Conversations with Marlena Khramov

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marlena Khramov.

Hi Marlena, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My name is Marlena Khramov (Marlena Igorvna Lorèn YeKatarina Khramova).

My stage name is “Ukulena”. Southern California’s ‘Ukulele Queen’, Orange County’s ‘Pineapple Princess’.

I’m a Russian-American singer, songwriter, musician, artist, and multi-instrumentalist. I am always creating non-stop, there’s always something going on in my world. I always say that I feel like I was put on this earth to prove to others that dreams do come true, all you have to do is believe. I’m truly a dreamer. Here to spread love!

I was born in Santa Monica (LA) in 1997, but my parents divorced when I was only 6 months old, so I moved back to Orange County and grew up in the smallest city in OC, La Palma! I grew up spinning on Jimmy Durante’s piano stool that was gifted to my great-grandmother, Theone, the mysterious “Mrs. Calabash”. Piano was the first instrument I learned, but I’ve been singing since before I can even remember. Also spending time in Hawaii when I was young, I learned ukulele at age 5 or 6 and haven’t put a ukulele down since. I now have over 13 ukuleles in my possession. My ukuleles all have different stories and musical journeys but I treasure every single instrument by even giving my ukuleles different names. I grew up doing school choir, community musical theatre, and all sorts of dance. But when I was 12/13, my older sister (Mikayla Theone Khramov) and I started our first band after being in an Elvis musical called “All Shook Up”. We were obsessed and started our first ‘rockabilly’ band called the ‘Rad Cats’. We even won 3rd place in our local battle of the bands! And were gigging underage in bars since early teens. We were always called “Orange County’s Collins Kids”. Cuz we were a sibling band starting out so young!

But tragically when I turned 16, my sister and I lost our father, Igor Khramov.

My father was the most talented man we ever knew, and I only knew him up to age 15, so it’s not just because he’s my dad, he truly was so talented, it makes me so emotional that he’s not here anymore creating. My dad was from Yegorevsk, Russia, though if it wasn’t for his friends in Ukraine, my dad might not have ever made it to the US. He went to Moscow University for Music. He was a genius composer and jazz musician, he could play any instrument known to man, his voice was stunning, and his musicianship was mind-blowing. His main instruments were trombone and balalaika, but like I said he could play anything. He was in his 20s when he got into the wild folk’n’roll group called “Limpopo”, they toured to America, my mom found them a few years later in Venice Beach and ended up managing his band, getting them into festivals like ‘SXSW’ and tv appearances like ‘Star Search’. Limpopo won Star Search in 1993.

My mom ended up coming up with the name “Red Elvises” and introduced Limpopo to rock ‘n roll, my dad loved the Folk music and continued Limpopo, but my mom was the first drummer for Red Elvises. If it wasn’t for our dad, music might not have been so strong in my sister and I. He was always recording us since we were babies to teens. Encouraging us to have no fear of performing live. My parents are the biggest musical influences to me. It was always a party growing up. Of course, I have inspirations and idols who helped shape my style and music, but my parents are just so unique and special, if it wasn’t for them and their music and writing and music taste, I wouldn’t be where I’m at. My mom (Janelle Frese) introduced me to so many different kinds of never-ending music growing up, you can never ask me who’s my favorite band because my list never ends. My mom is a rockin’ drummer, teacher, author, and baseball player. She’s so talented too. She played professional women’s BASEBALL in the ’90s. She has been playing drums since age ten. She wrote a biography and befriended the last living D-day Chaplain with releasing her first published book. Her music taste is of everything that exists in music. So I grew up listening to all the good stuff. So thanks mom. And dad, I miss you every day, your music plays through my veins!

I’ve always been a songbird because I’d sing constantly growing up until someone purposely asked me to sing, then I would get shy. So I’ve always known music was in me, I am music. But it’s a gift I was given. I may be able to get on any stage and blow the roofs off, but deep down, I am very shy. I’m like an extroverted introvert. I just do what I do because music is all I know. It’s what I grew up with, I was born singing. I was born for music. I love it so much but it’s almost painful, without music I am so lost, so when I get lost in life, I feel absolutely trapped. Music is literally my only escape.

After losing our dad, my sister and I got all of our dad’s instruments and changed our band name to ‘The Nesting Dolls’, in homage to our father. We even got to open for the punk band, ‘The Adicts’ in 2016 at The House of Blues! But when my sister went off to college, I was kind of stranded and hopeless. Because my sister and I always did it together, she stood up and played the drums and sang like Slim Jim Phantom. Or she’d take the guitar and sing up front next to me. So without my sister for a few years, I turned back to my love for the ukulele, picked up my dad’s ukulele and started teaching myself again. I’ll never forget my music teacher in Hawaii when I was little, he taught me how to tune before learning chords, so I never forgot how to tune a ukulele by ear. Picking up a ukulele again was like a piece of cake.

My mom of course came up with “Ukulena”, a play-on words of my name ‘Marlena’ and my favorite instrument the ‘ukulele’, Ukulena! My mom is so quick at coming up with stuff like that. And I’ve been performing as Ukulena ever since. I am now 26. Through the years I’ve released many singles, EP’s, and my first original album, ‘Don’t Let Go’ in 2018. Since 2019 I’ve been working on my upcoming second original album. But it’s been a long journey. I’ve released a few songs as singles from my new album, but my second album is still in the works, almost finished, but just not quite. So stay tuned for my new music! I’m tearfully excited!

