Tatiana and I worked hard to find a suitable arrangement for this new version of Danza della lontananza. After much rehearsal, we finally liked it in this lively folk-gypsy mood. And I really had a lot of fun playing guitar as wingman in her awesome prelude!

Here her beautiful music: https://soundcloud.com/rosindust

In the picture, a night in Salento, south Italy. The moon is high, we're ready to go to dance.

Here all our collaborations:
https://soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

Moon over the roof - with Rosin Dust

I finally bought a new classical guitar :)

The tightrope walker

I have the pleasure of presenting a collaboration with the great Georg Boehme: a speed jazzy funk.
Georg, with his 3 saxes, did a great work and a gorgeous final solo. I am really happy with the result!
Here his beautiful page: @georg-boehme

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

Run! - with Georg Boehme

Blue

Here we are again with @RosinDust for a folk piece full of rhythm and passion: a cold windy night, a dive in a remote port of the deep south, a night for daredevils, for temerari...

Here all our collaborations:
https://soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

Temerario's - with Rosin Dust

Thanks, as always, to @rosindust on violin, it's our eighth piece together. Together as friends. 
Peace.

Here all our collaborations:
https://soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

Enemies - with Rosin Dust

Year 1271. Marco Polo, still a teenager, leaves Venice with his father for a long journey along the Silk Road, a journey lasted years that will take him to China, crossing Asia, unknown places and ancient cities. Trebizond, Baghdad, Samarkand, Beijing up to Xanadu at the court of Kubilai Khan. Years later he will write "Il Milione", the story of that incredible journey.

Marco Polo

Ventotene, a small island in the Mediterranean. Under a breathtaking starry sky, waiting for the dawn.
Thanks to @RosinDust for her gorgeous violins. I am always grateful for her willingness and enthusiasm.
In the last period I worked a lot on things written some time ago, so I had not composed anything new for a few months and, as always happens in these cases, I was a little afraid of having run out of creative vein. That's why, with this new piece, I'm happy and ready for the next time when I'm definitely going to ask myself, once again, "oh my god, is this over?" :)

Here the other collaborations with Tatiana:
soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana

In the photo, of course, Ventotene.

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

It's almost dawn - with Rosin Dust

A different version of a piece already released a couple of years ago. This is its first original arrangement.
In order of appearance and italianness: RosinDust on violin, Georg on clarinet and Boehme on flaute.
Yes because, incredibly, by dint of collaborating, Tatiana now speaks Italian, and even Georg understands it a little bit. Boehme instead firmly refuses. So far... :) Thanks, friends, you are fabulous, as always!

Here the splendid compositions of Georg Boheme: @georg-boehme
Here the magical music of RosinDust: @RosinDust
Here the previous, very different, electroacoustic version: https://soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/the-sunbaker?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

The sunbaker picture is from wonderful "The camping album" by Max Dupain and Olive Cotton, 1937, State Library of New South Wales, Australia.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofnsw/albums/72157641630906725/

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

The sunbaker - with RosinDust and G.Boehme

Last days of summer. Two girls on the pier laugh excitedly braving the waves.

Here comes the wave

Thanks, once again, to @Rosindust for all the skill and passion she has put into the interpretation.
Here you will find other music in which I had the enormous pleasure of having her by my side:
soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

Suspended - with Rosin dust

For a more dense rhythm section I needed agility on bass line so this time, instead of the double bass, I chose to use my old dear electric bass, an old Cort that's been with me since high school. I haven’t played it for a long time, it’s been fun, I think I will do it again soon.
About the picture: actually the place of the photo is not a station or an airport, it is part of a photographic work I made some years ago on the concept of non-place like the big malls. But a non-place is also, some way, an all-places, every places from which to leave or arrive...
The real truth is that I've always liked this photo, for the perspective plane and because it's full of lines with variety of lights and shadows... In short, I couldn't wait to find an excuse to use it :)

Have a nice trip!

