Interview PTOSE PRODUCTION 1983 from ADN FANZINE N 5

                           

The word Ptôse is a medical term used to define a prolaps of the abdominal organs, due to a relaxation of the diaphragm and of the thoracic and abdominal muscles. Normally the word is tied to the notion of fall, subsidence and laxity.

Ptôse (Production) was founded in 1980 during winter hollidays by two brothers Benoit and Lionel. They just started recording a cassette using two tape recorders, musical toys, old instruments and various objects.

The cassette was " Boule (viens ici!)". This cassette was given to friends as a new year gift...Since P.P. received many encouragements (even from The Residents)  they decided to keep up their musical activities and to create an indipendent cassette company "Ptôse Production Présente".

P.P.P. started releasing only Ptôse Production recordings, but as the band became more popular some other musicians began to partecipate to the studio sessions (Erika Irganon,ZZe...).

So P.P.P.began to release compilation tapes : the "Assemblee Generale" series which featured bands and individuals from all over the world.

During the recordings of their third tape "Seigneur des mouches" the band was contacted by Jean Pierre Turmel (Sordide Sentimental) who requested their partecipation to his magazine "Isolation Intellectuelle". The included single was produced by John Jean Cabanis who was working at the time with Erika Irganon. 1100 copies were printed in 1981.With John Jean they also published a mini-LP including new mixes of the first tape tracks. The cover was hand printed and 101 copies were sold. A few months later P.P.P. released "Hand made electronics" which was a success abroad along with it's follow-up "Apparaitre/a paraitre". Then the band started to work on "Moxisylite N" a cassette in a special case looking just like a pill box.....

                                         

This tape was very appreciated in Japan and a lot of contacts were established with local musicians like Geso, Omnyck,Kennichi Takeda). With their help P.P. released the compilation "Random Choice" through Pinakotheca Records..and partecipated to "Infecund Infection" a  Compilation  Lp also released by Pinakotheca Records.

What do you think about progressive music in France?

We think that "progressive music" in France is alive and well living, although most of French critics and even the public ignore it! But probably it's because we are shy and we don't want to attract attention!

Anyway people like Déficit Des Années Antérieures , Bain Total, Un Départment or P.P.P. should associate themselves to be more efficient or active.. That's why we have met DDAA and Bain Total sometimes ago talking about this type of collaboration and they were very interested. So I think we will work together in the next future.....

       

Is Home-made music important for you?

All our works (except the more recent ones like "Poisson soluble") are home-made recordings. Working at home is easier for people not knowing much about music theories and techniques. Working at home allows us to spend all the time we need to, and also to work at random. As I told you "Poisson soluble" was recorded in an eight-track studio and it sounds much different. So we will return to work at home and we will go to the studio only to record the final version. It's better! Because the time it normally takes is a way to improve the final result.

How did you start to make "Assemblée Generale"?

We begun to publish A.G. because lots of bands were sending us cassettes of their music to be edited and obviously we didn't have the financial capacity to do it....

But considering that some were very interesting we decided to do a yearly international compilation called "Assemblée Generale". So we asked to the bands to contribute with a track and to buy some copies at cost price.In exchange we distribute the compilation (including their address) through our world extended network. A.G. is a good way to put in contact isolated bands or individuals, it's a sort of panorama of the alternative international scene (not exhaustive off course!)

Do you like to play concerts?

We like to play in front of an audience, but what we don't like is to organize the concerts ourselves....So we only play live when friends or organisations propose us to do it in good conditions.

Anyway we think that concerts are a good way to let people know about our music.

           

What you feel about being brothers doing the same kind of music?

Being brothers allows a great complicity. We can improvise together with much more unity and higher feeling considering that we are very close from a musical point of view.

What do you think about the Residents?

Well.... Heem...You surely have guessed that they are one of our major influences.. But this more through their humour than through their music or their image.

Why dou you produce your music yourself?

This in order to get the technical and financial control of what we like to do without any external intermission.

Do you play live very often?

Not very often,but since a few months we are playing more than ever....And now we are ready to play abroad (in good technical conditions off course!). So if you know someone who would like to organize one or more performances just tell them to contact us!

