An interview with Cyrille Verdeaux from Clearlight. Who is that, may some of you say ? The band profile is http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=62 - here and many of us regard this band as one of our favorite bands. And so will many of our readers in the coming years too. The interview is long and regard it as what it is: A historical document of sorts and a reference source for everything regarding Clearlight. A big thank you to Cyrille for seeing the value of PA and it's/our database.
All my questions in bold letters and all answers from Cyrille in Blue Italic
So with no further ceremonies, I give you Cyrille Verdeaux.
What are you up to these days ?
Hello,
dear reader…Glad to share this moment with YOU. I am now 60 years
old, so my activities are shrinking, against my will but you know how
useless are (wrongly) considered peoples over 60 in our western
civilization. So most of my creativity now exists because I decided
so but nobody seems to care much. So thanks for this interview’s
opportunity ! Here is where I stand right now in 2010.
~I
made a new album, Shamballa. Recorded independently partly in
France, in California and in Brazil, wherever I could find a
protool software to work.
The
fact to have these digital files to carry around instead of these
heavy magnetic tapes are really a plus for a composer-producer
travelling a lot such as myself...When I eventually finished it, none
label was interested in the distribution, so I released it
independently as digital files on CDbaby, a site devoted to indies
prods.
~
With a musical partner, Frances Key, we made a DVD with her songs and
my music and videos concerning present World issues (and they are
important, I think…). Nobody was interested to distribute it, so we
decided to put it on youtube. Everybody
can start this journey through his/her emotions with this link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYMi1tS90RY&feature=channel - - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYMi1tS90RY&feature=channel
~
I also just ended a serie of concerts in Brazil, thanks to the
fact that 2009 was the year of France in Brazil. And it helped me to
put some money in the bank for a change ! Because with this new
fashion of free download platforms, you imagine what impact it
has on indies as myself that depend on CD sales to pay the right
to breeze on this planet !
So I was happy to represent culturally my Country for the
occasion and of course I spent a nice year for this matter. But for
2010, my agenda is still dramatically empty…And so are my pockets
again... Where
was you born and where did you live up ? How did you become a
musician and who were your inspirations ?
This
time, I am born at the American Hospital of Neuilly/Seine, near
Paris…Maybe because of that first fact, my heart has been divided
between France and the US, because I considered this Hospital as
American territory. And my parents gave me as godfather an American
citizen German born and yet WW II hero in the US Army, Klaus Bauer
that was living in LA. Few blocks from the Berverly Hill Hotel and
Sunset Bvld. Not the worst part of this huge city ! I had a bicycle
and made wonderful rides in this area.
Klaus
is dead now, of course, RIP…But thanks to him, I could discover LA
in the 80’s…
My
birth happened only 4 years after the end of the worst plague ever
perpetuated by a part of mankind against the other part, (I include
Hiroshima and Nagazaki in this black list) so the best and safest
hospital around Paris was this one and my father, a young doctor at
this time, had the great luck to work there full time, thanks to the
relation. It was July 31st
1949, in the middle of the hotest summer of the decade, said my
mother…
For
this reason, I guess, my favorite time has been when I was in South
California, Arizona, desert of Rajasthan and now Brazil, where exist
only 2 seasons : spring and summer !
Sweat
lodges and swedish saunas are my friends…
How
did you become a musician and who were your inspirations ?
I
didn’t become a musician. I was born musician ! Don’t ask me how
I learned music, I don’t remember.
It
was within me by birth, probably…Clear, easy, obvious. I remember
when I learned how to write, to count, to read, bi, bé, ba, bu,
etc., but I don’t remember to have learned music. My mother was a
scientist but also a singer amateur and she had a half grand piano at
home…As soon as I was tall enough to reach the keys, I began to hit
them…
First
it was kind of messy, but little by little I began to seek for
harmony. Seeing this, my mother registered me to a piano music class
at age 5. (it was impossible before this age anyway).
At
age 8, I was playing on a radio show called “Le royaume de la
musique” (Kingdom of music) some easy pieces of Tchaikovsky,
Mozart, Chopin…
The
traditional school programs never interested me much (especially
math, physique, geography, latin...I had a better interest in French
literature and history and with music, I had no problem at all…
At
13, I registered to enter in the French National Conservatoire of
Music and got my green pass with 97 out of 100 possible points…With
a perfect pitch within your genetic codes, this was quite natural, in
fact.
There
I could study all the chords, the modes, the scales, the surprisingly
infinite combinations between the 7 notes, in fact 12 with the half
tons, the rhythmical patterns, the orchestration, etc…It is like a
full language with infinite possibilities…The language of Harmony.
As there are 12 notes, there are 12 main astrological signs.
How
to find the right chord for the notes to get along well together ?
The law of harmony between the 12 notes answers to it. In fact, it is
the same law ruling the relationship between individuals.
When
ones studies music, ones studies life as well…And life has
feelings…And these feelings go to the soul and the soul can express
its music, completing the cycle. For this reason, I advise all
parents to orient their children towards the kingdom of Music and
Harmony. It is good for the neurons of the child.
At the age of 14, you started studies at the well known French
National Conservatory of Music studying composition, harmony, and
piano. You won some prizes there before you were expelled in 1968 for
revolutionary activities during the student uprising.
The
time came where I could actually learn new elements about music and
its hundreds of rules. By gift, you can discover some of them, but to
study the ancient music masters is really a specific experience that
nature can’t give you. It needs to be studied, as the chase game or
a foreign language. No limits in all these Arts.
