Marika Siewert

[00:00:00] You're listening to a podcast from Hope FM. You know, life wasn't always easy, but yet when you do it in community and when you can pray for each other, when you can encourage each other, it's, you know, that, that's such a treasure. And so his friendship is definitely what I will miss the most. The Artist Interview Podcast with Gordon T. Hi, this is Marika Siewert and this is my episode on the Artist Interview on Hope FM.

[00:00:37] The pain has a season as they change me.

[00:01:15] And that was I Choose You by Marika Siewert and I'm so pleased that Marika is with us right now for the Artist Interview. Hey, Marika, how are you doing? I am good. Thanks, Gordon. Thanks for having me. It's a joy to have you on the show. I have spent a good amount of time listening to your album that's recently come out multiple times. It's been a genuine blessing to me. So I'm so grateful for your ministry, your music and your love and heart chasing after Jesus. So I think you're a name that quite a few people have heard of.

[00:01:43] They might have heard of your songs, even though they don't know you very well. But it'd be wonderful if we could rewind time back as far as you like and find out your journey, your story of how music came into life, how Jesus became just close to you as a friend and how that's all worked together for his glory. Oh, OK. Way back, huh? OK. Well, I actually was raised in England. I grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne and Sully Hall, West Midlands.

[00:02:12] So I've had like a few accents in my day. So where are you living now? I'm in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. OK, so a little bit of a journey away. But big shout out, kudos to you being a person who was living in the UK. I like that. Yeah, yeah. It still has my heart, the UK. You know what? My first probably memory of church, obviously my mom actually took me to Baptist church growing up.

[00:02:39] But I used to be in Brownies and our Brownie group was held in a church called St. Helens in Sully Hall, West Midlands. And I think we because we sang like Shine Jesus Shine. You know that song like Graham Kendrick? Yeah, Graham Kendrick. Yeah. Yeah. We did that in Brownies, which is actually hilarious. But yeah, you know, in England, what I loved about England Christmases is every year we had to do the Christmas story, you know, in schools, in our schools. Oh, yeah, yeah. The nativity play.

[00:03:08] Yeah, the nativity play. And I think that like that always stuck with me. I just, you know, I grew up knowing who God was and knowing that God was with me. I think it really, I really started to chase after God. Actually, when I moved to Canada, I was a teenager and I started doing worship in church. I've got to find out before you tell me that. I just want to find out in the nativity play. Yeah. Everyone's got a memory of what character they played. I was a shepherd. I remember being a shepherd. Okay.

[00:03:38] What characters did you play? I was an angel. Oh, yeah. You got typecast. So there you go. Okay. Thanks. Thanks. Yeah. I was usually the angel. I was usually singing some solo like White Christmas, which what does that have to do with the nativity? But I was doing something like that. So. Okay. And so, so, so, so just to, just to check then your time in the UK, you said, you said, so UK's got your heart. Was it quite, quite a good time in the UK for you? Would you say that you enjoyed living over here?

[00:04:08] Yeah, I do. I did. And I go back there often. Yeah. I have a lot of fond memories. That's where I started music. My piano lessons. I played double bass in the Sully Hall Junior String Orchestra. So a lot of my love for arts came from England. And, you know, one of my favorite plays of all time was Jason Donovan's Joseph and the Amazing Typhoon Colored Dreamcoat.

[00:04:34] And, you know, I just, I grew up, I mean, it's still to this day, I go to the West End. When I'm in London, I literally stay for like a week and then go just to West End plays. Other than Jason, what else have you seen that you love? Oh, my goodness. Joseph. I said, Joseph. You know, it's funny. I actually saw Joseph when Jason was playing Pharaoh. That's, I didn't even see the original, which is funny. But, well, what do I love that I love? Well, I love Les Mis. I love Phantom.

[00:05:05] Lion King. I saw there. I saw, I just saw Starlight Express in February. Oh, man. What other ones? I've seen Wicked. I saw, I can't remember. Oh, Shadowlands. Oh, Shadowlands is great. It was amazing. Yeah. It was so good. Yeah. With Hugh Bonneville. Yeah. That was unbelievable. Yeah. When you come back next summer, I think, Miss Saigon is coming back.

[00:05:33] If you haven't seen Miss Saigon, a true story, just to throw in something. When I saw Miss Saigon, it was probably about 30 years ago when I saw it in London. Okay. At one point, I realized I was sitting on the edge of my seat with tears going down my face and I was praying for one of the characters. You were? Oh, my God. Yeah. I got so involved in the story. You went deep. I went deep. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. But it was amazing. Amazing. So I'm really looking forward to seeing it again.

[00:06:03] I don't know if not the second time. It will be so impactful for me, but it was at the time. So, yeah. Look out. I want to say that I saw Back to the Future debut there, too. I saw Back to the Future as well. Which was unbelievable. Like, I couldn't even believe that. Yeah. The car is quite special. So, in fact, Back to the Future, for people listening on the station I work on here in the UK, Back to the Future is coming down to Bournemouth. So you've got to look after that. Or is it Southampton? One of those two, but it's local. So you should go and see it. Right. Oh, that's cool. That's cool. We got a Segway.

[00:06:33] We got a Segway. So, okay. No, no. It's totally good. Well, as I said, that's where I found my love for arts. My friend Ali Berry actually is a musical director on West End. So we just, we have so many connections there. And it's just, yeah. It's cool. That's my heart. Yeah. Okay. So then as a teenager, you left the UK and you moved over to Canada at that point. My family did. Yeah. My dad got a job in Medicine Hat, Alberta, which is this tiny country town in basically

[00:07:00] the west, sort of the western coast of Canada. And literally like there was, it was like cowboy country, honestly. Like I think we were one of like four diverse families that lived in the city. And it was, it was, it was a culture shock for sure. But I continued music, you know, I, it was, it was small enough, but they, I could still do music. I could still do orchestras. That's honestly where I, I really chased my faith, I would say. And then I went into full-time ministry of music after that. So.

