Simone Giuliani on “Play It Like It’s Music” podcast

Hello good people,

I’m so happy to be a part of this amazing podcast series created by musician extraordinaire Trevor Exter. Lots of interesting talks and insights from different artists: Christian McBride, Tony Mason and many others.

If you’d like to listen to my rants and be entertained by my thick Italian accent:

https://trevorexter.substack.com/p/make-a-thing-make-it-nice

Winner Best Music Award: “Deep Into Shambhala”, 8th China Academy Awards for Documentary Films

I couldn’t think of a better way to start this year, I just received the news that ‘Deep Into Shambhala‘ has won the Best Music Award at the 8th China Academy Awards for Documentary Film (CAADF) in Beijing.

I’m humbled and honored to be working with Yan Dazhong who did such an excellent job directing and envisioning this beautiful film –  it was a pleasure to write music for his creation. I’m beyond grateful to this unique gang of musicians and friends who made it possible: Robbie Angelucci, Ian Gittler, Alessio Lottero, Hamilton Berry, Masa Shimizu, Pino Annarella, Bisan Toron, David Darlington and Antonio Baglio.

The China Academy Awards for Documentary Film (CAADF) is one of the most prestigious awards in the Chinese documentary film industry and was established in 2011 to celebrate 100 years of Chinese documentary film making.

CAADF is supervised by SARFT, and hosted by China Documentary Research Centre (CRDC) of Communication University of China (CUC). First launched in 2011, CAADF is known as “The Oscars of China Documentary” due to its rigorous academic integrity, professional standards and international perspective.

On scoring “Deep Into Shambhala”

 

So honored to have teamed up with visionary director Yan Dazhong for the birth of “Deep Into Shambhala“, the TV series airing this week in China on CCTV (China Central Television).  Enjoy the opening of the episodes above!

It has been an immense pleasure to write music for this massive, incredible story-telling dream of a journey: 68,200 miles and over 270 days in the making. Thx Yimei Wong for your intuition, thanks Anna Kang, thanks to all the great world-class musicians that gave their magic touch: Robbie Angelucci, Ian Gittler, Alessio Lottero, Hamilton Berry, Masaharu Shimizu, David Darlington, Antonio Baglio.

“Deep Into Shambhala” has already been incredibly well-received in China, here’s an article from CGTN (China Global Television Network):

CCTV documentary “Deep into Shambhala” garners high praise

Some people are saying every frame in China’s new sweeping documentary focusing on a Tibetan region in a Chinese province “is art”. The documentary, called “Deep into Shambala,” focuses on the humanity and the geography of a Tibetan region in southwest China’s Sichuan Province. 

In a five-episode series broadcasting from Monday to Friday, the show records the daily lives and emotional worlds of people living in the Tibetan area throughout the year.

The stories not only reflect the relationship between human and nature, but among different ethnic groups and people of different ages, education, jobs, and faith.

“It was breathtaking masterpiece; Shambhala really is the pure land,” said a Chinese netizen. Praise abounds not only for the stunning cinematography, but also for the theme music composed by the Italian musician Simone Giuliani.

The success of “Deep into Shambala” is well earned, as the documentary crew had to overcome altitude sickness, hostile weather, and other elements of the harsh highlands and mountains since they began filming in 2017.

The entire trip was over 110,000 kilometers (about 68,200 miles), and the shooting lasted over 270 days.

The popularity of the show may boost tourism to the area.

However, located in Ganzi, an autonomous Chinese prefecture on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, traveling to Shambhala is not easy.

NYsferatu – Symphony of a Century

When artist Andrea Mastrovito told me about his upcoming project NYsferatu I was instantly convinced that it would be quite an experience to write music for it, but I didn’t fully grasp the magnitude of what he looked to achieve. Only a few days later it hit me.

This whole project is HAND-MADE (sadly, a word quickly disappearing from our vocabulary) – it took Andrea and his assistants more than 3 years to draw the whole film by hand, for a total of over 35,000 drawings. The drawings were then assembled in a sequence with the Rotoscope technique to give movement to the frames. Each background scene has been entirely redrawn three times to set the film in present day New York City; far from the original story by Murnau (1922) based in Mittel-Europa (Transylvania and Germany), Andrea’s version sees New York and Syria as the two landscapes for the story. Mind-blowing!

