Sarina Suno’s love of music practically started when she was in the womb. She was a five-year-old when she began classical training on the violin. But it wasn’t just the classics that inspired her, her musical interests spanned from jazz to electronic music. Throughout Suno’s teens and college years she toured Japan and won numerous competitions. After graduating from Berkelee College of Music summa cum laude in 2004, she landed her first recording contract with Sony Japan and became an overnight success in Asia, with videos playing on MTV Japan, and three CDs that made it to the top 10 charts on iTunes. Though she looks like a Japanese pop star, her unique sound is unlike anything you’ve heard before and she has a way of breaking any kind of mold, stereotype or category. It’s a combination of trance and electronica, mixed with hip-hop with the melody reverberating from her neon lit Swarovski encrusted violin. Since she moved to New York in 2007, she’s played at some of the most famous night clubs and lounges in Miami, New York and Las Vegas such as Buddha Bar, Pink Elephant, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center; and she is a featured performer at hotspots such as Nikki Beach, Hudson Bar, and Arena.
What is the inspiration behind your music?
I think that, as for most artists, inspiration is a state of mind, and anything I come in contact with, triggers in me the desire to compose or perform. I am inspired by living in NYC, traveling around the world, fashion, meeting interesting people, hearing about serious stuff in the news, and just everyday stuff.
How would you describe your sound/style?
It’s very hard to describe it with just one word since my music is a mixture of many different styles such as house, pop, jazz, funk, classical, Latin, rock, hip-hop and etc… The only thing that I can say about my music is that I’m like the “lead singer” of my music. I’m always singing the melodies on my violin like singers sing melodies. That’s why I named two of my albums, which were released from Sony Japan, Violin Diva. I think violin is one of the most melodic instruments and it’s the closest to the voice.
Which musicians have influenced you?
When I switched from playing only classical music to jazz, Stephane Grappelli was my biggest influence and he always will be, although my style is changed a lot since then. He is the one who made me want to play jazz and freestyle. While I was at Berklee, I had a great opportunity to be exposed to many different styles of music and musicians from all over the world, so I was influenced a lot by playing with them.
– Hillary Latos
