Marco Mangani
The Man Behind the Music & Vernissage
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Marco Mangani, the man behind the music and some very impressive visual work with philosophical depth and plenty of room for conceptual interpretation. How would you like to be introduced and what would you like to be best known for? It’s a good question and I really don’t have a specific answer to it. Often when I meet new people I am asked, “What do you do?” Every time I have to choose between “musician” and “visual artist”. I have to…because it’s easier than the truth. I’m really unable to think of myself as just a musician or a visual artist… I’m more interested in the creative process. You can learn some techniques, read some books and it’s ok…you have to do it in order to control the tools that will make your works convey your idea. |
Photo: courtesy of the artist |
However, what counts most is to know yourself, to explore your limits, your inner world and find a way, your unique way, even if means showing something that may make you uncomfortable at times… think of your fears, your weaknesses.
The creative process is a way to know yourself only if you let it to happen. If you know yourself and let it show in your work, chances are you will reach more people.
We are all the same, a very big crowd of differences, but in the end we are all one.
My goal it’s to learn to know myself. How can I explain it when I meet someone at a bar or a vernissage? Maybe I’m some kind of an anachronistic humanist, I don’t know…but that is not a real job, is it?
The goal is to know myself…other things don't really matter to me.
Let’s talk about your music for 'L’Attesa' – a striking film directed by Piero Messina that attracted plenty of attention at the Venice Film Festival last year. You’ve said you considered yourself “lucky enough to write the music for this beautiful film.” A stroke of luck, yes, but what else did it take to get this job?
Just luck, as I said…and I’m smiling right now.
I was with Alma Napolitano (the cowriter of both soundtracks: 'Terra' and 'L’Attesa') when I met Piero Messina at his home, in Rome, a few years ago. He was struggling to find the right music for 'Terra'. He showed us an unofficial preview of the movie and then we talked about it.
When I say “luck” I am talking about the chance I got to meet him and for the fact that we share a common sense of aesthetics, in music and movies…and you know, he is a musician, too. I felt capable of writing something for his work, not because I thought “hey, I’m good, I can do it” but I sensed our similarities when I watched his movie instead. So, I asked him to give me a chance and I am glad we had a mutual liking to each other’s work. And that’s “luck!”
What was your initial reaction to 'Terra', and what was the overall effect you wanted to add to it with your music?
A beautiful sense of loneliness and a twisted kind of justice, that is what I felt. As for the music I didn’t have a plan. I usually don’t have one.
When I returned to Bologna, I wrote something specific for the movie with Alma. It didn’t work very well at first. Then Piero came to join us and spent some days at my house. We worked together, the three of us, very hard, for days…and still nothing. At some point, we were taking a break. I played some of our songs for Piero, you know, just to chill out. Among them there were Worm and Holygarchy.
Worm is a song that I wrote almost ten years ago when I was working on Dylan Thomas and his poems (the lyrics for it are from “Written for a Personal Epitaph”).
Holygarchy is the second song written with Alma inspired by the Théodore Géricault’s painting 'Le Radeau de la Méduse'. It’s a hypothetical letter written by one of the castaways to his far away lover.
It was at this point that Piero told us “I love them” and “I have to think”. He spent the whole night awake, listening to the songs again and again, alone in his room, just his earphones. The next morning he got up and finally said: “That’s it, I want them!”
The creative process is a way to know yourself only if you let it to happen. If you know yourself and let it show in your work, chances are you will reach more people.
We are all the same, a very big crowd of differences, but in the end we are all one.
My goal it’s to learn to know myself. How can I explain it when I meet someone at a bar or a vernissage? Maybe I’m some kind of an anachronistic humanist, I don’t know…but that is not a real job, is it?
The goal is to know myself…other things don't really matter to me.
Let’s talk about your music for 'L’Attesa' – a striking film directed by Piero Messina that attracted plenty of attention at the Venice Film Festival last year. You’ve said you considered yourself “lucky enough to write the music for this beautiful film.” A stroke of luck, yes, but what else did it take to get this job?
Just luck, as I said…and I’m smiling right now.
I was with Alma Napolitano (the cowriter of both soundtracks: 'Terra' and 'L’Attesa') when I met Piero Messina at his home, in Rome, a few years ago. He was struggling to find the right music for 'Terra'. He showed us an unofficial preview of the movie and then we talked about it.
When I say “luck” I am talking about the chance I got to meet him and for the fact that we share a common sense of aesthetics, in music and movies…and you know, he is a musician, too. I felt capable of writing something for his work, not because I thought “hey, I’m good, I can do it” but I sensed our similarities when I watched his movie instead. So, I asked him to give me a chance and I am glad we had a mutual liking to each other’s work. And that’s “luck!”
What was your initial reaction to 'Terra', and what was the overall effect you wanted to add to it with your music?
A beautiful sense of loneliness and a twisted kind of justice, that is what I felt. As for the music I didn’t have a plan. I usually don’t have one.
When I returned to Bologna, I wrote something specific for the movie with Alma. It didn’t work very well at first. Then Piero came to join us and spent some days at my house. We worked together, the three of us, very hard, for days…and still nothing. At some point, we were taking a break. I played some of our songs for Piero, you know, just to chill out. Among them there were Worm and Holygarchy.