[00:07:31] Okay. So I'm just going to unpick that for a sec. When you moved to Canada, were you, were you excited? Was it an adventure and going, yeah, it's going to be great. Or was it miserable? Like, I don't want to leave. No, I loved England. I loved all of my England everything. No, I was not excited at all. I was, it was really hard actually to transition. And it's, it's still hard. Like the culture here is so different than, than England. And, you know, one of the things I always wondered at Christmas time, I'm like, why do,

[00:07:59] why does it feel like Christmas doesn't happen in Canada? And I could never figure it out until as an adult, I went back to England and realized how much Christmas and Jesus and Advent and Christmas tide, like all of those things were such a part of me as a young, as a young child. And we didn't, we don't do any of that in Canada. And what's funny is I told my kids this year, I'm like, we're going to do Christmas. Like I did it in England. And they're like, okay. I'm like, that means Christmas goes all the way after Christmas.

[00:08:27] Like we're going, you know, we're doing all of the things. Yes. It was really imprinted on me. And so it was definitely hard to move to a country that was so different in every way. And you mentioned about being a diverse family. So in what way you would have a diverse, our listeners can't see you. I can see you. Oh, they can't. No, they can hear you. So yeah, go ahead. They can hear me. They can't see me. Yeah. So I, so my dad is from Mauritius and my mom is from Trinidad and they met in England. And then there was the three of us kids that were born.

[00:08:57] And so, you know, when moving to Medicine Hat, Alberta, it is a very Caucasian country, small town. And there weren't a lot of like, there were no black families. There were maybe a few Indian families that were like my dad's doctor friends. But that was it. Like, honestly, we were, I'm not kidding when I say there was probably five families that were like of color basically in the city. Was it welcoming even though you were diverse or was it a struggle?

[00:09:27] Um, yeah, no, so welcoming. I would never, I would never say that people were thought anything different. I think what was probably the hardest is that because there was not a lot of color, they didn't really think outside the box in terms of like when I wanted to be an actor or like, it's like they didn't have parts for somebody like me. They did actually my high school drama teacher did a play called The Secret Garden and that actually had like an Indian character. And I'm like, oh, finally, you know.

[00:09:55] But like, but growing up in like community theater, you know, we, we had, we did the play Peter Pan and they wouldn't cast me as like one of the Indian girls. Like they, they wouldn't. And they like cast me as like a pirate. I'm like, really? Because I'm like actually kind of have Indian blood. You know, it was so weird. And then instead they painted all the white girls orange. And it's like, that is so wrong now. Like you could not do that now. No, times have changed. Everyone was naive. No one knew.

[00:10:23] No one was, people were not, I still believe this. People are genuinely not racist. You know, I think it's a learned thing, but in Medicine Hat, it wasn't like people were, were racist. They just didn't know. Like they just didn't have other people to tell them. So, you know, but I never felt it. Honestly, I never felt, I never felt any of that growing up. I only felt supported by my music teachers, my high school teacher, like everybody, everybody around me. Now you said that when, when you got to Canada, you got more serious about your faith.

[00:10:52] So tell us a bit about that journey. So you were going to the Baptist church when you were in the UK. You had, was it, was it St. Helens when you were in Brownies? Yeah. So, so, so, so, so you'd had, you'd had that drip feed of, of goodness over your childhood. And then, and then you got to Canada. And I guess something like that, when, when there's a big shakeup and a big move, there's an opportunity for things to go all sorts of directions. Yeah. So, but, but who did you encounter at that time? How does, how did your faith become real to you? Yeah. You know what?

[00:11:21] There was just a group of kids in my high school that seemed really cool and they were the church kids. And at that point, like I'd been in Canada for about two years and, you know, the first year I didn't do a whole lot. We were just trying to learn the culture and learn how to just be Canadian. And then in my grade nine year, I started going to church with a lot of these kids. And, you know, I was always a faith person. I just, it was, it would, I think it always been sort of my parents' faith, but I always

[00:11:51] knew that God was there. I was always praying as a kid. When I was in grade nine, I just really learned about the relationship that I could have a real relationship with Jesus. And so that's completely when my life changed. And it was, it was definitely a learning curve because I was a singer. I was a dancer. I was a musician. And I was trying to manage the worlds between, you know, my classical pop music world to now a very church world.

[00:12:17] And, you know, there were definitely a lot of rules in the church that I went to. And I'm like, I don't know if all those rules are right. Like, you know, God made me the way I am. You know, I grew up to Michael Jackson and Michael W. Smith. So it was, you know, it was kind of like, okay, where does this all fit in my life? And, but I think what I learned most is just to hear the whispers of God in my life. I started listening. And I think that's when everything changed. And I was not allowed, like, you know, I grew up in a Pentecostal church in Canada,

[00:12:46] but I was not allowed, like, jumping all over the place kind of person. I was always sort of the, you know, in the ministry time at the end when they play the piano. And that was me. I was like, I would be at the front every time listening for the whispers. And so, yeah, that's when I, that's when I really started to seek God. And that's when I decided that, you know, I always knew I was going to do music. I started piano when I was five years old. And I always knew that I was, music was going to be a part of my life somehow.