NYsferatu questions the classical interpretation of the vampire, seen here as the prototypical outsider, while it addresses the many obstacles encountered by immigrants who often escape war and hardships at home only to face challenges such as economic exploitation, discrimination, and xenophobia in their new country.

While writing the music I enjoyed so much noticing quotes and contemporary references wisely placed throughout the screenplay,  across the thousands of movie frames… I felt spontaneously involved, in no time I was completely integrated into the story, as an immigrant myself. I chose to live in a modern Nosferatu world for 2 months (for the joy of my loved ones), realizing that I had no choice but to fully immerse myself into this universe.

I made it a point to hire certain musicians for this soundtrack: for the Syrian scenes I really wanted and specifically looked for performers who were born and lived in Syria – two among all the great players I worked with are Kinan Ednawi on Oud and the wonderful Bisan Toron on voice, who instantly understood the concept of the film. No additional instructions from me were required while recording, it was nothing short of magical to see these performers teleport themselves and whoever was listening to another world.

We presented NYsferatu – Symphony of a Century at the 12th Rome Film Festival a week ago, with live music (me on piano and Bisan Toron on vocals) over the projection of the film and it was an incredible experience.

Simone Giuliani and Andrea Mastrovito at “NYsferatu – Symphony of a Century” European premiere at the 12th Rome Film Festival, November 3, 2017

Words are not enough to thank Andrea and his whole team and the talented Marco Marcassoli, and especially the amazing Micaela Martegani/More Art NY, producer of this once-in-a-lifetime project. Thank you Andrea and Micaela for letting me do my thing and trusting me blindly.

A big shout out to my magicians/musicians for this soundtrack:

Bisan Toron – Voice
Kinan Ednawi – Oud
Tareq Rantisi – Darbuka, Percussion
Nino Errera – Drums, Percussion
Kali Singh – Foley artist
Timothy Loo – Cello
Janine DuBois – Cello
Hyo-Jin Le – Violin
Danielle McKellen- Violin
Adeline Moreau – Viola
Robbie Angelucci – Electric Guitar
Pino Annarella – Acoustic Guitar
Simone Giuliani – Piano, Synths, Bass

And to engineers Dave Darlington and Jason Soda: thank you for letting me use your beautiful studios and for your super natural skills! (respectively Bass Hit Studios in New York and Palomino Sound in Los Angeles).

Here are some snippets from NYsferatu’s recording sessions in New York and Los Angeles and from the live show in Rome, enjoy!

Til next time,
Simone

 

 

 

 

The Happening releases new album, “Miles Away from America”

The Happening – “Miles Away from America”

https://thehappeningmusic.bandcamp.com/releases

About 17 years ago I watched a film that impacted my life enormously and completely shifted my approach to music (and the meaning behind it). This movie was “1 Giant Leap” by Jamie Catto & Duncan Bridgeman. I made it my mission to meet with them and so I did: I met with Jamie a few years later in New York – since then we became good friends and worked on some interesting projects together around the world, just like how it’s supposed to be… ✨

After some time,  Jamie invited me to be a part of The Happening, an eclectic gathering of musicians from all over the world meeting in a different place everytime to spend time together and create freely, creating spontaneous music from the heart. This album is the beautiful result of one of these gatherings , it has been recorded live in a very old monastery’s rectory near Stonehenge in England – we all setup in a circle in the great hall, improvising, writing and recording this musical Polaroid, inspired by a distant image of a dream about America.

Enjoy this “behind the scene” little gem by Alex Forster: https://vimeo.com/19701486

The Happening – “Miles Away from America” (L to R) Dave Randall, Renaud-Gabriel Pion, Simone Giuliani, Jamie Catto, Alex Forster, Simone White, Matt Webb

Thank you Jamie for creating the space for this to happen, you magical genius!