Worm is a song that I wrote almost ten years ago when I was working on Dylan Thomas and his poems (the lyrics for it are from “Written for a Personal Epitaph”).
Holygarchy is the second song written with Alma inspired by the Théodore Géricault’s painting 'Le Radeau de la Méduse'. It’s a hypothetical letter written by one of the castaways to his far away lover.
It was at this point that Piero told us “I love them” and “I have to think”. He spent the whole night awake, listening to the songs again and again, alone in his room, just his earphones. The next morning he got up and finally said: “That’s it, I want them!”
How would you describe your collaborations with Piero Messina? How did it come about and why has it worked so well thus far?
Piero Messina is a very intriguing person, very smart and determined. At the same time, he is very kind and patient. He knows exactly what he wants: the scenes, the acting, the music too…It all has to be as he has imagined it.
It can be hard working with him. We had to start everything again from scratch more than once. But in the end isn’t that the way to improve yourself, to push you beyond your limits?
As I’ve said, I think it all worked so well especially as Alma, Piero and I had more than something in common. You could have the best professionals as part of your team, the best musicians in this case. But when you want to present your original idea in the most coherent way, it’s best to find someone who understands and feels you.
I don’t know…maybe it’s just a romantic Italian crappy approach of seeing things but it is what I believe.
Italian cinematography has always been a major player in the global arena. Who are your favorite Italian directors and composers with some of the best movie soundtracks? What do you think of today’s movie industry and the contribution of Italian film makers?
I personally love almost everything that was done during the 50s. Neorealism was indeed our golden age in cinematography. I love Vittorio De Sica and Luchino Visconti. This movement had a huge impact until the late 70s.
Other great directors like Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini and maybe Michelangelo Antonioni, too, are in a way sons of the neorealism. But I’m a lover, not an expert and I will stop here.
As for the Italian soundtracks, it’s an easy pick: Ennio Morricone in Sergio Leone’s 'Dollars Trilogy' above all!
The today’s movie industry is an industry…that’s all. Like an industry it is strictly subjected to economic rules. Real experimentation and research have a rough time nowadays. What they always try to do is a product suitable for sale. Therefore they want to minimize any level of risk in acquiescence.
I don’t judge, it is what it is. So, if you want to play the game you have to follow the rules. It’s as simple as that.
Today’s Italian film makers are undoubtedly under the influences of many other countries, more than ever. The contribution could be worthy only if we do things following foreign trends without forgetting our own authenticity. The Italian movies still refer to neorealism but it’s more like a kind of dust. This dust is full of life. We better keep it that way.
You have recently added a series of visual works titled Subtractions. What got you started with these ideas? Why did you see it important to add your own visual elements to the sound installations?
I have a degree in Visual Arts. Almost everything I have learned in music is on my own. Music was my first love, for sure, but I completed my studies on visual arts. I grew up with both. Before I realized it I found myself sort of practicing “bigamy”.
The idea of Subtractions is kind of biographical. From early childhood, due some personal issues, very often I’ve been unable to use some of my limbs. I’ve learned to find alternate ways or compromising. For example, at fifteen, I started to learn the guitar when I was forced to rest in bed during the entire summer months.
With Subtractions I was wondering: what could happen if I cut something and replace it with the sounds of cutting? It’s the birth of something new. It’s a way to evolve.
'Via Crucis' includes a selection of images with no sound accompaniment but loads of implied and unapologetic statements. Was it a particular moment that pushed you to create this series? What’s your aim?
I’m a very religious man, but I don’t believe in dogmas and theologies. What I believe is Nature and I believe that Art is a natural way to describe it.
I’ve stolen some of the iconographic clichés from the most important religion in Italy, Catholicism and I used them in a secular, surreal and almost erotic way. My aim was to speak about identity, religious and profane identity, while gently pushing the limits of a Catholic morality that I find, in a creative way, emasculating.
'Hunting Memories' was it an accidental occurrence that made you think and go forward with these photographs? In your opinion, who is afraid of the dark?
As far as I can remember I have always been fascinated with infrared vision, in the 80s and 90s. When I was a kid, I’ve seen countless movies with soldiers equipped with night vision goggles. Then someone told me that a smart phone has the ability to “see infrared”. I bought an infrared filter, the same used for cameras and started to take random pictures. Very soon I learned that some things become invisible in a IR vision…like wine or the green of leaves!
Some memories are like these things…you forget about them, they become “invisible”.
The pictures are old ones from my family albums. They are my and my parents’ memories and like many other things that I’ve forgotten they’ve come back to me, at some point. So, why do we forget? Because sometimes it’s better to do so, it’s like painkillers. They do not cure the illness, they just make it acceptable.
Hunting memories could be frightening because everyone is afraid of the dark.
Do you distinguish between your love of music and that for visual work? Does one take priority over the other? Do you follow the same maxim in both fields or do you play it according to ideas and feelings you want to transmit through each form?
Me and my brother were raised in a very balanced way. If I had something sweet, my brother had one, too. I learned the meaning of nondiscrimination very early on. There are no differences between my music and my visual art. Sometimes it could be a harsh relationship, but I love both my tremendous and lovely wives.
