which we performed in a vaudeville festival. It did not go over well. [Laughs] I didn't write the lyrics - Hank Hyena did. He's famously vulgar, in an endearing way.

The other song I wrote was actually one of the most moving songs that I think I've done. I haven't thought about it for years. It was about a chimpanzee being captured and falling out of a tree and then being shipped to, um, being used for a scientific experiment. I made a huge mask that covered up my body, and I sang the song from behind the mask.

Q: Was this for a special kind of performance about animal rights, or just something that struck you? What inspired you to write that song?

Eda: It was another collaboration between me and the writer-director. It got me started as a songwriter because of the experience I had with it. Whenever I sang that song, before I walked on stage, my hands and arms would start tingling intensely. I had a really intense body experience before I sang that song and it made me feel the unique kind of energy that I still feel when I'm very connected to a piece of music.

Q: Can you tell me more about this body experience?

Eda: Sometimes, right before I go onstage, my hands tingle. It starts in my fingers and moves up my arms. It becomes so strong that I find it hard to move my fingers. I shake my hands out to loosen them. Usually it's just in my arms. It hasn't happened for a while, but when it does happen I see it as a sign of being open to energy coming in for the performance.

Q: So it doesn't feel like stage fright?

Eda: No. I welcome the tingling sensation because it feels like a strong energy, and even though I have had stage fright and can feel some anxiety at times going onstage, this feeling is more like, "Wow, I'm really connected, I can't wait to do something with this."

Q: You are so at ease on stage; it seems to be in your blood.

Eda: I fought being any kind of musician, performing or not, for years. I was raised in a high-profile classical music family. I grew up around well-known musicians in the opera and orchestral world. I always loved to sing, but I was quite shy about it. I really started finding my voice when I connected to this whole other musical world. I came to San Francisco and started buying records of what you might call classical music but not from Europe, you know? I discovered that my passion for music was really sparked by African and Middle Eastern music. This lead me to travel to Africa to visit musicians there.

For years I didn't consider myself to be a musician and performer. I did carpentry, painting, odd jobs. I knew that I really was meant to do something else. When I started performing in bands, I was not always the most comfortable performer. Being the center of attention is not a place that I am that comfortable with. But over the years, the more I connected with the material that I was doing, the "I" got out of the way and I became more connected with what I wanted to convey with the music. As I grew more comfortable as a performer, to that same degree I grew more comfortable with myself. I have a strong sense now that this is what I'm meant to do, that this is my path.

interviewed by sydney hardaway

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Robert Phoenix's 2008 Interview with Eda