ATARAXIA is well-known band among people who listen to ambient/ medieval/ folk music. The band exists for 12 years and it has 12 CD albums till now. 200 concerts, more than 400 interviews and articles all over the world, presence in 50 different compilations - these are the milestones of ATARAXIA life. Today the band is going to meet the new millenium with totally new and revolutionary album "Lost Atlantis", which is dedicated to this very upcoming millenium. And now I chat with beautiful woman and nice person to talk Francesca. I hope you'll enjoy the interview as much as I do.

This is the first time we do an interview so I ask a couple of those boring but still really necessary questions. The band consists of 5 members, right? 3 of them are musicians, one is a dancer, and one is some sort of artist. Could U tell me a bit about yourself and about your mates? Your jobs (if any), education, interests, well all this stuff people tell about themselves at first meeting.

We have grown up in medieval burgs and we carry on the "oral tradition" of those times. We are wandering clerics and pilgrims who want to maintain memory and remembrance of all those souls cancelled by bigger event that annihilate the single. Someone can understand what it means to feel deeply the smell and surface of ancient stone on one's skin, to enter those places and to perceive the presence of who lived there, the pulsing fragments of ancient inhabitants or pilgrims like we are. Furthermore we are craftsmen, we utilize our hands to create, to give nuances and we don't like to imprison knowledge channeling it in a specific branch. The ancient studious were adopted in many areas and they were all interconnected: music, painting, science, math, philosophy, architecture, alchemy.

Sometimes we feel to be the crossroads among the Orient and Mediterrian cultures and the Northern Celtic one, we are a land of meeting and translations, citizens of the word who bring the physical and spiritual signs of far different experiences and cultures.

In every day life Giovanni (Keys and Piano) was a classic musician (he played organ in a church) and now he also works in house of rest for old people, he helps them handling deep notions of psychology and neurology; Vittorio (guitarist) build iron hand-made unusual furniture and I finished university studying literature, languages, and Medieval history, now I'm attending a course to begin organizer of musical live-events. Lorenzo (the actor and dancer) is also a painter and he's studying to learn to restore ancient wooden furniture; Livio (our photographer and "image capture") is a geometer.

Today's line up was all the time the band exists or U had changes? ATARAXIA exists for 12 years and this is A LOT. Could U tell us about history of the band? I understand that it's impossible to tell about 12 years, but may be U could tell about some really bright moments in the life of the band, about it's origin, about those milestones of ATARAXIA's life, your achievements, important dates and people U met on your way.

Our band history seems to be part of two different ages, two different psychological dimensions and attitude towards life and art: before 1992 and after that date. The eighties seem to be very far, thousands years ago, we don't like to speak very much of that period, it was a very painful one. We had no means at all, I began singing without a microphone, possibly I was shouting not singing, we had a great strength and determination in a deaf wealthy Italy where underground music was completely cut-off, where cultural music was completely cut-off too. I remember we were many persons, 8 at the end of eighties, we played a lot, we gave many and many concerts in very bad, uneasy quite unbelievable situations. That was the moment of fear and pain, some of us died, killed themselves, had accident, we are here with their wounds in our body and soul. It was many years ago and I don't know if it's good to describe those days.

1988-1991 have been the years of death, 1992 has been the year of rebirth in a refound cycle of nature, in it's natural fluid.

From 1994 on (the year of release of our first CD SIMPHONIA SINE NOMINE) the fight with destiny had a start, we were no more humble deceived men but fighting ones and then year after year we became channels of History and Time, our Mother and Father, we're becoming one of their voices and now we are travelling musicians, evanescent warriors and diaphanous thinkers walking along the path of Knowledge in order to find the keys to existence, everything in the right moment, nor before neither after........
Our main influences have been the wounds and discoveries of our lives.

at:a:rax:i:a, noun. Peace of mind or emotional tranquillity; calmness. [Greek, from ataraktos, undisturbed.]U had chosen this name 12 years ago and U probably had some reasons to do that. The years passed but U still has the same name. Do U still like the name and does the name influent on the music you make? I ask that cuz today a lot of bands choose bandnames without any thinking: "well, it sounds good. Let's have it!" I even know some bands that have bandnames without any meaning at all, just a bunch of letters.