What is the most important project you are working on at this time?
I’m working on my very first album with a dear friend of mine who plays piano and violin. Very often I’m a very tough judge of myself and it took me a very long time to find my way, but now, I feel ready.
Every day is a good day if…
…you improve the way you love yourself.
Piero Messina is a very intriguing person, very smart and determined. At the same time, he is very kind and patient. He knows exactly what he wants: the scenes, the acting, the music too…It all has to be as he has imagined it.
It can be hard working with him. We had to start everything again from scratch more than once. But in the end isn’t that the way to improve yourself, to push you beyond your limits?
As I’ve said, I think it all worked so well especially as Alma, Piero and I had more than something in common. You could have the best professionals as part of your team, the best musicians in this case. But when you want to present your original idea in the most coherent way, it’s best to find someone who understands and feels you.
I don’t know…maybe it’s just a romantic Italian crappy approach of seeing things but it is what I believe.
Italian cinematography has always been a major player in the global arena. Who are your favorite Italian directors and composers with some of the best movie soundtracks? What do you think of today’s movie industry and the contribution of Italian film makers?
I personally love almost everything that was done during the 50s. Neorealism was indeed our golden age in cinematography. I love Vittorio De Sica and Luchino Visconti. This movement had a huge impact until the late 70s.
Other great directors like Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini and maybe Michelangelo Antonioni, too, are in a way sons of the neorealism. But I’m a lover, not an expert and I will stop here.
As for the Italian soundtracks, it’s an easy pick: Ennio Morricone in Sergio Leone’s 'Dollars Trilogy' above all!
The today’s movie industry is an industry…that’s all. Like an industry it is strictly subjected to economic rules. Real experimentation and research have a rough time nowadays. What they always try to do is a product suitable for sale. Therefore they want to minimize any level of risk in acquiescence.
I don’t judge, it is what it is. So, if you want to play the game you have to follow the rules. It’s as simple as that.
Today’s Italian film makers are undoubtedly under the influences of many other countries, more than ever. The contribution could be worthy only if we do things following foreign trends without forgetting our own authenticity. The Italian movies still refer to neorealism but it’s more like a kind of dust. This dust is full of life. We better keep it that way.
You have recently added a series of visual works titled Subtractions. What got you started with these ideas? Why did you see it important to add your own visual elements to the sound installations?
I have a degree in Visual Arts. Almost everything I have learned in music is on my own. Music was my first love, for sure, but I completed my studies on visual arts. I grew up with both. Before I realized it I found myself sort of practicing “bigamy”.
The idea of Subtractions is kind of biographical. From early childhood, due some personal issues, very often I’ve been unable to use some of my limbs. I’ve learned to find alternate ways or compromising. For example, at fifteen, I started to learn the guitar when I was forced to rest in bed during the entire summer months.
With Subtractions I was wondering: what could happen if I cut something and replace it with the sounds of cutting? It’s the birth of something new. It’s a way to evolve.
'Via Crucis' includes a selection of images with no sound accompaniment but loads of implied and unapologetic statements. Was it a particular moment that pushed you to create this series? What’s your aim?
I’m a very religious man, but I don’t believe in dogmas and theologies. What I believe is Nature and I believe that Art is a natural way to describe it.
I’ve stolen some of the iconographic clichés from the most important religion in Italy, Catholicism and I used them in a secular, surreal and almost erotic way. My aim was to speak about identity, religious and profane identity, while gently pushing the limits of a Catholic morality that I find, in a creative way, emasculating.
'Hunting Memories' was it an accidental occurrence that made you think and go forward with these photographs? In your opinion, who is afraid of the dark?
As far as I can remember I have always been fascinated with infrared vision, in the 80s and 90s. When I was a kid, I’ve seen countless movies with soldiers equipped with night vision goggles. Then someone told me that a smart phone has the ability to “see infrared”. I bought an infrared filter, the same used for cameras and started to take random pictures. Very soon I learned that some things become invisible in a IR vision…like wine or the green of leaves!
Some memories are like these things…you forget about them, they become “invisible”.
The pictures are old ones from my family albums. They are my and my parents’ memories and like many other things that I’ve forgotten they’ve come back to me, at some point. So, why do we forget? Because sometimes it’s better to do so, it’s like painkillers. They do not cure the illness, they just make it acceptable.
Hunting memories could be frightening because everyone is afraid of the dark.
Do you distinguish between your love of music and that for visual work? Does one take priority over the other? Do you follow the same maxim in both fields or do you play it according to ideas and feelings you want to transmit through each form?
Me and my brother were raised in a very balanced way. If I had something sweet, my brother had one, too. I learned the meaning of nondiscrimination very early on. There are no differences between my music and my visual art. Sometimes it could be a harsh relationship, but I love both my tremendous and lovely wives.
What is the most important project you are working on at this time?
I’m working on my very first album with a dear friend of mine who plays piano and violin. Very often I’m a very tough judge of myself and it took me a very long time to find my way, but now, I feel ready.
Every day is a good day if…
…you improve the way you love yourself.