Rachel Claudio

INTERVIEW FROM "THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF CARMINELITTA"
http://carminelitta.blogspot.com/2010/04/interview-rachel-claudio.html
First of all, for people who are not familiar with you or your music, could you introduce yourself ?
*smiles
My name is Rachel Claudio. I'm a singer/songwriter/producer. I play keys so that I can sing in my own tempo. I've been told that I'm on the perpetual search for beauty.
When did you decide that you wanted to make singing a career and how did everything start for you?
I never decided I was going to "make singing a career". Music was always kind of like my twin sister, as far back as I can remember. It was the only thing I was ever going to do. In recent years, I considered what I've given to my music over a lifetime, and saw that it would be fair to request from it a framework that would be more commodious to a life less eerr erratic So sometimes I write for projects that aren't at all in my "style"/"genre"/"universe". I do it under the impression that I'm exploiting my talent. But I keep discovering that a good melody is a good melody regardless of what it's wrapped in, and that I'm richer for having written one, regardless of its function or style. So I guess I'm saying that I don't notice it being as a "career", even if that's exactly what it is. I see it as an endless body/outpouring of work/ideas that I'm infinitely blessed to have the world give me a space in which to put it.
You are also a very talented writer, using words as magical objects that touch and inspire people. Is it inseparable from music for you?
*wide grin Thank you for the compliment. Wallace Stevens said, "In poetry, you must love the words, the ideas and the images and rhythms with all your capacity to love anything at all." For a musician, it's melody, harmony, groove & rhythm. For the truth seekers, it's all the same thing: An expression, a moment, a question, a revelation - that manifests itself in whatever form If you're combining them then above all, a lyric mustn't be a consonant and a vowel used a melody-conduit. That's what a scat is for. Words are precious and powerful units of spoken thought. They allow us to be reflective beings that are capable of greater things. For the honest songwriter, the objective/responsibility is simply to be the interface, and to allow inspiration to take the shape it chooses. [.pauses] Look at that, I haven't even answered the question. *laughs Yes. It is inseparable.
You were born in Australia, have Italian origins, currently live in Paris and have travelled around the world for your gigs and performances. Is all that a source of inspiration and something you use in your music?
Mmm I imagine that inspiration, even if it's decidedly a word or image or situation or feeling, is actually the culmination of everything that leads you to any particular moment. So, it's probably a yes, even if I don't often look at my life as a biography. *reflects Actually, I'm not sure. Maybe not often. I really tend to mostly be actively inspired by very singular/specific happenings, usually in reference to relationships or ideas/questions provoked therein. I often neglect to live in the physical world, much to the chagrin of those who love me. *smiles I tend to escape into my own head and analyze the shyte out of intangible things. I'm working on trying not to spend so much time in there that I forget to gaze upon Notre Dame when I pass it. In fact, I should really go to the Louvre tomorrow.
You are a very sensitive and open person/artist, you seem to really enjoy performing and meeting your fans, connecting with the audience. Is it necessary for you to present your music live?
Yes. First and foremost, what you're effectively doing in a live performance is creating a space where audience and artist can experience something that exists only in that moment, and therefore belongs to all. As far as meeting fans goes, I've found that being honest in one's songwriting means that the people who connect with your work are very often on your wave length. What you connect with in art is entirely dependent on where you are in your head, so someone connecting with my stuff kind of immediately implies that to an extent, there's a common ground. That's incredible. I've met many amazing people through this marvellous medium.
Yes, it's necessary for me to be singing. The songs I want to sing most are often 4 minute long sessions of (getting to) understanding my own present. So I need to sing them often. If I'm not doing it on stage, I'm doing it somewhere else - in my home, in an undercover carpark, in an old church before I get kicked out. It's urgent and relentless and it isn't dependent on who's listening. Though I'm glad when people do. I'm blessed to often find myself in front of an attentive audience.
You are, as I said earlier, a multi-talented artist, singer and writer. Are there any other creative activities you are interested in or would like to explore?
Finger-painting.
You sometimes seem to live in a fairy tale, and you obviously have achieved a lot of dreams. What keeps you going, and are there any things you would really like to achieve?
*laughs A fairytale? Perhaps. I've probably played greasy villain, handsome prince, flitty damsel, stocky woodcutter and crowd scene at various junctures. (Just quietly, the "happily ever after" has always seemed to me as a complete copout. It can't exist, because any life-outcome is effectively a phase, being as though life just continues, and at that, in a way that's seldom linear. Bring on the ebbs and flows. I would prefer Walt Disney to have stated at the end of every romantic tale, ".and so they lived with their fair share of woe, elation, heartbreak, uncertainty, joy & laughter, in accordance with the laws of life & relationships." But I admit that it's far less catchy.)
What keeps me going? The learning. Either getting closer and closer to "truth" or adapting to whatever form truth takes, I suppose. We grow and change I'm fascinated by it. I wrote recently, "You hope to be and become a person that you're happy to spend all of your time with." I really have no idea what I'm doing. I don't see how anyone can. I just try to pay attention and make as much sense of life as I can. It's most often in the form of a song. I saw that my music had an effect on people many years back, so I make the decision to share it. If it's on me to uncover truths and let my songs heal/help/lift others as those songs have done for me, then that's what I'll continue to do. I'll do it as devoid of ego as I can continue to regulate. There have certainly been some amazing experiences. Going to remote parts of the world and finding out that people know your tunes when you didn't even know they spoke their own language is. humbling. I've been able to meet and make music with the people whose music constitutes entire parts of my musical identity. This life is a gift. Amazement is my favorite state to be in, so I invite it often. What do I want to achieve? Musical fulfillment as permanent as it can be afforded, I suppose. In whatever form. I just want to keep playing music.
Do you have any new releases or upcoming projects you would like to talk about? And are there any gigs planned for you in the near future?
My first solo album comes out later this year. It's called "Claudiography". It's basically a documentation of the then-until-now. Ooh that's a very vague statement. What the hell else would it be? What I mean is that it's not conceptual and based on a single point in my life. It's kind of a cataloguing of various states and moments, I suppose. *sigh You'll know what I mean when you hear it.
As for gigs, I'm always playing somewhere I seem to be in Monaco quite a bit for some reason. I'll be over in the States mid-year playing a bunch of shows and eating pumpkin pie Always darting through Europe.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
If anyone has a a spare bucket of paint I should like to dip my fingers into it.