Thank you to all my fellow music nomads involved, here’s who they are so you can check their other projects too:

Jamie Catto – Vocals

Alex Forster – Guitars, Percussion and Synth

Simone Giuliani – Keyboards

Renaud-Gabriel Pion – Bass Clarinet, Bass Flute and EWI

Dave Randall – Guitars

India Rose – Backing Vocals

Matt Webb – Double Bass

Simone White – Lead vocals and Acoustic Guitar

Sam Pelly – Photography

Enjoy and buy it!
https://thehappeningmusic.bandcamp.com/releases

Carly Paoli with London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road

Hello everybody,

recently I have been working with a great artist named Carly Paoli on her forthcoming new album which we recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road studios in London. This has been an incredible experience as you can imagine…

Carly is a super talented mezzo-soprano and her latest song “Ave Maria“ already reached No.2 in the UK iTunes charts as well as being chosen as the official song for Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year.

Working alongside composer Mº Romano Musumarra, William Ross and Walter Afanasieff has been a real blessing, not to mention extraordinary lyricist Grant Black and the great crew at Abbey Road: Andrew Dudman, John Barrett, Simon Gibson and all the incredible players from the London Symphony Orchestra.

And of course Arianna Teoh, Liz Hetherington, Judith Bérard, Kevin Timelli, Chris Clayton and the man behind all this, Abiah Music‘s founder and visionaire Francis Yeoh.

I’m looking forward to share with all of you Carly’s music with the London Symphony. In the meantime here are some images from the recording sessions

Carly Paoli at Abbey Road, Studio One

Getting ready for the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road, Studio One

Mº Romano Musumarra and Carly Paoli with the London Symphony Orchestra

Andrew Dudman, Francis Yeoh, Romano Musumarra, Simone Giuliani, William Ross, 1st Violin Carmine Lauri

Walter Afanasieff, William Ross and Carly Paoli

Andrew Dudman and Simone Giuliani at work with the London Symphony Orchestra

Simone Giuliani, Andrew Dudman, John Barrett – Abbey Road, Studio One

Funky Intercom

Simone Giuliani at the legendary Studio Two, Abbey Road

William Ross and Carly Paoli

Recording London Symphony Orchestra – Grant Black, Simone Giuliani, Andrew Dudman

Andrew Dudman, Simone Giuliani, Romano Musumarra – Abbey Road, Studio One

Score editing!

Arianna Teoh, William Ross, Simone Giuliani, Romano Musumarra

Mastering Carly Paoli album with Simon Gibson at Abbey Road

Producers Arianna Teoh and Grant Black

 

Let’s Come Together and Sing for Change

Hello world,

a while ago my talented friend Jihae had the idea to start a beautiful initiative to help the overwhelming global refugees crisis in most continents through music, I was very happy to contribute and help producing this project along with Oscar-winner score producer Teese Gohl.

Now it’s a reality: Let’s Come Together is an interactive musical peace movement to activate the public’s participation in supporting UNHCR and NGOs in their fight for human rights in the midst of a global refugee crisis through the power of music.

Every week starting November 5th 2015 until December 7th, a group or a choir will perform “Let’s Come Together” and record the video of the performance to share on social media. The Putney School in Vermont has already launched the project with Jihae and Teese a few days ago.

We invite you to do the same! You don’t have to be a singer or a musician to participate, just gather your tribe of friends and sing.

Share a video recording of your version of “Let’s Come Together” on http://www.facebook.com/LetsComeTogether7 with hashtags #SaveRefugees #LetsComeTogether #UNHCR

LET’S COME TOGETHER

Words & Music by JiHAE
Arrangement by Teese Gohl
Production by Simone Giuliani and Teese Gohl

Let’s come together in one harmony
Let’s come together as one family
Since only love can heal the world
Let’s plant love and hope in every boy and girl

Let’s come together as one heart and soul
To brighten the weather and to break the mold
Since only love can heal the world
Let’s plant love and hope in every boy and girl

Come let’s come together for everyone’s freedom across the lands
Oh let hope overflow from the cold river to our loving hands

Let’s come together and sing a new song
A song full of laughter, a song of joy
Since only love can heal the world
Let’s plant love and hope in every boy and girl
Together we can heal the world
Let’s plant love and hope in every boy and girl

On Dec 7, 2015 we are inviting people of all ages, races, nationalities and voices across the globe to gather together and sing at a public place in your town. Be sure to post  the time and location of your singing gathering on: www.facebook.com/LetsComeTogether7

Please also visit Jihae’s ‘Causes’ page for a lot of useful information about the refugee crisis and more details about this project.

