Recorded for the umpteenth and last time on 12 June 2024 in Milan, with Lorenzo Di Biasi (https://www.sartoria57studio.it/).
Previous draft here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/timelines
Picture is from Pietro Corrao.

P.S. Now there is also a song, written on this music by CAB (Bruno Cadillon; here: https://soundcloud.com/bruno-cadillon-847608847/comment-fais-tu-ca-michele-ansanicab and here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/comment-fais-tu-pierre

------

Composed by Michele Ansani (2022).
Posted on SoundCloud: 2024, June 13.

Timelines

Go to the final version: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/bosque-redondo-final-version-2

About the Navajos 'long walk' begun in 1864. 
See, f.e., here: https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/navajo/long-walk/long-walk.cshtml

------

Composed by Michele Ansani (2015).
Posted on SoundCloud: 2024, June 23.

Bosque Redondo

The other day I listened to a piece by my friend Sanshu Seiso (here: https://soundcloud.com/sanshu-seiso/n-techno-sick) and I immediately thought it was perfect for the lyrics of an old, old, old song of mine. I asked him for permission to use his music; he did not object. Thank you Sanshu!
And here we are. 
To better spoil my poor voice, I used a XIAOKOA USB microphone, bought specifically on Amazon for €19.99. Now I try to sell it on eBay.

Unfortunately the 'desription area' does not allow me to insert the Italian text together with its English translation. It would exceed 4000 characters. Well, those who understand Italian won't need to.

Lyrics (ENG)

Monica 
and her night of confetti and nostalgia
embrace each other 
and then break up in a moment of madness
like two old friends 
destined never to be apart
Monica and this night shattered in your hands
Monica with clenched fists tries to sleep
engulfed as always 
by her usual fears
pale like the sun 
like the dreams she will see come back
Monica and this night as icy as the sea

Monica 
with her eyes closed in a room saturated with smoke
the sensation of a broken breath 
the killer's mocking smile
he is dressed in white and perhaps expected 
to be judged a very strange guy
Monica 
and the impression of a failed murder in vain

searches for him with her gaze while he moves
staggering hanging from the centre of a photograph
With sweaty lips he raises his glass
and drinks the last drop of melancholy
and then slips distractedly 
into the arms of the woman he cannot avoid
Monica 
and this night impossible to tell  

Monica 
and her night that began a hundred years before
they fall asleep 
and then wake up at the setting of the same moon
like two summer flowers 
born by chance on the railway edge
Monica and this night without an ounce of poetry
Monica with clenched teeth tries to react
engulfed as always 
By the things she could do
Pale as the sky 
Like the time she will see pass
Monica and this night as icy as the sea 

Monica 
with her eyes closed in a suburban street
the feeling of a strange courage 
the mocking smile of the murderer
she is dressed in black and perhaps expected 
to see him sharper in her viewfinder
Monica 
and the impression of a successful crime in vain

calls out to him softly as he turns
approaching attracted by his perfume
with burnt lips she seeks his mouth
and caresses him hoping that someone is there
and then falls desperately into the arms of the man she cannot save
Monica 
and this night impossible to tell  

but come away 
and put all your grudges out of your mind
you can go back to your glass world 
Alone with your thoughts
Let it be 
This night the first one who can't love you
Play and run along with her 
without letting it touch you

------
Lyrics by Michele Ansani (1982); music by Sanshu Seiso (2024).
Posted on SoundCloud: 2024, July 9.

Just dreams [with Sanshu Seiso] **

Here's another easy, dirty, old strum refreshed somehow in these hot summer days. This used to be a song, but the years have taken the words away and only the initial chords remain in my memory and maybe that of some old friends.

Picture is from Pietro Corrao.

------

Composed by Michele Ansani (2024).
Posted on SoundCloud: 2024, July 28.

Dirty and easy summertime strum

Voice and acoustic guitar: David Dunham
Music composition, piano and electronic strings: Michele Ansani

Those recited by David are verses from one of the most famous poems and one of the greatest Italian poets of the 20th century (Eugenio Montale). They are taken from the collection entitled ‘Ossi di seppia’ ('The bones of cuttlefish'), published in Italy in 1925, and several times translated into English (alone or together with other works by Montale).
Many thanks to David (@david-dunhamuser589535203), who agreed to collaborate on this little creation, also adding his refined guitar phrasing. All the (usual) imperfections are mine.