ATARAXIA is a spiritual balance, the synonym of state of perfection that is not possible to be reached by human beings entirely.

ATARAXIA becomes a state of tension and we try to open our minds to be receptive and perceptive towards the occurring of life. Creativity is the basis of our research. ATARAXIA's members feel to be mediums of Time and History (our Father and Mother), they pass through us and we become their voice. Then I have to add that Socrates is a great teacher. To be always curious, always asking and rarely accepting dogmatic answers.
The choice of this name has been prophetic, as long as time passes we deeply understand how this research is important and how this moniker is suitable to our band. The only possible one.

Your first album (CD) appeared in 1994 but the band was in the business for 8 years already. Why did it take so long to release your first album?

We recorded our first tape in 1990, the first long years spent playing and having concerts have been fundamental for our growing. From 1990 to 1993 we tried to find an Italian label but as I said before Italy was a deaf, superficial country. So we decided to send our tapes abroad (especially in Germany) and in a few days we had several proposals and in a month we signed our first deal.

Let's talk about your albums. I have only your Historiae album so I have no clue about your other ones. Tell me about them. Describe every album in a couple of words; tell about its difference from others. Do you have a favorite among them? If U do why?

I guess it's not possible to describe everything in a pair of words, I have to be longer.

"Simphonia Sine Nomine" CD
I visited the graveyard today, eager to see the statues, expression of nameless faces, so distant, elusive, charged of abstract silences. The statues observed me more than I observed them. It was me who was hiding they would have ever been there, it was me the blind, only the one blind on the other side.......
.....a classic music symphony with triumphal, martial pieces, orchestral scores, Renaissance and Baroque remembrances, toccata, fuga and tenuous, gentle melodies in an apotheosis of solemnity, rebellion and tenderness.

"Ad Perpetuam Rei Memoriam" CD
......the states of mind and heart collected in the pages of a voluminous book, "Prophetia". A bitter tragic epilogue in a Kafkian succession of questions without answers in a re-created inquisitorial trial of our times. The slow march of a humanity who tries to know itself bearing the burden of it's own existence.
Finally the re-birth and a refound shy harmony in the fluid cycle of Nature where every gesture and sound gains a metaphysical valence. The three tapes of the band ("Prophetia", "Nosce Te Ipsum" and "Arazzi") are now collected in this release.

"La Melediction d'Ondine" CD
.....enveloped by the waves, dragged by the streams of the rivers, sucked by the gloomy overflowing of the lakes the echo of the ups and downs of many female souls repeats itself an infinite number of times, we've heard that dirge, we've made of it more than one song and we're repeating those tunes like the echo of an echo to you... We've caught the laments of so many mermaids who feed themselves spasmodically with their own past. A mechanicistic necessity unifies people and it's called death but there's also our chant for all those souls made of regret and struggle, loss and abandonment, for they rest in peace in this sound-track smelling of seaweeds and branckish beaches.

"The Moon sang on the April Chair - Red deep Dirges of a November Moon" CD
....Once I was dancing on a cliff, dressed in white with a white lily crown on my head, I was not so old, perhaps ten or eleven, white and blue were my colours, the aegean see and those walls, a bit far away fireflies and syrens, the smell of spring-time and the white ancient taste of childhood white clementines and lemons are still resting in my infancy remembrances. The moon gave me her chant while twisting in her April chair...
Time has passed, life has been spent, Autumn is what I am, a red deep dirge under a November moon, please flames write the hieroglyphics of instinct and pleasure on my skin and deep deep on my heart tissues, it's cold and it's November. Words have dried on my tongue, sunk wreckages are the only hold of instants till the core bit........................................

"In Amoris Mortisque" 10 inches vynil limited edition
...Melisanda, the sweet, has lost her way. Pelleas, light blue lily, carries her in his arms....sail your statue in the eternal crystal.
...When you'll be old, Clytaemestra, you'll remember the verses I recited and comprehend that in springtime snows are harsher...

