Newagemusic.guide presents an interview with Michele Giacobbe. Keep on reading to learn more about this fascinating artist!
BT Fasmer: Congratulations with the release of your second album, “Hue of Indigo and Blue“! Many artists say that the second album is the hardest. How was it for you to return to the studio after the successful release of “Lost Memories” (2016)?
Michele Giacobbe: First of all thank you. What they say about the second album is not the truth for me. During the first album I was pretty anxious and unhappy for the way things were going in those days. I think that much of that sense of fragility has been impressed into “Lost Memories”. For “Hue of Indigo and Blue” everything has been different. I was feeling more positive and that made the difference. When I started to compose I didn’t know that music could have been part of a new record because I wasn’t sure that there would be a new one. So it gave me the chance to be free. It was also healing to me: the more I composed, the more I felt better. The healing essential point is to accept what life gives us in all its multiplicity of colors. Life isn’t good and isn’t bad but it offers us the chance to choose with which colors we want to paint our canvas, our story. When I understood that there were good melodies I decided to put it all on a new level. I wanted to make a new album.
BT: Before we go on, could you please tell us a bit about yourself?
Michele: I’m very moody. I can fly into a temper in a heartbeat but I’m also sweeter than people would think. I’m stubborn too. I remember that when I was young I asked a guitar to my parents. They answered me that I wasn’t even able to play it. So I replied them I’d have learned how to play it. For two long years the guitar stayed completely still to dust but one day I imposed to myself to do something. The day after I was able to play “Londonderry Air”. Since then I’ve learned to play music all by myself, as self-taught.
BT: “Hue of Indigo and Blue” has an orchestral sound. Do you enjoy making classical arrangements? Will you do more classical inspired albums in the future?
Michele: Oh yes I do. I think that if you have a strong melody a classical arrangement gives to the music a particular way to shine and, most important, to remain. We refer to the big ones of the music like Mozart or Beethoven as classical musicians, but this is just a timeline expedient. The melodies they composed are without tempo and that’s why we still listen to them. If I will do more classical inspired albums: I hope so but everything depends on inspiration that will come.
BT: You describe your most recent album as a journey from East to West, from Celtic via medieval music to native Asian instruments. What’s your inspirations?
Michele: There are two phases of inspiration. The first one is the external phase and it’s represented by everything could hit our senses, even in an unconscious way. A book, a movie or a documentary on Tv, our every day life, that specific moment of happiness or our innermost suffering. Then it comes the phase two, the interior one. So to this point you feel a little flame growing up inside of you and it becomes more and more important to force you to see that feeble light and feed the flame.
BT: I guess that there’s a good deal of J. R. R. Tolkien here too in terms of atmosphere. Do you read a lot of fantasy books?
Michele: Not so many, actually. I did read J. R. R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling. But you were right about “Tolkien atmosphere”, especially for the song “Silver Trees”. The part I loved most in “The Lord of the Rings” was the Lothlorien, a very charming place with silver trees called Mellyrn. When I composed “Silver Trees” I saw myself under those trees. I saw the light through the leaves and I felt the time was stopped. I feel the same every time I listen that song. “Silver Trees” is the very first song I wrote for “Hue of Indigo and Blue”. Anyway the entire album is permeated by these recalls of mythical lands and melancholy. The song “Mabon”, for example, is referred to the Celtic God of youth, vegetation and harvest. He was kidnapped by his mother and hidden to Annwn, the afterlife. Because of that Mabon remained young forever. When I composed it I imagined an eternal cycle, a song without tempo describing all the nature’s beauties.
BT: Can “Hue of Indigo and Blue” be performed live? Is that something you would like to do?
Michele: It could be even though it would be very hard to reproduce all the sounds to transmit the same pathos on live stage. What I’d like to do now is to release a physical support of “Hue of Indigo and Blue”. I know times are changed but I like the idea that your own music has a place in someones’s house. I’m one of the few romantics left.
BT: Which New Age music artists do you like? Perhaps you would like to tell about someone famous who recently gave you praise?
Michele: Definitely Enya. Some said my new album has several common points with Enya’s style. That’s an amazing achievement for a composer and multi-instrumentalist like I am. Recently I’ve received appreciations from Kitaro, that I call “maestro Kitaro”. I do love his wonderful music.
BT: Are you working on a new project now – or is the release of the new album taking up all your time?”
Michele: As a composer it’s impossible to switch off the mind, so yes, there are some new songs I will work on. But it’s too early now. My mind needs silence to recharge. My music isn’t just a long reverbe with some bells; I need to compose and to find my way.
BT: Is there anything you would like to say to your fans?
Michele: Simply thank you. A grateful word from a fan around the world can really make the difference to my day.
“Hue of Indigo and Blue” is available on CD Baby.
Also check out:
http://michelegiacobbe.webstarts.com (homepage)
https://www.facebook.com/michelegiaco…
https://twitter.com/mikigiacobbe
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3FkM7…