{"id":1487,"date":"2010-09-12T18:36:24","date_gmt":"2010-09-13T01:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=1487"},"modified":"2010-09-12T18:47:06","modified_gmt":"2010-09-13T01:47:06","slug":"sonia-disappear-fear-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2010\/09\/sonia-disappear-fear-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Sonia & Disappear Fear"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonia & Disappear Fear<\/strong><\/h1>\n
A vision of equality and peace fuels a restless musical spirit<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sonia Rutstein has never had\u00a0trouble adapting to her surroundings. She leads the band disappear fear, and also records solo as simply SONiA. She\u2019s gone from operating as a DIY artist to a successful stint with Rounder Records,\u00a0 then back to managing her own independent record label. And even as she has advocated feminism, gay activism and other expressions of social consciousness, she\u2019s always maintained her musical integrity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really from my heart,\u201d says SONiA of her social concerns, taking a break between gigs at the recent Folk Alliance conference in Memphis. \u201cYes, it\u2019s in the sphere of what people might call political. But it\u2019s more about alerting people that they can affect what happens with their government, and to say, \u2018Hey, you\u2019re not alone.\u2019 It\u2019s simply saying there should be equal rights for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

SONiA\u2014the small \u201ci\u201d is meant to indicate a rejection of the ego\u2014forged a musical bond with sister Cindy while in her early teens. The two first collaborated in a band called Exhibit A in their native Baltimore, then performed as a duo after the group imploded. They chose the name disappear fear, which SONiA had suggested for the name of the abused women\u2019s safe house where she worked.<\/p>\n

Determined to get its music out by any means necessary, the group pressed 1,000 copies of its initial album and mailed 400 to radio stations \u201cfrom Alaska to Florida, and everywhere in between.\u201d They toured relentlessly, crisscrossing the country in their cargo van. \u201cIt was a lot of go-go-go,\u201d SONiA recalls. The steady gigging found disappear fear making business connections that helped its\u00a0music infiltrate some of the nation\u2019s\u00a0larger retailers.<\/p>\n

After recording three albums under its own auspices, the group was courted by Rounder. \u201cIt was a very exponential step, because all I wanted to do was just focus on the music,\u201d she says. \u201cMy brother Rick was running our record label, and it was a lot to do. We were already in the major chains, so we were just putting another record company label on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cindy eventually quit to be a\u00a0full-time parent, leaving SONiA to maintain\u00a0the disappear fear moniker while simultaneously establishing herself as a solo act. Later, she and the label amicably parted ways. \u201cRounder was putting out 100 albums a month and I wanted a little more attention,\u201d she says with a chuckle. \u201cI have the needy\u00a0child syndrome.\u201d<\/p>\n

While SONiA won\u2019t rule out another record company affiliation, she\u2019s perfectly content being back at the helm of her own Disappear Records. In addition to the debut from 16-year-old violin prodigy Sam Weiser, Sam I Am<\/em>, she\u2019s currently celebrating the release of Blood, Bones & Baltimore<\/em>, a new album credited jointly to SONiA & disappear fear. After the<\/p>\n

world-music-tinged Tango<\/em>, the new set marks a return to her roots with a faithful read of Woody Guthrie\u2019s \u201cWorried Man Blues\u201d and an unapologetic statement of purpose called \u201cI Am SONiA.\u201d<\/p>\n

And she continues to merge her musical side with her social consciousness. \u201cI have a vision of a planet that works for everyone,\u201d she says. \u201cIn that sense, music is my way of connecting people together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Lee Zimmerman<\/strong><\/p>\n

March\/April 2010 Issue of <\/span>M Music & Musicians<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sonia & Disappear Fear A vision of equality and peace fuels a restless musical spirit Sonia Rutstein has never had\u00a0trouble adapting to her surroundings. She leads the band disappear fear, and also records solo as simply SONiA. She\u2019s gone from operating as a DIY artist to a successful stint with Rounder Records,\u00a0 then back to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[1029,1030,1028,49,1026,1027],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1487"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1496,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions\/1496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}