"In fantasma dell'Opera" CD
...the Monster owns geniality, the one that leads you towards the sublime creation...The Angel knows, realizes, perceives by intuition... The Phantom is unique in many artistic forms and especially in the most ethereal and esoteric one, music.
Erik is a labyrinth of double-meanings, tunnels, corridors, doors that open on other doors, mirrors hiding faces wearing masks.
The only way of expressing himself without metaphors, desguisements is music but he's Eric, the Phantom of the Opera, and his world is based on fiction, conjuring tricks, childish fantasies in lushy environments of killing sirens, oriental palaces, sensuous visions; he can't receive love without acting, hiding his face. so he becomes the voice of moving violin, the fury of a persecutor, the devoted lover, the never ending pain, the burning suspect Dignified has been the Monster's departure and now he's a gossip on the Opera dancer's mouth, a folksy legend. He died with or without a mask, it doesn't matter, he's the faceless man who returns to earth.
Be praised his unconditional love for music!
Be praised Erik, our Monster and Phantom of the Opera!

"Concerto N.6: Baroque plaisanterie" CD
"What are you searching, MyLord, in music?"
"I'm searching for tears and regrets, music exists only to express what is not possible to be expressed by words."
"......I'm wind...., do you believe one doesn't suffer being wind? Sometimes the wind carries the music to us as sometimes the light carries to you the appearance................"
A deeply felt tribute to the Music Maestros of the past, a suffered research in the profound meaning of music, a personal homage to the impressive film of A. Corneau "Tous les matins du Monde", an individual contribution to the Baroque harmonies and age, a singular excursion in the purity of sound. Two chapters in a release: a studio session and a live part played in total retirement in the lounge of an Italian house of the XVII century.
We don't have favorite albums, every album we create is a chapter of the same book and the book itself is what we are.

Do U have an album which was the hardest to create, and is there the easiest one? Why?

The hardiest album was surely the last one "Lost Atlantis", this release will be out next Autumn but we've just finished to record it. It's been the hardest because for the first time we decided to record and mix everything on our own, I mean, alone, I and the guitarist. Furthermore this album is experimental and the care of sounds had never been so important. So we took one month and a half but the fulfillment is great, we thought it couldn't have been possible. No other difficulties in our musical carrier.

Every year U release 2-3 albums. How can U write so much music? And how do U actually find labels who has a will to release such music so often?

Simply instinct and a great pleasure in composing, this is our gift. About labels we never made deals linked to us as ATARAXIA but only deals concerning a single release. This is our way of interact with labels and maintain a complete creative and intellectual freedom. We released many albums with 4/5 different labels in the last and present years because every label is suitable to that special album. It's perhaps a bit strange to be heard but we always had the complete control of our band and very good relations with the labels we worked with because this kind of reciprocal understanding and agreement helped this at the end. In this way we have the possibility to print all our music.

U don't have any albums dated the year 1997. What made U to take this break?

1997 and 1998 have been years of great inspiration and creation, we traveled a lot, we read, we made researches (historical, literary and archeological as we usually do) and 3 different concepts albums have been printed in late 1998. We also went on working on the album for the end of the Millenium (and we care alot!) that will be completely inspired by the myth of the sunken continent of Atlantis. It's 8 years we come to Greece and Lycia to visit archeological sites and to get inspiration by History and Time our Mother and Father, it's 2 years we are collecting elements and songs to create this epos whose theme is unconsciously present in the mind and arcane memory of each of us. As you may infer, we've had 2 intense and fulfilling years.

In 1998 U released 3 albums and everybody can buy them now. Please tell me about Os Cavaleiros� and Orlando albums. U just released a video. We don't have it in the country and probably will not have in nearest future so I ask U about it. What can we find on this video? And do U like the achieved result?