Cover photo by Peter Zajfrid, "Moody Morning"

---

Lyrics (ENGLISH / ORIGINAL ITALIAN)

Perhaps one morning going alone in the air of glass,
arid, lookin back, I shall see, with the terror
of a drunken man, the making of a miracle:
nothingness at my shoulders, the void behind me.

Then as on a screen, suddenly, trees houses hills
will assemble themselves for the usual deception.
But it will be too late; and I shall go on, quiet,
with my secret, among the men who do not turn

---

Forse un mattino andando in un’aria di vetro,
arida, rivolgendomi, vedrò compirsi il miracolo:
il nulla alle mie spalle, il vuoto dietro
di me, con un terrore di ubriaco.

Poi come s’uno schermo, s’accamperanno di gitto
alberi case colli per l’inganno consueto.
Ma sarà troppo tardi; ed io me ne andrò zitto
tra gli uomini che non si voltano, col mio segreto.

---

Posted on SoundCloud: 2024, August 27.

Perhaps One Morning ...*

A few things to say.
1. Sorry, this song is a long one: more than seven minutes, too many to expect to have listeners desirous to get to the end of a small marathon. Moreover, it is slow (the first refrain only comes after three minutes or so) and sung in Italian (the English translation is available, but it is never the same thing).
2. The photo shows two actors: Bekim Fehmiu and Irene Papas, protagonists of a wonderful TV series (‘Odissea’) aired in 1968. A show that enriched my childhood and conditioned my imagination (and my reading) forever.
3. I have long wished to be able to write a song about that story within the story of Ulysses' wanderings: his return to Ithaca and his failure to be recognised by Penelope. I succeeded in 1994, then producing a few versions of it. I recorded this one a few years ago, the sound quality was not excellent but now I have taken it up again, singing it all over again and changing the arrangement a little. I hoped at least to recreate an atmosphere musically suited to the story evoked.
Female vocals courtesy of Sound Doctrine.

LYRICS 

he speaks softly from afar
and his voice is like a stray dog
like a boat you can barely see
like a moon on a swing
suspended on the edge of a sea wave
he holds his breath to follow his song

she sings and as she sings she has dozed off
he takes her hand and
whispers ‘welcome back into my life, welcome back’

she still sleeps and dreams of making love
with this morning shadow
of these colourless eyes 
came from an icy adventure
of days that smell clean
of all nights and all days
of spells, escapes, memories 
of days lost without desires

and if she will not listen to his words,
if evil will not slip from her heart
then who knows
where the wind will settle him
where he will lose himelf
where he will rest

[Penelope]
"Are you the night that burns
are you this sky that falls on me
are you this ship that arrives
are you this fire congealed inside me
... (You're all I need) ..."

she squints her eyes and moves slowly
as if to let the world to feel
all the weight of this abandonment
of this vanished illusion 
of her infinite sadness
sadness that perfume the nights and days
spent alone with this wound

but he is not only the thought of every morning
he is in the sand in the waves
that have always bounced on the shore
he is the cement of this house
is the receding fear
is the storm ever closer
he is this morning shadow
and she will listen to his words
and the sea will deposit him on her heart
and then who knows
maybe the wind will settle 
the circle will close
and she will recognise him

[Penelope]
"... (You're all I need) ...
are you the night that burns
are you this sky that still falls on me
are you this ship that arrives
are you this fire congealed inside me
are you my eyes you are my hands
are you my lips my skin of today and tomorrow
are you this peace that rises again
are you this home to recapture
this night to rest
... (You're all I need) ..."

------

Lyrics and music by Michele Ansani (1994).
Posted on SoundCloud: 2024, September 15

Nostos (il ritorno di Ulisse) **

Lyrics and music: Michele Ansani (1998).
Inspired by a Robert Musil's short story ("The Perfecting of a Love", 1911).
Cover photo is from Pietro Corrao.

Like some others I have already posted, this is a song from the late 1990s, recorded then with a Korg D8. I remixed the surviving file, working on volume and equalisation after separating the tracks, and adding some stuff. 

LYRICS (ENG / ITA)

nervously looked at the stranger
at that moment his beard lit up for a moment
she guessed there solidity, naturalness
and everything reconnected, she was there...

