| This interview (text) is available in Italian and in the original English. This Italian website - Sentireascoltare - means "Feel & Listen".
On March 7, this year, 2017, Filippo Bordignon emailed me his questions. In the on-line Italian version, Filippo precedes the interview by giving a rather lengthy and detailed Hope you find this fun reading. Filippo asked a lot of very interesting questions.
Filippo Bordignon Interview with Iasos Interview questions by Filippo Bordignon filippobordignon@alice.it
1) Dear Iasos, first of all, what's the differences between new age music and ambient music from a musical-conceptual point of view? Ambient Music " is background music, music that does not grab your attention with melodies or rhythms. Typically, ambient music has a lot of long-sustaining sounds, and sounds that morph and evolve slowly. I believe "Ambient Music" is designed to subtly flavor your space, like incense in a room can subtly flavor your space. "New Age Music " began in the mid-70s as spiritual music. Originally, it meant: Music for yoga, music for meditation, music for sacred ceremonies, music for connecting with your Higher Self. But over the years, the definition and use of "New Age Music" kept getting broader and broader, until NOW - in 2017, "New Age Music" means nothing more than "miscellaneous". That is, if any music does not fit into any of the normal music categories - like pop, R&B, Latin, classical, country, jazz, etc - then they just call it "New Age Music".
2) "Inter-Dimensional Music Through Iasos": what was you approach on recording this album? I'd like to have some words about your unusual use of instruments. Well, at that time, I was hearing some very unusual heavenly music in my mind, but I had very limited instruments to work with. And I was hearing not only unusual music, but also unusual musical sounds. And this was before synthesizers existed. So I was using acoustic instruments, and simple electronic processing of acoustic instruments. I was basically working with flute, voice, slide guitar, and piano. And I used electronic processing like spring reverb, Basically, I was doing the best I could - whatever I could do - to approximate the music I was hearing in my mind - as accurately as possible, with the simple technologies then available to me.
3) What about german "kosmische musik" during the first part of seventies? I am not familiar with this music - even now. So I can not comment on it.
4) What do you like to remember about making the masterpiece "Angelic Music" ? So in my mind and heart, I silently telepathically put out a sincere mental request : I thought - if anything along these lines happens in the next few months - I would be very happy. Then about 1 week later, I had the opportunity to record some background music, using a new synthesizer that I very much loved but could not afford - the ARP String Ensemble . Each key sounded like many violins playing that note. I could not afford this synthesizer, but I had a friend that was in a rock band that had one of these. He said I could come into their practice space and record with it, one day, while they were taking a dinner break from practicing. So on that day, I excitedly went into their studio with my stereo tape-recorder, and an echo-plex unit. As they left for dinner, I quickly plugged the ARP String Ensemble into my echo-plex, and plugged that into 1 channel of my tape-recorder. I just recorded some background chords for awhile, at the fast tape-recorder speed (7.5 ips). By the time that finished, the musician returned from dinner, so I had to pack up and leave. While I was in my home studio and was studying what I had recorded, I gradually came to the This became "The Angels of Comfort". And unsurprisingly, many people report to me that they play this music to comfort their loved ones, when they are dying. And many mothers report to me, that they were playing this music while giving birth.
5) What was the first synthesizer that you bought? I could not stand the way the original synthesizers sounded. I extremely disliked their sounds. They all sounded cold and sterile to me. Nothing warm and organic about it. But eventually I bought my first synth - an RMI Keyboard Computer. This was like a hot-rodded organ. It had the old-fashioned computer cards with holes punched into them. Each time I slid one of these cards into the synth, I would get a unique digital sound. The punch cards were basically just 16 numbers, that defined the first quarter of the digital wave shape. Then it read the numbers in reverse order, to get the 2nd quarter of the wave shape. Then it read the negative of those numbers to get the 3rd quarter of the wave shape. Then finally, it read those 16 numbers in the negative and in reverse, to get the 4th quarter of the wave shape. So I had a wild assortment of digital wave-shapes to work from - instead of the traditional simple wave shapes with subtractive synthesis, that most synths were then employing. And I made those sounds even more "organic" by processing them through the
6) What about the music of Steven Halpern and Constance Demby? Both Steven and Connie are my good friends. I like their music, and I love both of these individuals very much. They are both very dear to my heart.
7) What's your position about scientific pitch using 432 Hz for A4 ? #1. #2. Of course, people say that music based on 432Hz "sounds" more loving and healing. But this is because of the placebo effect: If they know-in-advance that the music will be based on 432Hz, and if they believe that this frequency is more healing, then they will of course experience it that way. But if you do a blind-fold test, comparing 440Hz to 432Hz, where the listener does not know which he/she is hearing, I am certain the results of their preferences would not be statistically significant.
8) And what about the use of brain waves (alpha, theta, gamma etc.) in music? I am extremely aware of how sound can be used to entrain the brain to various brain frequencies. (My favorite is 7 Hz Theta) And I personally own a machine that uses flashing goggles and pulsing sounds in headphones to entrain the brain to these frequencies. But I do not ever use these frequencies in my music. I prefer to influence the listener simply through the emotions of the music.
