Interview by Michela (Anesthesia)
Editing by Alessandra
In a midsummer night, we knew and appreciated her music (HERE our live report).
The beautiful Moran Magal and her violinist Alexey Kochetkov, talk to us about their history.
LFdM: Hi! I’m sure for italian guys your name is completely new. Would you introduce yourself as artist, as girl, with everything makes you do what you’re doing?
Moran: My name is Moran Magal, I’m from Israel and I’ve been an independent artist, pianist, singer and song writer from a very young age. I was recording independently for a long time, after a while I started to play in many venues and then in bigger festivals and I collaborated with Orphaned Land. I had this feeling that in Europe people love what they do, I wanted to grow and search my way and I took my album, my third actually, and I went to Germany to find a label. I never had one before. then I started to meet amazing people, I’m developing my career. I took me a lot of time to find my style, to realize I’m not a sweet girl, that the dark side, the gothic style really fit into my style.
LFdM: Tonight I listened to you for the very first time, I haven’t listened to your album yet, but I think the best song you played were the original ones, not the covers. ’Cause you mix sweet and savour
M: thank you!
It’s true, I mix the dark and the light, and I have some humor, and ballads, cabaret rock songs… but I think that when you hear it all, you realize this is me. This is the most important thing to an artist: that your sound is recognizable. I just try to be versatile, not afraid to touch different musical styles or to try new things. I’d define my art like progressive folk-rock with metal influence and very piano-based. We have the violin, Aleksej is doing a very good job. It’s really a match, and he’s funny, too.
LFdM: Yeah! The violin is very impressive! I’m not an expert about classical music, but the technique is impressive. The way you express the feeling of the song, which is the most important thing, technique alone means nothing. You come from Israel and I was expecting more middle-east influences, but I noticed many Celtic influences, something from Tori Amos.
M: It’s true. I have to say that I have many Celtic influences, I don’t know where the come from. My father is Hungerian when I was a child he was listening to a lot of slavian, serbian folklore. It’s not Celtic, but lately I discovered some Irish thing and I have some kind of Celtic color in my voice, but I cannot really explain it! I took me a while to discover it, but I really like it. I like folk music very much, I’m folk metal and really versatile.
In this October we will play in a vocal classical folk festival in Israel called Abu-Gosh and on September we’re playing in a metal festival, so, we can be like to change a little bit the styles. That's important.
LFdM: Probably in the metal festivals you gain more success than in the folk ones. I’ve got this feeling. For example, there are two of you, even if you’re trying to build a band, but how much is important the visual, the environment, let’s call it the choreography you build on the stage?
M: it’s very important for me. Now that I found my style I’m working with some artists to the decorations for the stage. I’m really forming a band, I found some musicians in Berlin: the drummer is Brazilian, the bass player is from Netherlands and I feel this kind of combination and we are also building the visual elements. I would like to have a dancer and more full concert with the full band. But I also really like the acustic, every time we feel it is a bit different.
LFdM: it’s because you’re mixing a lot of different elements, musically, and I guess it would be nice to see you on stage with different kind of elements like cyber elements or maybe victorians or…something like that.
M: yeah! It’s the next step for us. As an artist I want to develop all this kind of things, but I found my style two years ago I feel and thing started to happen. So I think in the future we’ll have these elements.
LFdM: How many songs of yours are you taking in your pocket? Are you waiting to be more popular to realize an entire album of your own songs?
M: The next album will have all materials, around fifteen songs, of my composition. In the past I had two albums with all original materials. You can really feel the darkness influences. In the next album I feel there will be more progressive rock, more celtic, more gothic, with the band. I think from now on will be a beginning.
LFdM: Aleksej (ndr: Alexey Kochetkov russian violinist who play with her) cooperates only for the arrangements of the songs or also writes something from the beginning?
A: you mean for Moran or in general?
LFdM: In general
A: Well, beside Moran, I have two project, a solo one, Aletcko, which is my nickname in Israel, with it I play music with Mediterranean and middle-east musical influences. I’m also working on a project with more arabic and mediterranean influences, not connected to the metal. Playing with Moran for me is an opportunity to find myself in different environment and I’m also looking for to start to play with the band because you can bring this symphonic vibe like a bigger sound and I like the arrangements, very powerful.
M: related to your previous question, I have a song with oriental influences and we’re working on it with the band so there will be some of these influences in the future in our songs.
LFdM: Both of you got classical roots, like, in the nineties we had a lot of symphonic metal band, but they do not look as an influence for you.
M: I'm personally a big fan of symphonic metal: Nightwish o Within Temptations, for example. But I have not that kind of voice, for opera you know. The female singers of this genre sing very high with their voices, using the contrast a kind of the beauty and the beast. But what we are trying to do is a little bit different, and it seems to me that the audience like it because they do not expect it. I’m not trying to force myself into a box, I’m not trying to sing in a way a cannot sing. I recognize what is really flattering for me and I go in this direction.
LFdM: You also seem to have some kind of alternative metal or new metal.
M: Yeah, Marilyn Manson is also one of my favorite. I have a dream to have a duet with him. I really love his sound, his voice, his lyrics. System of a Down, Black Sabbath and Jethro Tull.
LFdM: Let’s imagine that tomorrow will be the end of the world and you are going to recover yourself on an island and you can only take with you three records: the first one is the most influential record for you; the second one is by the artist you would like to become; the third one is your guilty pleasure.
M: oh, very hard question! The first would be "Little Earthquakes" (Tori Amos) for sure, because is a very brilliant album; the second one would be "Urban Hymns" (The Verve) oh, my brain is having a shut down, and for the third one I think, I would take "No Need to Argue" (the Cranberries).
LFdM: Wow! well, what can I say? Thank you and I hope to see you again.
M: Thank you for this time.
M: Thank you for this time.
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