DE: Hi Daniela and hi RosaRubea, congratulations for your new album,
"Chrysalide", which made it to the number one spot in
my end of year list. Now, as you know, I've been a big fan for years,
so probably not the most objective person, but what are the
reactions so far?
Daniela:
Thanks, Dimi, for offering us the opportunity of this interview. We
are glad you appreciate "Chrysalide" so much. Indeed, the
album means a lot to us, that is why we have put great care in every
single detail of its production. We do not hide a certain pride,
since so far "Chrysalide" has had excellent reviews both on
the international web channels and in the Italian specialized press,
where some critics have even placed it among the best albums of 2015.
And those who have bought the CD have rewarded us with their
appreciation, so far.
DE: RosaRubea is a multimedial project which involves music, poetry
and visual art; can you tell us a little bit more about this
process?
Daniela:
RosaRubea wants to share art in its widest meaning: as a work of
heart. When we create, we enter a sacred territory, which we want to
stay sacred while we present it on stage, as a ritual. That is why we
try to reproduce the magic, immediacy, unexpected of creation with
all the emotions it conveys, through music, words, visuals and
acting. Art gets to the core of life.
That
also explains why, in the process of creating, sometimes take part
visual artists and painters who can collaborate with the band; in the
past, this has been the case with the painter Massimo Bertocchi, who
conceived the covers of our previous albums, and has happened now
with the photographer Luca Baldi, the author of all the pictures of
"Chrysalide". Besides, we are starting working with
interesting personalities on our next video.
DE: The cover of "Chrysalide" is really beautiful, it looks as
though you transcended from your body; does this image reflect
itself also in the lyrics? Are you transcending in these too?
Daniela:
Thank you, Dimi. "Chrysalide" means rebirth through
metamorphosis; that is why we wanted to celebrate this starting from
the cover: the chrysalis, wrapped in its veil, is lying at the foot
of the altar, while the butterfly is ascending onto it. The lyrics,
as the music, express each a different nuance of the metamorphosis,
pain, love, endurance, loss, rebirth, passion, hope.
DE: I've talked with IANVA too, and asked them the same question.
Since they're also from Italy like you, and there's a lot of
great dark folk music coming from your country. Is there
something like an Italian
scene?
Daniela:
I think musicians are more interested in music itself than on a
so-called "scene", which rather falls within the critics'
prerogatives or some listeners' need of aggregation. I guess critics
can find and need to find similarities among different bands, which
may have been inspired by a specific sound or genre, but, honestly, I
think music goes beyond any border. That said, I do not think we can
talk of an Italian "dark folk scene", but rather of single
bands, each one with its specific taste, whose influences are
manifolds, and can be found especially in the Italian songwriters'
tradition, in classical or even ancient music.
DE: It also seems that Italian dark folk bands like to include other
genres
in their music, more than bands from European countries. Just
like
IANVA and Roma Amor, Rosa Rubea is more than strictly dark folk. It's
easy to catalog Rosa Rubea in the dark folk corner, especially
with
you, Daniela, as singer and former singer of Camerata.
I
don't like to label music, but it's handy for people who don't know
the
music to start with some bands. So, how would you like to describe
Rosa
Rubea's style?
Daniela:
I understand the need to find and give hints and references for
orientation. However, as RosaRubea, we want to feel free from any
label and simply convey our feelings and emotions through music and
share them with free listeners. We want our music to be as a breath,
as life itself; I like to think of RosaRubea's music as a music of
metamorphic desire, red and alive, a spiraling crescendo of passion
which is marked by experimenting with singing and both classical
instruments and electronics: a music which breaks the limits and
travels towards the unknown.
DE: You've played at The Villa Festival, with RosaRubea and also with
Cropcircle,
how did the people react to the new material?
Daniela:
I am happy to say that the people showed a deep involvement during
RosaRubea's performance. We were thrilled ourselves and felt the
vibrating atmosphere. The warm audience was captivated by the new
material, and that was a great reward for us. We really enjoyed
playing at the Villa Festival once again. As for Cropcircle, in whose
new CD "Soundtrack for an unquiet night" I took part with a
song, "Preludio - Atlantide", and with whom I recorded the
soundtrack for my poems "De l'Amor sospeso e de l'Amor rubeo",
it was also an enthralling experience, much appreciated by the
audience, and a pleasure for me to share the stage with Cecco and
Stefania Domiziana.
DE: You are playing at the Black Easter festival in Antwerp, next year.
What can we expect, and are you thrilled to come to Belgium?
By
the way, is this the first time you perform in Belgium?
Daniela:
We look forward to playing at the Black Easter Festival; it is our
first time in Belgium, neither have I ever played there with Camerata
Mediolanense, so it is going to be a thorough novelty, that we will
experience with deep involvement and care.
DE: All the pictures I saw of you have a very sensual nature. It
seems they want to paint the picture of Daniela as a seductress,
which they manage very well.