Arrivals and departures

Alone together or together alone, in its many meanings. It is a piece mainly in major but with moments of melancholy, between hope and sadness. About existential solitude but also about brotherhood, the connection between individuals.
In many parts a series of 2 very long, slow, and therefore difficult, violin notes beautifully played for me by dear @rosindust. Here the other collaborations with Tatiana: soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

Alone together - with Rosin dust

When I sent @Rosindust a very first demo, the piece still didn't have a name. She asked me on WhatsApp "Ok, how do you want me to play it?" and I replied "Nervous, furious like... like.. Wait!" and I sent her a picture of Medusa from the famous painting by Caravaggio. :)
Actually this piece is a kind of playful revenge: her last piece she asked me to play had guitar parts that were difficult for me and when I recorded them I swore revenge to her with a fiendishly complicated piece for 2 violins :) But, as always, she was so brilliant! We used 2 violins, a classical guitar, an electric bass and a piano. Here all our collaborations: soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

Medusa - with Rosin dust

A small piece with the great BoxTox on clarinet.
It was supposed to be a little piece to celebrate the end of the rain on a rainy day, when you can finally go out for a walk, to smell the air. But these days there has been a terrible flood in my country, it has been raining for days, in some areas it has been a catasphrophe... I know, water is life and rain is indispensable but I really don't love it, I can't help it. Let's hope it ends soon..
Thanks to BoxTox for his splendid execution. Here you can find his wonderful music: @user-247600493
And here is our previous collaboration: https://soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/francesco-cartocci-boxtox-et-voila

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

After the  rain - with BoxTox

The village beauty.
I took this photo in Matera, an old city in the deep south of my country, a magical place, unique in the world. It's even hard to find the words to describe the beauty of this place.
Inhabited since the paleolithic period, the city, perched on a rocky slope, has developed on a system of millenary cave houses dug into the rock, called Sassi. With its small streets that go up and down, its thousand Escher-style stairs, cave churches, underground cisterns and rock houses, it looks like a neo-realist nativity scene or one of Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, a place out of time. The first time you see Matera you are speechless, its beauty takes your breath away.
After the war, in the 50s, the city, which had always been isolated from the rest of the country, lived in a state of extreme, desperate, poverty. Many of its inhabitants, dedicated mostly to sheep farming, still survived as their ancestors had always done, living in caves together with the same their animals. A heated national political debate arose which ended with the decision to build a new city next to the old one and move its inhabitants there.
Then, for many years the old city remained a ghost town but its recovery began in the 80s, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and is now a wonderful museum town. Matera is 10,000 years old, the third oldest inhabited city in the world. An absolutely must-see place.

La bella di Matera

Another piece, the seventh, with dear @georg-boehme on tenor sax, one of the certainties of my life :)
This time, for the walking bass, I played an electric bass.
Here the other pieces together: soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/danke-georg

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

Cat steps - with Georg Boehme

A little allegro for folk orchestra with a burlesque, circus flavor. On violin, as always, my dear friend, the fabulous @RosinDust.
From time to time Tatiana gives concerts in orphanages and asylums so she has promised me that she will play this piece soon on one of those occasions, hoping it will bring them some joy. I am very happy about it!
Here the other pieces together: soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

The flying circus - with Rosin dust

Yard time. A bittersweet piece built on small harmonic ambiguities. On violin my friend  @Rosindust. We played a classical guitar, a violin, an electric bass, a piano and an ostinato digital oboe. 
Here the other pieces together: soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana

The painting: Vincent van Gogh, Prisoners Exercising, 1890. An alienating round of prisoners. Above two small white butterflies, symbol of hope and freedom.

