Andrea Centazzo

*2023 stock* "Nine years passed between the "Indian Tapes" triple LP box set and this "Visions" CD. It’s a long period of time in a musician career; especially when you are continuously changing from one artistic activity to another: from solo percussion performing to orchestra conducting; from composing for large ensemble to improvising; from video making to teaching and writing books… Through the years playing percussion became just a part of my artistic vocabulary. This was not only due to the growth of my many other interests. but also to the changes occurred in the international music scene unwilling to accept the "Hybrid Music" I am used to compose and perform. In spite of that, I never stopped recording materials, improving my playing and searching new "paths" for my music. One big fundamental change in my artistic production was the advent of the MIDI system which allows me to virtually make any kind of sound by using a MIDI percussion controller interfaced with sampling machines and sequencers.

My growing interest into folk and ethnic music determined another big change into my work, as testified by this CD where almost all compositions are inspired by some musical tradition. With "Indian Tapes" I realized the first chapter of such a research, while "Visions" represents a second step. But I am still learning a lot about the subject. Making videos was the third big change occurred in my solo music: I finally had the possibility to illustrate my music in motion pictures, the way I felt it. It made me start to think about the sounds also in terms of colors, achieving an emotional blend that I try to re-create live in concert using background videos.

Through the videos I made in the last five years I illustrated most of the pieces here presented. But I would like to draw attention to the fact that music is always composed first: to keep its capacity to speak for itself. So if you want to have your own "Visions", as I hope, just "plug in" and listen." - Andrea Centazzo