But
I put my own limits, accidently…The riots of all the students of
France in May 1968 and my natural attraction for changes and
mutations caused me my scholarship in Paris. Until then I had gained
2 prices already, in solfege and harmony. But in May 68, I became a
member of the strike comity. There I gained my first price of
megaphone and free speech but it wasn’t figuring in the official
program, so all my partners at the Conservatoire’s students strike
comity have been fired for the new scholar year…
I
also was harshly hurt during these riots, as thousands of fellows
students. Hand broken, head smashed…I run a lot during this month
of May but one evening I didn’t run fast enough, I guess…
It
was one of the last days of the national riots, so I could
participate to 90% of these unforgettable events, at least. It has
been the only little war I had to be involved in. All my ancestors
had to make war with their neighbors, but this doomed time is over in
Europe now, thanks God (+ Schumann and Monet).
In
July 68, I was looking like Ramses II with all my bandages and it was
quite dangerous to walk in the street like that because of the
police, still looking after young rebels, so my parents decided for
my safety to send me to a good family friends living in Stanford, CA.
Thanks
to this good idea, I could continue to participate to what was going
on in 68 in the US, the democratic convention in Chicago, the same
Police’s repression than in France, Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, Bob
Dylan, Joan Baez, the concerts in Berkeley and so forth !
Plus,
being like a revolutionary hero with all my bandages, superb tanned
blond girls were looking after me, so it has been one of my nicest
summer ever…And it gave me a good test of what California was all
about. This is why I decided 15 years later to adopt the CA State as
my second Country and this is why my daughters are born in Santa
Cruz, near San Francisco and are still living there 27 years later !
And I can’t…green card regulations…Tougher immigrations laws,
etc…
You still got a Masters diploma from Nice Conservatory. Please tell
us more about those years.
So,
in 1969, when I went back from Stanford, my parents sent me to the
Cote d’Azur, at the National conservatoire of Nice, where a cousin
of my family, Pierre Cochereau, was the director.
In
Nice, I spent my real first 3 years of pure bliss and felicity thanks
to my first serious relationship with a young Spanish met in Paris
during the barricades that followed me in Nice, the freedom to live
for the first time by my own, etc.…
Also,
the teachers in this Conservatoire were showing a high quality level
and I continued my studies there very smoothly, going deeper and
deeper in the enigma of harmony laws, the connection between the
melodies, the chords changes and the links with the human soul. In
1972, I felt the need to stop studying and look for a place in a
band, and I decided to go back to Paris to look for one…End of my
official musical studies…
About
my source of inspiration :
It
is in Nice, with my new freedom and a tape recorder linked to a good
radio that I began to really listen seriously to a lot of Composers
and take them on tape. I developed a lot of interest and pleasure to
hear and stock on my tapes the great romantic repertoire :
Rachmaninoff, Krieg, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Listz , but also JS
Bach and the baroque and this has been the base of my symphonic rock
attitude.
Because
in the other hand, I was listening Cochran, Bo Didley, Chuck Berry,
Muddy Waters, Ray Charles, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin,
the Who, the Them (glooo-ooriaaa), Emerson Lake and Palmer and a lot
of others, fast to disappear after 1 or 2 hits.
Please tell us more about your first band Babylone.
It
was not exactly my first band. I used to be in several little bands
before, from 1965 to 1970. My very first band was called “the fancy
goods” and our singer was a giant American (over 7 feet tall). The
drummer, the guitarist and myself were in the same private school for
rich kids…
With
them I could learn the basics of a life within a rock band…I
learned to push an old VW vans with flat batteries, to play on broken
keyboards or to try to guess which cable is the broken one among 50,
or not to get paid for my efforts by indelicate promoters, to carry
my Wurlitzer organ (220 pounds of wood) in narrow stairs, etc., etc.
But
Babylone was my real first band with serious musicians and
professional goals…
Our
first meeting in 1972 has been rather simple : I was reading an add
in a tea shop in Paris, where Indians and Afghani cloths, jewels and
other new age stuff were sold. This add was asking for a
keyboardist…I was free, I answered and got the job pretty fast.
At
this time, I had never composed anything, only playing classical
repertoire or songs of Wilson Pickett, Otis, Aretha, this sort of
gospelish groove with my previous bands. But Babylone introduced me
to a new music, the Canterburry school, with Caravan, Matching Moll,
King Crimson, Soft machine, Gong, Lol Coxhill, Jefferson, Cream,
Jimi, etc….
Christian
Boulé, the guitarist and composer of most of the songs of Babylone’s
repertoire was the leader of this band. The drummer was René Paul
Solers, the exact same look than Franck Zappa and the bassist-lead
singer, Polo Martinez, both French from North Africa were taking care
of the rhythmic section. Antoine Duvernet was holding flute and sax.
He joined later on Gilbert Artman’s “Urban sax”.
The
owner of the Indian shop became friend of the band and let us use his
old country house for a few months in the center of France. There, we
worked 8 hours per day our repertoire to get ready for a few concerts
lined up in Amsterdam and France.
I
liked this first serious experience a lot and could blend quite
easely with this style. Babylone was also my first experience of
working on totally genuine material.
Unfortunately
when we went back from this tour, some musicians split for other
activities and Babylone ended under this form after one year of
intense experiences. Most of the music we were playing can be found
in the album Photomusik that Christian Boulé and I released by
Polydor a couple years later, after the success of my Clearlight
Symphony and Clearlight Visions albums.
What was your musical vision/idea for Clearlight ?
I
had no specific ideas after the end of Babylone…I was only 23, just
followed the flow, didn’t plan anything at first…
Everything
began one night of full moon in the Country House of my parents. I
had there my acoustic grand piano. This night I also had a tape
recorder revox borrowed by a friend and I felt like trying to
improvise something, here and now, just for the fun.
