![\"violaine-corradi-zaia\"](\"http:\/\/www.conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/violaine-corradi-zaia.jpg\" "\\"violaine-corradi-zaia\\"")
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This is an interview by Keith Johnson (Seattle, Wa – USA) of “Cirque Fascination” with the music composer of Cirque Du Soleil’s ZAIA show, Violaine Corradi. I hope Keith will not mind me posting the full article here on my blog for three reasons:<\/p>\n
As assistant bandleader for Zaia and in writing the string arrangements for the Hong Kong Symphony on the Zaia album – I’ve had the pleasure of working very closely with composer Corradi. Because of Violaine and Cirque’s influence, terms that are now part of my regular music vocabulary include “organic”, “cosmic”, “evoke”, “provoke”.<\/p>\n
Thank you Keith for the wonderfully detailed article. Even being in the middle of all of it, I learned quite a bit from the article! And now for the Cirque music buffs – read and enjoy….<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Violaine Corradi: Working for Joy”<\/strong> With the release of the ZAIA CD (Cirque du Soleil Musique CDSMC-20029, 2009) in the US (and coming up in Canada on October 20), it is our honor and privilege to continue our series on the music of Cirque du Soleil with an exclusive interview with the Musical Composer of ZAIA, Ms. Violaine Corradi.<\/p>\n Violaine Corradi (VEE-oh-len co-RAH-dee, “In Italian they say co- From 1993 to 1998 she composed music for the radio series Her first Cirque assignment, as we all know, resulted in “Dralion” While it was 7am Seattle time and 10am Montr\u00e9al time (where Corporate PR Manager Chantal C\u00f4te facilitated our conversation) when we spoke by phone, it was 10pm the following day in Macao. In a French-tinged accent she first commented on why she was in Macao, “I arrived in the beginning of May [2008]. I was supposed to be here 3 or 4 months [but] I fell in love with the place and I fell in love, period, so We started off by talking about working on ZAIA. “This is my third ZAIA Director\/Writer Gilles Maheu has called the stage, “the center of “But the foundation of what Gilles proposed to me pretty much How does a composer work with a director on a Cirque project? “It\u2019s a “A lot of [the music] was inspired by the theme, the narrative itself. What\u2019s the process of musical creation, we wondered? “That\u2019s a great Some examples of these “nucleus” recordings can be found in the After she creates the nucleus, “we try it out with the acrobatics, While the acrobats are working with these early recordings, “I\u2019m Her composing process started long before premiere night in a “This show gave me the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Sound “We had the opportunity to [work] every day, and that was amazing. “It was a luxury that the team here was kind enough to accept that we How the music sounds in the theater is naturally an important “When I go to do some follow-up work on tour I find it important to Having the luxury of time also allowed her to take on production of “It was very important to Guy [Lalibert\u00e9] that the original musicians “But for ZAIA we reached amazing levels of rendering the music. Alain The nine ZAIA musicians play a multitude of instruments on the CD The musicians are: Recording the CD was, “another adventure in itself. At first we were “[It was] recorded during the day and after shows while doing 8 to 10 “[In the production] I went for a real interpretation. I worked one- In our interview with Cirque du Soleil Musical Director Alain Vinet In a post-interview email, Ms. Corradi sent along the track list of 01) Noi – (Theme of the show and Finale) – Us “I came up with the titles many months ago. In the reality of “You made me realize though that, now that the album has just been “We actually recorded everything, the music of the entire show, 95 Those unreleased songs include: And there was one song that, due to the continuing evolution of the Ms. Corradi dedicates the album to “Mariposa.” “”Mariposa” means Unlike the soundtrack to Varekai, which was more electronica- “For Varekai it was an executive decision to work with [CD Producer Interesting sounds are one of the hallmarks of Ms. Corradi\u2019s music. In a prior interview she mentioned how one of Guy Lalibert\u00e9s\u2019 favorite “Guy loves very simple melodies and melodies that bring people The ZAIA album continues Ms. Corradi\u2019s considered use of strings and “With Dralion\u2019s original instrumentation the first musician I hired “I love to put the two together. I think all Cirque shows have bowed “First we do it with synthesizers. [But it\u2019s] so expressive when a ZAIA Keyboardist Conrad Askland quotes Ms. Corradi as saying musicians are the “soul of the show.” He also called her a “musical shaman.”