[00:13:16] And I, that in high school, I guess, is when I decided, like, I want to, I want to start, you know, singing for Jesus and see where that takes me. And what's funny is when I graduated high school and went into music in Canada, there were no black artists or any kind of like, other than Toronto, like Toronto is very black. But where I was, there was, there was no, you know, color, there was a colored artists doing Christian music.

[00:13:44] And, and I had a conversation with God and I'm like, God, I'm like, I'm too young to be a trailblazer. I was like, I don't know if I could do this. Um, but what was funny after that is God actually opened the doors for me to start my career in pop music. And that's actually how my career launched. My first single went top 10 in like the first four weeks it released. And wow. Yeah. And that's, that's pretty amazing. Yeah. I see that now when you're in it, you're just like, okay, next thing, like next single,

[00:14:13] you know, and then the next one went top 10 and I think like six weeks. And so it was, I learned so much about the music and the business of music and the value of music and the value of people from my pop kind of mainstream life. And I, I think every door since then is open because of that one decision to just go, okay, God, open hands. I'll go wherever you want me to go. And, um, that's where I went.

[00:14:39] So, so I, I would think that was really quite, quite exciting. If I'm honest, if I, if, if, if I, well, I'm never, I'm never going to release any music. I promise you listeners, I'm not going to do it. So, but if I did and it, and it even got into the top 100, I'll be pretty pleased. But, but to get, to get top 10, not once, but twice, you've got to go, wow, wow. This has got opening some amazing doors for me. So, but also when I've talked to people who have been in the commercial world, um, sometimes

[00:15:07] they found it, it actually to be a quite fake place, not a place where they've had lots of joy, a place where they've gone, well, I liked it to get to start with. And then as I carried on, it just lacked depth. Um, and they felt their music got more constrained and all the rest of it. Was that your finding or not really for you? For me, it wasn't like that because I always went intentionally into, um, whatever I was doing, writing sessions, recording. I always wanted to sing about love.

[00:15:33] Um, it always pointed to the love of God and however I could write that into my music, I did. And so I always kept control of my music. Even when I worked with labels and producers, um, I was always in charge and I always felt that was something I was supposed to do. And I'm glad I did because then I could always dictate what I wrote about. And then I definitely had to walk away from people at times when they, you know, when

[00:15:58] all of a sudden I started being a little bit successful, um, you know, when you start making money, think people do change and the industry changes a bit. And so there was definitely challenging times, but again, God, I can, I look back on my path and God is so faithful in those times. And it was actually because I was a pop artist that I ended up meeting Brian Dirksen and working on my first project, which was a musical project called Prodigal God with him.

[00:16:24] And I don't know if we would have met had I not been a pop artist. Like he kind of found me from a friend, listened to my mice face back then. And I was like that, you know, it's a God thing. Cause you're like, I'm not singing Christian, you know, Christian music, I'm singing like love songs for the pop people. Um, So what, so wait a second. So what year did you have your first single that went in the top 10? Yeah. It was 2006. Okay.

[00:16:52] So, so if I go and look on Spotify, I can't see any of that. That's, that's gone, hasn't it? Or whether it was ever on there and I can't log into my space anymore to find it. So is it hidden? No, it's not. Yeah. No. So my first single is called, you know, I will. My second single is called radio. Um, it's just, what's funny is that my pop profile is on a very different profile than my Christian music profile. Oh, okay. That explains it. It's funny cause I started my career pre-streaming, you know?

[00:17:21] And so it's actually something I'm working on right now that I'm like, I'm trying to get iTunes and Spotify to like merge my, my, my, uh, profiles because they're just two different things because the Christian music label that I work with obviously wasn't working with my pop music stuff. And so it's, it's this digital complicated thing that I, that I, it's on my to-do list. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The eternal to-do list. So, okay.

[00:17:48] So, so if people want to find it, they can go and find it somewhere somehow. So under my name, Marika. Yeah. And the album is actually called X. I made an album to celebrate actually 10 years of being in music. And that has pretty much all my pop album, uh, pop singles on it. So, okay. There were a few. So there were a few. And, uh, and so you started at what age were you when that came out? So I was 26. I had three children already. I actually had two children.

[00:18:18] And then I found out I was pregnant with my daughter the day before my song went to radio. And I remember telling my producers, I'm like, so I'm pregnant. If we need to pull this, let's pull it like today. And they're like, no, no, no, no. We're going to still go to radio. And what was crazy is that the year after I pretty much got to just like hang out with my baby daughter because of how successful the song was on radio. And I had three singles after that.

[00:18:43] So for that year, I kind of just got to be a mama and just like do the kind of the bigger shows when I got asked. And it was such a blessing. That's amazing. Wow. Okay. Provision. Provision. Okay. So, so, so let's find out about the bit that is missing in this story. So then I'd love to know, because you just said you had two, two plus one children. How, how, how did you meet your husband? Was it at church? Oh, no, it wasn't. It was funny.

[00:19:09] I was actually directing a kid's camp in called Eagle's Nest Ranch in Cypress Hills, Alberta. And I was actually his boss. He was, I did not, we weren't getting, we didn't get along at camp. Like he was one of my employees. And I'm like, you seem a little distracting to the ladies. Um, but, but not to you, you, you are iron fast on that. Not to you. He was such a cowboy Gordon. He literally was like cowboy. He worked with the horses. He's such a good guy.

[00:19:39] He was a good guy, but definitely was like, uh, who are you, Mr. Cowboy man? Um, we ended up becoming friends after camp, which is funny. Um, he worked, he was going to college in a city that I worked in, um, about two hours away. And he, we ended up just hitting it off as friends. And we were friends for a long time before we even thought, I was so not interested in me. I was like, I'm, it's me and Jesus all the way, all, all my life.