Who were your Japanese contacts?

We have very good contacts with Japanese musicians, expecially through the labels 5th Column and Pinakhoteca Records who collect the most open minded Japanese musicians.All our tapes are greatly appreciated and we are collaborating through mail with musicias like Onnyk (Ice 9) or Geso (5th Column) who really do intersting things.

                           

Who are your musical favourites?

Lionel: Residents, Nino Rota, Colin Newman, Ghedalia Tazartes, Throbbing Gristle, Pere Ubu, DDAA, Phew......

Benoit: Jonathan Richman, The Modern Lovers, Tom Tom Club, Talking Heads, Lizzy Mercier Desclouds, Television, Ohio Express....

ZZe: Charle Trenet, Snakefinger, Maurice Chevalier, Bobby Lapointe, Kas Product.....

                   

Which kind of music do you prefer?

Lionel: I like very much classical music , the earliest blues and jazz recordings and  ethnical music but I don't have enough time to listen to it.I don't like disco music because excepting some sound researches it has nothing interesting.

Benoit: I like classical, jazz and some funky stuff.

ZZe: I like old fashioned "Chanteurs de charme".I mean French crooners like Maurice Chevalier.

What do you think about alternative music?

We think that there is not an real unity in alternative music scene, only some relations between some musicians.But we don't think the world "alternative" is the right one. There isn't a real choice to do, you can listen or play both "commercial and alternative" without any contradiction.

Do you feel excluded from the musical scene not living in a big town?

Not at all! On the contrary, being far from big cities we are not under any kind of pressure, and the influence of the media is very weak.The only problem comes from the technical part of our job (studios,distribution etc....)

In reality do you take music as a game?

Yes! you've guessed right! First of all music is a play and a game. I suppose it's obvious when you listen to our music.....

What do you think about industrial music?

We like T.G. and few other industrial bands, but too much people is the same thing in this area.We think that industrial bands that are really interesting are the ones who can play live and compose with the public.An action, a relation with the audience is necessary for this kind of music.....Most of the recordings are less impressive than a good live performance (this even concerning T.G.)

And what about old French progressive bands?

We don't know very much about old progressive French bands, and we don't like very much what we know.They are too much in musical virtuosity, nothing to do with our philosophy.

                                                

Why did you choose to make cassettes instead of records?

Cassettes are only for limited audiences.....nearly friends.With records you touch a larger public.But records need a special organisation (distribution etc.....), so you should better use the service of professionals...We are not ready for this at the moment.Anyway a major company has proposed us to make a record in a few months.. but we have not taken a decision yet. Let's see...

Do you earn some money from your music?

We are amateurs!We don't earn any money from our music neither with P.P.P. cassettes. We have other activities.

Who would you like to have in your band?

Not any musician in particular, but some of our favourite singers as David Thomas, Mona Soyoc or Phew... Anyhow not Eno!

Do you like interviews?

We are rather wild and shy, so... We don't like questions!

New interview with GIOVANNI VENOSTA

Could you tell us something about principal steps of your career as film soundtracks

composer ?

 I started to attend diligently cinemas around 17  with my school friends Giorgio Garini (now documentarist and assistant director of Silvio Soldini) and Aldo Fittante (now film critic) : I remember  that the sights of “Kings of the Road” and “Alice in the cities”(with the music of beloved Can) by Wenders were a true revelation, as was “Aguirre: The wrath of god” by Herzog (with the music of another cult group like Popol Vuh). After my first Lp “Olympic Signals” and the first works with Roberto Musci published by Recommended Records, in 1989 I had the possibility to work for cinema, with “ L’aria serena dell’ovest “ the first “official” film of Silvio Soldini. This awakened  the interest  of CAM  a publishing house specialized in soundtracks (Rota, Morricone, Bacalov, Fusco, etc.) that supported  me economically producing most of my further movies soundtracks. This support stopped  in 2010 when CAM sold its whole catalogue to Sugar closing down the production of soundtracks. In 2000, after  “Bread and Tulips” (Golden Ciak for the best soundtrack) my “career” started to consolidate a little bit. In fact I began working  with other renown Italian and foreign directors: among others the Brasilian directors Goldman (“Princesa”) and Jorge (“Estômago”), and Italian directors Pau (“Pesi leggeri”) and Faenza (“Il caso dell'infedele Klara”). I received three nominations to David of Donatello for “Burning in the wind”, “Agata and the storm” and “Days and Clouds” by Silvio Soldini and one for the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize for “Estômago”. Starting from 2002 most of the films participating to “Locarno Film Festival” are introduced by a signature tune of my composition.

