Gala Q&A
1. First of all I’ve got to say I’m loving your new single The Beautiful! What was the inspiration behind it?
Once I was asked to list the 3 happiest moments of my life I was blown away by what came up: the images, the people and the moments that appeared in my mind were completely unexpected.
My happiest moments were not those times in my life when I was the richest or most successful.
I thought of a time when I saw my mother laughing, laughing so hard that she fell on the floor looking like a 13 years old girl. I never saw my mother so happy and free of worries and doubts, lost in the moment. BEAUTIFUL.
Then I thought of the time when I had to take care of my grandmother at the hospital, when I had to lie to her, saying that I would not be looking at her while she took a bath, but in reality I had to check on her secretly to make sure she didn’t hurt herself. For once I was doing something for her, helping her, she who took care of me for so many years and raised me. That moment when I was truly helpful to her, that was BEAUTIFUL and gave me happiness.
Kissing someone I loved, in my first tiny rented studio in Manhattan When “ a pocketful of dreams, was the richest that I ever felt” THE BEAUTIFUL. In THE BEAUTIFUL lyrics, I was trying to tell people about this dimension of the ” intangible” which is the opposite of the illusion of material happiness we are being sold everyday.
Once I was asked to list the 3 happiest moments of my life I was blown away by what came up: the images, the people and the moments that appeared in my mind were completely unexpected.
My happiest moments were not those times in my life when I was the richest or most successful.
I thought of a time when I saw my mother laughing, laughing so hard that she fell on the floor looking like a 13 years old girl. I never saw my mother so happy and free of worries and doubts, lost in the moment. BEAUTIFUL.
Then I thought of the time when I had to take care of my grandmother at the hospital, when I had to lie to her, saying that I would not be looking at her while she took a bath, but in reality I had to check on her secretly to make sure she didn’t hurt herself. For once I was doing something for her, helping her, she who took care of me for so many years and raised me. That moment when I was truly helpful to her, that was BEAUTIFUL and gave me happiness.
Kissing someone I loved, in my first tiny rented studio in Manhattan When “ a pocketful of dreams, was the richest that I ever felt” THE BEAUTIFUL. In THE BEAUTIFUL lyrics, I was trying to tell people about this dimension of the ” intangible” which is the opposite of the illusion of material happiness we are being sold everyday.
2. How was it working with Todd Terry? Will you work with him again?
Yes I might... He sent me some cool tracks! I respect him as a DJ and a producer, and he is a nice man. We come from very different backgrounds but we have NY, the clubs, and house music in common.
Also I thought about it the other day...I have been in NY for 20 years and for some reason I don't have close white American friends....I never even noticed that! They are either Europeans or if they are Americans, they are black: friends, loved ones, producers, etc... Maybe there is a a special energy between African American and Italian cultures. See: #spikelee #junglefever Or it's just me:)
3. What made you want to follow music? Was it always the #1 thing you wanted to do for a living?
My best friend who went to kindergarten with me in Italy told me that her first memory of me was coming to play at my house at 4/5 years old and I opened the door holding a vinyl! The plan was to play it and dance. It was a Beatles vinyl because that was what I listened to mostly in kindergarten and primary school. I always asked my mother to "put on the green apple" which was the logo on the Beatles vinyl : a photograph of a green apple cut in two, and I would watch it turn around when the vinyl played. She also remember coming to see me dance in ballet class and falling in love with dance! She then became a professional dancer , while I discovered a terrible back problem at the age of 13 and could not dance which was my dream; but I inspired her to do so! I guess that was the beginning of my tragedy... But also the beginning of inspiring other people to dance!
4. What song - out of the ones you already released/written - means the most to you? Why?
Maybe Let A Boy Cry, because of it's message and video which at the time it came out was very strong and inspired a lot of gay boys and girls to come put of the closet... So they tell me still in their messages on Facebook etc... I wrote that song to talk about women empowerment actually. " let a girl fight" is one of the lines in the song that gives it away...
But it turned into something else. As I tried to express why we should let women have more freedom to show strong.
5. Speaking of songs you’ve released. I listen to Freed From Desire every single day! It has been 18 years since its release, correct? The song still feels so current, is it still a part of the set list of your shows?
Absolutely. Wow, who are you? I want to know you... We are meant to be friends if you listen to my song everyday!
Look, when it came out, I had such a horrible experience with the people I worked with that I didn't like the song, the production and everything else. But I knew that there was something true and realabout it. I was real and I was saying what I really meant to say. I said it in a simple way because my English was very limited then... But I meant what I wrote and I had a crazy energy that came from my desire to communicate with the whole world. There was no Internet then, If I could then I would have called everybody's phone number one by one in the whole world to send my messages.
I thought I could change the world. So yes I add that song to my set because I wrote it and even if it feels naive or badly produced now and my accent is incomprehensible...I know that it had and still has something special about it.
It is a Buddhist prayer by the way, and the older I get the more I believe in what it says. I think I was tested actually ... By life!
It has been so damn hard to get signed and find a manager or investor to produce and support my music in the past 15 years and I have struggled so much that everyday I feel that I had to live out my own words and really experience them. Living by my " strong beliefs" and being detached from : money, power and fame. Not that I could give a damn about that, I only would like to have the support necessary to be more on your and on radio to reach those fans ( many) who think I haven't done anything in the past 15 years!
That's all I dream of... But at the same time not being able to do that for so long taught me such humility (one that I believe few male bands / or solo artists in the music biz would ever experience..)