[00:20:05] It wasn't, I was never one of those, like, I'm looking for a husband and a family type people. I just wasn't, I don't know why. I'm like, whatever. Anyways, he comes along. And then all my friends are like, Marika, this could be your husband. And you're totally not giving him the time of day. And I'm like, what? But you know, when one of your friends says something and you're like, oh, that's like, feels like God is talking through your friend. It was one of those moments. And, um, I was like, okay, I'll give it a shot. It sounds terrible.

[00:20:33] But I honestly, I was, you know, I think in my heart, I was always like, God's going to give me like some big moment. Like, this is my husband and I'm going to fall madly in love. It was so not like that. And, and I guess because I'd never heard anything different, I was like, okay, well, we're just going to go as we go. And, you know, we celebrated our 25th anniversary this year. And congratulations. Thank you. And we've, we've had the best life, you know, very adventurous. We, we just do what God tells us to do.

[00:21:03] We go where God tells us to go. And we brought our family with us, you know? So yeah, I have two boys, Zach and Jaden and a daughter, Zoe. Oh, oh, that's a, that's a nice little story. I like that. So, uh, just, just say when, when, uh, my, my wife and I were part of the same church youth group many, many, many years ago. And, uh, and when I got voted onto the church youth group committee that my wife was already on, uh, she literally genuinely, it's true.

[00:21:31] She cried and she said, she said to God, God, he is a total Wally. I don't know if you know the word Wally, but, but, oh, you know the word Wally? Cause you, cause you're from the UK. So, so, so total Wally means, it means a bit of an idiot, a very silly person. So anyway, so it's total Wally, please help me love him. So there you go. So, um, within just, just a few short years, we were married. So it turned out good in the end. So yeah. Okay. So, so, so, so you're not the only person that perhaps wasn't entirely attracted to us and ended up marrying.

[00:22:00] So I know, but anyway, it's good. It's good the way these things can work out. Um, so, so you're in Canada, you're married, you've got kids, you've got a pop career and Brian Dirksen reaches out to you. Now I'm sure many people know, in fact, we'll, we'll, in the second part of the show, we'll dig into a bit more and more depth about Brian Dirksen's, but he's produced some amazing songs. What would you say are your favorite Brian Dirksen songs? Yeah. Well, Father's House, um, you know, his very first musical was very, um, it was just, it was

[00:22:30] a part of my teenagehood soundtrack and still is to this day. Um, and rightly, I realized even from knowing him, then the musical actually is very much a pop album. Um, I'm like, I always think, oh my God, it's a worship album. I'm like, no, it's like a musical. And because I love musicals, like that's something Brian and I shared together is we had a big love for musicals. We actually saw Les Mis and Hadestown was another one in London together.

[00:22:55] Um, and, um, yeah, it was just, that was, that was definitely one of the, you know, one of the staples of, of the music. I think, you know, Come Down is a Time to Worship, Faithful One, Refiner's Fire, like they're all just, they're all just kind of staples in my, um, in my backup hard drive is what he would call them. And there's a song called Remember Mercy, which wasn't one of his like super, super popular songs, but it was a song that actually always got me through hard times.

[00:23:22] And, um, yeah, interesting enough throughout my pop career, I think I have foundations of the songs that, especially early vineyard days, you know, I think a lot of my soundtrack came from early vineyard times and, um, you know, it was really neat. A few years ago, I got to meet a lot of the original, um, members that, uh, that Brian really raised up in the UK, um, that did the Hungry CD and we got to record together and

[00:23:51] it was a really, really special time. And so, yeah, just little gifts sort of sprinkled amongst my, my career, you know, in music and film. I'm also in film as well. And so it was just, just little things that kind of came, came about just from that relationship starting. So. Well, let's, let's hear your second track now. In fact, please tell us all about it. The tracks called Signs of Hope with Brian Dirksen. Yeah. So this is a really special song. And so every Friday, Brian had a writing session at his house.

[00:24:21] And, um, so Friday nine to 12, um, sometimes I would join him and we would have ideas sometimes and sometimes we wouldn't. And this is a day that we had nothing. We, we kind of came, I told him to sit at the piano, just play something and nothing was coming. And then all of a sudden it started raining outside. And, and I'm like, oh, rain. I'm like, I'm not a huge fan of rain. Brian loved the rain. Um, and then it actually stopped.

[00:24:50] And then we saw a rainbow outside and then, and then that was kind of the spark of inspiration for Signs of Hope. And we were both going through a season of just like a lot of, um, hard, challenging things like in our career, in our lives. And, but we never lost sight that God was carrying us and that there is always hope even amidst the hard challenges and the, in our, in our grief. And, um, he ended up playing, he, he plays on this track.

[00:25:20] He is actually playing piano on this track. And I found out that it was the first time he'd ever recorded a piano track in the studio. And it's funny because Brian would write all of his songs on piano, but never really record it. He recorded it on his guitar. So it was really special. And so he sings with me on this track and yeah, it's a, it's an encourage. I love listening to it because it's an encouragement to me as well.

[00:25:45] There's a life around me that's found you. Look and see the many signs of hope. Park inside you. Look and see the many signs of hope.

[00:26:18] You see. Found you. Look and see the many signs of hope. Look up and see the many signs of hope. And that was signs of hope by Marika Siwert and featuring Brian Dirksen. Marika, thank you so much for all that you've shared so far of your journey.