How do you create your soundtracks? First of all you watch the film, you compose watching the film or you don’t watch the film at all?

Usually I start to work to first musical essays after the sight of some pre-assembled scenes, unless we need a piece that has to be utilized during shootings. That happened during the shootings of “Bread and Tulips”, in the tango scene  where Bruno Ganz  acts like singing. The most difficult thing is to find  a common musical alphabet and territory with the director, that permits a real confrontation in order to define the area of intervention. Sometimes we do it listening  in an abstract way to some already released music, or with the utilization of “temporary soundtracks” which are pieces temporarily  assembled to images by the director in order to give me a reference, this with all its ups and downs. Sometimes I used composition and taping techniques coming from my most experimental works, guided improvisations or even  proceedings of electro-acoustical elaboration of sonic material.

Which is your  soundtrack you feel more related to ?

 Difficult to say… For example in “Acrobats” I proposed with success to sound close to the musical world of Iva Bittova. In “Burning in the wind” I was able to perform an incisive mix of classical music with folk and rock. But I think  that mainly with the soundtrack of “Estômago” I had a close relationship of great mutual confidence with the director (and naturally the film editor) that gave me the possibility to obtain a complete and variegated result.

 What kind of affinity did you develop with Silvio Soldini, the director  you’re working with regularly?

I have to say that also after so many films together the affinity, you mention, is something you have to re-build and re-confirm each time , project after project. I think I can undoubtedly affirm that we have similar musical and cinematographic tastes… this surely helped in a way.

When do you think you will be able to do a soundtrack of a film or a documentary by Werner Herzog, as you wished in our interview of 20 years ago?

As you probably remember I gave personally  two of my Lp’s (in collaboration with Roberto Musci) to the Maestro after his conference at the Anteo Cinema in Milan. I wonder  if he ever heard them.. anyhow recently he is collaborating with a great and original musician like Ernst Reijseger, so that I  have nothing to object on his musical tastes.

Mamud Band, Sonata Islands e diSturb und Drang are something like  “divertissements” or are they part of your musical polyhedricity ?  I think that the problem you had in playing live music is now brilliantly surpassed….

In order to play at such level you have to be hard at it, studying and repeating as a fool… so no divertissments !!! All jokes aside, even if “in old age”, through these  projects I understood  that you can play live without “suffering” too much. My opposition about it , as you know, came mainly from  Glenn Gould’s matrix (mutatis mutandis). But if you are able to ride over mistrust and, indeed, the suffering caused by the (unavoidable?) imperfections of “live” exhibitions , you can access  to another level of personal experience.

 In reality, I needed to free myself (yet I wasn’t able to do it completely ) from psychological constrictions  of hyper- perfectionism coming from my classical studies..

Could you speak us about the evolution of these three projects?

Concerning Mamud Band I can say that afro-beat, the music of Black  Africa in general and funk were among my usual preferred listenings. I started to free this kind of musical “energy”( in fact this is what it is) I had in myself and so I just had it! And I assure you that bringing people to go wild playing in a group of 10 players it’s a great pleasure. Furthermore considering that  I’m coming from an intellectual avant-garde experience . With Sonata Islands (we recently added  “Kommandoh” to the name ) and  with the  project diSturb und Drang with Roberto Zanisi and Giovanni Falzone  I just gave life, with the right partners , to the some of the closest aspects of my musical passions. With the first group , we dared to execute live the music of Christian Vander’s Magma re-arranging the original compositions for a quintet, and adding some others written pieces following the same “esprit”. With the second group we started a repertory without genre limits, exactly in the vein of my listenings. All this with great quantity of rhythm, virtuosity and the right foulness.