<\/p>\n “I auditioned [and selected] every musician in the show. I\u2019m totally “For the other shows normally I am involved, but they will know if I “With singers, because they are characters in the show, once I make my ZAIA incorporates two women singers, was that her choice? “These Listening to her Cirque albums one wonders if vocalists have Creation musicians are “crucial, absolutely crucial” to a shows final “So I made sure that I found the [right] musicians. Of course this is “So it\u2019s absolutely crucial, they lay down the foundation of the For the “Solarium\/Delirium” and “Delirium” arena show CDs Cirque How does it feel to hear her music in such a context? “It\u2019s exciting, “If I would write a piece [for a show] and it was really new and I “I saw [Delirium] once when it premiered in Montr\u00e9al. I was open and How would she populate a Violaine Corradi “Best of”? “That\u2019s a very Whatever songs end up on that mixtape, they would all reflect the So what\u2019s currently in her MP3 player? “These days I\u2019m listening to Is there something about composing music that the public doesn\u2019t “Let\u2019s just take ZAIA. We have nine musicians. All of them [have put “How can I put it? I don\u2019t think an audience that aren\u2019t musicians “It\u2019s work and joy at the same time. I\u2019d rather the audience just “In my life [I\u2019ve known] people that couldn\u2019t understand what I was Her work ethic was imprinted on her early in life, “[by] my parents, “I remember in Quebec when I was nine years old I started to do “You need inspiration and talent but you [also] need courage to put What can we expect to hear from her in the future? “For the moment As our time together was running out we had one final question, one of Later she wrote, “To be an artist… to be a true artist means to be “As the famous French star Georges Brassens liked to say, “Talent “If you feel you have the talent and hear this “Call” to passionately And as she signed off Violaine Corradi had some kind words for us at Likewise, Ms. Corradi.<\/p>\n My sincere thanks go to: Ms. Violaine Corradi, for so graciously This is an interview by Keith Johnson (Seattle, Wa – USA) of “Cirque Fascination” with the music composer of Cirque Du Soleil’s ZAIA show, Violaine Corradi. I hope Keith will not mind me posting the full article here on my blog for three reasons: I will include a link to his original ezine article here: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[818],"tags":[3400,4102,3385,3401,2462,3392,3402,3389,3396,3388,3398,3390,3394,3395,3387,3386,3397,3391,3393,3383,3399,4108,3382,3384],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3C0LX-1b1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4527"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4527"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6637,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4527\/revisions\/6637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conradaskland.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBy: Keith Johnson – Seattle, Washington (USA)
\n{Issue Exclusive}
\n——————————————————-<\/p>\n
\nRAAAH-dee.”) was born in 1959 in Trieste, Italy and moved to Montr\u00e9al
\nat the age of four, the child of a composer\/conductor father (who
\npassed away when she was six) and an opera singer mother. She trained in voice, piano, clarinet and flute and was a musical prodigy at an early age.<\/p>\n
\n“Poesi\u00e9\/musique”, which featured leading Quebec poets reading their
\nworks. In 1996 she released her first solo album, “Passages” (Imagine
\nRecors IND-2226). She also composed the musical scores for the IMAX
\nfilms, “Bears” (Silver Wave SD-930, 2001) and “Great North.”<\/p>\n
\n(Cirque du Soleil Musique CDSMC-20016, 1999). This was followed by
\n“Varekai” (Cirque du Soleil Musique CDSMC-20017, 2002). ZAIA (the
\nresident show on the Cotai Strip at the Venetian in Macao) marks her
\nthird collaboration with Cirque.<\/p>\n
\nthat\u2019s why I stayed.”<\/p>\n
\nadventure with Cirque; I\u2019ve been with Cirque the past 11 years. I was
\ninvited by Gilles Ste-Croix to write the music for the show because
\nthey knew what the director, Gilles Maheu, was looking for and it
\nsounded like it would go with my esthetic. And it did! It was a
\ngreat meeting, a great encounter.”<\/p>\n
\nfire, a hurricane, a storm where forces align and dangerously confront
\neach other.” “[Working with him] was like a dream for me,” she
\ncontinued, “because [he] is very profound, coherent and sensitive.