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

Ora d'aria - with Rosin dust

Zeitgeist - Spirit of the times. [lyrics at the bottom]
When I was very young I wrote rock and pop songs. Finally after many years of instrumental music I returned to composing a song with the help of @Xian3 who wrote beautiful lyrics and provided a great vocal interpretation and whom I thank for his willingness and enthusiasm.
It's apparently a love song but it also speaks of existential restlessness, of fear in its double value of paralyzing or strengthening the life force.
The collaboration had only one difficult moment when, due to a linguistic misunderstanding, I misunderstood a joke and thought Xian was a Lazio team fan (I swear it's all true)... We came close to an international crisis!!! :)))
As you can listen, to make the collaboration more "thrilling" he decided to write the first part in German, which I don't speak. He assured me that the meaning is more or less similar to the second part in English... But who knows... Let's hope so! :))
[If anyone who speaks German reads anything suspicious against Roma team, please let me know, thanks.] :))))

Zeitgeist

Im toten Winkel, da haust
Ein Schatten, der mich immer wieder verfolgt
Jedes mal, wenn ich arbeiten will
Ein Seufzer des Zweifels
Fällt in mein Ohr
Das ist nicht immer unbedingt schlecht,
Doch es macht nervös,
Sieh,

Kann nicht ohne dich sein
Kann nicht ohne dich leben,
Du tiefste Angst
Kann nicht ohne dich gehen,
Du tiefste Angst

Behind the blind spot there lurks
A shadow that is always following me
Everytime i want do my work
A sweet sigh of doubt
Just drops in my ear
This is not necessarily bad,
But It bothers me,
See

I can’t live without you
I can’t live without you , now
My deepest fear
I can’t leave without you, now
My deepest fear

How i wish, you were not here
I would not shed a single tear
I would
I would

Can’t you leave without me ?
Can’t you just let me sleep in ?
My deepest fear
Would you live without me, now
My deepest fear
Would you ?
Wouldn’t you ?
Would you, please ?
Would you, please ?

Lyrics: @Xian3
Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

Zeitgeist

Zeitgeist - with Xian3

Where did this crazy cover come from?!
Until a couple of years ago I played in a group of friends, an acoustic quartet consisting of an acoustic guitar, double bass (me), a singer and a percussionist. We played a repertoire of rock and pop covers from all times, heavily rearranged to suit acoustic needs. In addition to rehearsals and concerts, a significant part of the time was spent proposing and choosing the repertoire.
There were always great discussions, everyone had their own musical background, their tastes and their desire to impose themselves on others (behind every musician there is always a little egomaniac hiding :)). Furthermore, since it was all acoustic, there were also inevitable technical limitations to consider when choosing the songs. In short, every proposal was always followed by great debates, to the point that we had to establish severe rules in the choice with votes, with the right of veto, like United Nations resolutions :))
There was a moment when we needed to enrich the repertoire with more lively and rhythmic songs, because the natural tendency in small acoustic cover groups is always to rearrange the songs with an elegant, composed (and a little soporific) sound like Bossa or soft jazz.
Among the various proposals I made there was this 80's pop-dance hit that I have always liked and to be more convincing and overcome their skepticism that time I decided to present my candidacy with a demo recorded by myself... So, courageously I even had to sing it!!
What you listen is therefore that original demo for my group: an acoustic guitar, a double bass, a voice to which I have recently added some choirs.
Fortunately, at the end, the effort was rewarded, this bizarre cover won the elections and became a permanent fixture in our concerts.

I know, I skipped some words here and there, my pronunciation is what it is, and I guess it sounds funny to you more or less like to us Italians when we listen to one of our operas sung by a foreign singer... but who cares, it was so fun to sing it, forgive me! :)

For those who don't know the original Dead or Alive song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGNiXGX2nLU

Just like my version, isn't it?:)))

The photo is entitled "100 ways to kill your photographer". 

A special thank you to Debra, she knows why.

You Spin Me Round - cover

For all those who don't give up, resist, for the resilient.

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

Until the very end

L'attesa, the wait. After six months without respite, full of boring commitments that life sometimes offers, I have happily found time and inspiration to write new music. And I couldn't help but start again in the company of my fabulous friend @rosindust. A jazz piece with a hint of folk or, as an user once wrote about another piece of mine, a little "countryside" too :)
Here the other collaborations with Tatiana: soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana

In the photo: waiting for sunrise, Adriatic coast. In the background, on the other side of the sea you can see Albania which is incredibly close at that point, about 70 km away.