You are one of the few musicians I know , with a huge  curiosity about  what the other musicians in the world are doing. Do you think this has an important influence on the evolution of your music?

This is inevitable. I think that one of my main characteristics is an unrestrained, even insane curiosity. This moved me as a child to listen to a variety of musical stimulations sitting on my home couch, and as a grown man  to visit all  the hidden places in the world  simply in order to discover the “Other”.

Do you think Italian music scene changed during last 20 years or do you have the same opinion about  it?

I don’t remember exactly what my opinion was, but I can tell you which are Italian musicians that I followed with more interest during last years :Fausto Romitelli, a sublime composer, who unfortunately recently died when he only was 40; concerning  avant-rock, Yugen, who are at present at the top of international  “prog”, Zu, Roy Paci’s “Corleone”, Alberto Turra; concerning  jazz the already mentioned Giovanni Falzone, Francesco Cusa, Simone Zanchini. As  executors, the ensemble Sentieri Selvaggi who has became  a guarantee in its domain.

Are you still watching around 200 films per Year?

Yes, but with different modality. Probably even more than that, not so often in cinemas, where I can’t stand anymore dubbed films. So I try to find the originals during Cinema Festivals or in the net. Recently I also liked some television series  (also  animated) that , when not being artificially dilated, propose some moments of true originality, like “Utopia”, “Dexter”, “Homeland” o “Lost”. Being far back a member of the Jury of David of Donatello I watch  regularly around 40 Italian films per year.

Which are the cinematographic movements that raised your interest recently?

I can’t speak about movements , but rather about  some works of single directors. So here are the names of those directors  who, I think, kept a better qualitative continuity through their  activity: Tarantino, Lynch, Von Trier, Gondry, P.T. Anderson, Kim Ki-duk, Solondz, Audiard, Dardenne, Garrone, Wong Kar Wai, Miyazaki, Leigh, Herzog (in documentaries), Sokurov, van Warmerdam, Ozon, Hillcoat, Bong Joon-ho, Roy Andersson, Jonze.

Is there any film whose soundtrack you had liked to do?

Usually when I like a film I also like its soundtrack so I would answer like this: I think that there is a director whose attitude towards soundtracks I admire even if he changes composer and it is Paul Thomas Anderson. So collaborating  with Jon Brion or with Jonny Greenwood (both excellent) he surely gave them the correct directives , the necessary freedom and the right amount of expressive autonomy. Theoretically  I’d surely like to set to music  his next film. If I had to mention a soundtrack I loved very much , and that I couldn’t imagine in a so original and effective manner, it’s the music of recent English TV series “Utopia” by composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer.

Which are your future projects?

First of all to continue to survive with my work(musician, composer) as I did till now. It sounds like a provocation, but lately, I see many good musicians struggle and even succumb. This causes me some anxiety…. If I think that every time we start a project, we write, we study, we repeat for months just to play it only twice in front of an audience, in addition for ridiculous loans, It makes me sick! Our work is becoming a nice hobby for rich people.

But never mind, we keep on, unconsciously  and head down: I’m preparing the new signature tune of Locarno Film Festival , the new repertory  of Sonata Islands Kommandoh (including  De Futura of Jannick Top, help!). Always with Sonata Islands we are starting another project, with the name “Nippon Eldorado”: with the help  of polyhedric voice of Sarah Demagistri, the repertory will be characterized by the attempt to reproduce some pieces of the golden period of Japanese avant-rock (folk) of 80/90! I transcribed and re-arranged from the records for a sextet some pearls of Wha Ha Ha, After Dinner, Jun Togawa, Phew, e Kiyohiko Senba. In order to translate the words I was helped by a linguist friend  from Friuli who lives in Tokyo.

Finally, I’m waiting to restart writing soundtracks for films, with projects that are continuously postponed also for years.  Hurrah!

 

  And now Italian Version:

 

Ricordaci le principali tappe della tua carriera come compositore di musica per cinema.

