Reflections

Into the Dark

from 'Carlos Cipa & Sophia Jani - Relive' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den192
available in January on all formats at [denovali.com/carloscipa]

CARLOS CIPA, musician and composer residing in Munich (Germany), has been teaming up with pianist and composer SOPHIA JANI to follow up his highly acclaimed full length debut “The Monarch and the Viceroy“ with a two-piece collaboration record named RELIVE.

Carlos discovered his passion for music very early in his life. At the age of 6 he began taking classical piano lessons with various renowned teachers. Ten years later after he started playing drums in different bands he became more and more interested in composition and improvisation. In the following years he made experiences in different music styles like jazz, hardcore/punk, indie rock and orchestral music. For his debut record on Denovali Records he focused on his main instrument, the piano. Currently, he is studying classical composition at the “University of Music and Performing Arts Munich”.

Since the release of his debut record, Carlos so far shared the stage with marvelous acts like A Winged Victory For The Sullen, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds.

Sophia Jani, being in the beginning of her twenties like Carlos, has discovered her fascination for piano in a similar age. She is classically trained on piano and violin and has deepened her skills at the conservatory of music in Munich before she began studying piano at the conservatory in Bordeaux, France. Sophia left Bordeaux after one year turning away from just interpreting classical pieces to concentrate on writing her own music. Taking this crucial step, a concert of Ludovico Einaudi she attended played an important role. Recently Sophia developed an interest in filmscoring as well as experimenting with vocals. Besides classical composers like Chopin and Ravel, filmmusic especially from Bernard Hermann and Thomas Newman influenced her compositions.

The two pieces “Anouk’s Dream” and “Whatever a Sun Will Always Sing” were written for Carlo’s and Sophia’s performance at the Denovali Swingfest 2013 in Essen. The idea was to jointly compose two piano pieces for four hands, which do not only include playing the ordinary way, but also utilising rather unusual sounds from inside the piano. Carlos and Sophia used all kinds of contemporary techniques to create these sounds, like plucking and beating the strings with their fingers or different kinds of beaters, bowing them with nylon guitar strings, creating harmonics while pressing fingers down on the strings during playing, using the „aeolian harp“-technique (used for the first time by Henry Cowell in 1923) or creating beats on the cast iron frame. Throughout the two tracks nothing other than their combined fingers, the two nylon strings and three different kinds of beaters were used to create the music, the pieces can be played live without using any electronics.

During the recording process of the album RELIVE, neither of the compositions has been changed in any way. They were played exactly as in the live situation, which was a very important theme throughout this collaboration.

Carlos Cipa & Sophia Jani - Whatever A Sun Will Always Sing (Snippet)

Yamaha CP4 - CF6 Get Lucky improv

Hi all,

This track is taken from my forthcoming album Heart Strings, which will be released on 9th May 2015.  This piece was written a couple of years ago, but has been fully remixed.  I hope you enjoy this track.

Follow me on Facebook for details of my forthcoming album... www.facebook.com/EdHaydonMusician

Ed

Hope (from my debut album "Heart Strings")

** Merganzer's first full length album, "Mirror Maze" is now available here: https://merganzer.bandcamp.com **
Wonderful German pianist Nils Frahm has declared March 29th, the 88th day of the year, world "Piano Day" so, in honour of this celebration, here's a sneak preview of a track from Merganzer's upcoming full-length record that makes use of this tender and timeless instrument. 
Merganzer is the new experimental pop project of Violinist Mika Posen (Timber Timbre, Agnes Obel). Most of her music is built around strings and keyboards, but "Ganz Großes Kino" was written and recorded on an old acoustic upright piano late one night in Berlin during the early winter of 2014. String sounds and tape delay were added later on back in Canada.


Ganz Großes Kino

Dedicated to my friend Justine...........

GOLDEN BLACK

A breathtaking cinematic experience from Alejandro G. Iñárritu, The Revenant is the story about a frontiersman named Hugh Glass, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and his quest of revenge when he is abandoned after being unexpectedly mauled by a bear & his son is murdered by the hands of one of his crew, John Fitzgerald (played by Tom Hardy).

This piece is inspired by one of the soundtracks from the film made by several artists. (Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, German electronic musician Alva Noto, and multi-instrumentalist Bryce Dessner)
Info: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21352-the-revenant-ost/
Main Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4oEhmvaC4I

Photo is a still from the film.

It's a damn good movie.

Support

The Revenant

Composer: Behzad Abdi
Virtuoso kiev orchestra
Conductor: Nazar Yakobenchuk

Ascent

The only way to the truth is the way in. This not only leads to the deepest within yourself but to the greatest connection with everything.

Buy this track

The Grail

formally composed for Stanieri, a play by Antonio Tarantino directed by Gianluca Merolli. With Francesco Biscione, Paola Sambo e Gianluca Merolli.

original music: luca longobardi

Yamaha CP4 - CF6 Get Lucky improv

MarkFowler