It flashed in her mind that already other times
The thing had begun in the same way, it was so...
And at the thought for an instant a voluptuous horror touched her
A voluptuous abulic horror
as before a sin yet unnamed

she wondered if he could have noticed
that she was looking at him
and her body filled with a slight sensuality
she seemed to be swimming in darkness before him
dissolved and impalpable like pale foam

so they travelled close
and little by little crept back into her thoughts
that restlessness
she tried to tell herself
that it was only the disturbance
of that sudden solitary journey
among strangers
soon afterwards instead she believed
that it was the wind that enveloped her
in a rigid frost

there was suddenly
a light high and clear on her past
as on an indescribable landscape of mysterious order
was a strange sense of the future
as if everything
that seemed long past
still lived on

furtively she sought the stranger
at that moment his hand for a moment
caressed her
she sensed in it a natural solidity
and everything reconnected
they were there ...

and thought of days
strangely distinct
from all the others
open before them
like a fugue of remote rooms
and joined with a hasty laugh
to the conversation

----

nervosamente guardò lo sconosciuto
in quel momento la sua barba per un attimo s’illuminò
v’indovinò solidità naturalezza
ed ogni cosa si ricollegò, lei era lì…

le balenò in mente che già altre volte
la cosa nello stesso modo incominciò, era così...
ed al pensiero per un istante la sfiorò
un orrore voluttuoso abulico
come davanti a un peccato ancora senza nome

si chiese se potesse essersi accorto
che lei lo guardava
e il suo corpo si colmò di una leggera sensualità
le sembrava di nuotare nelle tenebre davanti a lui
dissolta e impalpabile come pallida schiuma

così viaggiarono vicini
e poco a poco ritornò ad insinuarsi nei suoi pensieri
quell’inquietudine
cercò di dirsi
che era solo il turbamento
di quell'improvviso viaggio solitario
fra gente estranea
subito dopo invece poi credeva
che fosse il vento che l’avvolgeva
in un gelo rigido

vi fu improvvisamente
una luce alta e chiara sul suo passato
come su un paesaggio indescrivibile dall’ordine misterioso
era uno strano senso di futuro
come se tutto ciò
che pareva da lungo tempo passato
vivesse ancora

furtivamente cercò lo sconosciuto
in quel momento la sua mano per un attimo
l’accarezzò
v’indovinò solidità naturalezza
ed ogni cosa si ricollegò
erano lì ...

e pensavano a giorni
stranamente distinti
da tutti gli altri
aperti davanti a loro
come una fuga di stanze remote
e si unirono con un riso precipitoso
alla conversazione

La Conversazione *

Full of imperfections.
To all piano (and music) teachers.

-----

Composed by Michele Ansani (2024)
Posted on SoundCloud: 2024, November 28

Song for Sonni

Update (2025, January 17). As of today, this modest musical composition accompanies a splendid poem by Peter (https://soundcloud.com/user-264930040/all-the-old-little-things-we-have-lost, in the description area, preceded by his illustration of the circumstance). I would like to thank him very much: it is an honour for me.

-----

Composed by Michele Ansani (2024, December).
Posted on SoundCloud: 2024, December 16.

All the old little things we have lost *

The title is just a line in the play of "The Hotel in Amsterdam" (John Osborne, 1968).

Here's one last draft: I've temporarily finished working on this damn track, but I've posted it and then deleted it many times since the beginning of 2024.
Saxophone is courtesy of DopeBozyMusic. 
Cello and Flute: BBC SO (Spitfire Labs).

Cover picture: R. Magritte, La reproduction interdite, 1937 (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam).

----

Composed by Michele Ansani (2024-25).
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, February 7.

Never believe in mirrors and newspapers

Zephyrus abducted and then married the nymph Chloris, transforming her into a goddess: Flora.
The portrait of Flora, together with the scene of the abduction, is depicted in one of the masterpieces of Renaissance art: ‘Primavera’, by Sandro Botticelli (Uffizi Gallery, Florence).

I wrote this song when I was in high school (which means in the mid-70s), so I guess the naivety of the lyrics and the simplicity of the original melody are understandable. Francess (@pianofran : you all know her) worked beautifully on that melody (the archeological version of the song had a definitely different rhythm); we weren't planning to revive the song (the idea was to produce a purely instrumental piece), but the beauty of this piano arpeggio motivated me to give it a try. And so I sang it.
Of course, my gratitude goes to Francess for the magnificent work she has done on this my old music! 🙏

Lyrics (ENG / ITA)

You live in the leaves
of your fears
like a snowdrop
that can never bloom
Sad mechanisms
your tears and your smiles
seek the courage
to break the enchantment

But the wizard who imprisoned you
With golden bracelets
cannot stop the wind
that ruffles your thoughts
and only in little moments
incredulous and light
you imagine that time
listens to your breath