Intorno ai 17 anni, con i compagni di scuola Giorgio Garini (futuro documentarista e aiuto regista di Soldini) e Aldo Fittante (futuro critico cinematografico) comincio a frequentare le sale sempre più assiduamente: mi ricordo che le visioni di “Nel corso del tempo ” e “Alice nelle città” (con la musica degli ancora amatissimi Can) di Wenders furono una rivelazione, insieme ad “Aguirre furore di Dio” di Herzog (con la musica di un'altro gruppo di culto, i Popol Vuh). Dopo il primo lp autoprodotto “Olympic signals” e i primi lavori con Roberto Musci pubblicati da Recommended Records, ecco che nel 1989 mi si prospetta la possibilità di lavorare per il cinema, con “L'aria serena dell'ovest”, il primo film “ufficiale” di Silvio Soldini. Da lì arriva l'interessamento della casa editrice CAM, specializzata in colonne sonore (Rota, Morricone, Bacalov, Fusco, ecc.) che mi “assiste” economicamente, di fatto producendo molti dei miei successivi lavori con il cinema, fino alla vendita del proprio catalogo alla Sugar e alla chiusura delle produzioni di colonne sonore nel 2010. Nel 2000, dopo “Pane e tulipani” (Ciak d'oro per la migliore colonna sonora) la mia “carriera cinematografica” si consolida giusto un pochino, arrivando a lavorare con altri registi italiani e stranieri di un certo prestigio: tra gli altri, i brasiliani Goldman (“Princesa”) e Jorge (“Estômago”), e gli italiani Pau (“Pesi leggeri”) e Faenza (“Il caso dell'infedele Klara”). Ricevo tre nominations ai David di Donatello per “Brucio nel vento”, “Agata e la tempesta” e “Giorni e Nuvole” di Soldini e una al Grande Premio del cinema brasiliano per “Estômago”. Dal 2002 quasi tutte le pellicole in concorso al Festival di Locarno sono precedute da una sigla con la mia firma.

 

 

Quale è il procedimento compositivo delle tue colonne sonore? Prima vedi il film, componi vedendo il film o non vedi il film per niente?

Di solito si procede alla stesura dei primi provini musicali dopo aver visto un pre-montato di alcune scene, a meno che non si abbia la necessità di avere un brano che già serve durante le riprese, come nel caso di “Pane e Tulipani”, nel tango che Bruno Ganz fa finta di cantare nel finale. La cosa più difficile all'inizio è trovare con il regista un territorio e un alfabeto musicale comune, che permetta di confrontarsi concretamente e quindi delimitare il campo d'intervento. Ogni tanto lo si fa ascoltando astrattamente insieme della musica già edita oppure anche con l'utilizzo delle cosiddette “temporary soundtracks”, cioè dei brani che il regista e/o il montatore appoggiano provvisoriamente sulle immagini e ai quali poi il compositore deve fare riferimento, con tutti i vantaggi e i problemi del caso. Ogni tanto mi è capitato di utilizzare anche alcune tecniche compositive e di registrazione provenienti dai miei lavori puramente musicali più sperimentali, come l'improvvisazione guidata o procedimenti di elaborazione elettro-acustica del materiale sonoro.

Quale è la colonna sonora a cui sei più legato e perché?

 Difficile dire...Per esempio ne “Le acrobate” avevo proposto con successo di avvicinarci al mondo musicale di Iva Bittova. In “Brucio nel vento” credo di essere riuscito a fondere piuttosto efficacemente la musica classica con il folk e il rock, ma forse è soprattutto con la colonna sonora di “Estômago” che con il regista (e il montatore) c'è stato un rapporto di notevole fiducia reciproca, tale da consentirmi di creare un risultato davvero variegato e completo.

Qual è il tuo rapporto di affinità con Silvio Soldini , il regista per cui hai composto più colonne sonore?

Anche dopo così tanti film fatti insieme, l'affinità, come tu dici, è una cosa che va costruita e riconfermata volta per volta, progetto per progetto. Credo di poter affermare che abbiamo gusti cinematografici e musicali abbastanza simili...ciò ha senz'altro aiutato.

                                            





E a quando la colonna sonora di un film o documentario di Werner Herzog, di cui si parlava nella ns. intervista di 20 anni fa?