I
was all alone this evening, and I recorded a good part of the night
my improvisations with nobody to distract me…The full moon was
keeping me awake, I guess. This detail literally changed my life.
When
I was playing the piano, I was hearing inside me all the symphonic
orchestration that was going with it…I never experienced this
before…I was the first surprised…
The
best of this night’s recording that I didn’t delete later on
became the clearlight symphony. I didn’t write a single note of it
but just learned by heart what I had recorded and kept.
This
has been how came to life my first personal composition, received
during a full moon night of special inspiration in 1973…This music
is far to be perfectly recorded. I believe it will only reach 100% of
its potential if played with a rock band + a symphonic orchestra. As
Mike could do his Tubular Bells with the London Philarmonic
orchestra.
So
far, my recent Infinite symphony was just the continuation of this
first symphony. I hope to have time to record and perform it with a
full symphonic orchestra, but without a major label to back it up, I
think it just won’t ever happen…
How did you join up with Richard Branson's Virgin Records ?
It
has been a step by step process guided by coincidence or fate…Or
both…
First,
while touring with Babylone, I developed some friendship among
journalists of the musical press, doing reviews for live events and
stuff.
After
the recording of my full moon impro, I visited one of these friends,
JP Lentin (RIP) and let him hear the tape, with 2 songs of 20 minutes
non stop each, and he spoke to me about a new best sellers called
“Tubular Bells”, a long piece like mine released by a new English
label, Virgin. It was about at the same period and I didn’t know
anything about this Virgin label or Mike Oldfield. But JP advised me
to present this tape directly to Virgin records and he gave me the
address…Vernon Yard, somewhere in London.
I
remembered I have the address of a squat in London where a member of
Gong, Tim Blake, was living.
And
Gong had just signed also their first music with Virgin. I had my
connection right there !
So
I took my tape under the arm, took a boat+ train to get there (no
channel under sea at this time) and I went straight to Tim Blake’s
squat. A French guy, room mate of Tim opened me the door when I
knocked at the door.
He
quickly agreed to become my agent and road manager…Jacques Reland
is his name. He still lives in London as I write these lines…
With
Tim and him, I went to Virgin and meet Simon Draper, the vice prez of
Virgin. He listened to my piano’s demo and said ok for a
contract…They had such a big hit with tubular Bells, also long
pieces of music as my symphony was, so I guess he thought it could be
an other best seller. Tim proposed to help me by producing the album
and the week after I met Richard Branson to sign a 3 years contract
and 3 LP albums. He was looking physically exactly how he looks now,
35 years later! Same hair cut, same bard, same face…Same weight
probably…Impressive…
With
the contract’ s signature I got 3000 $ in advance on royalties. I
was so happy and proud of myself at this time…My first real check
as a musician composer…Waow !
But
I didn’t know at this time it also would be my last check from
Richard !
Clearlight Symphony is a great album and is rightly highly revered in
our community. Please tell us more about this album.
First
of all, I am convinced that this very music is a gift of the angels
to help me to survive on this planet. It was my first experience of
composition and it also has been the most effective in term of fame
for my next projects.
And
this symphony can be endlessly developed because its structures are
timeless. Half is based on permanent rhythmical structures and the
other half is for free form improvisations.
For
some reasons, this music speaks to the soul of many listeners. From
the piano demo, I first rerecorded the piano part at the Manor
recording studio. Tim could arrange 12 hours for me to do so. When it
was done, for money reasons we moved to David Vorhaus experimental
recording studio where I recorded all the mellotrons and organs and
Tim recorded his synthi EMS cosmic sounds. David had a 8 tracks
transformed into a 16 tracks, so I could lay down 16 tracks of
keyboards ! The Symphony was born !
After
this first row of recording, Simon Draper agreed to grant me an other
week at the Manor with 16 tracks, so I could record drums, bass and
guitars on top of all these keyboards.
So
I used French musicians for one side and Gong musicians for the other
side, to keep a balance.
It
makes 2 sides quite different, like the yin and the yang.
By
inexperience, I kind of didn’t perform the best mix of these 16
tracks into 2, as if I could have done it now days, but if you guys
like it the way it is, it’s fine with me !
Please tell us more about Delired Cameleon Family and the movie it is
the soundtrack for.
In
a Parisian party where artists meet and gather, I could cross Pierre
Clementi’s path. A friend of mine, the guitarist Yvan Coaquette,
introduced me to him. Pierre was just released from jail for cannabis
smoking in Italy…At one point of the party, I could put my recent
virgin album on the turn table and he liked it. Since he was in the
process of finishing the shooting of a personal movie, he asked me if
I was interested to record the sound track. Of course I said yes !
With Yvan, we decided to take care of that together. We found a label
interested to finance 4 days of recording studio, Pathé Marconi, a
subpublisher of Virgin in France. Then I called all the musicians I
knew in Paris to record a track. This is why a lot of names appear on
this album. The fine fleur of the French prog music scene in 1975…
The
vinyl features Joel Durgenot, Christian Boulé Gilbert Artman,
Francois Jeanneau, Joe Padovani, Yvan Coaquette, Ariel Kalma, Valerie
Lagrange,Tim Blake and other space travelers.
Based
on wild jams, the music is alternately hallucinatory, soothing and
'nightmare' provoking. Featuring a cover with a chameleon eating pot
leaves the overall concept can only be described as subversive
surrealism, totally what Pierre wanted. We recorded 3 days (and
nights) and used the last day to do the final mix. With what was on
the tracks, I could have done several mixes totally different from
each others…I chose this one as I could have chosen other
versions…But in one day, not a lot of time for experiments, right ?