\nWhen I hopped on the project in June of 2006 (two years before the
\npremiere) he had the entire outline of the show [ready], with of
\ncourse some gray areas but the narrative was there. So it was
\nfantastic for me to work with; I work very well when the director
\noutlines exactly what he has in mind for each acrobatic number. The
\ncolors and the set design were pretty well advanced when I came in and
\nwe pretty much stuck to the narrative. Of course some elements had to
\nchange, because the reality is when [you\u2019re] constructing and putting
\neverything together [sometimes you have] to make different choices.”<\/p>\n
\nremained. That was inspiring to me. And the narrative – the story of
\na young girl who decides to leave Earth, to travel the cosmos and
\nbring back notions of beauty to Earth – is so appropriate to what\u2019s
\nhappening right now. So I was very inspired to write the music for
\nthis show.”<\/p>\n
\nrelationship. It\u2019s very personal with each director because they each
\nhave their own personal way of bringing a project forward. It\u2019s sort
\nof like asking if it\u2019s the chicken or the egg. Because the director
\nfirst gives us the outline, then we bring our elements [to the table]
\nand the director or whoever is around them will be inspired by what
\nall of us in the creative team bring. And we nourish each other.”<\/p>\n
\nOf course as I see the development of the show – the costumes, the
\nlights, the acrobatic sequences – this nourishes a lot of my process.
\nAnd getting to know the artists – having a beer with them, all of that
\n– you\u2019re creating a personal relationship with all of them. For me
\nthis is very crucial and fundamental to my work.”<\/p>\n
\nquestion. The first stage I work on is the nucleus, a version of
\nabout a minute and a half to two minutes of the essence, the
\nfoundation of the piece. And since I\u2019m a singer and musician I can
\nperform and produce it so I do the entire thing.”<\/p>\n
\n“Creator\u2019s Notebook” for Varekai, (the first edition of the Varekai
\nprogram) which included a computer disk with two of Varekai\u2019s songs,
\n“Gitans” and “Icarians.” “On those tracks I\u2019m the one playing
\neverything. The band was [together and] we were rehearsing but they
\ntook my pre-production [demo] tracks.”<\/p>\n
\nbecause they are also at the embryo of what they\u2019re doing. And if we
\nalong with the Director and the Director of Creation and the Acrobatic
\nCreators, if all of us feel it is right – the tempo, the colors, the
\nfeeling of the music is right – then I develop the structure from
\nthere. And then it\u2019s back and forth until the last second before the
\npremiere.”<\/p>\n
\nauditioning musicians, and as soon as the musicians come in we have
\ncharts written out for them. For this project I had a wonderful
\nAssistant (to the Musical Composer) Thierry Angers. And this was a
\ngreat encounter for me, now that I know him I can\u2019t live without him!
\nI could concentrate fully on the creation, the creative part of
\nwriting the music and arranging the parts, and he and I would take
\ncare of passing it on to the musicians. He would take care of writing
\nthe charts and preparing all of what was needed for what would be – I
\ndon\u2019t like to call them sequences, [but there are] a few sequences.
\nMost of it is played live but with some of the pieces I wanted it to
\nsound a little bit more electro or trip-hop or house. And to do that
\nwe needed some samples I created that are triggered by computer. So I
\ndid all of that and my assistant would do all the charts. And I would
\ngo to the rehearsals and we would integrate the music live. Normally
\n[the musicians] arrive several months before the premiere so we have
\nthe opportunity to really work on the music.”<\/p>\n
\nsituation that proved to be lower-stress than normal. “For [ZAIA I
\nhad] two years [to compose]. For Dralion everyone was [brought in
\nabout] one year before. On Varekai I had one year also. This time I
\nwas lucky, not only did the director have his narrative but two years
\nto create the score was absolutely wonderful. So when we got to the
\ntightest part of the funnel all the music was written, arranged and
\nintegrated with the musicians. When we arrived here [in Macao in May
\nto start staging] they were playing it already (performances started
\nin July).”<\/p>\n
\nDesigner Steve Dubuc and his Assistant (as well as Sound Project
\nManager and Recorder of the CD) Jason Rouhoff. Every night we would
\nrehearse and put the sound in the house. We have a mega sound system in the theater with surround [sound] and all kinds of goodies that we had such a good time with.” Including 18 subwoofers and 55 surround speakers.<\/p>\n
\nThis [was helped by the fact that I] hopped on this adventure two