In occasione di una conferenza a Milano all'Anteo, forse ricorderai che al Maestro riuscii a dare brevi manu i primi due miei due lp con Musci. Chissà se li ha mai ascoltati...Comunque negli ultimi anni ha scelto di collaborare con un musicista di tale levatura e originalità, Ernst Reijseger, che proprio non mi sento di fargli alcun appunto.

                                                                 

Mamud Band, Sonata Islands e diSturb und Drang sono dei divertissements o fanno parte della tua poliedricità musicale? Mi sembra che il problema di suonare la tua musica dal vivo tu l’abbia brillantemente superato...

Per suonare a quel livello bisogna darci dentro, studiando e provando come dei matti...altro che divertissements!!! A parte gli scherzi, anche se a “tarda età”, attraverso questi progetti ho capito che si può anche suonare dal vivo senza “soffrire” troppo. Le mie resistenze, come sai, erano soprattutto di matrice gouldiana (mutatis mutandis). Se si riesce a superare la diffidenza e, appunto, la sofferenza determinata dalle (inevitabili?) imperfezioni delle esibizioni “live”, ecco che si può accedere anche a un altro livello di esperienza personale. In realtà, dovevo liberarmi (e non ci sono ancora riuscito del tutto) dalle costrizioni psicologiche iper-perfezionistiche ereditate dagli studi classici.

                     

Ci puoi parlare dell’evoluzione di questi tre progetti?

Per quanto riguarda Mamud Band posso dire che l'afro-beat, la musica della Africa nera più in generale e il funk sono sempre stati tra i miei ascolti prediletti. Non ho fatto altro che dare libero sfogo a questo tipo di “energia” musicale (perché di ciò si tratta) e il gioco è fatto. E ti assicuro che suonare in un gruppo di 10 elementi, riuscendo a far scatenare anche gli spettatori, per uno come me che viene da un côté piuttosto intellettuale e avant-garde, è una gioia non da poco. Con Sonata Islands (alla qual dicitura abbiamo di recente aggiunto la parola “Kommandoh”) e con il progetto diSturb und Drang con Roberto Zanisi e Giovanni Falzone non ho fatto altro che dar vita, una volta trovati i giusti collaboratori, all'aspetto più intimamente legato alle mie passioni musicali: col primo, l'osare eseguire dal vivo la musica dei Magma di Christian Vander, riarrangiandone per quintetto alcune composizioni originali, accostandone altre scritte appositamente con lo stesso “esprit”, mentre col secondo abbiamo dato vita a un repertorio senza confini di genere, esattamente come procedono da sempre i miei ascolti musicali. Il tutto condito da una notevole dose di ritmo,  virtuosismo e giusta follia.

 

 

                     



Tu sei uno dei pochi musicisti che conosco, con una grande curiosità per quello che fanno gli altri musicisti in giro per il mondo. Pensi che questo incida in maniera importante sull’evoluzione della tua musica?

Non potrebbe che essere così. Credo che una delle mie principali caratteristiche sia una sfrenata, quasi insana curiosità. Curiosità che non si è limitata fin da bambino ad ascoltare seduto su un divano una miriade di stimolazioni sonore, ma che anche attivamente mi ha fatto viaggiare in tutti gli angoli del mondo semplicemente per scoprire l'Altro.

                                                        

Sulla scena italiana è cambiato qualcosa rispetto a 20 anni fa o la tua opinione è sempre la stessa?

Non mi ricordo con precisione qual era la mia opinione, comunque se vuoi sapere quali sono i musicisti italiani che negli ultimi anni ho seguito con maggiore attenzione, questi principalmente sono: Fausto Romitelli, un grandissimo compositore, scomparso ahimè di recente a soli 40 anni; in ambito avant-rock, gli Yugen, al momento ai vertici del “prog” internazionale, gli Zu, il progetto di Roy Paci “Corleone”, Alberto Turra; in ambito jazz il già citato Giovanni Falzone, Francesco Cusa, Simone Zanchini. Come esecutori, l'ensemble Sentieri Selvaggi è da tempo diventato una certezza.