I was not like Pink Floyd with unlimited means, otherwise, I think I
could have also here done a better job.
In
1990 with a friend, we tried to convince Pathé Marconi to have the
original 16 tracks back to do other mixes, but these ass holes
refused. For no reasons at all…Just “ no”. I could even not use
my own music to redo a different mix…This is what the Major call “
freedom of creation”, I guess.
Let’
s face it, this album has been a commercial flop for the masses, but
it figures now in the list of timeless opus in the Museum of Georges
Pompidou, Paris.
Please tell us more about Forever Blowing Bubbles.
After
the good success of Clearlight symphony, the time came to do my 2nd
album. This time, I wanted to do something quite different and I
asked a collaboration with the bassist of Zao, Joel Dugrenot, that
wasn’t anymore in Zao and was looking for a new band. He brought
some rhythmical rigueur in my compositions. I was also recently
friend with a Greek drummer, Chris Stapinopoulos and an excellent
flutist and guitarist, Jean Claude d’Agostini (RIP). With all these
musicians and our girl friends we went to the Manor of Branson and
recorded the album in 15 days…No time to enjoy the yet superb
English country side. Just work, work, work…
The
girl friends of the bassist, the guitarist and mine were all pregnant
around the same time : 4th month. Unfortunately I have no more
pictures of us at this time ! It would have been a great add against
birth control !
Your band toured with Gong in that period. What is your memories from
that tour and how was your band on stage ?
After
the recording of You, Virgin wanted to make a tour with GONG and they
had to choose among different Virgin bands for the opening act. Due
to our close bonds, Daevid Allen picked up Clearlight…
As
soon as I knew that, I started to organize some rehearsals in Paris.
Drummer Gilbert Artman was busy with his group, so I found an other
drummer for the occasion, called Coco Roussel.
He
had a style close from Bruford and was therefore perfect for my
repertoire. We were playing a combination of the Clearlight
symphony’s first mvt and the best pieces of Forever blowing
bubbles, like Without words, Ergot trip, Chanson…
Also,
I was hosting during this period in my house an argentine violinist,
a little crazy, Jorge Pintchevsky. He was a very good violinist and
he was happy to say yes when I asked him if he wanted to go on tour
with Clearlight !
François
Jeanneau was taking care of flute, sax and synthesizer ARP2600. Joel,
bass and D’Agostini, guitar were completing the Clearlight Sixtet.
After
one week of daily concerts, the first reviews were published in
English music magazines. They were good, too good even, because one
of the review was saying that Clearlight was more interesting to
listen than GONG !
The
day after, half of the microphones had disappeared around Coco’s
drums set and GONG’s Sound man was a lot less nice to give us a
good overall sound…
And
at the end of the tour, GONG asked to Pintchevsky to join them behind
my back and he said yes ! Thank you Cyrille for everything and ciao…I
was kind of shocked by these practices from good friends like Jorge,
Daevid and Steve…But it is a jungle…The stronger eat the small.
This tour has been the only tour I ever did in my life…It was very
fun and I would have gladly continue but after the release of Forever
Blowing Bubbles and the UK tour, Richard Branson asked me to move to
London on a permanent basis if I wanted to have a decent promotion
and have a real opportunity to grow among the English scene. At this
time, my wife was 8 months pregnant and refused to leave Paris, the
hospital was booked, etc... Of course, I didn’t insist and said to
Richard that I couldn’t move before at least one year because of my
new born. So he said “too bad”, and ended my contract right on
the spot! This closed my 2 years with Virgin. Too short, I agree.
Please tell us more about Les Contes du Singe Fou.
Originally,
this project was supposed to be the third album done for Virgin.
Having no more contract with anybody, I used my free time to work on
my third project. This time I wanted to do an opera saga with
spiritually meaningful lyrics to bring a message to the World. The
lyrics of “The Key”, and “time Skater”, have even been
amazingly prophetic for my future life ! When the demo was ready, a
French little label, Isadora, signed me and produced the recording.
Again, I asked to Joel Dugrenot to assist me in the recording and
rhythmical section. He called some friends of his to play drums and
guitar, an English singer, Ian Bellamy and Didier Lockwood, 18, a
young genius of violin playing at that time with Magma (Christian
Vander’s).
We
recorded it in a little 16 tracks studio in Paris. It was in 1976. My
son Jonathan was just born a few months before and you can feel it in
the energy of my piano play !
When
I finished the recording, I did a quick rough mix to show to the
producer what had been done so far…And he said “it sounds good
like that and I have no more money anyway, so we’ll release it the
way it is ! I was angry because in my opinion, this music had need
for more extra work and a final mix but it has been impossible to
convince the guy to find more money and the album has been released
like that, kind of naked…I wish I could have had a couple more
days…
But
after this experience, plus the Virgin cancellation, I decided from
now on to be my own producer and to depend on nobody from the show
business, period.
Please tell us more about Visions.
With
the money earned with the precedent album, I decided to record my
first prod. I found near Paris a good but cheap studio 16 tracks,
Studio Manderly, and I booked it for 15 days…
I
invited some musicians to play, such as the 2 Didier, Malherbe and
Lockwood, Jacky Bouladoux, (drums) an other bassist, Serge Melkonian
and of course Christian Boulé…It was fun to lead all these
sessions. Starting the morning at 9 and finishing at 4 the next day…
2
engineers were taking relays but I was on the spot 18 hours a day,
both as artistic producer and musician.