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

L'attesa - with Rosin dust

The dazzling light of the first days of June. On my side of the world, in the Northern Hemisphere, June is a happy month, when nature is at its maximum splendor, with its flowers and colors, its lush life, its light. The days are longer, the climate is mild and people are happier, with more desire to go out, inebriated with so much wonder, for the beginning of summer.
Thanks to my dear inestimable friend @Rosindust for her performance at violin. The counterpoints are from my new cello! Some parts were too low for the violin so I took the plunge and used the cello I bought a few months ago when, in a moment of extreme optimism, I thought it would be easier to play it.. :)
Here the other collaborations with Tatiana: soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana

And, of course, I took this photo in June.

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

June - with Rosin dust

Another piece with my friend @Rosindust, the 23rd, so far...
I can't give it a definition of its musical genre, there are many things in it and in these cases I solve the dilemma with a nice tag "World", which in fact means everything and nothing, or maybe only that it's not extraterrestrial music :)
Or maybe, in this case, choosing "World" is just right: a few days ago I was in Marseille, France, it was early in the morning and while everyone was sleeping I received on my cell phone the recording of Tatiana's part from Siberia. I listened to it and I replied: "Thank you! Tonight, in Rome,I'll put it all together and I'll let you know".
A few hours later, she was probably walking in a wood when she listened to the finished track I just sent back. Now it seems normal but, just thinking about something like this, until a few years ago it would have seemed impossible...
The wide world has become a small world.

Here the other collaborations with Tatiana: soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

So far so close - with Rosin dust

In a sentimental mood.
Thanks to @Rosindust who, with her talent and versatility, always interprets each of my pieces in such a brilliant way. A source of inspiration and an incentive to my creativity.

Here the other collaborations with Tatiana: soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

Nostalgia

Nostalgia - with Rosin dust

I have always thought that it is easier to compose and touch the listener's emotions with minor clef pieces, with melancholic and thoughtful hints or, at least, it is for me. But sometimes, as a small challenge to myself, I like writing something cheerful, so this is a little ode to joy.
Dedicate to the dear Debra, musician and listener always sensitive to all the nuances and colors of music.
For this piece I played two classical guitars, bass, piano and wrote three digital wind lines for clarinet and saxes. I hope you enjoy it.

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

12/12/2024

Feels like heaven!

The Savage Detectives is  a novel by the Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño.
Between fiction and reality, it talks about the search for the mysterious Cesárea Tinajero, the forerunner of the fictional Mexican avant-garde poetic movement "Visceral realism" by the two founding poets Ulises Lima and Arturo Belano. The plot develops through the eyes of a thousand disparate and unlikely characters and moves to different places around the world, from Mexico to Europe, from the Middle East to Africa. An incredible and  so original novel, like many of Bolaño's works.

Los detectives salvajes

I'm very happy to present a collaboration with Rosin Dust for a new version of Time, in its original title "Sei mia" (You are mine). 
Many many thanks to https://soundcloud.com/rosindust for her amazing, touching performance on violin! 

Here all our collaborations:
https://soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

Sei mia - with Rosin Dust

A couple of years ago I was looking for royalty free video material for another tune when I found a old silent movie, Alice in Wonderland, from 1915. Those fantastic images, full of naif beauty,  inspired me a piece about dreamers. That old version is still there on YouTube. This is a new version for violin with a great interpretation of Rosin Dust. The more we collaborate, the more enthusiastic I am of her lyrical sounds.

Here her amazing music: https://soundcloud.com/rosindust  
Here the footage of the movie, with the old version:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJXapdM4GZ4

For all dreamers

Here all our collaborations:
https://soundcloud.com/francescocartocci/sets/grazie-tatiana?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Composition and all arrangements: Francesco Cartocci

The dreamer - with Rosin Dust

Ciao! I am a bass, double bass and guitar player but I like composing on keyboards too. 
Thank you for listening. Peace!

Francesco Cartocci

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