One day in the beginning of June I got a call from Danish singer, composer and arranger, Manuela Lærke. She had surfed the www in order to find a photographer to make the cover shot for her second album, which was at the final mixing stage at that time. For some reason she picked me after seeing my various photographs of performing Danish Artists at this site.
I had heard her name, but I wasn't quite familiar with her music, I must admit. As I have a strict policy to only make photos of artists that I like myself to be presented on this site, I asked Manuela to send me a sample of her music. She sent me the pre-mix of the album, I was supposed to make the cover of (and which can be viewed at the bottom of this side), and I must say that I was very supprised to hear this wonder of a record.

The coming album, ManuLand, is a 10-track record, scheduled for a 22. September 2004 release. It has a light and spiritual mood and I will not hesitate to compare Manuels Lærke to the 18-million record selling, 8. Awards-winning artist, Norah Jones. ManuLand holds the same laid-back feeling with a touch of jazz, as Norah Jones' releases. You hear both gospel, jazz, pop and quite a lot of soul in it.
There is an extremely beautiful song on the album, my defenitive favorite, called Angles. I played the album prior to the photo session to get in the right mood, and my 3-year old grand daughter listened very concentrated and suddenly she spontanioulsy remarked: "Jeg kan høre spøgelser" ("I can hear ghosts"), while Manuela sang "I believe in angels".

You become very relaxed and confortable by listening to Manuela's gifted music. I'm looking foreward to hear, if she and her backng band are able create a similar mood live at stage, as you can hear at the album.

Manuela was really nice to work with. She did what she was told to, in full confidence to me as a photographer. Beside her obvious beauty, she's a really kind person with a great sense of humour. So the 8 hour photo session didn't seem that long at all, as we had a lot of fun during the shooting.
We made half of the photos outside at some factory site at Amager. But the weather was windy and rainy, so rest of the shooting took place in a house in Gl. Holte north of Copenhagen.
There was a good atmosphere in the house and the best takes were made at this location.

Manuela acted like a professional model, so thanks to her professionalism, most of the 963 photos I did on this session were above the standard I had expected.
The following days we agreed on which photos, we would select for the album cover and the first photo to be seen below, is the one, which we both prefered.

On 22. September 2004, Manuela had a Release Party at Café Barbarellah in Copenhagen. A couple of snapshots from the event can be viewed at the bottom of this page.

Watch for this upcoming star when the album is released in Fall 2004!
Meanwhile you can learn more about her on www.manumusic.com

Photographs by Eric Klitgaard © 2004

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