Gaia Bartolini
Italian soundartist
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biography
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Interview:10 questions
1. When did you start making music, what is/was your motivation to do it?
IT STARTED AS I WAS A KID IN SCHOOL…I HAD NO IDEA.
WE HAD FEW HOURS A WEEK OF MUSIC EDUCATION AND RITHMIC DANCE…
I BECAME VERY SENSITIVE TO SOUNDS…AND TO THE ATMOSPHERE THE SOUND CREATED…MY MOOD SEEMED TO HANG AND DEPEND A LOT TO SOUNDS
2. Tell me something about your living environment and the musical education.
I STARTED STUDIYNG FLUTE AND PIANO FIRST IN SCHOOL THAN HAVING PRIVATE LESSONS… MY FAMILY IS A SIMPLE WORKING CLASS ONE, VERY EARTHY, BUT SINCE MY FATHER WAS PLAYING LONG TIME AGO IN A BRASS BAND, HE ALWAYS PUSHED ME AND MY BROTHERS TO LEARN TO PLAY AN INSTRUMENT…SO…HE BOUGHT ME A 2ND HAND VERTICAL PIANO !!!…MY NATURAL TALENT WAS KIND OF IMPRESSIVE BUT THE WILL WAS NEVER STRONG ENOUGH …STUDING ALL THOSE MECHANIC EXERCISES AND CLASSICAL COMPOSITIONS WAS EXAUSTING MORE THAN EXCITING…I ALWAYS FELT IMPROVISING RELATING TO THE MOOD…THAT DID´NT HELP MY PROFESSIONAL PROFILE…
3.Is making music your profession? What is the context in which you practice music nowadays?
ACTUALLY AT A CERTAIN POINT OF MY YOUTH I DID ABANDON MUSIC TO EXPLORE VISUAL ARTS…JUST FEW YEARS AGO, FEELING FRUSTRATED ABOUT HAVING ABANDONED MUSIC I DID START AGAIN TO EXPERIMENT WITH SOUND, COMPOSING SOUNDTRACKS FOR MY VISUALS AND THEN FOR MY PERFORMANCES AND SOUND INSTALLATIONS—IT IS STILL HARD AND RARE FOR ME TO PLAY A LIVE SET, UNLESS UNDER A PERFORMATIVE PROFILE.
BUT I MORE AND MORE ENJOY THIS ASPECT, DEEPLY CONSIDERING THE PHISICAL IMPACT OF THE INSTRUMENT (WHATEVER CAN BE…) AND OF THE SOUND PRODUCED.
4. How do you compose or create music or sound? Have you certain principles, use certain styles etc?
STARTING FROM THE POINT THAT I CAN APPRECIATE ANY KIND OF MUSIC
I REALLY WORK FOLLOWING MY MOOD AND MY EARS…THOSE ARE THE BASIC TOOLS…THAT MIGHT INCLUDE CHAOS AND NO STRUCTURES…
AFTER THAT EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON IDEAS AND CONCEPTS S AND THAN ON THE INSTRUMENTS…WHAT COMES FIRST ITS HARD TO SAY…ITS ALWAYS A DIFFERENT IMPULSE… REALLY..NO LIMITS AND NO WRITTEN PATTERNS!
5. Tell me something about the instruments, technical equipment or tools you use?
CAN BE A VACUUM CLEANER AS WELL A REGULAR INSTRUMENT GETTING A LITTLE DISTURBED ON HIS PHISICAL NATURE BY MY NEED TO MODIFY RULES OR TO CREATE METAPHORES…A FIELD RECORDING OR DIGITALIZED SAMPLES…A TOY…A BOY USING A RECORDER INSTEAD OF HIS VOICE…!!!
6. What are the chances of New Media for the music production in general
and you personally?
WELL PROBABLY UNLIMITED…IT GOES WITH BOREDOM, CURIOSITY, ACCIDENTS —- THE MOST YOU EXPERIMENT THE MOST YOU GET IDEAS AND NEED MATERIAL AND MEDIA TO EXPERIMENT …AND… TO REACH PEOPLE´ S EARS AND VISIONS!