\nyears prior to premiere. Once I got here I could work day and night
\nin conjunction with Steve and Jason on exactly how I wanted the music
\nto sound. And it took many many hours. This was a big big plus for
\nme on this project.”<\/p>\n
\nwould do sound [mixing] at 6 o\u2019clock [in the evening]. With other
\nshows and often other venues that I work in we do sound at night
\nduring what we call the graveyard. Everybody goes to bed but you have
\nto stay up and [work] when you\u2019ve already been playing and doing stuff
\nfor 12-15 hours. Here it was fantastic; we did it while they were
\neating. So while the whole [creative] team was eating the musicians,
\nsound engineers and I stayed and didn\u2019t eat. And we preferred that to
\ncreating the soundstage in the middle of the night. It was great.”<\/p>\n
\nconsideration to Ms. Corradi. “It\u2019s my philosophy that the sound
\nengineer is a member of the band. Because you might have geniuses
\nplaying – let\u2019s say you\u2019re lucky enough as a composer to get fantastic
\nmusicians, all at a very high level like what [we have] here – but if
\nat the other end it\u2019s not [properly] translated by the system and
\nwhomever is mixing the house – then it can kill it. I always think
\nit\u2019s important to have a clear relationship and bond between the sound
\nengineer [and the band]. Here we have four sound engineers; [on
\nDralion and Varekai] we had three.” They are Hayden Clark, Roy
\nCressey, Sebastian Hammond and Chris Pardy. Other parts of the team
\ninclude Head of Audio Eric Poitevein, Assistant Head of Audio David
\nFinch and Lead Audio Technician Frieda Lee.<\/p>\n
\nhave these discussions and exchanges. I transmit the concept to the
\nengineer because if it doesn\u2019t get to him or her it can be another
\nuniverse, it can completely flip around. So to me it\u2019s very
\nimportant.”<\/p>\n
\nthe ZAIA soundtrack CD, a responsibility she hadn\u2019t originally
\nconsidered. “It was a nice opportunity. [Cirque du Soleil Musical
\nDirector] Alain Vinet proposed [that I produce the CD] in spring of
\n2008. I wasn\u2019t sure because I know that to create a Cirque show
\n[requires] a thousand percent of yourself, and often right
\n[afterwards] there is a little curve downwards where you need to
\nrelax. At first I said no, I\u2019d think of somebody [else] to produce,
\nand so we went along that line for a little while. Then once I got
\nhere I realized I was nicely enough ahead and I would have the energy
\nplus the inspiration to produce the album.”<\/p>\n
\n[appear on the album]. The last time that happened was with La Nouba
\n10 years ago. [With] “O” and La Nouba back-to-back (Composer and CD Co-Producer) Benoit [Jutras] and (CD Co-Producer) Rob Heaney produced albums with the original musicians and they did a fantastic job. For other albums it was mostly session musicians, original musicians of the show were cameoed and sometimes it wasn\u2019t always the original singers.”<\/p>\n
\nVinet was here for the gala in August last year and heard it and was
\nalso convinced [this was] the way it should be done.”<\/p>\n
\n(with a little help from members of the string section of the Hong
\nKong Symphony Orchestra as well as Ms. Corradi herself).
\nSurprisingly, the band has none of the Canadian or French Canadian
\nplayers that usually comprise a large part of Cirque creation bands.<\/p>\n
\nMaria Karin Andersson – Singer – Sweden
\n“Chicago” Rose Marie Winnebrenner – Singer – United States
\nSteven Victor Bach – Keyboards, Bandleader – United States
\nConrad Lewis Askland – Keyboards, Asst. Bandleader – United States
\nOliver Alexandre Vincent Milchberg – Guitars – France
\nRachael Cogan – Wind Instruments – Australia
\nJay Aaron Elfenbein – Cello – United States
\nDarrin Eugene Johnson – Drums – United States
\nEduard Harutyunyan – Percussion – Armenia<\/p>\n
\ncontemplating having the musicians record in a studio here in Macao or
\nin Hong Kong. And we played with that idea and realized it wouldn\u2019t
\nnecessarily be the best for the project or for the show. And so we
\nhopped on the adventure of creating a studio [inside the ZAIA Theater
\nat the Venetian Macao]. With the fantastic technology we have now it
\nwas possible [to create a control room] within a week. We [already]
\nhad sound booths and microphone wiring for the musicians, and it was
\njust a question of [creating] a control booth to do the recording.”<\/p>\n
\nshows a week. [It took] a month to record and a month to mix.”<\/p>\n
\non-one with all the musicians to put them in a mood to get a rendering
\n[with] a lot of heart and emotion. Many many days and many many
\nhours of work were put into that album.”<\/p>\n
\n(see Fascination! Newsletter #67 – August, 2009) he mentioned that he
\nworks closely with soundtrack producers, often supplying comments.
