Martin S
Group: Members
Posts: 5
Joined: May 2005 |
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Posted: Oct. 04 2005, 16:38 |
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I translated a part of the interview from a Polish service onet.pl. I don't know how to create a separate link so I just post it here. Please, do not mind all the imperfections in it; neither Polish nor English is my native language so it cannot be perfect. It is the first 30% only, as far as the rest is concerned, I can not translate it now; the academic year has just began... maybe someone from the Polish fanclub will do it? or maybe I shall, as soon as I find some time....
An outstanding artist following his own path since the very beginning of his career until today, who ivested in his tallent and realisation of new artistic visions instead of enjoying himself. His album ‘Tubular Bells’ belongs to the absolute musical canon; those who do not know it, definitely have a lot to regret.
Who is this all about? – Mike Oldfield, an English mutiinstrumentalist, composer, producer, an enthusiast of compuer games, motorbikes and finding new technologies of sound realisation. He is just like his music; calm, internally well balanced, with a bit of good sense of humour which can be found in every gentleman.
On the 26 September 2005 his new album, entitled Light and Shade, appeared. By this occasion Mike has told us about the new material, his fascinations and new technologies he used. There were also some Polish motives in the conversation.
Q: First of all could you tell me where the idea to record a double album came from and how did you reach the conclusion to make each CD include a different kind of music?
R: I happened to examine various compilations which were recently available on the market and found one entitled ‘Buddha Bar’. It included two CDs, with one called ‘Light’ and the other ‘Shade’. I thought it would be interesting to divide my own music in two parts like it was done there, depending on the principle of mood. It occurred to me that at the time when there are so many different TV channels specialising in separate, well defined areas of interest, and so many specialist magazines dedicated to very specific topics, such an idea might be useful.
Q: You’ve lived in Ibiza for some time. The island is famous for its clubbing parties. Have you ever participated in any? Have you met any of DJs there?
R: Of course. At first I was just looking for a piece of land to build a house and I found an excellent one there. I did not consider the matters of club music. By the way, the parties take place for 4 months only (that is since June to September). For the rest of the year Ibiza is quite an ordinary but also an outstandingly beautiful island. When I made myself at home there I started to visit the clubs, but it cannot be said that I really attended the parties, since for most of the time I was just talking to the DJs. They are artists, just as I am. They have to create an appropriate atmosphere to keep people amused all night long. I established friendly relationsips with a few of them, mainly with DJ Pipi who worked with me on The Millennium Bell. I must admit that the atmosphere of the clubs ispired me to large extent. And the DJs themselves are very interesting persons. They are musicians and entertainers at the same time. I find it very intersting, really.
Q: It might be a commonplace question, but could you tell me how you create your music? Do you have some methods that you have used throughout the whole of your career? The deveopment of technology certainly makes some changes inevitable, but is it the same method of working in most general terms at least?
R: Mostly it involves the same method indeed. I start from writing down of a piece of melody and I experiment with it. If I am lucky, the whole idea appears immediately. I know when I should sit down to work and when I can do something else, for example go to a restaurant ar for a walk with the dog. But also then I might come across some interesting ideas. And when I come back I write it all down and start working on it. There is always the matter of deciding about the pace and the mood of the final piece and what instrument should be the leading one, and later there remains only work, work, work… which continues for weeks. Each of the tracks from the new album took me about four weeks to compose.
Q: Four weeks each?
R: Exactly.
Q: Then the making of the whole album must have taken quite a lot of time…
R: That is true. Of course some compositions took a bit less, but some a bit more than four weeks. There are some tracks I composed earlier as the soundtrack for my computer games; I modified them a bit to make them suit the whole of the album and so they were ready almost instantly. But making the new ones took me a lot of time. I prepared several versions of each and dedicated a lot of work to it.
Q: Your biographies and various press articles reveal quite a lot about your passions. You mentioned computer games a while ago, it is also no secret that you are keen on science fiction, motorbikes, watching the nature and, at least to some extent, aircraft. I know you have a pilot’s licence, but as far as I know you are not very much involved in flying recently. Has any of these passions influenced the process of creation of Light and Shade?
R: I was seriouly involved in flying about 20 years ago. I just had to rid myself of my fear of flying which prevented me from travelling.
In the course of the creative process I try to reexperience the dreams and visions I have. I once happened to dream I could fly, but now I do not attempt at making such dreams real by flying planes. Today it is rather the matter of keeping the machine under control. I make my dreams real in my virtual reality projects. It is almost like flying. I do not even know if it is not more real than flying planes (laugh).
The motorbikes are just like my dreams. You speed passing by exuisite landscapes and bending on the turns so much that you almost touch the ground.
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