"Os Cavaleiros do Tempo-Live in Portugal-MCMXCVIII" box video+CD live
"Portugal is a casket of secrets. Our silent and discreet voyage in a land whose taste is the one of Time has been a sort of initially journey through the noble testimonies of stone standing in particular spots of our way. It's a miracle to see that places full of sacredness and nobleness conserving an intact power of transmitting you wisdom and the spiritual charge of centuries still breath. Through these voyages we emerge changes and enriched. We return in music what we received in silence.

To the order of the Portuguese Knight templars who managed to conceal inside symphonies of stone the knowledge and ancient mysteries of equilibrium and wisdom. The voyage goes on........."

This live album is a special box video + CD with an introduction filmed in a medieval ambiance while the concert was filmed in Lisbon January '98. The achieved results are good in our opinion, the first ancient-like part is alluring and unusual, a jump in centuries, every gesture, dress, object and wall is symbolic, the second live part is a great tribute to our faithful and new audience, a great exchange of energy between us and our listeners.

ATARAXIA in "Orlando" MCD limited edition
"It was midnight, the midnight tolling; it was October Thursday. He/ she came....a male or rather a female?

He/ She had the steel shining blue of a silvery pool, he/ She was a fleshing vassel in the sun from the Southern Seas, he/ she was a ghostly presence in undistinguished Seas, he/ she was the moaning of the wind, of the Southern West wind......

The universal had his/ her presence, splitting the archetype into a mask of his/ her own features. Focalized ivory pyramid, roseate welcome, shake of mahogany, round of senses, magma in fire, artist hands.....I was erecting the statue of epidermic marbles, in symbiotic catharsis to his/ her majesty! Oozed in thousands atoms of atmospheric fine dust he/ she is the apotheosis of light.........A male or a female?

Inspired by Virginia Woolf's "Orlando".

The last question about your albums. I know that U began to write your new album Lost Atlantis. When can we expect it? What can we expect? What new and different can we expect?

As I wrote before you can expect it for September/ October 1999. Many contemporary and especially ancient scriptures speak of a disappeared land swallowed by the seas.

This is written in the persoant history of each of us, it's a collective forgotten tragedy, the tragedy of the human being, of the nature of his existence.
It's many years we've been collecting elements through voyages in the southeastern lands (Greece, Lycia, Turkey), reading documents and ancient scriptures. "Lost Atlantis" will embody the ancestral myth of the disappearance of view and adopted to magic and rituals on the other. We have decided to mingle legends, ancient costumes, many philosophies, traditions and to transform them in a musical epos. It will be a pagan opera with a great sacral taste. Paradoxically even if very far in time (from 10.000 to 45.000 years ago) this will be our more actual release and also the most nostalgic and experimental one.

"From chaos harmonia is born and once again was chaos".

The lyrics will be all in English and ancient Greeck (the two symbolic languages of the future and past) and the atmosphere will be the one of nostalgia, ancestral lost with a sense of elevation. We will try to capture the sounds of the Mediterrian Sea and of the Ocean, Harmony of forms, timeless suspension, an awful respect for crystallized things. It will end with cosmic music in a sad empty space where a neverending detachment for humanity reigns, the words of abandon for an unaccountable time...

Historiae was the first album U released through CMI. What do U think about cooperation with this label? ATARAXIA is pretty weird release for CMI and CMI is pretty weird label for ATARAXIA, don't U think?

Perhaps it's a bit early to give a complete judgement even if I have to say that till now the cooperation has been increasing and the exchange of ideas, inputs and opinions very useful. We have a great respect for R. Karmanik and all he did; in common we have the fact that both of us have grown and improved with a great strength, will and courage. We are also very attracted by the fancy and beautiful artwork he creates.

No, I don't think it's a weird label for us and viceversa, on the contrary all of this is useful to open our reciprocal minds and give the best in perhaps a bit unordinary/ unexpected musical fields.

I know that unlike metal acts, ambient/ industrial bands very often have some ideology behind their music. Do U have any ideology, any messages to listeners in your music?

We don't want to show ideologies, we are against carrying ideologies in music, as I always say we are musicians, persons, trying to describe what we perceive and what the instinct communicate to us.

ATARAXIA's members feel to be mediums of Time and History, they pass through us and we become their voice.