6. What are your musical inspirations? And what made you choose this specific type of music?
I didn't choose this specific kind of music, I just performed with a rage artist the other day. I love all kind of music from punk to folk to house to trap. It's life that seems to have taken me here doing this right now... Tomorrow it could change. Not easy because people as you know want to hear their artist doing the style they know her for... But it's another challenge;) and by now you might have understood I like them! Also if you hear my album in 2008 it was more rock pop... So I like to move through genres in my life, what gets released or not it's another thing...
7. What kind of message you want to convey with your music?
Dance is my favorite thing in the world. For dance I mean moving out bodies in whatever way to music. Self expression through movement... So I like for people to be able to do that while singing words that mean something to them, words that connect us: I, the singer , them the listeners, dancers, co-creators of the music....words that remind is we are not alone, we are similar, connected
8. Are there any plans to release a full length album?
If you find me a label and an investor with $!
9. Are you planning any special collaborations? Is there an artist/act that you would absolutely love to work with and why?
Oh Yes... I would love to collaborate with a team who instead of working on one or two songs, wanted to build a new sound, great new songs original different and that reflect my personality more completely.
Only few people know I am punk, in the way I perform, I think etc... I have a very specific taste in music that is very eclectic and at the same time has it's recurrent themes...
Tracks I love go from : "you and me" by Flume to "Jolene" by Dolly Parton, from "Sail" by Awolnation to " get free" by Major Lazer from " All is full of love" by Bjork to "ritual union" by little dragon from "missing" by everything but the girl / Todd Terry to Le Tigre and all feminist riot girl punk , from Sbtrkt, to Meshell Ndegenocello
10. What has been the defining moment of your musical career so far?
Working with Steve Fargnoli, Prince's ( my idol) manager in 1998 and having to lose him when he passed away for cancer. It was the best moment of my life to meet him and the sadest and hardest on my career to lose him at such a crucial time. I was then badly adviced, I was alone not supported by friends or family and I lost it all, a deal I had on the table in the US( thanks to Steve) and a manager to help me carry it through. I lost it all and was lost myself, I went back to Italy for a period, got stuck in a bad contract and had to basically start over from 0 from scratch, alone. It has been very hard. Also because I never went to music school I had no idea of the music world/ biz, no contacts in my family or through a school. I had to learn the job from my mistakes everyday... I felt like a blind and dead person trying to find the way. I know it seems hard to believe but that was the way it was.
11. If you were given the chance to pick one artist/band to tour with which one would it be and why?
I would like to have a band and do a one year tour... In all the festivals in the world... I would like to be next to other women musicians. I picture a whole female artists tour.
Women from the past and present:
Wendy and Lisa, Annie Lennox, Tracy Chapman, Cindy Lauper, Katheen Hana, Meshell ndegenocello, lianne havas, Alice smith, the Julie ruin, etc...and new young women bands and DJs!
12. What artist are you listening to on your iPod/MP3 players?
Please follow me on Spotify and check my amazing playlists!
13. If you could only listen to one artist/band the rest of your life, who would it be?
Classical music or African drums
14. Name five things you can’t live without.
Love ( this could be the love for my grandmother or children or a
teacher or friends, animals, nature)
Romance ( that's romance... It's different then specifically love...)
Sex ( the sacred erotic all encompassing kind of sex)
Dance ( my first love)
Music ( what makes me want to dance, the most magical intangible of all arts)
15. What’s your favourite song of 2014 so far?
Get free ( is it from 2014?)
But I still haven't found a record that matches Prince in the 80's.:) few records were simply spectacular and if you saw him live then no concert would mean anything to you these days...
10. What has been the defining moment of your musical career so far?
Working with Steve Fargnoli, Prince's ( my idol) manager in 1998 and having to lose him when he passed away for cancer. It was the best moment of my life to meet him and the sadest and hardest on my career to lose him at such a crucial time. I was then badly adviced, I was alone not supported by friends or family and I lost it all, a deal I had on the table in the US( thanks to Steve) and a manager to help me carry it through. I lost it all and was lost myself, I went back to Italy for a period, got stuck in a bad contract and had to basically start over from 0 from scratch, alone. It has been very hard. Also because I never went to music school I had no idea of the music world/ biz, no contacts in my family or through a school. I had to learn the job from my mistakes everyday... I felt like a blind and dead person trying to find the way. I know it seems hard to believe but that was the way it was.
11. If you were given the chance to pick one artist/band to tour with which one would it be and why?
I would like to have a band and do a one year tour... In all the festivals in the world... I would like to be next to other women musicians. I picture a whole female artists tour.
Women from the past and present:
Wendy and Lisa, Annie Lennox, Tracy Chapman, Cindy Lauper, Katheen Hana, Meshell ndegenocello, lianne havas, Alice smith, the Julie ruin, etc...and new young women bands and DJs!
12. What artist are you listening to on your iPod/MP3 players?
Please follow me on Spotify and check my amazing playlists!
13. If you could only listen to one artist/band the rest of your life, who would it be?
Classical music or African drums
14. Name five things you can’t live without.
Love ( this could be the love for my grandmother or children or a
teacher or friends, animals, nature)
Romance ( that's romance... It's different then specifically love...)
Sex ( the sacred erotic all encompassing kind of sex)
Dance ( my first love)
Music ( what makes me want to dance, the most magical intangible of all arts)
15. What’s your favourite song of 2014 so far?
Get free ( is it from 2014?)
But I still haven't found a record that matches Prince in the 80's.:) few records were simply spectacular and if you saw him live then no concert would mean anything to you these days...