                                                                       

Vedi ancora 200 film all’anno?

Direi di sì, ma con una diversa modalità. Forse ne vedo anche di più, ma molto molto meno in sala, dove non sopporto più i film doppiati, che vado a recuperare in lingua originale durante le panoramiche dei Festival oppure in streaming in rete. Ultimamente fanno capolino anche alcune serie televisive (anche di animazione) che, quando non allungano troppo il brodo, possono arrivare a proporre veri momenti di originalità, come “Utopia”, “Dexter”, “Homeland” o “Lost”. Essendo da tempo giurato dei David di Donatello vedo con una certa regolarità una quarantina di film italiani all'anno.

Quali sono le cinematografie o i registi che più ti hanno colpito negli ultimi vent’anni?

Non so se posso parlare di intere cinematografie, ma piuttosto di alcune opere di singoli registi.  Ecco alcuni tra coloro che a mio parere hanno mantenuto nel tempo una maggiore continuità qualitativa: Tarantino, Lynch, Von Trier, Gondry, P.T. Anderson, Kim Ki-duk, Solondz, Audiard, Dardenne, Garrone, Wong Kar Wai, Miyazaki, Leigh, Herzog (nei documentari), Sokurov, van Warmerdam, Ozon, Hillcoat, Bong Joon-ho, Roy Andersson, Jonze.

                                                                                                  

C’è qualche film la cui colonna sonora ti sarebbe piaciuto fare?

Quasi sempre quando mi piace un film, vuol dire che ho anche piuttosto gradito la sua colonna sonora, quindi alla tua domanda preferirei rispondere così: c'è in particolar modo un regista di cui ammiro moltissimo lo spirito con cui affronta le proprie colonne sonore, anche quando gli è capitato di cambiare compositore, come nel caso di Paul Thomas Anderson. Sia con Jon Brion che con Jonny Greenwood, egli ha probabilmente saputo dare le corrette indicazioni, la necessaria libertà e il giusto spazio ai propri (tra l'altro eccellenti) collaboratori. In linea assolutamente teorica mi piacerebbe musicare il suo prossimo film. Invece, se dovessi menzionare una colonna sonora che mi è piaciuta moltissimo e che personalmente non avrei mai immaginato in una maniera così originale ed efficace, è la musica della recente serie inglese “Utopia”, composta da Cristobal Tapia de Veer.

                         

Quali sono i tuoi progetti futuri?

Intanto continuare a sopravvivere col mio mestiere così come ho fatto fino ad ora. Sembra quasi una provocazione, ma negli ultimi tempi sto vedendo talmente tanti musicisti validissimi faticare e a volte soccombere, che una certa ansia si fa strada...Se ad esempio penso che ogni volta che si prova a mettere in piedi un progetto, si scrive, si studia e si prova per dei mesi, per poi suonarlo in pubblico solo un paio di volte, in più con compensi ridicoli, mi vien male. Il nostro mestiere sta diventando sempre di più un simpatico hobby per persone agiate.

Comunque, andiamo avanti, incoscienti e a testa bassa: sto accingendomi a scrivere la nuova sigla del Festival di Locarno, a portare dal vivo il progetto Sonata Islands Kommandoh (in repertorio anche De Futura di Jannick Top, aiuto!). Sempre con Sonata Islands stiamo mettendo in piedi un altro progetto, dal nome Nippon Eldorado: con l'aggiunta della poliedrica voce di Sarah Demagistri, il repertorio sarà caratterizzato dal tentativo di restituzione di alcuni brani del periodo d'oro dell'avant-rock (folk) giapponese degli anni 80/90! Ho trascritto dai dischi e riarrangiato per sestetto alcune perle dei Wha Ha Ha, After Dinner, Jun Togawa, Phew, e Kiyohiko Senba. Per la traslitterazione delle parole mi sono fatto aiutare da un amico linguista friulano che vive a Tokyo.

Infine, sto aspettando di ricominciare a scrivere musica per lungometraggi, con progetti che di questi tempi continuano a slittare, anche per anni. Evviva!

the link  http://www.giovannivenosta.it/