This
first personal production at 100% has been selected to be in the All
time best 100 albums, list made by the billboard guide for
progressive music. I am also the only French to figure in this list.
A good reference, I think.
However,
I would have nominated Magma and Ange as well to represent the French
prog touch.
In
this album dating of 1977, I began to use natural and new age sounds.
I never stopped since…Birds, ocean, rain, wind, etc., are part of
the Symphony of our sphere. I am proud to have been a pioneer in this
matter also, covering the Yang side (prog rock) and the yin side
(prog new age).
I
say ¨prog new age¨ because the californian new age intelligenzia
didn’t accept my new age music as new age music, claiming the music
was too intense to be labeled new age. Of course, the progrock people
found it way too soft, the classic world too jazzy, the jazz world
too classic and so on.
As
a result of this lack of classification in a specific category, these
superb CDs are now stocked by hundreds in a garage in South
California. But it is timeless music. It may interest peoples after
my death, who knows ? When a real freedom of expression will be
rewarded and appreciated as such.
The artwork on your albums from the 1970s ('Symphony to Visions) is
excellent. Who did the art-work and what was the ideas behind them ?
Jean-Claude
Michel (RIP) did my 3 first covers. It was a good friend before my
contract with Virgin and I was appreciating a lot his precise style
and creative imagination. At the time of the signature with Branson,
he was working on an anatomic school book. He just changed a couple
details to make it psychedelic. When I brought it to Virgin, they
were very impressed by it and did a good job on its international
promotion. This cover also figures in the book of best of pictures of
the 70*s.
I
had no merit but to be friends with genius artists...
Les
contes du singe fou has been painted by Jean Solé, a real good and
famous French cartoonist. For this cover, I had my idea and he just
brought it perfectly well to life, with symbols illustrating the
initiatic lyrics.
Concerning
Visions, I was friend with a Brazilian cartoonist, Sergio Macedo, one
of the best painter with airbrush and I asked him to draw a
translucid goddess (the muse) floating in th cosmos with the chakras
shown, pyramids in crystal, etc. The result is timelessly brilliant,
I think.
Lately,
Paul Whitehead (Foxtrot, Genesis) took care of 2 of my recent albums,
Solar Transfusion and Infinite Symphony.
Between Visions and the next album (Piano For The Third Ear) in our
PA archive, there is a five years gap. You very tragically lost your
son and released two albums (Offrandes and Nocturne Digitales) in
that period. Please tell us more about this period in your life.
This
horrible event happened february 15th
1981. I was giving a 2 keyboards concert this day with my partner
Frederic Rousseau and while still on stage saluting the crowd
clapping at the end of the concert I saw the mother of my son
Jonathan in the audience, with red eyes from crying...
One
minute after, I knew he was dead-dead, drawn in a river near the
house where his mother and himself had moved 5 days before this
tragedy. I heard that the German big stupid dog of the owner of the
house had accidently pushed my 5 years old boy in the river...These
dogs are supposed to save children, not to kill them. Wrong place,
wrong time. I got 2 twin daughters since but no more son. I wish I
could experience a full life with a son but it won’t happen, I
guess. As many other dreams that won’t come through. Tough planet
for dreamers. Ask to John Lennon…
But
as soon as I understood and realized it, I ceased to take it
personally and relaxed about it !
But
back to this tragedy and after one night of meditation and prayer, I
decided to leave France and to begin Yoga in an Ashram, somewhere. I
already had some experience in Tibetan meditation and it has been a
precious help for me to keep my mental sanity. But having lost
everything in one week, family, joy, illusions, musical projects, I
figured that an Ashram was the best place to start a new cycle from
scratch. Fate or coincidence, I found the right place in Tucson, AZ,
with the 3HO peoples, teaching there high grade Kundalini Yoga.
After
a few months of intense yoga practice (5 hours/day) I was again at my
best, mentally and physically. I went back to France, decided to
forgive my wife her terrible failure as the body guard of our child.
She invited me for her birthday in September 1981 and this is where I
met the future mother of my twins, born in America 2 years later !
But
before, I went back again into the Arizonian ashram and I could meet
this time some local new age musicians, owners of the label Soundings
of the planet. We became friends, made concerts together and we meet
the head manager of Fortuna records, a new age new label that wanted
to give us a shot and boost his young catalogue.
I
also became friend with Bernard Xolotl, a French guitarist living in
San Francisco, very inspired by Terry Riley and Steve Reich. He had
interesting pedals and echo effects and the first prototype of guitar
plug in a synthesizer.
We
both recorded the album Prophecy, the night of December 24 1981 in
San Francisco, just for the fun.
In
the middle of the recording, an earthquake happened...Magnitude 5
something, enough to shake the TEAC 4 tracks we were using but
fortunately the machine didn’t fall down or stopped and it was a
real good thing. As we were playing, it wouldn’t have been possible
to edit this long impro and match with the same sounds. Because of
the shaking, I missed a couple of keys and it can be heard in the
mix. It gives one little strange second, but nothing more. For an
earthquake, the side effect was not too bad, all thing considered.
I
was using a synthesizer named prophet 5 for all tracks, this is why
this album is called Prophecy.
Later,
in 2000, I released it also as CD but without the guitar of Bernard
Xolotl, just the prophet 5’s tracks as 2nd
chakra of the Kundalini Opera with the new title Journey to Tantra
land.
I
proposed to Fortuna to release all this music on cassette (Offrandes,
prophecy and Nocturne Digitales). I also had more music recorded
ready to go, but too intense for them, recorded in the living room of
my parent’s house with rental material co-paid with Frederic
Rousseau and Jean Philippe Rikyel. Christian Boulé was the other
guest star, as usual.