[00:26:48] Obviously with Brian passing away, it's been a really difficult season for you as well. And I guess some of our listeners will be going through those difficult times of just maybe loss or things not panning out how they'd hoped they would. And it'd be great right now if you're happy to pray for listeners. God, I just thank you that you are there here with us, always carrying us, always whispering

[00:27:17] love and peace and comfort in our hearts. I pray especially for those that have lost someone in this season, God, that you would surround us just with your comfort. Wrap your arms around us. I pray for hope in the hearts of listeners today. I pray that they would know that they are loved and that they are seen and that they are valued.

[00:27:48] And I pray for those that either don't know you or need to know you more, that you would just reveal yourself in ways that cannot be ignored. I thank you for your goodness, your kindness, your love, your mercy and your grace. And I just speak love over everyone that is listening today. And I thank you. I thank you that you are good in the midst of our sadness and our grief and our hard times.

[00:28:16] And that you are good in the midst of our celebrations and our victories. And that you, you know us, you love us. Thank you for being our creator and our maker and our path forward and our path to hope. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. In fact, my mother just passed away two weeks ago. So that prayer is particularly also a blessing to me. So thank you so much, Marika.

[00:28:44] It's definitely one of those things where it's time just to recenter, to know God's love over you, his provision day, his care and his comfort. So thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Marika. Okay. So Brian Dirksen, for those who don't know, can you summarise Brian Dirksen in like a two minute snapshot of who he was and what he meant to the Christian music world as well as to you? Yeah. Oh, in two minutes. So that's, you know what?

[00:29:13] I asked his wife Joyce after he died. I'm like, you know, what is one word that you would use to describe Brian? And her word was faithful. And I think, you know, and there's other words, loving, kind. He's silly a lot of the times at home. You know, he has six kids, like they're adults now, but, you know, special needs kids. And so what I loved about him and Joyce is they always kept their childlike wonder in their lives. And I love that. But yeah, faithful.

[00:29:42] I mean, Brian really wrote some of the songs that changed the modern worship movement. And I think a lot of worship leaders around the world, you know, are grieving. Not just worship leaders, people in general, but people who really have been leading worship, singing his songs for years, you know, over 30 years. We have a big loss. He was a prolific songwriter. Very, very intentional with singing love over people. I love that touring.

[00:30:11] You know, we've been touring the last three, four years together. And yeah, his whole heart was just for people to know that they are loved. And I think in his songs, his projects, his musical projects, lately his, you know, we made special event films together that were for Christmas and for Easter. And the heart of it all was really love. People to know they are loved and they are loved by God. And yeah, and you know, for me, it's like we do, you know, I'm in his office, you know.

[00:30:39] You know, Joyce is like, this is your office now. And, you know, it's really, for me, we've lost our daily person, you know. And it was all of the home times that allowed us to do the public times. And we had a lot of fun together. We had a lot of laughs. You know, life wasn't always easy. And, but yeah, when you do it in community and when you can pray for each other, when you can encourage each other, it's, you know, that, that's such a treasure.

[00:31:09] And so his friendship is definitely what I will miss the most. You know, the music, the music is still there. We can listen to it. And so that, that's a gift. You know, he, he recorded his last album called Breathing when he was sick, which is crazy. But he finished it for us. And Brian would always say to write for the gap, you know, find the gap.

[00:31:33] If there's a gap in the worship set, what song is not, what song is not there that is yours to write? You know, and he was such a mentor in songwriting and in worship. And, and, you know, now we have this huge gap with him gone, but he's left us this album to grieve with. Classic Brian style. But yeah, he, we, you know, we both wrote our albums kind of around the same time and he helped produce mine and, you know, co-write it and co-produce it.

[00:32:02] And I mean, he was doing his at the same time and it, you know, he'd finished all the tracks before he died. And literally he's in his hospital bed, like emailing his designer, you know, to approve the design for the, you know, we're like classic, classic Brian. Yeah. But he was always thinking about the people, you know, the people that he was serving and singing to.

[00:32:26] And so it was, you know, it was our honor as, as family and as a team to help finish that album and get it out there. And, you know, it's, it is an album of comfort. You know, they were, these albums, both of them were written to help people with anxiety and grief and sleepless nights. And because we needed it, like we needed album songs like that. And for me actually was such an honest album. I've never done an album like this. And, and Brian hadn't either.

[00:32:53] And so, you know, now we have these beautiful songs that we'll always be able to hear his voice. He'll always be in our hearts. But yeah, we'll miss the most just the everyday, just doing things every day, you know, and the work. I love the work that we did. Like it didn't feel like work. You know, we got to sing for a lot of people in, in Canada and the US and the UK. And I think, I think you came to Big Church. You came to Big Church Festival with him in 2025. Is that right? Yeah, we did. It was 20, I think it was 2024. Was 2024?

[00:33:22] Yeah, I know. Yeah, I know. But yeah, we did. And we, you know, we love the UK. Like he, he has, he has such an affection for the UK because a lot of his church songwriting came out of there. And he was only there for two years. But the impact, the impact that he made, you know, from Come Now's the Time to Worship and the things that were coming out of the vineyard at that time were very impacting. And, you know, we have a lot. I got to meet all of these people that he had raised up and it's, it was, it's so special.

[00:33:51] And so we can't wait to come back. You know, we're hoping that we can do a memorial in the UK next year, early next year. And yeah, we just, we always feel very honoured when we are, when we are in the UK. Yeah. And just say, if people haven't listened to Brian's music, maybe you've not been a Christian for that long. And if you've been a Christian a while, you're going to know, you're going to know his songs. But it is worth getting onto your streaming platforms and going to search up Brian Dirksen. That's D-O-E-R-K-S-E-N.

[00:34:20] So, and listen to some of his music, but particularly that, that new album of his breathing. I think Brian, Brian was only 60 years old when he died of cancer in July, 2026. But his mark that he left on the Christian music world is indelible and will be a legacy for such a long time. So what, what an amazing, and it is clear from just what you just said, it wasn't just a working partnership.

