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Well, today it came alive. Again, actually. This website. Or rather, it was updated. The previous version wasn’t really me, with a quite commercial “About” section and a top photo that wasn’t me either. But this—what the website looks like now—more personal, is much more me. And it feels liberating, I must say. Like I’m no longer trying to impersonate something I’m not.

Is it the commercially best viable approach? Maybe not. But I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t really care. I’m in this for the creation process of actually making the music, not promoting it commercially. Anyone can listen, and anyone can read this if they want. That’s fine.

Part of this decision, as I wrote about in my “About” section, is to let go of the artist name Tobi. or Not and use my real name. But I’ll keep it for this website—it’s fun. And that, too, is a perfectly viable reason to me.

It also means I’m attaching the new music I—sorry, we—create to my name, where there already exists a classical album: Nordic Songs. But that’s fine, too. For me, the original, non-classical music that’s being created now is kind of a new era that started when the pandemic broke out. The rest is history.

And speaking of new music—today, the next song was accepted by Spotify and other online stores. The release date is set for the 14th of February, which happens to be Valentine’s Day. It’s a jazz standard cover song, one of the most well-known songs in the genre. Not that difficult to guess which one, having said that.

Tobi. That’s me.

There are two reasons for this name.

First: it is short for my name Tobias. I sometimes use it as a sort of private joke of mine signed my name with Tobi. Ending with a dot! In my weird sense of logical humor, I love it since I only omit one sign having 5 signs instead of 6. In my line of work, continued optimization is such a ubiquituos golden rule. Hilarious, no?

Second: It’s an historic reference and memory of mine. In my long gone years of youth, a Spanish friend Samuel used to call me Tobi with a very charming Spanish accent to it. So in a way, it’s a revival of a long gone nick name from my past.

The artist name Tobi. or Not is of course a humoristic reference to the famous Hamlet quote “To be or not to be, that is the question”. Tobi. as I’ve previously written, being my Spanish friend Samuel’s nick name for me from my long gone years of youth. But Tobi. or Not has an additional meaning to it as I see it. It’s associated with the lyrics for the melodies I create in my songs. Each song text portrays either a character and/or some pondering thoughts of some sort. As such there is always an interpretation associated with these words. For me, the challenge is to make this character, or thoughts, come alive as truthfully and honest as possible. I feel it is impossible to not mix in spices of my own experiences and feelings into the song. Thus, my songs reflect me. And they do Not. Where that border is crossed, what is me and what is just an invented character, even I don’t know sometimes.

Many years ago, when I was highly dedicated to opera singing, a singing colleague of mine suddenly complained during lunch that actors were “always” the ones that got to be interviewed in television talk shows. He was fed up with it, I could tell. He asked “why”, in a slightly derogatory tone of voice. I did not at the time come up with a challenging response to his question. But the question lingered with me for years and I believe I found an answer. Perhaps an obvious one, but here it is: actors get to impersonate other people. And as such, to do it well, they need to ponder on questions about who the impersonated character really is and why. But most likely, I believe, they also subconsciously mix in some of their own experiences and characteristics into the character. I think this is inevitable. So, simply put, they are forced to seek answers to questions like how, why, when etc. with regards to our human nature. Why are people different? I think that qualifies the interests in an actor’s human exploration in interviews. Having reached this conclusion, I so wish I would have delivered this witty response during that lunch. But sometimes my analytical mind is just too slow.

As for me, I would not label myself as an actor. Nor do I probably drill down to the same depths as actors with regards to the characters or thoughts I portray in my songs. And perhaps that makes the interpretation more Tobi. than Not. I do not know. But I do know that this wonderful challenge in portraying a personality with the assistance of the words, the music, and what I can achieve with my voice certainly is there. As I travel down this road of creating these songs, I always enjoy this process of trying to make the text come alive with the interpreted values I subconsciously or consciously decide upon. And I am certainly deeply grateful for the collaborative approach of friends and colleages that makes this process possible.