9) Electronic music: analog synths vs. digital software: what do you think about it? I love it all! I use it all! Analog, digital, acoustic, sampled - I use it all! Analog has the advantage of sounding "warm", but it has a limited range of sounds, due to a limited range of waveshapes. Digital has the advantage of an infinite range of wave-shapes, and hence sounds. But it tends to sound "cold" and "sterile". BUT..when you truly understand what makes a sound feel warm and organic, or, Basically, it's this: Well, if you start with a flexible digital wave-shape, it is exactly the same waveshape in each cycle. So, the brain experiences that as a cold sterile sound. And when you do this, the digital sound is not only flexible, but also warm, rich, and organic sounding. And now days, most software synthesizers and hardware synthesizers are sufficiently sophisticated to where they can internally "shake-up" the sound, so that each wave cycle is slightly different, and therefore sounds "warm" and "organic" - without needing any external processing to make it so. It's like this: Personally - analog/digital/sampled/acoustic - I LOVE THEM ALL! I use them all!
11) What makes music "healing"? 1. Physical Resonance. 2. Emotional Resonance. 3. Intention. 4. Belief. I have written a detailed article explaining how each of these works, to produce a healing effect.
12) What makes you happy? What makes you unhappy? The secret to happiness is: NOT basing your happiness on any external events, but simply DECIDING to be happy! Make your happiness be based on an inner DECISION - not on external events that are beyond your control.
What makes you unhappy? Equipment malfunctions & women malfunctions:
13) Who were the most significant Spiritual Guides in your life?
14) When did you first perceive a connection between music and spirituality? When I began spontaneously hearing heavenly music in my mind, which was being telepathically transmitted to me, from Vista .
15) Future plans? New compositions? I am always in a state of continuous creation. I am always creating new music.
#1. Divine Passion While I was exploring some new sounds, I came across a sound that I really resonated with.
Then my HIGHER SELF, moved in, and basically said to me (telepathically) "Hey, Iasos, why don't you just move over, and let Me show you MY kind of FEELINGS!"
#2. Ubud Trance Dance This piece is a cross between Balinese Gamelan music, and a rhythmic dance beat.
I am eternally alternating between these 2 modes. By the way, when I am in CREATION mode , I never allow myself to get side-tracked and distracted, by learning new synthesizers or new music libraries. I am TOTALLY CONCENTRATING only on creating that new music, with whatever I then have available.
17) Do you also listen to popular music sometimes? If the answer is "yes", what? You could say: I have strange tastes - by earth standards. I listen sometimes, but not much, to external music. I like to listen to Donovan, Jimi Hendrix, Santana. For new age, I like to listen to Jonn Serrie and Kevin Kendle. Most of my "music listening" is internal though, not external.
18) What is your equipment in 2017? Secret!
19) Krishnamurti: "To be creative, which is to have real initiative, there must be freedom; and for freedom there must be intelligence. So you have to inquire and find out what is preventing intelligence. What are your definitions of FREEDOM , CREATIVITY and INTELLIGENCE ? I do not believe that I have anything profound or interesting to say about these 3 words.
20) Some words about new president Donald Trump? I like to remain non-political. But if I can generalize, I think the entire world is about to enter a point in history, where there will be: and much more loving
21) What does "inter-dimensional music" mean? "Inter-Dimensional" = "passing from one dimension to another". "Inter-Dimensional Music" = "music from higher celestial heavenly dimensions, passing into the physical dimension of earth - as air sound waves that anyone can hear with their physical ears."
22) Do you think of audience? And does that affect how you write or what you write? Not really. I understand, in advance, that WHATEVER any one creates in music, those of a similar consciousness will like it, and those of a very different consciousness will not like it - at all. And I am fine with this arrangement. So I simply please myself, in my music creation process - knowing in advance, that those, with a consciousness similar to mine will also like it.
23) Music industry is going through a transitionary process. What do you think will happen in the future? All recorded music will be free for everyone. (There will be so much financial abundance for everyone, that no one will mind.) To a great extent, this is already the case anyway, because there are so many pirate sites on-line, where you can download ANY music for free. Live concerts will be the primary source of revenue for musicians - (if they will even need that financial income then.)
24) I was wondering if anything could ever come along again with the same sort of impact as electronic music had when it first erupted? Well, of course! Already, many ET civilizations have practically EVERYTHING in their worlds controlled telepathically. (like, even simple things, like house lights going dark via a thought, or start the engine of a UFO, just by thinking that). Even the Secret Space Programs from our own earth cultures have mastered the technology of telepathic control of computers, which then control WHATEVER those computers are designed to control. Imagine - instead of mod wheels, after-touch, ribbon controllers, and foot pedals - So telepathic control of musical instruments is not really that far in our future. And it will open up VAST new realms of EMOTIONAL EXPRESSIVITY !!! Thought-control is WAY subtler and faster than moving any object with your hands or feet.
25) What's the most beautiful thing in being an artist? I can only answer for myself.
You can listen for free, to the FULL version of any song by Iasos - from any of his albums, |