Already the leaves are falling
of your fears
and the wind disperses them
among thousands of plains
Your new smile
like fountain water
chases in the streets
other gazes and new lives

The sky is a hawk
and air a bee
the waters together dance
in your soft fingers
of perfumed musk
you will carry them with you
never more shall you pass
where they still shade
cold, dark bushes

----

Vivi tra le foglie
delle tue paure
come un bucaneve
che non potrà mai fiorire
Tristi meccanismi
i tuoi pianti e i tuoi sorrisi
cercano il coraggio
di spezzare il sortilegio

Ma il mago che ti imprigionò
con braccialetti d'oro
non può fermare il vento
che ti spettina i pensieri
e solo in brevi attimi
incredula e leggera
ti immagini che il tempo
ascolti il tuo respiro

Già cadono le foglie
delle tue paure
e il vento le disperde
fra migliaia di pianure
Il tuo nuovo sorriso
come acqua di fontana
rincorre nelle strade
altri sguardi e nuove vite

Il cielo è un falco
e l'aria un'ape
le acque insieme danzano
nelle tue dita morbide
di muschio profumato
li porterai insieme a te
mai più dovrai passare
là dove ancora ombreggiano
cespugli freddi e scuri

----

Lyrics: Michele Ansani
Music: Michele Ansani & Francess Harris
Piano: Francess Harris
Vocals and arrangement: Michele Ansani
Composed by Ansani & Harris (1976-2025)
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, February 14

Flora [with Francess Harris] *

No need to explain the meaning, I think. 
I'll make new changes to the track at the next historical turn, if I'm still alive.

Sax (from 0:33 to 1:23): Korey Riker, via 'The Message - Hard Bop Jazz' (with my reworking).
Cover photo is from Pietro Corrao.

Composed by Michele Ansani (2018-2025).
Posted on SoundCloud on 2025, February 21.

Old Europe's last dance (final version)

The lyrics translated into Italian are taken from the well-known T.S. Eliot, "The Waste Land". Part IV: "Death by Water".

To give a new and different look to this old track I asked to my (and yours) friends (you know them well: @beatingedge). They improved the mix and above all added an instrumental part, on wich I enjoyed myself with other guitar, pad and cello sounds and parts. Obviously, I thank them immensely, with a special thought for Vampira (aka Mary).

LYRICS (ENG - ITA)

Phlebas the Phoenician,
a fortnight dead,
forgot the cry of gulls,
and the deep sea swell
and the profit and loss.
A current under sea
picked his bones in whispers.
As he rose and fell
he passed the stages of his age and youth
entering the whirlpool.

Gentile or Jew
o you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
consider Phlebas,
who was once handsome and tall as you.

----

Phlebas il Fenicio,
morto da quindici giorni,
dimenticò il grido dei gabbiani
e il fondo gorgo del mare,
E il profitto e la perdita.
Una corrente sottomarina
Gli spolpò l’ossa in mormorii.
Mentre affiorava e affondava
Passò attraverso gli stadi della giovinezza
della maturítà
Procedendo nel vortice.

Gentile o Giudeo
o tu che volgi la ruota e guardi sopravvento,
Considera Phlebas,
che un giorno fu bello e alto come te.

----

Music by Michele Ansani & Beating Edge (1981-2025).
Picture is from James Abbott McNeill Whistler, 'The Ocean Wave' (1883-1884), National Museum of Asian Arts, Washington.
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, March 6

Phlebas il Fenicio [with Beating Edge] *

That guy is me, exactly 50 years ago, after a soccer match. I was a decent, fast young footballer, but I stopped when I went to university. I  didn't grow tired of running after a ball, simply having other things to do; thinking I'd start again sooner or later. It only happened occasionally, over the years. Today I could go back to kicking a ball on a football pitch, but it's unlikely that I'd come out of there alive. And so, officially, I bury that part of my life in the archive of memories and play a little (and not sad) 'requiem'.

Saxophones (reworked by me) are courtesy of Gareth Lumbers (via Komorebi Audio - Sunset Jazz) and Tokyo City Pop Tapes.
Composed by Michele Ansani (2023-2025).
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, March 19.

Requiem for a footballer *

Cover picture: Albert Bierstadt, "Emigrants Crossing the Plains" (1869): an oil on canvas painting of emigrants on their way to Oregon, inspired by a fifty-wagon train of German emigrants who crossed Bierstadt's path during his 1863 expedition.

Although it is very difficult to estimate the total number of European emigrants, it is thought that from the beginning of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, around 30 million people left Europe for the United States.