I
could release this first homemade master piece 3 years later on the
label of Fred Catero under the title Messenger of the Son. A friend,
becoming my manager for a while, Josh Goldstein (RIP), former manager
of Happy the man, made the interface between Fred and me.
Unfortunately,
Fred refused to pay his due to the local mafia controlling the record
distribution system and he was pushed to bankrupt after 6 months by
lack of distribution. Sales were too low to pay his credit in
time...Exit Fred Catero label. It was yet a honor to have been
selected as one of its first releases because he has been over 20
years chief engineer of CBS studios. He recorded and produced Bob
Dylan, Blood sweat and tears, Chicago, etc...
I
have been sad for his failure, for me but also for him. His label
based on quality would have been saved by internet. But in 1985, it
didn’t exist. He lost a lot of money in this idealistic gesture.
Why ?
So
during these 5 years, I was basically travelling a lot between
USA-France-India and didn’t have much time for recording new stuff.
I had enough music ahead anyway...
Visions from 1978 is listed in my source Wikipedia as the final
Clearlight album. But some Subsequent albums is still listed as
Clearlight albums while other albums is listed as your solo albums.
Please clear this up for us.
I
have one other album, Infinite symphony, called as a clearlight work
after Visions. Released in 2004 with Clearlight888music. Between
these 2 dates, my prog music activity was completely stopped.
Thanks
to internet and my friend-manager Dan Shapiro, the producer of
Infinite symphony, I could renew a bit with this powerful style.
Unfortunately (again !) the drummer of this project, decided to hang
himself to death 3 days after the last session for a bad family
affair and this new tragedy ended my attempt to make a real comeback
CD + live Clearlight concerts. What I have done after Clearlight was
more like a personal affair than a prog rock band’s work. So I
decided to use my real name. I like it, even if it has been always
very difficult for you guys to pronounce it correctly. Between
cereal, surreal, siriel, sybille, very few could nail it the right
way.
And
I even don’t mention how uneasy it is to add VERDEAUX after. A
life’s drama in radios when they call my name.
Back to the 1980s. Can you give us a presentation of each album from
Piano For The Third Ear (with the exception of the two 'Symphony
albums) until today ?
1980-1983:
OFFRANDES, NOCTURNE DIGITALES, PROPHECY (Fortuna Records)
My first new age recordings serie. A lot of natural
sounds are balanced with vintage synthesizers 1985:
LP MESSENGER OF THE SON (Catero Records)
Progressive music with a lot of drums and
keyboards. Features Frederic Rousseau and Jean-Philippe Rikyel. My
first home studio production.
1986:
REMEMBER JONATHAN Windham Hill Records PIANO SAMPLER 86.
This piece written as a requiem for my Son
Jonathan has been my all time best seller. 9 pianists were sharing
this album. It gave me a 3’40” piece heard by more than one
million peoples...
1988:
RHAPSODIE POUR LA PLANETE BLEUE Emen Records
This has been my second attempt to use
the music of our planet blended with the music of my soul. One of my
best music to go in a deep relaxation state with headphones. It has
been tested with EEG !
1992:
Remix of Clearlight Visions + 6 new Bonus tracks by Patrick Meynier
for his Label Legend Music. (RIP). 1993:
CLEARLIGHT MOSAIQUE Legend Music.
A kind of remake of Les
Contes du singe fou and bonus tracks with my Californian friend
singer, Gunnar Amundson and some other friends living in the area.
Done in his home studio in Santa Cruz, CA with all his E-Mu material.
Produced by Patrick Meynier. A lot of good moments in this album...
1995
SOLAR
TRANCE FUSION Clearlight888music
This
album is the result of the meeting between the wife of the owner of
Legend Music, Geneviève Meynier, violonist teacher, and myself. I
just had the new sampler of E-Mu and some CDs of rhythmic patterns,
going from House to techno, goa and other grooves done also by E-Mu
factory. I also just had a new computer mac working with a new
musical software, cubase, and this album is the result of this change
in technology. Patrick never released it, by lack of money or
interest from the French majors, I didn’t really know, so I decided
to release it myself 10 years later under my own label and to use it
as 3rd
chakra of the K.O.
1996-1997
: TRIBAL HYBRID CONCEPT
et ETHNICOLOURS Clearlight888music These 2 albums
are the result of the association between Pascal Menetrey (RIP), a
fan and owner of a great collection of natural sounds and sampled
sounds and my wish to dedicate an album to all these ethnical groups
facing extinction because of the senseless greed of heartless
Industrial lobbies and corrupted politicians. Hundreds of samples of
chants, instruments and animals have been used for this album. I
think we could be in the Guiness book of records on this project
! 1999:
PIANO FOR THE THIRD EAR CD, solo piano. Clearlight888music An idea
of Dan Shapiro : to pay 48 hours of sessions in a recording studio in
LA to cut some solo piano pieces, in order to make an up to date
release of the Piano for the third ear in addition of the best moment
of the first project done in 1984 with Josh Goldstein and never
released. 2000:
JOURNEY TO TANTRALAND Clearlight888music
I used half of the track of
Prophecy and completed with track of a live concert performed with
lyriconist and Indian bamboo flutist Dallas Smith in Santa Cruz, CA.