\nWhat comments did he give about recording ZAIA? “[He was] very
\nencouraging. He is wonderful in the sense that he has a way to
\ninspire. I can\u2019t tell you exactly what his comments were because
\nthere were many things that were discussed. What I can tell you is
\nthat he has a wonderful way of [giving feedback] and a way of creating
\nthat makes us want to surpass ourselves.”<\/p>\n
\nthe ZAIA CD with the translation of the titles and act they are
\nrelated to:<\/p>\n
\n02) Aestus Calor – (Ouverture) – A Flow of Fire
\n03) Ignis – (ZAIA’s Departure) – Fire
\n04) Hatahkinn – (Aerial Bamboo) – (This is an invented word)
\n05) Aquilex – (Globes and Poles, Part1) – The One Who Finds Sources
\n06) Comissatio – (Globes and Poles, Part 2) – Feast
\n07) Blue Ales – (Lanterns) – Blue Bird-It\u2019s Flight is an Omen
\n08) Adrideo – (Old Clown Act with Onofrio + Tom) – Laughters
\n09) Ardor Oris – (Back-up number + walk arounds) – Ardour
\n10) Aequor Oris – (Fire Dance) – Ocean of Fire
\n11) Caelestis – (Aerial Frame) – Celestial
\n12) Undae – (Time Transition) – A Flow of Water
\n13) Temperatio – (Jugglers) – Balance
\n14) Ell\u00e2m Onru – (Hand to Hand) – All is One
\n15) Gaudiumni – (X-Board) – Joy
\n16) Utinam – (Straps duo) – May the Heaven\u2019s Wish So<\/p>\n
\neveryday I still call them their working titles so I have to get used
\nto calling them the name we call them on the album. If I give the
\n[album] song title to the musicians or the Artistic Director they
\ndon\u2019t know what I\u2019m talking about, so I have to use the work titles.
\nEvery piece has at least 3 titles, and the [song is] baptized [with
\nlast one] when we lay it on the album.”<\/p>\n
\nreleased it’s time for me to memorize which musical piece the new
\ntitles I found are associated with…Thank you!”<\/p>\n
\nminutes. I knew that I was not going to be able to put everything on,
\nbut the songs that we weren\u2019t able to put on the album – and I\u2019ll need
\nto discuss this with Alain – we may be able to put them on iTunes or
\nsomething like that. But we have them. On the album we put what
\nAlain and I felt would tell the story of ZAIA. The rest exists and
\nwe\u2019ll see what we do with it.”<\/p>\n
\n“Travelling Cowboy” – (New Clown Introduction)
\n“Automat Dance” – (Automaton Dance)
\n“Alobaloro” – (Rola Bola)<\/p>\n
\nshow is on the soundtrack but isn\u2019t in the show anymore. “”Adrideo”
\nis the clown act, or should I say, it was our clown act until
\napproximately a month ago. Work in progress… new clown act = new
\nmusic!”<\/p>\n
\n“butterfly” in Spanish. This butterfly I know is an inspiration for
\nme. And the symbol of the butterfly is related to the show. The fact
\nthat a butterfly goes through four stages in its cycle before it
\nbecomes a butterfly is really related to transformation, to a journey
\nwhere you have to throw yourself into the void. [The concept of
\nletting] yourself be reborn again is really appropriate for this show.
\nSo Mariposa is a person and also a symbol.”<\/p>\n
\ninfluenced and took some liberties with the music, ZAIA seems to be a
\nreturn to the sound of the music as heard in the show. Much of this
\nis due to recording the album with the shows original creation
\nmusicians in the ZAIA Theater. But it was also a philosophical
\ndecision. “To tell you the truth I think [soundtrack CDs] should
\nalways reflect the show. If there\u2019s going to be other projects
\ninspired by the show music you should [label them] as being inspired
\nfrom the show. When it\u2019s the show\u2019s soundtrack I feel that it should
\nreflect the music of the show but not necessarily in every detail, you
\ncan enrich it. For example for this CD I had to restructure [the
\nmusic] to put it in a format that was independent from the image, from
\nthe visual.”<\/p>\n
\nNitin Sawhney]. We had an intimate dinner at Guy\u2019s house in Montr\u00e9al
\nwith Nitin and Bruno Gaez (who was the Musical Director at the time).
