Both members worked a lot in other projects in the years before. Conny played the violin for more than ten years and performed in many orchestras. She also sang in some classical choruses and as a soloist, and is familiar with baroque and romantic compositions like G.F. Handel, E. Grieg or Pergolesi.
Olaf was in his childhood a member of the "Stadtsingechor Halle", the oldest chorus of the world. Later, he played in many musical projects and bands, and also composed for TV. He studied musicology and philosophy.
In 1994 the second album, "Porta VIII" (Hyperium), was released. It has a concept based on the fairy tale "Ariadne et Barbe Bleue" by Maurice Maeterlinck, but "Porta VIII" is a continuation of the original fairy tale. This album too was selling more than 10 000 copies worldwide and climbed the Mexican charts.
Since 1997 there was a new line-up. Conny left sToa to follow her classical career, and the new singer was Antje Buchheiser. Buchheiser had been playing violin for more than eleven years, and had been singing in the classical chorus "Hallenser Madrigalisten". She performed a lot in classical music, in, among others, Germany, Japan and Cuba.
Another new member since 1996 was Christiane Fischer. She plays cello and is singing the second voice at live concerts. sToa signed to the German publisher Alster Musikverlag. In 1997 the band left their old label Hyperium for various reasons.
sToa performed sporadically at special places or events. They played for example at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen in a one hundred years old and eighty metres high monument in front of more than 1 000 people, at the “Zeche Carl” in Essen, in the Netherlands and several times in Mexico (inter alia with the Goethe-Institut).
In 2001 they finished their album "Zal". It was released worldwide, but first in Mexico at "Samadhi Musik". sToa signed to the German label "Alice in ...", where they released "Zal" for the rest of the world and re-released "Urthona" and "Porta VIII". The singer on "Zal" was Antje Buchheiser.
In 2008 sToa returned with international line-up. The new album "Silmand" was released on September 26th. "Silmand" means soul month. With it the month September is titled in an almost forgotten German dialect. The female voices on the album belong to sToa's new main-singer Mandy Bernhardt and the Australian multi-instrumentalist Louisa John-Krol. Furthermore, the Dutchman Pieter Nooten (Ex-Clan of Xymox) could be engaged as well as the Leipzig-based Ralf Jehnert (Love is Colder than Death). One of the songs on "Silmand" was already used as film score ("Tacitum"). The title of the song "Hanuz Nist" comes from the Persian lyrics written by Hassan Dehlawi at the 14th century.
La Lune Blanche
sToa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Luit dans les bois;
De chaque branche
Part une voix
Sous la ramée...
Ô bien-aimée.
L'étang reflète,
La silhouette
Du saule noir
Où le vent pleure...
Rêvons, c'est l'heure,
Un vaste et tendre
Apaisement
Semble descendre
Du firmament
Que l'astre irise...
C'est l'heure exquise.
The poem "Clair de Lune" by Paul Verlaine is the inspiration for sToa's song "La Lune Blanche". The phrase "La lune blanche" alludes to the full moon shining over the forests. The opening verse describes the voices that emanate from each branch in the woods, which may refer to the sounds of nature or the inner voices that arise in one's mind while surrounded by nature.
In the second verse, the reflection of the moon on the deep water of a pond and the silhouette of a weeping willow tree that dances with the breeze emphasizes the melancholic atmosphere of the song. The "hour of dreams" indicates a moment when two lovers are standing together, immersed in the beauty of nature.
The third verse offers a sense of comfort as the vast, soothing calmness descends from heaven like a gentle rain shower or cooling breeze. The moon's iridescence adds a magical and enchanted touch to the scene. The "exquisite hour" can be interpreted as the present moment, frozen in time and space - a momentary reprieve from stress or worries.
Overall, the song expresses the beauty and tranquility that can be found in nature, which can be a healing balm for the soul.
Line by Line Meaning
La lune blanche
The white moon shining in the sky
Luit dans les bois;
Brightly illuminating the woods;
De chaque branche
From each branch
Part une voix
Comes a voice
Sous la ramée...
Under the foliage...
Ô bien-aimée.
Oh, beloved one.
L'étang reflète,
The pond reflects
Profond miroir,
Deep mirror
La silhouette
The silhouette
Du saule noir
Of the black willow
Où le vent pleure...
Where the wind is weeping...
Rêvons, c'est l'heure,
Let us dream, it's the hour,
Un vaste et tendre
A vast and tender
Apaisement
Calmness
Semble descendre
Seems to descend
Du firmament
From the heavens
Que l'astre irise...
Tinged with the colours of the dawn...
C'est l'heure exquise.
It's the exquisite hour.
Contributed by Lillian G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.