Ukulena is like a persona, sometimes I have a tough time keeping up with Ukulena. Because life has been rough. Not only have I lost my father at a very young age, but all of my grandparents back to back. Lots of other family members. Many beloved pets. And a few very close friends to tragedy… I’ve been in shock for a few years, it’s been very emotional, so keeping up with my music has been a rollercoaster. I get lost quite often in my head, but I always come back to myself and my ukuleles and the piano. Music saves and helps heal me every time I fall backward. It’s like a musical hug. So I know I’ll never give up. Because music is my life.

Some of my biggest musical influences are Elvis Presley, Brian Setzer, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, Lavern Baker, Eddie Cochran, Bob Marley, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Cliff Edwards, David Bowie, Del Shannon, Shannon & The Clams, and so-on. My influences never ever end. I could name so many more but I can’t otherwise I won’t stop. Haha

Ukulena’s style constantly changes, but now sort of has an Island dreamy vibe of reggae, with lots of rock, soul, pop, some rockabilly and with some new rhythms of cumbia influence. My music always has lots of soul and lots of passion. I used to be very Tiki-Soul-Rock ‘n Roll. With some Tiki-billy vibes. I’m never really one genre. I mix all types of music styles I love with a retro style. Jazz it up with some twang sometimes haha! My voice is very soulfully-pop. I have a high falsetto whistle register that even blows my mind, when I sing live my voice just has a mind of its own, but I also have a deep register as well. My voice just kind of goes all over the place, people have told me my voice is like a human Theremin haha. I love to switch up rhythms and make thingzz my own. I write all the time and mostly perform my original music but of course performing live, we have time to fill, so I’ll add my favorite songs to cover here and there.

And speaking of performing live, not only do I have a few of my own original bands with my original music and style, ‘Ukulena’ and ‘The Nesting Dolls’, but also just recently since 2021, I’ve had the beautiful honor of tributing to the Queen of Cumbia & Tejano, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. I did my first Selena Tribute Show August 2021, and my most recent tribute show was May 2022. In May I sold out the Garden Amp in Garden Grove, and performed the most thrilling show I have ever performed, it was almost as if Selena was dancing and singing with me. It’s been such an honor and it’s beautifully all for Selena, her family, and her fans to remember her & her music. So stay tuned for more Selena Tributes this coming Spring & Summer 2023. Selena guides me in such spiritual ways unexplainable, as many of my guardian angels do.

I don’t know, I’m a mystery to myself, so those are just some milestone parts of my “story”. Haha. I release music all the time and dream big. I’m also a self-portrait artist and love photoshopping myself into dream realities. I model, I’m a studio session musician, I can sing anything, I love to swing dance and jive! I’m just an all-around artist. I’ll do anything in the arts. My second album is coming soon! So follow me and see what’s up. www.ukulena.com (IG: @marlenakitten or @ukulena). Xoxo

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The loss of my dad has been weighing on me for ten years now. It was so sudden and tragic because he was so precious and talented. So that was a rocky moment in life that I still suffer from. I’ve lost so much in life. To tragedy. Many deaths in my life haven’t been normal, they’ve all been quite sudden and tragic. So I’ve sort of been in shock for ten years. After my dad passed, it was like a domino effect. Loss after loss. Family, pets, and friends. Just gone. But music always brings me back to the surface so I’m so eternally grateful for the connection I have with music. I just now have a lot of problems that hold me back sometimes so there’s that. But I’m good. I’m always rockin’ and rollin’ one way or another. Just with some major healthy boundaries now. Haha

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a creator. I’m a musician. I’m a singer. I’m a dancer. I’m an artist. I’ll try anything if I love the sounds of it. I do mostly everything by myself. Editing, photography, and writing. All of it. Lovingly with the support and encouragement from close loved ones around me. And tons of help here and there from other creatives and photographers and editors. But I’m kind of a loner and can only really get things done on my own sometimes. My dream is to have my stage name, “Ukulena”, eventually be not only my stage name but my brand. Technically it already is, but in the future I want to have a fashion line, a makeup line, a cosmetics line, and one day I want to have my own recording studio because I have the ear and really dream of being a producer. And I deeply want to own my own vegan tiki bar and restaurant/music venue one day. Big dreams right there. But for now I am Ukulena, a little musician just being me. Constantly sharing new creations. With lots of pineapple love!

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Absolutely. COVID ruined so much for performing arts. Performers, musicians, artists, creators, and dreamers rely on the public networking and crowds. Not only did COVID-19 scare me so much I hid almost until now. My social anxiety is still so so bad, not only did COVID stop the flow of gigging and networking, but it also turned myself against me. I’m still so afraid of big crowds. I barely go out. I even was in a car crash in 2021 and have been scared of driving. So COVID created like a horrible domino effect of bad luck and weird vibes. Almost like the universe screams at me to just stay home constantly. I still suffer from the anxieties. It’s hard for me to get jobs and stick with jobs. I run away so fast now it sucks. Because I know it’s not me. So yeah. COVID absolutely ruined me to my very core. But even though covid has been rough, I believe things in life are finally starting to heal for me, I’m really trying everyday to push through and stay creative in my heart. I’ve had many road blocks in my journey, but I will always stand by the saying “dreams come true”, so I know thingzz are looking up and I see a rainbow ahead with a big pot of gold.

Contact Info:

• Website: ukulena.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ukulena?igshid=Zjc2ZTc4Nzk=
• Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@marlenaloren/videos
• SoundCloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/8J5LWCqcqaFhWVcM6
• Other: https://linktr.ee/ukulena?fbclid=PAAab-lDkxDjk7pdx_0vYvrzy9OE-ozCrmob6a-jzG7iYTUwBnkPSOd3vXegw

Image Credits
Beach photos in white taken by Guillermo Luna Pinup photos in yellow outfit taken by Spike and the Camera (Matt Marble) Rest of the photos are scrapbook home photos.