I reworked in the last days on this not particularly original piece, whose first draft is from 2018.
Femal vocals courtesy by La Boutique Studios Dakar; harmonica by Dust Bowl - Vintage Country.
Composed by Michele Ansani (2018-2025).
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, March 26

Their American dream *

In Euripides' tragedy 'The Suppliants', a group of Argive mothers travels to Eleusis to plead with Theseus, king of Athens, to help them recover the bodies of their sons, who fell during the failed assault on Thebes. The Thebans, in fact, refuse to return the corpses for burial. These mothers, immersed in profound grief, represent the universal symbol of maternal mourning in the face of the loss of their children in war.

Cover picture: Theseus and Amphitrite with Athena looking on. Interior from an Attic red-figure cup, 500–490 BC. Currently housed at the Louvre Museum of Paris (inventory G 105).

Composed by Michele Ansani (2023-2025).
Female vocals courtesy of VOX.
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, April 4.

The Suppliants *

"Dans un voyage, on évolue, on change, on se transforme. Et souvent, on rentre et tout est annulé par le retour".

"During a journey, we evolve, we change, we transform. And often, we return, and everything is undone by coming back"

(Raymond Depardon, Errance, Paris 2000, pag. 40).
From the same work, the cover picture (page 4).

Composed by Michele Ansani (2016-2025).
Sax (reworked by me) is courtesy of Komorebi Audio - Sunset Jazz.
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, April 17.

Everything is undone by coming back *

The axolotl named Julio Cortázar watches Julio Cortázar observing the axolotls swimming in the aquarium.
The sister tracks here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/this-is-them-last-version and https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/this-is-us

Here the short background story:https://ambystoma.uky.edu/teachers_materials/axolitbook/AxolotlByJulioCortazar.html
Picture is from Pietro Corrao.

------

Composed by Michele Ansani (2025)
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, May 1

Is this you? *

When the railway runs along the coast, right beside the sea, there are many tunnels. Sometimes they’re so narrow that two tracks must draw near to one another to pass through. That’s how a strange love story begins between them.
This is a song I wrote around the year 2000, one of my last. I think it has a good mood. I’ve remixed and partially rearranged it.
You can still hear the warm tone of the Washburn, along with the old Yamaha’s sounds (including the flute). The sax — reworked by me  — is kindly provided by Dropgun Samples.
Still, as always, everything is very handcrafted.

Below is the English translation of the lyrics.

They converged at the tunnel’s mouth,
suddenly parallel —
twins of the railway.
They looked at each other, studied each other,
just enough
to not quite grasp
how much the one beside you knows of you.
They hesitated, thinking of the road behind:
companions in adventure,
but now unsure why.
And then they stared at the night gaping inside the tunnel:
a magnificent promise
to be traveled on the thread of fantasy.

“Inside this darkness, maybe we will never part,
under this shadow, maybe you’ll finally know me,
after this night, who knows where you’ll fall asleep —
perhaps closer to the sea…”

They parted at the tunnel’s edge,
but a narrow wall concealed a silence
charged with jealousy,
shaped like fear — fear of that strange kind of courtesy,
fear of the light,
fear of the end of the tunnel.
“Parallel track,
mirror born of the railway,
traitorous twin,
lover made of parody.
Don’t tell me that
after this darkness we’ll never part,
that under this shadow you’ll finally touch me,
that after this night, who knows where you’ll take me —
perhaps down by the sea…”

And at the end of that masterpiece of engineering,
only one of them
came rushing out of the tunnel;
on instinct, he turned and saw
that the sea was beside him,
and under the sea, the sky,
and beneath the sky — who knows what lies...

“After this darkness, surely we will never part,
inside this shadow, surely you’ll let go,
after this night, I cannot say where you’ll fall asleep —
perhaps closer to the sea…”

----

Confluirono all'ingresso della galleria
improvvisamente paralleli 
gemelli della ferrovia.
Si guardarono, si studiarono quel tanto che
non basta a misurare sino in fondo
quello che hai di fianco cosa sa di te.
Indugiarono, pensarono alla strada dietro di sé:
compagni di avventura,
ma ora non capivano perché.
E poi guardarono la notte spalancata nella galleria:
magnifica promessa
da viaggiare sul filo della fantasia

"dentro questo buio forse noi non ci separeremo mai,
sotto questo scuro tu finalmente mi conoscerai,
dopo questa notte poi non so dire dove ti addormenterai,
forse più vicino al mare ..."