\nAnd Guy felt [there] was a new tone for Cirque du Soleil starting with
\nVarekai, because (Cirque Co-Founder and first Company President)
\nDaniel Gauthier had left and it was the first show that had been
\ncreated without him. It was Guy\u2019s desire to explore other avenues and
\nhe asked me if I would feel comfortable with that. And I said yeah, I
\napproved it. It was great, it was a fantastic encounter and I think
\nit spoke for itself. It [was in] the Top 5 in Billboards World Music
\nsection for weeks.<\/p>\n
\nSuch as a rapid breathing singing sound used in ZAIA on “Undae.”
\n“It\u2019s called “panting” or “throat singing.” It\u2019s a specialty of one
\nof the musicians, Racheal Cogan, the wind instrumentalist. And I
\nintegrated it into two of the pieces because I find this sound brings
\nus to the beginning; to me it\u2019s really evocative of the origin of
\nhumanity. Hopefully it creates that in the imagination of others.
\nAnd so far so good, people that have heard it here feel the same. So
\nwe\u2019ll see how it echoes back as the album lives its life.”<\/p>\n
\ninstruments was the “bandaneon.” What\u2019s that? “Bandaneon is the name for an accordion, but instead of having a keyboard it has buttons.
\nGuy loves accordion sounds – he used to play it – so I know that he
\nloves the sound. In the last 11 years he would really be turned on
\nwhen I would come up with an accordion or bandaneon sound.”<\/p>\n
\ntogether. And he loves everything that is rhythmic or percussive or
\n[music that is] very trendy. But he explained to me that he loves
\nmusic and melodies that bring people together. And to him an
\naccordion is a great instrument to do that.” (This might explain why
\nthe bandaneon\/accordion shows up in almost every Cirque recording.)<\/p>\n
\nwoodwinds. “I think they are very warm. [In ZAIA] we don\u2019t have
\nviolins per se. [We have] a bow specialist who plays viola da gamba
\nand the ancestor of the cello, the rabab. Sometimes it might sound
\nlike a violin but we\u2019re not using a violin. To me these sounds are
\nvery real and warm. They have a mode of expression that is strong and
\nclose to the human voice.”<\/p>\n
\nwas a cellist\/violinist, he would play both. And [for ZAIA] the wind
\ninstrumentalist [was to] be mainly an oboist but they also play
\ndidgeridoo and other wind instruments.”<\/p>\n
\nor blown into [instruments], I\u2019m not the only one. If I look at
\nCirque orchestral formations I think we find that you always have
\nkeyboard and percussion but you need people who blow into something
\nand people who bow string.”<\/p>\n
\nspecialist in an instrument gives a real rendering with a real soul
\ninterpreting and with all the mechanics and ornaments you have with a
\nreal instrument instead of having a keyboard play it.”<\/p>\n
\npart of the process. The Director of Creation for the Show Neilson
\nVignola accompanied me through the process.”<\/p>\n
\nam too busy to hire or audition other people. Normally I am always
\nthe one choosing the musicians because it is part of my mandate –
\nComposer, Arranger and Musical Director, that comes along with it.”<\/p>\n
\nchoices we [show them to] the director for him to see what they look
\nlike, because he would have to work with them. We would have to reach a consensus. He was very happy with the people I found.”<\/p>\n
\nideas always come from the director. [For the other shows] the
\ndirector saw a man and a woman but for this show Gilles wanted two
\nfemale singers. I was happy to get the request and work with it, and
\nI make the best of it I can.”<\/p>\n
\ndifficulty with some of the more tongue-twisting aspects of Cirque\u2019s
\nmade-up language. “On the contrary, I get more positive comments that it\u2019s interesting and challenging. Because they perform 8 to 10 shows a week and – let me put it this way – I make sure they don\u2019t fall
\nasleep! They have enough challenges [with] the difficulty of the
\nmelodies and the way to interpret it, what I\u2019m looking for in dynamics
\nand sensitivity, rendering, interpretation. I make sure the mountain
\nis high enough they have a nice climb. And to be able to have [their