NEW MEDIA ARE GREAT !!! THEY HELP TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS NEEDED AND WHATS NOT…OF COURSE EVERYONE HAS A DIFFERENT OPINION AND TASTE ABOUT IT…
7. How about producing and financing your musical productions?
THAT’S ALWAYS A TRICKY QUESTION….ESPECIALLY AT THE BEGINNING (AND NOT ONLY AT THE BEGINNING) YOU NEED TO INVEST YOUR SELF MONEY AND RESOURCES TO CREATE AND PRODUCE YR STUFF…THAN IT DEPENDS ON THE DIRECTION YOU WANT YOUR WORK TO GO…SO…IN MY CASE ITS PRETTY MUCH RELATED TO THE ART WORLD, THAT MEANS IT GETS PRODUCED MOSTLY FROM MY SELF AND OCCASIONALLY BY ART SPACES, SPECIFIC PROJECTS AND SO ON… !!!“ART LOVERSâ€!!!….
8. Do you work individually as a musician/soundartist or in a group or collaborative?
If you have experience in both, what is the difference, what do you prefer?
MOSTLY ON MY OWN, OCCASIONALLY IN COOPERATION.
I LIKE BOTH. I LIKE TO SWITCH ON AND OFF FROM ONE SIDE TO THE OTHER…
I REVEALS ALWAYS A LOT OF INTERESTING REACTIONS!… BEING ALONE IS REALLY LIKE A DEEP KATARSIS BUT THERE IS ALWAYS THE FEELING AND THE FEAR OF SOMETHING MISSING…ALSO WHEN IM SATISFIED…SO I THINK: “THE NEXT STEP SHOULD HAPPEN TOGETHER WITH SOMEONEâ€â€¦THAN IT MIGHT NOT …WHEN YOU WORK WITH OTHERS IS ALSO A KATARSIS…INTO LISTENING WHAT THE OTHERS´S SENSIBILITY PRODUCE TO YOU AND HOW THAN YR SENSIBILITY REACTS….THIS CONFRONTATION AND WHAT FINALLY COMES OUT IT’S A KIND OF “SENSATIONAL†EXPERIENCE IN HUMANS AND INTELLECTUAL THERMES!…THAN THE WAY I DAILY ENTER SOUNDS BRINGS ME EASILY IN TO WORKING PRETTY ALONE…IT JUST HAPPEN***
9. Is there any group, composer, style or movement which has a lasting influence on making music?
OOOOO…DEFINETELY!
MY DEEPEST HUMAN PLAYLIST STILL SENDS NOTES OF “CLASSICAL†MUSIC…THAT MEANS EVERITHING…THAN CAGE AND HIS TOTAL REVOLUTION , MINIMALISM THAN POP MUSIC THAN ROCK AND ROLL AND PSYCHEDELIC MUSIC, THE GERMAN WAVE WITH THEYR “KRAUT†ROCK (THEY DON’T LIKE THIS BRITISH DEFINITION!!!) THAN NEW WAVE ELECTRONIC, NOISE MUSIC.
OH…THERE SO MANY PEOPLE I COULD MENTION…TOOOOOOO MANY!!!!
SOUND ART IS ACTUALLY A NEARLY RIDICOLOUS DEFINITION…IM STILL THINKING ABOUT IT…BUT OK…MAYBE WE CAN SAY THAT ART CAN BE SO TRANSVERSAL THAT AN ARTIST MIGHT FIND HIM SELF SUDDENLY IN TO CREATING SOUNDS THAT ARE NOT TO BE CALLED MUSIC?
10. What are your future plans or dreams as a soundartist or musician?
I DON’T KNOW…ILL TRY TO LISTEN CAREFULLY….
out of competition:
Can works of yours experienced online besides on SoundLAB? Where?
List some links & resources
http://www.myspace.com/hoarsewhisper
http://www.muu.fi/sound/