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Part 2

With more and more musicians creating than ever and more and more of these creations being released, what does this mean for you as an artist in terms of originality? What are some of the areas where you currently see the greatest potential for originality and who are some of the artists and communities that you find inspiring in this regard?

We are all storytellers waiting to happen, it is a constant in human nature: to communicate stories from different approaches and through different tools. I think the main difference is that some use those tools and tell a story for a while but they get bored, they quit; while some others are stubborn, they fail but keep trying: trying new ways, new tools, new stories. 

Originality comes from stubbornness, because nobody can copy a path of learning and knowledge. You can imitate a compositional resource, a rhythm, even an idea; but you cannot ever imitate a personal story. 

To me disciplines as antique as theatre, or as rooted in our contemporary culture as performance or radio are always places for innovation, mainly because they require minimal tools to tell a story. Also because they are commonly forgotten by the masses but are nonetheless populated with new ideas; they are ductile and easily adapt to new forms. They do not compete; they adapt because it is part of their nature.

How strictly do you separate improvising and composing?

To me it's like those games where you link the dots to complete the drawing. The difference lies in the fact that you can link the dots and form the drawing or you can just trust in the fact that the drawing is there even if you do or don’t link the dots. Both ways are equally valid to me.

How do you see the relationship between sound, space and composition and what are some of your strategies and approaches of working with them?  

To the concepts of sound and space I would add another core concept: time. To me, time has a main role in composition. I'm not talking about rhythm or “timing”, but an organic idea of time: the one that has to do with our breathing, the way we talk, our heart beats, the cycles of our own life. That personal changing time has a massive and interesting influence in the composition process, mainly in the ways of listening, and therefore a massive effect in the final composition.

When it comes to space, we must understand that all these rhythms inhabit a space, without space there’s no rhythm. Even a space housing only what we call “silence” keeps a rhythm of its own. The space is also the space of listening, that is, the perspective the listener keeps in relation with the sound, the position. It is also the playground for the sounds.

Just think about a three-dimensional cube: when you put a sound inside of it the waves tend to bounce, to feedback, to reflect, to propagate, to have a constantly changing behavior. Now think of other kinds of containers, a hypercube, a triangle or any other geometry with different dimensions and the sound will behave in totally different ways and will therefore be transformed. 

I try to make decisions about the space and always try to have a drawing as if it were the architectural plan of a building. I try to imagine how that space should be and how I could modify such space for the sound to behave and transform the way I want it to.

What's your perspective on the relationship between music  and other forms of art – painting, video art and cinema, for example – and in how far, do you feel, does music relate to other senses than hearing alone?

I work and share my working space with a totally visual person, the photographer and video artist Daniel Iván. He has a strong visual influence on me. My father is a carpenter, cabinetmaker and photographer and my mom is an artisan, so for me the senses of touch and sight have always been fundamental to understand my surroundings, the beauty, the landscape. 

Perception travels through all the senses but they are never all in alert at the same time; that’s why they complement each other. We are all, at some point in the day, deaf or blind, or have a diminished sense of taste or ignore the wind that hits our face just because our mind is not really paying attention. The actual people that have a permanent handicap in any of the senses become very aware, they pay strong attention, and that’s a huge difference. A deaf person is way more conscious about sound than somebody that can listen, because that person perceives those sounds with other senses, is paying strong attention from different body parts not “meant” to listen.

There are sounds that provoke full body attention. Deep listening is the act of paying attention to the sound with all of our senses, not only our ears. It is an exercise we should be doing and experiencing at least on a daily basis.  

What's your view on the role and function of music as well as the (e.g. political/social/creative) tasks of artists today - and how do you try to meet these goals in your work?

I think we human beings are pretty accustomed to confer roles and functions in a poor way, because we believe that clarifies for us, somehow, the world we are living in. I think both music and sound are ways to communicate, to tell stories, to try to make ourselves eternal, try to place ourselves beyond the boundaries of time. 

If sound and music have a redeemable function it's that; but it doesn’t happen all the time. It is whimsical, sometimes communication is achieved and understood and sometimes it just fades; sometimes it communicates to the listeners and sometimes it is just an inner communication for the artist. It is a combination of time, rhythm, mistake and magic. If you think about it, it is very rare that we achieve communication in a precise way even in our everyday life; we try it throughout the day and if we are lucky we can communicate an idea with a certain level of accuracy. Now imagine how often it could happen in the art world. I think there are certain sounds that are more accurate to communicate certain ideas. The act of communicating is an act of perception and also of transmission. Transmission belongs to the impossible, but no matter what we wake up every morning and give it a new try.

Listening is also an active, rather than just a passive process. How do you see the role of the listener in the musical communication process?

To me the listeners are a mirror; when I raise my right hand they raise their left hand. But we convince each other that we are doing the same.

Active listening is an everyday duty; not because it is an easy task, but because it requires time and concentration. It is something you need to exercise and develop to understand things; not only music or art but the world around us. It helps us to understand a little bit better the place we live in. But it is a conscious act. I consider the people that open themselves to experience the world from that perspective, even if it is for a few minutes during the day, tend to interpret things in unusual ways and that is a beautiful and amazing experience.

Reaching audiences usually involves reaching out to the press and possibly working with a PR company. What's your perspective on the promo system? In which way do music journalism and PR companies  change the way music is perceived by the public?

That process is new to me. I would use a restaurant metaphor: you can be the most amazing chef, but if the place you serve your food at isn’t pleasant, if the menu is not designed properly, if the waiters are unkind or rude, then the experience can be disastrous even if the food is at its top level.

Every artist is trying to share an experience and such experience must be carefully delivered in all of its aspects. PR people are somehow enablers of the experience.

I recently understood that before allowing a third party to take care of such aspects you should first understand and learn to take care of them by yourself. Then, you're ready to better communicate and share with a manager or PR company. 

Do you have a musical vision that you haven't been able to realise for technical or financial reasons – or an idea of what music itself could be beyond its current form? 

Each new work needs a way to be financed and that is always a headache; nonetheless it is part of the process and has a transforming impact on the work. I try as much as possible to ensure that my ideas do not remain mere ideas, but that they become fulfilled. It is a constant struggle. The technical aspect can always be saved but when it comes to finances it can even affect the mood of the work and can even transform it into something completely different.

Visit Sol's website at radio-arte.com/sol-rezza


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