\nsouls] open at every show. Maybe they\u2019ve thought it was hard but
\nnobody\u2019s ever told me.”<\/p>\n
\nmusical sound, Ms. Corradi insists. “These musicians are choices that
\nI made very meticulously, of what kind of interpretation I\u2019m looking
\nfor. In this show I was looking for multi-disciplinary musicians,
\nespecially [with] regards to plucked strings, bowed strings, and
\nwinds, so we get all kinds of textures. It\u2019s also like a journey in
\ntime, in contemporary sounds as well as ancient, like the rabab and
\nthe aoud.”<\/p>\n
\ncrucial, because [they create] the foundation of [how future]
\nmusicians will be asked to interpret the music unless I\u2019m lucky enough
\nthat the original members of the band stay forever. Which happened
\n[with] both Dralion and Varekai, most of the team is the same.”<\/p>\n
\nscore. Because I may lay down a line of aoud that I will play myself
\nwith a very good sample, but it\u2019s never [the same as] when it\u2019s the
\ninstrument interpreting it itself.”<\/p>\n
\nutilized several of Ms. Corradi\u2019s compositions. In fact her songs
\nalone make up 40% of both projects! Songs utilized include:
\nFrom Dralion: Ombra, Aborigenes Jam and Spiritual Spiral.
\nFrom Varekai: Lubia Dobarstan, Emballa, Oscillum, Patzivota, Le Reveur
\nand El Pendulo.<\/p>\n
\nit\u2019s inspiring. I like [hearing where] inspired arrangers and
\nproducers bring [the music]. [On Solarium\/Delirium] there\u2019s “Ombra”
\nwhere we have two completely different universes being expressed on
\nthe same album; one is more Latin and the other really trip-hop. I
\nlove it.”<\/p>\n
\noffered it to the musicians and they would start playing it like [the
\nremixes] I wouldn\u2019t agree because I have an architecture, an esthetic
\nthat I ask them to respect. Because the architecture and esthetic
\nhave meaning in conjunction with all my other colleagues and creators.
\nWe create an esthetic together and if they were to change the
\n[musical] style I wouldn\u2019t agree. But when it comes to doing remixes
\nI find it very exciting and inspiring and I\u2019m happy that people are
\ndoing it.”<\/p>\n
\njust received it. (Music Producer and Arranger) Francis Collard did a
\ngreat job. Sometimes it sounded like a homeopathic [dose] of what we
\ncreated. He had a big mandate to take all those [songs] and make
\nsomething for this mega production but he did his job well, I think he
\ndid a great job.”<\/p>\n
\nhard question. I have no idea. It\u2019s the type of question I can\u2019t
\nanswer because I have to sit down and listen to everything and make it
\nwork together. And I\u2019d probably ask my friend Alain Vinet what he
\nthinks. I don\u2019t know, I would have to do it then tell you.”<\/p>\n
\nViolaine Corradi style which she defines as, “a juxtaposition of
\ndifferent styles and different cultures. I find a lot of inspiration
\nin what I call “root music.” I don\u2019t like saying “folkloric” music,
\nbut original music that has been played for hundreds or thousands of
\nyears from every country. That\u2019s what I listen to when I write music,
\nand I try to bring in a contemporary approach. I also like to
\njuxtapose diverse styles, like classical with trip-hop, or house with
\nLatin and whatever. I\u2019ve always written like that, and I guess that\u2019s
\nwhy Guy invited me to be part of the team 11 years ago.”<\/p>\n
\n“Tuck & Patti” (vocalist Patti Cathcart and guitarist Tuck Andress).
\nIt was released in the 80\u2019s and I haven\u2019t listened to it in ages, I
\ndownloaded it maybe a week ago. It\u2019s just voice and guitars and it\u2019s
\njust great, it\u2019s amazing. It felt so good to listen to that again.
\nThey write their own songs and do some covers. Just beautiful to hear
\na human voice with a very simple recording, very transparent. Tuck is
\nthe guitar player and he plays amazingly, with so much feeling.
\nThat\u2019s what I\u2019m listening to [along with] so many other things. But
\nthat one is first on my list these days.”<\/p>\n
\nrealize that she\u2019d like them to know? “That\u2019s such a good question!