Si congedarono sulla bocca della galleria,
ma parete stretta nasconde silenzio
fatto a carica di gelosia,
fatto a forma di paura di quella stranissima cortesia,
paura della luce
paura della fine della galleria.
"Binario parallelo,
specchio generato dalla ferrovia,
gemello traditore,
amante da parodia.
Non dirmi che 
dopo questo buio noi non ci separaremo mai,
che sotto questo scuro tu finalmente mi toccherai,
che dopo questa notte poi chissà dove mi accompagnerai,
forse giù vicino al mare ..."

E alla fine di quel capolavoro di ingegneria,
di loro uno solo
usciva di corsa dalla galleria;
d'istinto si voltò e vide che
c'era il mare di fianco a sé,
e sotto il mare il cielo,
e sotto il cielo chissa cosa c'è ...

"dopo questo buio certo noi non ci separeremo mai,
dentro questo scuro tu sicuramente ti abbandonerai,
dopo questa notte poi non so dire dove ti addormenterai,
forse più vicino al mare ..."

----

Composed by Michele Ansani (1999)
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, May 16

Down by the sea [Viaggio di nozze] *

Composed by Michele Ansani (2025).
Saxophone and female vocals (reworked) are courtesy by Daze of Nostalgia and Cinematic Vocals.
Cover picture: René Magritte, The Art of Conversation (1963).

Posted on SoundCloud:  2025 June 1.

Talking about our lifetime

I had posted a year ago the row version of this track recorded back in 2015 (https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/bosque-redondo)
I thought that, after all these years, it was time to remake it, without altering the melody or the atmosphere.
Regarding the context evoked, see for example here: https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/navajo/long-walk/long-walk.cshtml

Composed by Michele Ansani (2015-2025).
Bansuri is courtesy by Aahro.
Cover photo: Navajo girls at Fort Sumner, Bosque Redondo era, New Mexico, 1864-1868(?). Palace of the Governors Photo Archives, negative number 038208.

RePosted on SoundCloud: 2025, June 16

Bosque Redondo (final version)*

In the previous version (https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/gamma-o) there was excessive sound saturation. I kept only the vocal part (remixed) and redid the piano backing, aiming for a more minimalist result.

Gamma Ø: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_Island_(Greenland)

I think a good English translation of the original lyrics isn’t easy, but I’ll give it a try.

Lyrics [ENG / ITA]

And so we go on
along these parallel routes,
we’ll go farther
without ever moving forward,
for how much longer 
will you walk with me?

And so we sink
into this whirl of sensations,
and over us, you’ll see, 
the water will close again,
for as long as
it will still be enough for us?

And we stay like this
we’ll be fine together,
we’re already far away 
without ever having left

["Willkommen in Düsseldorf, meine Damen und Herren. 
Nach 11 Stunden und 59 Minuten sicher gelandet"].

-----

E proseguiamo così
su queste rotte parallele
andremo più lontano
senza avanzare mai
per quanto ancora
mi accompagnerai?

ed affondiamo così
in questo vortice di sensazioni
e su di noi vedrai l'acqua si richiuderà
per quanto ancora ci basterà

e rimaniamo così
staremo bene insieme
noi siamo già lontani
senza essere partiti mai

["Willkommen in Düsseldorf, meine Damen und Herren. 
Nach 11 Stunden und 59 Minuten sicher gelandet"].

------

Lyrics and music by Michele Ansani (1982). Recorded in 2018 and 2025
Posted on SoundCloud on 2025, July 3.

Gamma Ø *

This is the first in a series of eight easy, acoustic, rather short and inconclusive tracks, which I’ve assembled by working on new and reworking on some old material adding parts and sounds. 
Will anything actually happen in the end? Unlikely. Definitely not here. Here it’s a montage of bare arpeggios in various keys.
I recorded this some weeks ago: sorry about the guitar sound, the string squeak is a bit too much; now, I hope to have fixed that investing in a better and more expensive set of strings.

Part 2 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-2-dawn
Part 3 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-3-noon
Part 4 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-4-late-afternoon
Part 5 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-5-night-again
Part 6 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-6-dawn-again
part 7 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-casa-nothing-happens-part-7

Composed by Michele Ansani (2025).
Female vocals are courtesy by Edm - Silk Vocal Samples.
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, July 15.

In case nothing happens - part 1 (night)*

What was that man dreaming of, the one who played the saxophone the other night? When he finally wakes up, we’ll ask him – though it’s unlikely he’ll ever reply. And if by any chance he were willing to answer, he might say: "Nothing that I can remember, because nothing ever happens in my dreams."