[00:34:46] It was a deep friendship that, I guess, transformed who you were and your impact within the Christian sphere as well. Yeah. What are the things that you would say you carry of Brian's as you, as you go forwards? Yeah. You know what? I think obviously there's a deep love for the music, for writing intentional music. That, that will always be with me. I got to sit next to a, you know, a master of songwriting really.

[00:35:16] And, you know, he, he would always say that we, we helped each other, we taught each other. And I'm like, that's really sweet. But I mean, I know that I just learned so much from him, like literally down to how to write my music on paper. You know, he was a songwriting teacher. And I think mostly too, just his heart for people. When we were on tour, at after tours, he would just take the time to sit and meet everyone that wanted to meet him.

[00:35:44] You know, and we would hear stories of people that were like literally in the hospital playing Faithful One or Father, I want you to hold me. And literally getting better from listening to his songs. And so I think just the impact that he made from his songs was, was pretty incredible. I'll carry that with me forever. The stories that people tell, and I'm sure I'll keep hearing stories. And I love hearing the stories. Also just his heart for his family and for his wife. You know, Joyce and him were married 41 years.

[00:36:14] And just seeing their relationship, seeing them dream together, how much they loved each other and their family. How much they balanced the music with their family life. And yeah, in his last years, I guess post-COVID, just how they continued to dream together. And they brought me and my husband, Stacy, into that fold. We kind of both met when our industries were shut down. You know, film and music were not happening.

[00:36:43] We met because we, I would pass his house on the way to the grocery store. And he would make chai for us. And we'd sit outside, you know, like whatever, six feet apart, whatever it was. And we would have chai together. And we just kind of re-got to know each other in the last sort of seven years. And it became more about our friendship than it did even about the music. But then the music kind of came out of that.

[00:37:07] And so it's this idea of creating in collaboration, creating in community, and lifting each other up because we really did encourage each other to just keep going sometimes. And I think having people in your life that can do that for you, it's just, it's such a divine thing. I think everyone should live in community and be in community. And I think that's what's so important about, you know, our faith as well,

[00:37:34] is that we can be together, share certain things, share the hard things and the good things. Yeah. Yeah, we're not called to be isolated Christians. We are called for that family and to sharpen each other as well. I hope it's a personal question. I hope you don't know me asking. When Brian was in hospital and he was dying, was there anything that he particularly said to you when you were visiting him? Yeah, he said a lot of things.

[00:38:00] You know, I think the hardest one, which I, you know, when he said it was just how he didn't think he was anybody special. And he never thought he was anybody special, even though we all knew that he was so special. He would say how, you know, he's passing the baton. And, you know, I would say, I'm not ready for your baton. Like, no, no, no, you're not leaving yet.

[00:38:24] And I think, you know, he was speaking words over people that were visiting, friends and family. And I think for me, because we'd always really worked side by side. That was one of the things with Brian is that he never put me behind him or in front of him. It was always like we were walking together. And I think the idea of passing the baton is, it's deep and heavy, but yet at the same time, one that is such an honor and a privilege.

[00:38:54] And, you know, and he was saying it also to his brother, Alan, who's a pastor, an Anglican priest, and his producer, Philip. And we were, the three of us were in the room and he was just sort of speaking over us. And he's like, hey, know who you are, know what you're doing. And again, just telling us how loved we are, you know. And even in his last days, he was just thanking everyone around him for helping him. And he was so grateful. And I, you know, there were times in the hospital, I was like, God, where are you?

[00:39:24] Like, you could heal this guy right now. You know, like, please do, because I need him for a bunch more years. We were just getting started, it felt like. And I'd be like, and it wasn't that I ever doubted God. I was just like, God, where are you? Like, where are you in this moment? And then Brian, who would be, you know, in his bed, a nurse would come in or a doctor would come in and he would just start saying how grateful he was for them and thanking them for their help. And I was like, okay, there you are.

[00:39:52] Like, there's the heart of who our creator is. And so, yeah, that's probably the thing I'll remember the most about him. It's just like, that's how I want to go. It's like, it just feels like the heart of what we live for. Or, you know, and I think you see it when we're, I think you see it when you're dying. And, you know, it was such a sad time. But I remember thinking, you know, there's wonder here. I'm like, I could probably write a book on the wonder of dying, you know,

[00:40:20] and it's like, okay, the wonder, let's find the wonder in this very, very sad moment. But where we see sparkles of things that, you know, will carry us for the rest of our lives. Yeah. Okay. Well, I've got to say, it sounds to me like in those moments where it could be one of those moments where people panic and they get all, it's just difficult and hard. It sounds like he had peace.

[00:40:48] And to be saying thanks to everyone like he was, I've got to say, what a blessing. Amazing, amazing man. Amazing man of God. Casting your mind back though, across all of your interactions with him, what's your favorite memory of Brian? My favorite memory. Oh my gosh. There's so many memories. You know, in our last years, we were touring in an RV together. Our families were, him and Joyce, my husband, Stacy and I, and my daughter, Zoe would actually also sing with us.

[00:41:17] And he, you know, he had such a love for Zoe, which was, you know, we, it was just, we're so special to see just different generations get along. And, you know, also our love for the UK because Zoe actually filmed, side segue, Zoe actually filmed a show called Mallory Towers in the UK. So we were in the UK for like six summers. Wait a sec. Zoe filmed Mallory Towers? Mallory Towers. Yes. That's really bizarre. That's really bizarre. You mentioned it. Because Mallory Towers, I think came up as a recommendation for me. I'm like, Mallory Towers?