These 2 musics were both in a perfect mood for tantric activities, so
I joined them into one CD for the 2nd
chakra of the Kundalini Opera. 2001:
.I WILL REMEMBER YOU in collaboration with Frances Key. Indie
released. Frances and I had meet in June 2001 to
realise a demo for a project of her, a concept album called “There
is a way” . 2 months after, the terrible event happened and we
decided to release There is a Way but to change the title as “I
will remember you”. And I added a requiem that I composed for
this sad occasion. My 2nd
requiem after the one for Jonathan. I hope it will be my last
also...I don’t like this style much, all things considered.
2002:
FLOWERS FROM HEAVEN Clearlight888music
For the 4th
chakra (heart chakra) I wanted an album with music focusing on the
emotions produced by this chakra. I just had finish to record 4
beautiful songs with a female singer, Leah Davis, that I had meet in
LA in 1995 . I also had a couple of beautiful songs recorded with
Gunnar Amundson and a couple other romantic songs by Frances Key. All
these songs put together give Flowers from Heaven, a collection of
beautiful and spiritual songs for the heart chakra.
2003:
THE INNER PEACE CONCERTO Clearlight888music
This is the YIN version of Infinite
symphony. Only featuring myself and my dozen of kurzweil 2600
keyboards tracks.
2004:
INFINITE SYMPHONY Clearlight888music
When the Inner peace concerto has
been finished, Dan and I continued the production by adding drums,
chants, sax, flute, violin, guitars...I talk more about this album in
an other part of the interview.
2006
SHAMBALLA
not released yet
2007
:
AEROBIX, FUTUR ANTERIEUR not released yet
2008
: QUI
VA PIANO VA SANO A live piano concert. not released yet
2009
: Musical
and pedagogic videos with Frances Key
www.youtube.com/franceskey
Clearlight Symphony II is a continuation of the first Clearlight
Symphony album. What is the …?
Clearlight
Symphony II was my first experiment with a computer, a musical
software, sampled sounds... I just did it for the fun, redoing mostly
the same themes than the 1st
Symphony, added with some new ideas but played only with an other
guitarist this time, Richard Prezlin. All the other parts being
played with my E-Mu keyboard, from the drums to the flutes, cellos,
choirs, bass, trumpets and tablas. When done, it has been released by
Mantra, a very little French label. Nothing much to say about its
impact compared to the first one...
I
consider it more as a demo than an official release. For collectors,
it is a precious item and can be considered as a bonus track of the
original Clearlight Symphony.
A third instalment in the Clearlight Symphony saga is called Infinite
Symphony (released in 2003). Please tell us more about this album and
it's connection with the two first instalments in this saga.
The
Infinite Symphony (or Clearlight Symphony III) has been done thanks
to a dream of Dan Shapiro, great fan of my symphony years before our
first meeting. He dreamed to be the producer of a new up dated
version. Having already done the CS II, I was kind of reluctant,
favoring a production for new material, but he insisted, saying he
would pay for everything I need, so I focus on this command. I added
25 minute of new music and themes, divided the opus in 6 mvts instead
of 2, bringing the full timing to 67 minutes. Dan had the idea to
write a vocal part for the third Mvt. Our drummer for this project
was Shaun Guerin (RIP), but he was also specialized in Genesis
repertoire and had a voice amazingly close from Peter Gabriel’s
organ. This 3rd
Mvt has also be selected to figure in the Finnish Kavelàva triple CD
project.
We
worked with protool and AIFF files, so I could record Didier
Malherbe’s doudouk and sax in Paris and send the file by internet
to Dan in California. He just lined it up with the other tracks and
this is how we could work with Didier from 2 different sides of the
planet, from a home studio to an other. Technology is definitely a
plus for poor independent composers...
For
the guitar, extra flutes and the violin parts, Dan hired local
musicians with a good level of interpretation. Dan was also bassist,
Richard Hardy, Cory Wright (wood winds) Peter Mc Carthy, John Thomas
(guitars) and Trevor Loyd (electric violin) completing the musical
staff.
All
my keyboard parts have been played on a Kurweil 2600. A remarkable
instrument for true pianists. Plus thousands of excellent stereo
sounds of all the orchestra... It was a real treat to work on this
project, the magic of the Symphony operating ones again.
Paul
Whitehead made the cover and ones can find a luxurious booklet inside
with everything ones needs to know concerning this album.
The
only sad thing concerning this project, but it was a huge one, has
been the suicide of Shaun (for other reasons) 2 days after the last
day of recording. It also ruined our project to bring Clearlight back
to touring from prog fest to prog fest. Dan and I had a lot of
reasons to be pissed by this foolish act. Shaun also let behind a 18
months old boy at the time. For my personal story, it was really hard
to understand...
Now,
when I go on stage by myself, I use a backing tracks Cd with Shaun’s
drums, violin, guitar and some synthesizers tracks and I play live my
piano part on top of it. This way Shaun is still alive somehow..
Please also tell us more about the album you also did with your
brothers.
Ah
! This is certainly Z collector item for those following my musical
production...Title : Petites Annonces. (little adds).
We
are 4 brothers. Each brother playing a different instrument and my
brother Bruno, 8 years younger than me and drummer, was always eager
to do what I was doing. So 8 years after the release of my firs
album, in 1983, he got the idea to record his musical ideas the same
way I recorded Messenger of the Son. Our parent country house, 2 X 8
tracks renting material, use of the acoustic piano, Frederic Rousseau
taking care of the synthesizers parts and the ingeneering.