\nI don\u2019t think I want them to know because [it\u2019s] a lot of work. I
\nthink the general audience [doesn\u2019t] have one hundredth of an idea of
\nall the work that [has been done] when they listen to an album or
\nlisten to any kind of show. Of all the human effort and inspiration
\nand generosity and talent, everything that it takes to put it all
\ntogether.”<\/p>\n
\nin] how many hours and years of work just to get there? And then to
\nput the soundtrack together?”<\/p>\n
\ncan envision everything it takes to put all this together, so I think
\nI\u2019d rather they didn\u2019t know. Just enjoy it! On our side we have so
\nmuch joy doing it.”<\/p>\n
\nkeeps the joy of listening. The joy of listening is equivalent to the
\njoy we have of giving it to them. Because if we didn\u2019t have joy all
\nthis work would mean nothing.”<\/p>\n
\ndoing. They would wonder why I put so much energy on a note or a
\nmeasure or on 8 bars or 100 bars of music. These people are not in my life anymore.”<\/p>\n
\nbut especially my mother. My mother was my music master; she studied at the Pittsburgh School of Music in Philadelphia. She was an opera singer and music whiz and she passed it on to me. My father was also but he passed away when I was six so my main master was my mother. She taught me everything about music but especially how to materialize and actualize my ideas and bring [them out].”<\/p>\n
\ntelevision. They would come to see the kid that could compose music
\nat nine years old, so they would put me on TV and stuff like that.
\nShe would have me write out charts for the musicians or to be able to
\n[copyright] the piece at BMI. And she told me, “What you start you
\nhave to finish.” And at nine years old to write a chart for musicians
\nwas a big big endeavor. And I would cry, “No, why don\u2019t you do it?”
\n“No! You started it, you finish it!” So I think that was the
\n[development] of my courage and endurance and stamina.”<\/p>\n
\nforward and actualize and materialize your ideas. And you have to
\nhave the courage to keep going until it becomes complete. That is my
\nphilosophy.”<\/p>\n
\nwe\u2019re still doing a lot of changes [to ZAIA] so I\u2019m busy doing that.
\nI also have some album projects [in mind]. And of course (Vice-
\nPresident of Creation) Pierre Phaneuf at Cirque told me the last time
\nI spoke to him that they had projects for me. So we\u2019ll see. I think
\nthey\u2019re letting me finish [ZAIA] and then we\u2019ll see what my new
\ncollaboration with Cirque will be. So coming up – music music music
\nmusic!”<\/p>\n
\nour favorites. What words of wisdom does she have for young artists
\nto encourage or make them aware of the challenge of Art as a career?
\n“Hmm. That\u2019s a very good question, and a hard one because there are
\nso many things I want to say. Maybe I\u2019ll write it to you [later].”<\/p>\n
\ntotally engaged, totally dedicated to your craft; in fact, you can’t
\neven imagine living or breathing for a millisecond without Art in your
\nlife! If this is the way you deeply feel then there are chances you
\nwill have enough willpower and inner strength to carry you through.”<\/p>\n
\nwithout technique is just a bad habit.” Knowing this first-hand and
\nalso knowing what my peers and I have to put in to realize our dreams
\nand visions, I can confirm that the artistic adventure will challenge
\nand test you to the bone; to the marrow of your soul; it will carve
\nyou like the sculptor carves marble in order to reveal your true
\nnature; your beauty and your full rainbow potential.”<\/p>\n
\nlive the artistic odyssey (and what I just told you didn’t make you
\nwant to run in the opposite direction…), then jump right in without
\nany second thought. Because it means that your dedication to your art
\nand to the world and what will be requested of you to succeed won’t be
\n“work” for you…. your long hours, days, months, and years will be
\ntotal “play”; full, total “joy”!”<\/p>\n
\nthe Fascination! Newsletter. “I think it\u2019s precious that you take
\ntime to speak with me and to speak with us. You\u2019ve done some great
\nwork and every element counts. It\u2019s very precious and I thank you.”<\/p>\n
\nspending time with us, Lise Dubois, Corporate Alliances Coordinator,
\nChantal C\u00f4te, Corporate PR Manager, and my wife LouAnna for putting
\nup with my sometimes obsessive hobby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"