[00:41:46] What's that? On one of the streaming platforms. Oh, you should watch it. Oh yeah. Because it just came out on Netflix UK. It literally. Oh, is that why? Okay. So that was, that was what it was. I saw it yesterday. I haven't watched it, but I saw its name. So, okay. So, so, so, so Zoe was in Mallory Towers? Yeah. Yeah. So for seven years we were in, in England, in Devon and Cornwall and London. And, you know, we got to just watch these incredible girls grow up on this show.

[00:42:15] And, and Brian and Joyce actually, when we were over in, we were over doing a concert in Cornwall with Zoe. Zoe. And we ended up, we were able to show them where Zoe filmed and got to show them around. And so they've, they've literally come with us and seen everywhere we've filmed as a family. All over the place, Canada, the US, UK. And yeah, but I think, you know, one, on one of my favorite times is we always joked because, so he called me, he called me Queen M.

[00:42:45] I'd call him B-Dog. We had these weird nicknames for each other. But in the RV, he always, he was always wanted like cold. But on his end of the RV, it was like the hottest. And I always wanted it hot. But I was always freezing. I literally would wake up with my, with my hat, my beanie on, my toucan. And, and then he'd come out of his room like, oh, it's so hot. And I'm like, okay. So we always, we joked and we always called him Bami 65 B-Dog.

[00:43:12] Um, and you know, and it's sort of a running joke now because I'm an island girl. I need it hot, you know? Yeah, yeah. But I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I think B-Dog is a very, a very fitting comical name for Brian Dixon. I would never have thought to call him B-Dog. So there we go. No, I know. So, I mean, is that my favorite memory? I guess that's my favorite funny memory. I think, honestly, one of the things, you know, Brian, when his son Isaiah would come home, um, whose special needs, he has no words, really.

[00:43:41] He, I mean, a lot of words with his face, but not actual words. Um, they, they weekend danced in the kitchen, um, you know, together. And he had just silly songs went up for his kids. And that's, that's a memory. And then for music, I honestly think it would probably be when he sang at the Coronation Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, um, in 2023. And, again, he's like, ah, I don't, like, he, I think he just was thinking, you know, he's older and he's irrelevant. And does he still matter?

[00:44:10] And I'm like, yeah, you do. You know, and then we walk in, we literally walk into the Royal Albert Hall at the rehearsal, you know, with, um, choir, full choir, full orchestra. And, you know, and I'm like, yeah, like this, what a moment to, you know. So when you say, when you say he sang at the Coronation Prom, so was he a member of the choir somewhere? Or at the band? What was happening? No, no, he was just a special guest. He was one of the special guest artists.

[00:44:37] So he was actually asked to sing the year that everything shut down in 2020. And they ended up doing like a virtual concert. Um, and then, and so he's like, oh, I guess I'll never get to sing at the Robert Hall. But then, um, Michael Andrews, who's the director, he then asked Brian if he would come and sing for the, uh, the Coronation Prom event. And we happened to be in London at the same time. And so we got to come and just see it all happen.

[00:45:05] And we were doing, you know, we did Chai Backstage with Noel Robinson, who's now a dear friend. And, you know, yeah. And, uh, yeah, it was just, it was just an incredible, incredible time. And Lou Fellingham was there also. And, you know, and so it's just, it was just a moment watching him sing these songs that I've listened to since I was, you know, a teenager. Um, just come to life. And because we loved orchestras and we loved choirs and, you know, it was just such a moment.

[00:45:33] But these songs that have really transcended time and audiences. And, um, you know, we hope to carry on singing these songs and recording them for new generations. And, um, you know, keeping his legacy alive because his songs are really, they're like the hymns, you know, of a new generation. And I think they'll, they'll continue to be, uh, hope and encouragement to people, you know, forever, basically. So. Wow. What an amazing thing to get to get to your lovely memory.

[00:46:02] Um, let's talk a bit more, if it's okay, about your album then that's just come out. So your album is called hope in the rest, uh, and it came out, uh, mid September, 2026. So I'm just saying that for those people who are listening to this some point in the future on some sort of playback system, this is the day it came out. So just, just about a month ago as we were recording this, uh, and it's, it's, uh, it's 14 tracks and it's got some, I honestly, I really, I really been blessed by it. It's really beautiful.

[00:46:31] But it's also got some instrumentals in there as well as, as well as sung tracks. And, and the instrumental tracks somehow just bring just, just as much peace as the ones with the lyrics. Actually, I really liked the combination and the way, the way that they worked together in there. So tell me about, tell me about your process with the album. Was, was it an album then that was an album that was for you as well as the people who are listening to it? Yeah. I mean, I think, I think I always write albums that are for me first.

[00:46:58] Um, and I think part of it is because I just, I just have to get out what I want to say. I honestly, Gordon, I didn't plan on doing an album. What, what kind of brought up, brought it about was we were touring, Brian and I were touring. And, um, up until that point, I think the years before that, I was just doing a lot of film work. Um, I was, you know, we kind of, we were full on my family. All are in the film industry and we were, I was releasing Christian singles.

[00:47:29] Um, sort of how I kind of got onto Christian radio is I had a pop Christmas single in 2013. And one of my good friends was the Canadian Christian radio promoter. And she's like, I think this song would work on Christian radio. Do you want to put it on Christian radio? And, and I'm like, I don't know if it's Christian, you know, Christian radio, but she didn't give me a chance to say no. She just put it on the radio.

[00:47:51] And so that is sort of how my Christian music career kind of started is because that song then was playing on Christian and pop radio at the same time. And after that, it did so well. Um, I continue to just release Christian music. Um, cause I would write my, my music is very, it could, it could be both. And so, and then I just started being intentional about my Christian singles.