“We don’t choose the place we are born, just as we don’t choose to live where natural disaster strikes. If we turn our backs on innocent children and families that have been stripped of everything but their lives, can we expect the world to do anything different if misfortune befalls us?

Each time the international community chooses to ignore international law due to fear and xenophobia, our civilization deteriorates further. If we use race and religion as a reason to ignore people’s right to freedom, can we expect others to do anything different to us?”

– Jihae

MOMENT NYC | A visiting music history program for New York City schools

Our organization MOMENT NYC (The Meaning of Music and Entertainment in NYC) created an education program dedicated to bringing the rich history of New York’s music to city schools through presentations, performances, and events.

Music created in New York City has reached and influenced nearly every corner of the globe. Our mission is to celebrate, preserve, and support the diversity, heritage, and musical communities of this city, and to educate and inspire future generations. 

From the Lenape Indians to Tin Pan Ally, Be Bop and Broadway, from Salsa and Punk Rock to Hip Hop and Opera, from the Brill Building, The Apollo and Lincoln Center to Folk music, from the present day and everything in between… MOMENT NYC takes young students on a journey through the musical history of New York City.

MOMENT NYC wants to bring this exciting local music history program to your school. Please contact us at info@momentnyc.org to find out how.

Music exposure has been proven to benefit developing minds and is something every child should experience. Help us bringing music history live in New York public schools!

Monday Michiru: Zanzibar/Brasilified – New 12″ remixes by Louie Vega, 4MuLA, Yukihiro Fukutomi

Monday Michiru Zanzibar/Brasilified 12″ Remixes by Louie Vega, 4MuLA, Yukihiro Fukutomi – SIDE A

Hello world,

I’m very pleased to announce the release of new exclusive remixes for Monday Michiru on vinyl, released worldwide by Hydra Records.  I’m psyched to share remixer & producer credits on this gorgeous 12″ with Louie Vega and Yukihiro Fukutomi.

Louie needs no introduction: his history with Masters at Work and Nuyorican Soul is nothing short than legendary and I really dig his latest outfit Elements of Life.

He remixed Zanzibar, a track that I originally produced for Monday’s record “Brasilified” – I was thrilled to play piano and keyboards on this remix, since I also love the original version written by the great Brazilian master Edu Lobo.

Monday Michiru Zanzibar/Brasilified 12″ Remixes by Louie Vega, 4MuLA, Yukihiro Fukutomi – SIDE B

4MuLA – my electronic music/remixer/mad hatter alter-ego, is going Brazilian all the way with the Brasilified Bomba Samba Remix, already getting some great buzz from Japan!

Yukihiro Fukutomi is a producer/DJ from Japan with a very elegant approach, he worked with some of my favorite acts in the broken beat and future-jazz scene, true pioneers: Kyoto Jazz Massive (partners in crime with Monday Michiru since way back) and Jazztronik among others. He gave his cool spin to Brasilified, the title track from Monday’s record.

Check out the remixes and get your copy HERE

Enjoy!

Italian troubadour Peppe Voltarelli remixed by 4MuLA!

Peppe Voltarelli gets remixed by 4MuLA!

‘Scarpe Rosse Impolverate’ (Dusty Red Shoes) by Italian troubadour/cantautore Peppe Voltarelli is re-imagined in an Electro-Swing Remix by New York producer Simone Giuliani also known as 4MuLA.

The busy Italian chansonier/author/actor kicks off his debut tour of Chile, supporting the release with 4 concert dates running from November 28th thru December 3rd followed by more shows in Luxembourg, Italy and Germany. 

For more information check out Peppe’s site: http://www.peppevoltarelli.com