- During your Live exhibitions, you use to show to the audience a painting related to the song you are going to perform: in which way does the “visions” represented on the paintings take form? Before or after the composition of a song?
C+M:As we are a duo, and so, only “two” on stage, we have ever thought, since our first live apparitions, to fill the “empty” stage with other “visual” presences. So, from here comes the idea to accompany our songs with different paintings (to tell the truth, they are simply acrylics on cartoon...less “binding” and heavy than canvas!!!). We choose the iconography (generally simple and “didactic”) according to contents of our songs: an acrobat for "Le decisioni" (“Decisions”), a version of the Ophelia for "Le onde nere" (“The Black Waves”) etc…
In most cases we take inspiration from the graphic and illustration of Art Nouveau.
-Which is, for you, the link between these two Form of Art: Music and Painting?
C+M: We prefer to speak of a link with the images, because during our live performances, apart the paper supports we told above, we also use to project (when technical means make it possible) videos created by ourselves. In these occasions the interlacement between Music, tunes, lyrics and images is really strong, because the editing follows exactly the cadence of the musical rhythm. We try to create a synergy between these different forms of expression, and this happens both for a personal research and for trying to involve more the audience.
- Interesting indeed! So, in this way we enter in the “multimedia field”, so to speak! May we talk more in deep about these videos you create?
C+M: As for the drawings, the concept of the videos is strictly connected to our Music. We have decided to call them “proto-video”, as they are, in some way, “prototypes”: they just give an ‘idea’ of what we really would like to realise if we’d have the means and the collaboration of a real film-maker!
Anyway, in the Live performances, our aim is to melt Music, gestural expressiveness and images in order to create a visual-sound “unicum”. The structure of the videos has been thought in a “Surrealist” logic. We mean: they try to imitate the typical flux of the oneiric language through the quick sequence of evocative parts (partly taken by movies and partly created by us) and symbolic images. As told before, the videos follow the content of our songs (a bit in the way of the so called "hypnagogic images", those para-oneiric phenomena that often reveal to us our innermost thoughts and feelings. These kind of phenomena use to happen just before falling asleep or just before awakening).
- Oh well, this sounds great! I do hope to have the chance to be present to one of your “complete” show soon! Personally, the Symbolism – and consequently the Surrealism – is my favourite artistic movement; and obviously the Romanticism, where the Nature is THE leading “force”….According to me, the oneiric dimension and the tremendous power of Nature keep the secret of our presence on this planet…what about you? And, back to your “proto-videos”, which movies have you used? Something by Dalì?
C+M: As told before, due to the impossibility of creating whole original videos, we have to “limit” ourselves to insert in our “protovideo” parts of movies we like and that have got a particular symbolism for us. But this does not mean that these movies must be related to Symbolism. The most important thing is that they must posses a strong poetic-visual connotation related with the lyric of the song. And so, near the drawings, you will find images and light effects, short sequences taken from movies of Bergman, Wenders, Russel, Eizenstein, Jarman, Kobakhidze, Mamoulian, Brown, Drayer and many others! Sure, the Surrealism and the Symbolism are important for us, but, to describe our form of expressions, we would also add a little bit of Existentialism and a certain dose of Decadentism!
Concerning your question on Nature, we believe that Its mystery is unfathomable. All we can do is try to realise how astonishment and dismay She creates in our hearts when we confront our miserable tragic human dimension to Her.
- And finally I was present to a complete exhibition (with projection of the proto-videos) of Nova …well, actually, I agree with you, unfortunately the position of the screen was not the best, as we were forced or to watch the videos or the scenic interpretation of Chiara…pretty a shame indeed…anyway, your exhibitions was sublime, it impressed me a lot, the interaction within the lyrics and the images was perfect! The part I appreciated more was the one dedicated to the “masks”…well well, now, why not talking about the new compositions and in particular about the new vocals “experimentation” of Chiara? (Actually, in this live show, Chiara “experimented” also on the old songs with an excellent result!)
Chiara: the technical improvement and the interpretative evolution of my voice represent my main aim. I’m glad that you noticed “differences” from the previous demo-Cd “Voli Sferici”! In the new compositions I’ve introduced registers I was not used to. I’ve exercised the extension of my voice in the lower tunes and so I’ve obtained a slight “obscuring” of the timbre (actually, it’s a natural thing that happens after years of exercise): it is evident in “Le Onde Nere”. In the refrain of “Altrove” I’ve performed the – so called – “mask voice”, while in the “Le Sette Vite del Gatto” I’ve used a lyric vibrato more powerful than usual…
Sometimes in Live exhibitions I grant to myself some “variations on the theme”: regarding the Halloween Party we performed to, I’ve made a different version of “Le Decisioni”: more “ghastly”, with “croaking” and “tremulous” voice…maybe I was influenced by the concert of Diamanda Galas I recently saw?!
I love to use different registers in the same song to render it more “varied”, as I love to characterise each composition with different interpretations (the theatrical voice in "Le Onde Nere", the dreaming one in "Nuvole", the "near-to-conventional-rock " one in "CerchiVuoti").
Become so skilful to obtain several different voices with in common an unique style! I’m aware of the fact that this is a big ambition of mine, but, that’s my passion, and I hope to reach my goal a day!