[00:48:13] And, um, um, uh, once, once that, once I realized that that was sort of a part of my journey, I, I wanted to just lean into it a little bit more. And so Hope and the Rest kind of came about because I was singing some of these songs on tour and people were asking me like where they can get them. And, and, you know, Brian's like, she doesn't have an album yet, but she's going to have one, you know?

[00:48:36] And, and so, uh, last year after tour, Brian and Joyce both were like, you have to record these songs because people want them. And I'm like, okay. But I, I was so not in the headspace. You know, I had three kids in college. We were, we were slugging it out on tour. And I just was like, I, I don't even know if I have the, the, the capacity to do it. And, but, you know, Brian just was, he was just really encouraging Joyce as well. And they both were like, what can we do? How can we help? You know?

[00:49:06] And I think it was just him, you know, we, we sat down in our songwriting sessions and he took the songs and then he helped just craft them with me. And we did it together. And I think that was the beautiful part about it. And I, I said, you know what? I just want an album that I can listen to and be at peace with.

[00:49:23] And I think because the piano, piano is such a part of my heart and you don't often hear piano instrumentals, you know, in, in church music or worship even, or it's just something that for me was, it was a vital part of what I wanted to hear in this album. And all of the tracks were inspired by somebody in my life. And so I wanted to just do something completely different. Honestly, everybody was like, no, not Brian and Joyce, but people in my industry were like, that's not a good, I don't know if that's a good idea.

[00:49:53] Like, I don't know, you know, you either do an instrumental or you do an album that's all singing. And I'm like, well, I've never really followed the rules anyway. So I just kind of made it what I wanted. And I love it, Gordon. Like even in my, I don't listen to, I'm not one of those people that like puts out my tracks and I listen to them all the time. Like I'm not that person. I love the music. I love that people listen to it, but I'm just like, great. I made a song. This album, especially since Brian died, I listened to all the time.

[00:50:21] And, you know, we, we joked about our albums. We're like, if people fall asleep to our albums and we've done our job, it's a successful, it's a successful album. And I literally fall asleep by like track three, you know? And I know it sounds rude, but I'm now going to try that tonight. I am going to put on your album and see if it will send me to sleep. I think that would be not a bad thing. I do often, this is another confession that I think people go, oh, you can't do that. I often like listening to the Bible.

[00:50:47] I will put on, I'll put on some like Psalms and just leave the whole, the whole book of Psalms on and I will go to sleep listening to Psalms. But it makes so much sense, right? Like in our, in our anxious, chaotic world, I'm like, you just need a little bit of peace. And, and I think that was my hope with this was like, yeah, we need hope in our rest and in our anxiety and in our grief. And I think because we were going through that a little bit, I, I just, I had these songs that I'm like, they got to go somewhere, you know?

[00:51:17] And so, yeah, I wrote them. We recorded them at the Armory Studios on Vancouver. Brian helped co-produce it and, you know, was, was with me every step. And I think that's why it was special. And who knew that it was going to be, you know, the last project that we would do together in the sense of, of an album project. But, you know, it's, it's really, it's really there because of, of him and Joyce's encouragement.

[00:51:41] And I'm so glad now because, you know, as I said, it's this album now that we, we sort of grieve to. And, you know, that sounds sad, but, but that's why we create, that's as artists, why we create is for times like this, for music and songs like this. And especially songs that, you know, that can be listened to in a church and outside of the church, but that are, that are healing to hearts. So. Yeah, very much so.

[00:52:06] So I would encourage people to sit down and listen to the whole album from start to finish. I'm sure it's going to bless you. Before we come to your final song, I should find out how do people connect with you? Social media or online? Are you on the platforms? Where's your website, et cetera? Sure. Yeah. I mean, my website is just marikasewart.com. I'm probably the most active on Instagram. It's just at Marika Seawert.

[00:52:30] And, you know, right now I'm not, I'm not super active on the online socials just because of grieving, you know, but, but I'm, I'm trying to grieve with my audience as well. And so just, you know, I am there. You, people can connect, they can reach out, they can tell me stories. I'm always, you know, I always respond when I can and I do love connecting with people. So that's where they can find me. And if anyone's thinking, I wonder how I spell Seawert. It's S-I-E-W-E-R-T.

[00:52:59] So S-I-E-W-E-R-T, Marika Seawert. And the album is called Hope, Hope in the Rest. So, so we've got time now for your final track. And well, why don't you go ahead and introduce it and tell us all about it? Yeah. So this is a song called You Are Loved. And it was a song that was well loved on, on tours. It's a song that also Brian loved when I would sing it.

[00:53:27] And it really is just a reminder to people that when you're going through struggles, whatever you're going through, that you are truly loved by God. You are loved by us. You are loved by people around you. And yeah, it's just a reminder. It's just a reminder that you are loved. And so that's it.

[00:53:43] So I wanted to say you are, you know, you are even now.

[00:54:07] You know, there's a blessing of love that surrounds you. So you'll know that you're never alone. Undeniable sense of trust in you. And that was You Are Loved by Marika Seaworth.

[00:54:35] I'm so grateful for Marika for sharing a bit of her journey and also her time with Brian with us today on The Artist Interview. I would encourage you to go and listen to the album, Hope in the Rest. I know it's going to bless you. And also there are many other episodes that you can listen to. Go to theartistinterviewpodcast.com. I'm your host, Gordon T. And I look forward to being with you on the next episode. Goodbye. God bless. Listen, subscribe and support at theartistinterviewpodcast.com.