Is
Daniela in ordinary life also a vamp, or is it just an image you or
the
photographer want to create?
Daniela:
Ask my lovers! Anyway, the public image is always limited. Honni soit
qui mal y pense!
DE: Camerata was and still is a very influential and much beloved band.
Their success is mostly thanks to your vocal work with the band.
But your ways split, what was the reason?
Daniela:
Singing and performing with Camerata Mediolanense has always been an
intense and fertile experience, as long as it lasted - almost twenty
years! Our ways split, as sometimes happens in life, and new life is
born.
DE: RosaRubea is also a very poetic name, and it is the Latin for "Red
Rose"; is this to show the romantic side of the project?
How
important is love in Daniela's life?
Daniela:
"RosaRubea" is the alchemical "Rubedo", the
ultimate phase of the "Opus Magnum" or "Opus
Chemicum", announcing the transmutation of vile metal into Gold.
So the name does not hint at a romantic side of the group, but points
at the alchemical path of purification. Love is at the core of this
purification, so it is fundamental, in all its nuances.
DE: Daniela, you are a soprano singer; besides dark folk projects, did
you also perform in other milieux, interpreting Opera, in the
past?
Daniela:
Classical music and Opera are the highest expression of music in
western culture, so studying them means to feel and experience the
most refined nuances of western soul and maybe of the soul in
general. Yes, I have sung Opera, especially the Baroque repertoire,
and the Lieder of the late XVIII century or the early XIX century's
Operatic arias of Bellini, for instance. I did it, for example, with
Camerata Sforzesca, Camerata Mediolanense's side project. I have not
abandoned Opera nor classical music.
DE: RosaRubea is truly your project, I think, Daniela, while in Camerata
you were more a band member, am I right? With Rosa Rubea, do you
have complete control, and how does it feel to be the
frontwoman?
Daniela:
RosaRubea was founded around 2009 by Pino Carafa, electronic music
composer who later quit the band, and myself. As it has always been
an open project, soon joined RosaRubea other talented musicians: Zeno
Gabaglio, Marco Bosio, Michele Fiore, Yann Turrini, Ermanno Fabbri.
It is true that in RosaRubea I am the author of the concept and in it
I have put my heart and soul, since the beginning. The synergies with
the other musicians though are fundamental and a leaven to the
project. In Camerata Mediolanense I was an interpreter, although I
had contributed in choosing some repertoire including covers and in a
small part of the arrangements with the other band members. To be the
frontwoman is a good thing if you are inclined to it: I feel good!
DE: Camerata's inspiration comes from history and mythology. Where do
you find inspiration for RosaRubea?
Daniela:
Inspiration comes from life itself. RosaRubea's work is a
work-in-progress: it hints at the metamorphosis life encourages us to
face. In this respect, there is both an autobiographical side and an
archetypical side; the process of birth-death-rebirth is reflected in
RosaRubea's music in its infinite nuances and implications: an unborn
child, the hope of youth, widowhood, passionate love, the eternity of
after-death experience, the marriage of the fire and the rose,
self-sacrifice, the sublimity of love.
DE: On the "Tre Ert Tre" CDr, you have covered "Lather"
(Jefferson Airplane) and "Dancing Barefoot" (Patti
Smith), two important artists for you?
Which
other artists influence you as a singer, and which
artists
and bands do you like listening to?
Daniela:
There are songs or singers you love since the very beginning: love at
first sight is a matter of fact. That was the case with Patti Smith
and Grace Slick; two voices with such a different character, but both
intense and unique, just like that of Nico, another singer whom I
liked to cover. Yes, I have always loved their authenticity, both as
artists and as women.
The
voices of the Italian singers Antonella Ruggiero or Patti Pravo in
her best years also touch my soul, as that of the British Kate Bush;
and, as for Opera, I love the French Véronique Gens, for instance,
and Sandrine Piau, and the Greek Theresa Stratas. Here are just a few
examples. The sources of inspiration are manifold.
DE: Last
week I was watching Fellini's "Rome" and the movie, the
atmosphere made me think of you and the atmosphere you bring with
RosaRubea, because the music also sounds a bit soundtrack like. Do
you feel the same way about that, and if so which movies do inspire
you?
Daniela:
Thank you for thinking of us while watching a film, Dimi! Indeed,
RosaRubea's music might be perceived as filmic; the visionary side of
it is just behind the corner.
If
I think of the films that most impressed me, I realize the
sound-track has a great part in them: "Nosferatu" by Werner
Herzog, "Il Portiere di Notte" by Liliana Cavani, "The
Piano" by Jane Campion, "La double vie de Véronique"
by Kieslowski. The music marries the vision.
Foto credits (1 & 5: Luca Baldi; 2.Loredana Guinicelli; 3.Emanuela Zini; 4.Nando Harmsen)
Dimi Brands
RosaRubea will perform at the Black Easter Festival in Antwerp. (26/03/2016)
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