This is the second in a series of eight easy, acoustic, rather short, and deliberately inconclusive tracks, assembled by combining new ideas with reworked older material, adding parts and sounds along the way. 

Part 1 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-1-night
Part 3 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-3-noon
Part 4 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-4-late-afternoon
Part 5 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-5-night-again
Part 6 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-6-dawn-again
part 7 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-casa-nothing-happens-part-7

Composed by Michele Ansani (2025) (a partial remake of this: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/johans-aceleration-check-the-description).
Female vocals courtesy of Function Loops.
Ambient and radio sound effects sourced from Pixabay.
Posted on SoundCloud: August 2, 2025.

In case nothing happens - part 2 (dawn)*

Not everyone is on holiday, even in the heat of summer. Some still work while the city falls silent, stretched under a long, empty day. I can’t tell if the man expects something to happen; to me, it feels like nothing will happen today either. Anyway, everything's good.

This is the third in a series of eight easy, acoustic, rather short, and deliberately inconclusive tracks, assembled by combining new ideas with reworked older material, adding parts and sounds along the way.

Part 1 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-1-night
Part 2 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-2-dawn
Part 4 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-4-late-afternoon
Part 5 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-5-night-again
Part 6 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-6-dawn-again

Composed by Michele Ansani (2020-2025 - this is a remake with a lighter sound and standard guitar tuning of a piece I already posted last year: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/imperfections).
All the ambient noises are taken from public sound archives. Female vocals are courtesy by Black Octopus.
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, August 23.

In case nothing happens - part 3 (noon)*

So, our friend (assuming he really is our friend) is no longer alone at home. The work week is over, it’s been a hard one. Maybe for both of them: for him, and for the woman now leaning out the window. There’s a touch of unease in the air, and it’s not necessarily connected to how things are going between them. Maybe something is about to happen. Or maybe not. The only sure thing is that they’re not interested in finding out.

This is the fourth in a series of eight easy, acoustic, rather short, and deliberately inconclusive tracks, assembled by combining new ideas with reworked older material, adding parts and sounds along the way. This time I struggled to make it to the end, adding and removing, changing and restoring and working to the mix. I probably messed things up a bit (thirty recorded tracks, twenty of them muted...), but never mind.

Part 1 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-1-night
Part 2 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-2-dawn
Part 3 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-3-noon
Part 5 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-5-night-again
Part 6 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-6-dawn-again
part 7 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-casa-nothing-happens-part-7

Composed by Michele Ansani (2025).
All the ambient noises are taken from public sound archives. Saxophone is courtesy by Diamond Hues. Male vocals are mine, female by Spitfire Labs.
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, September 19.

In case nothing happens - part 4 (late afternoon)*

[I accidentally removed the track. Sorry about that - those who have already listened can just move on].
Unfortunately, the connection has dropped, and we cannot be sure what is happening in the apartment where, at such a late hour, the light is still on. Probably nothing; they’re likely watching a film or reading a book. They might be projecting their reactions outward, and what we see could therefore be nothing more than the reflection of someone else’s nightmares — or dreams. Certainly, we have now reached a turning point: nothing can any longer be regarded as real, or the opposite... (all talk!).

This is the fifth in a series of eight easy, acoustic, rather short, and deliberately inconclusive tracks, assembled by combining new ideas with reworked older material, adding parts and sounds along the way. 

Part 1 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-1-night
Part 2 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-2-dawn
Part 3 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-3-noon
Part 4 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-4-late-afternoon
Part 6 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-6-dawn-again
part 7 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-casa-nothing-happens-part-7

Composed by Michele Ansani (2023-2025). This time I simply redid a piece I had posted in the spring of last year, slightly changing the atmosphere: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/overlays
All the ambient noises and female vocals are taken from public sound archives.
Posted on Souncloud: 2025, October 16 and reposted on November 4.

In case nothing happens - part 5 (night again)*

I think it’s just the music playing over the end credits of the old film (obviously titled "In case nothing happens") our two friends (assuming they really are our friends) were watching before falling asleep. So there’s nothing to worry about: nothing has happened. It’s not a real alien invasion, nor is it the end of our civilization. Or maybe it’s not a film at all, but a live breaking news broadcast? If that were the case, and if something really had happened, I still don’t think we should be sad or angry, desperate or ready to run away. Let’s stay positive! (all talk, of course...).