Our aesthetics are based on beauty and struggle.

Music is a magic moment that helps us to explore the roots of our biggest interests. I mean, we are conscious and aware that we are creating a language that is not made of words or symbols but it's something deeper, ancestral, cosmic. Someone said: "Who creates doesn't know poverty".

It's the very first time when I see that band has a mimic/dancer and a photo/ artist in the line up. So I believe U think that visual side of your music is not less important for listener. What for do U need those people? Some musicians believe that only music is important and even use of words/ lyrics is not necessary and even bad. U took part in 200 concerts. I can't even imagine that. Well, how does look a regular live show of ATARAXIA? Please tell also about your best and the worst gig so far. What does make the show good or bad in your understanding?

Our performances are similar to ancient dramas; all the five senses have to be stimulated. Sometimes I agree with people saying that only music is important even if I prefer to say that music is sufficient and self-sufficient but everything can gain a very magical and surreal atmosphere with a complete drama act. People have the possibility to listen to our music in solitude but who comes to see us live has to enter our whimsical world, a kaleidoscope of sensations.
We usually play in ancient places that have captured the magic of centuries like castles, squares, gardens, cloisters, courts, in those places energy is at it's best and enchantment is created like happened in primordial drama, this makes the show very good. Our concerts are performances of music, mimic/ dancing and from time to time we add images, every concert has a theme, a concept and it is structured like a sort of theatrical piece. The atmosphere we evoke, the sensations we feel are oceanic and boundless, a sort of esoteric experience, a channel of communication between parallel dimensions, a travel in premival kingdoms. The worst gigs were the ones of the '80ies, when people was not interested at all, when our performances showed a very deep pain and illness of living, we had very bad reactions at those times.

Italy has pretty big industrial/ ambient/ Goth scene. What do U think about it? Do U like the way it evolve? Do U have any favorites among bands from your country? Any recommendations about unsigned bands?

We have been in contact with many Italian dark-wave-gothic-industrial bands till the beginning of the '90ies then we cut-off quite completely from the external world. At those times there was a great cultural and musical exchange, a lot of strength in a country that had so many bands and very very small need and will to listen to them. Quite all the bands knew each other and knew the writers of the small fanzines we had, we also wrote in some of them. Now some fanzines have closed, some bands have disappeared unsigned or after a single release, other are growing internationally especially abroad in Germany, and Europe. I know Camerata Mediolanense, Frozen Autumn, Kirlian Camera among the ones who are still in good health.
About unsigned bands I would recommend "Spy versus Spy" a young band with an amazing talented singer.

Your 15 years anniversary is coning and U probably had some thoughts about the way U want to meet it. Want to share some of your plans? What do U want to make/ achieve/ create before this anniversary?

We haven't still thought to our anniversary, two years are longer and if I have to be sincere we never celebrated anniversaries. Before that date we want to print 2/3 CDs (and especially "Lost Atlantis" among them) going on creating our live performances in an always exiting and creative way (we're just working on something new) and playing a lot. Who will live will see.

U are in musical business for a long time. What is the most important thing for people who are in the band and who want to stay in this business for years? Can U give some advises for people who do their first steps in this business?

I wouldn't call it music business but simply passion for music and creation. The most important thing is to care our gift, to go on giving and expressing all we have inside and to transmit it in the most natural and honest way. We have to go on following our path towards a sort of wisdom and knowledge. Our advice is to put always music, strength and passion before business. We received a lot from our listeners. We remember this. Every day. Everybody should remember the efforts, pains and also the aims achieved. Nothing comes for simple luck or chance, things have to be gained with a lot of sacrifices, we devoted all our lives to the band, to the freedom of expression and to the pleasure of creation. Creation is the divine part of each of us and has to be cared and cared and cared. Also playing becomes a sort of mission sometimes.

This is the easiest question. Your message to our readers�

May music enlighten and give pleasure to new welcome readers and listeners from Belarus....

"Decoding
Hieroglyphic omens
Astonished
I feel..."

� For any contact our website is:

www.ataraxia.net