This is the sixth in a series of eight easy, acoustic, rather short (except for this one), and deliberately inconclusive tracks, assembled by combining new ideas with reworked older material, adding parts and sounds along the way. Since the perspective has changed, the meaning of the music had to change as well, so I moved from an acoustic guitar base to a piano one.

Part 1 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-1-night
Part 2 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-2-dawn
Part 3 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-3-noon
Part 4 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-4-late-afternoon
Part 5 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-5-night-again
part 7 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-casa-nothing-happens-part-7

Composed by Michele Ansani (2022-2025). I reworked on the chords and melodies from an old track I didn’t like, which had remained only in draft form: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/slowness.
All the ambient noises and female vocals are taken from public sound archives.
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, November 25.

In case nothing happens - part 6 (dawn again)*

[It’s definitely not a Christmas song, but the mood should feel acceptably Christmassy].

A few years ago I tried setting this text to music; it’s very well known here among students because it is considered one of the earliest attestations of the Italian language. Discovered on an inner leaf of a liturgical codex preserved in Verona, it was written between the 8th and 9th centuries by an anonymous hand. It is regarded as a “riddle” (see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronese_Riddle), generating an enormous amount of scholarship. 
To me, its musicality is evident. 

Compared to the version I recorded in 2018 (I had posted it on YouTube, where it still is), based on the Washburn and the sounds of my old Yamaha, I added some VSTs and re-equalized the vocals. Back then, multiplying the vocal tracks was the most fun part, in order to obtain a choral effect. What came out is what I would call a “false traditional folk song".

The cover illustration is found on one of the opening pages of an 11th-century manuscript preserved at the British Library (Cotton MS Tiberius B. V — see here: https://www.imagesonline.bl.uk/asset/12286/).

Text (original / english translation)

Se pareba boves
alba pratalia araba
et albo versorio teneba
et negro semen seminaba

He led oxen in front of him
ploughed white fields
And held a white plough
And sowed black seed

Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, December 16.

The Riddle*

Often the images we see portray reality. Sometimes they merely represent it; increasingly, they falsify it. So it’s difficult to comment on this one. Did something really happen? How could that house have flown (or how could it have been rebuilt) on Mars? The man is calmly playing his saxophone, so we might imagine that he’s happy, or at least in peace. So it’s possible that it’s just a fake scenario, a cardboard backdrop and nothing more. Actually, that’s almost certainly the case. Or isn't it? I don’t know.

This is the seventh in a series of eight easy, acoustic, rather short and deliberately inconclusive tracks, assembled by combining new ideas with reworked older material, adding parts and sounds along the way. 
Part 1 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-1-night
Part 2 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-2-dawn
Part 3 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-3-noon
Part 4 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-4-late-afternoon
Part 5 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-5-night-again
Part 6 here: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/in-case-nothing-happens-part-6-dawn-again

Composed by Michele Ansani (2016-2025). The previous version (here reworked) of this one: https://soundcloud.com/michele-ansani/morning-light.
All the ambient noises and female vocals are taken from public sound archives. The sax is kindly provided by DopeBoysMuzic.
Posted on SoundCloud: 2026, January 2.

In case nothing happens - part 7 (Away)*

Update (January 2, 2026). 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MagLpl21qdY
I’ve posted the entire suite “In case nothing happens” on YouTube, including part 8, that is still missing here, accompanied by a very simple video.


Hello! I’m a university professor of history who enjoys playing guitar and piano/keyboard, and occasionally composing — unpretentiously, just for fun. I’ve been here for at least 10 years, but only recently have I started using the platform for something other than just external digital storage.
Most of my recordings (made with a KorgD8, Audacity, and more recently Reaper for MIDI and the Spitfire Audio libraries) are entirely homemade and decidedly imperfect. My music includes old songs (all written back in the last century; here I’ve only shared the ones I’ve reworked in recent years) as well as both old and new instrumentals.
Thanks for stopping by and giving something a listen; in the description you’ll often find explanatory notes or translations of the lyrics.

Here I’ve discovered a community of talented musicians and songwriters, and plenty of beautiful music to enjoy. Whenever I like, comment, or repost a track, it’s always the result of attentive listening. For the same reason, I’m not interested in trading empty “likes” without real engagement, and I won’t reply to messages from would-be promoters — follower counts don’t matter to me in the slightest.

Update (2024, September 9). Completed the "AI & (fake) songwriting project". Here: https://soundcloud.com/mick-hansan 

I've posted some 'live' homemade performance here: https://www.instagram.com/michele_ansani/

Michele Ansani

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