The
oldest brother, Laurent Verdeaux, jazz fan from his teen age was
playing trumpet, Jerome the youngest was playing congas and African
Djembe, Bruno the drums and the compositions and me on acoustic
piano. 2 friends of Bruno (known through an add in a newspaper, which
explains the title) for bass and sax were completing the crew. Sorry
I forgot their name. It was before the invention of CD, so there are
only a few hundreds of vinyls around somewhere. I remember it was
kind of fun and rhythmical but I forgot how it sounds in detail...25
years after. Bruno must have kept a few of them, but without a
turntable...
You started out on Virgin Records and some other labels, but you
eventually went your own way. What was the advantages and the
problems being on your own ? What
is your experiences from the industry; business and money wise ?
At
first I was very happy and proud to be able to exhibit my superb
albums. I even didn’t read my first contract. I should...the virgin
contracts were very good for the owner but very bad for the
musicians. Henry Cow, Gong, Klaus Schulze and many others were
literally starving under Virgin’s management. Only Mike Oldfield
was wealthy, being #1 in the World for years thanks to Tubular bells
and the massive success of the movie The Exorcist.
The
system was simple : Richard was taking advantage of our eagerness to
see our album in the stores. So we were signing a contract where all
the costs of the albums, including the renting material, the other
musicians fee, the daily fee of the Manor studio, the plane tickets,
were on the musician’s back. Virgin was just loaning the money in
advance on royalties. But Virgin (and all the others) were taking
their money back, not on the price of the album, but only 7% of its
value.
So
with this system, the musician is like a producer but with the % of
an artist only !
I
was needing to sell at least 200.000 albums to just get even with
Virgin and begin to actually make money ! I sold only 160.000 and I
still should give them money, according to their royalty statements.
The only check I saw from Virgin was the first, given at contract’s
signature. 3000 $. Period. For 160.000 albums sold World wide. How do
you call that ? Richard Branson could become very very rich with this
system. But his musicians didn’t. Except Mike Oldfield, of course.
After,
I got ripped of with Pathe Marconi, Isadora (Les Contes du singe
fou), so I decided to fly with my own wings...Also, I can’t stand
when somebody wants to teach me how my music should sound. So the
only producers I could work with after these bad experiences have
been 2 Clearlight fans that were trusting me : Josh Goldstein (RIP)
in the 80’s and Dan Shapiro for this century.
No
doubt that Internet saved my ass from a total and final eclipse.
Thanks to my site http://www.clearlight888music - - www.clearlight888music ,
I could maintain the contact with the prog World (as evidence, this
interview’s request) and take all my music in charge to sell it
myself. Unfortunately (definitely a key word in my destiny) the free
download platforms put my material life in danger. My albums are
avalaible at CDbaby.com, but I sell a few units per month only. As a
result I had to sell one per one all my equipment to pay for my basic
needs, so now, I have no solution to continue to work in decent
conditions. A MIRACLE IS NEEDED HERE !
You have moved from France to Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. When
did you move and why did you move there ? How is life in Brasilia ?
Before
Brazil, I moved from France to the US, after Jonathan’s death. My
daughters are born in Santa Cruz, CA and live now in San Francisco.
So I turned the page with France long time ago. They never understood
my music, the politicians I am voting for are never elected, nobody
needs me in France, my brothers give me a hard time also when I come,
(We are far from the spirit of 1983 and Petites Annonces) so I feel
like a foreigner everywhere I go, anyway. Without a green card,
impossible to stay anymore in the US...
In
2002 I had already internet, and one day I had some time to kill, I
got the idea to check AOL contact and read some adds...
After
having read a couple dozen adds, I was attracted by one, in French,
coming from a brasilian woman, Maria de Fatima. She had spent 4 years
in Paris for her post doctorat in Physique and wanted to find a
French correspondant to keep her French alive. After a couple months,
she invited me to visit her in Brasilia, saying she was divorced for
2 years and was living alone with her dog in a big flat. I was
thinking about it, wondering if I should accept or not this nice
invitation, when the coincidence made me zap the same day on a tv
reportage about Brasilia.
It
was showing a very spiritual and modern city with an interesting
avant garde conception. I take it as a sign to go and I bought the
plane ticket the next day. It was in April 2002.
The
tv was saying the truth (for a change). Brasilia is a city where it
seems that nothing bad can happen. It doesn’t represent what Brazil
is all about. No favelas or street war with the police in Brasilia.
When you cross a street, your life is not threatened, cars stop. Most
of them respect the traffic lights. Police is discreet. In 8 years I
haven’t be controlled even a single time yet.
The
weather is always between spring and summer. 3000 feet high, the air
is pure. This city is limited in population growth and buildings by
State law. No real traffic jams, no heat waves, no earthquakes, no
hurricanes, no wild fires, no flood, no pollution, no riot of hunger
are affecting the life here. Even the H1N1 flew didn’t do any
damage here !
Interesting
enough, an Italian Saint from the XIXth century, Dom Bosco, had a
dream-prophecy concerning a city that will be built in the future
between the 16th
and 17th
parallele and will have a great impact on the wealth of the country,
saying it would be the city of milk and honey.
One
century after, between the 16th
and 17th
parallel is born...Brasilia ! And I can only confirm what Dom Bosco
said about it. In 2006, we decided to get married to give an official
dad to her dog, Boris, a superb caramel spagnol english cocker.
The
food is excellent, like it is in Europe (minus the French cheeses), I
have internet, international cable TV to keep track of what happens
in France and US, facebook to keep track with my friends and
children, and as long as my wife is ok to support me, I see no reason
to leave this Sangri-la.
What is your personal philosophy, religion and outlook on the world ?
Sweet
Jesus, this is a large topic! Having began my spiritual quest in
1968, I had to change my direction many times before I was able to
find MY truth and the right answers to MY questions. Such as: Does
God exist? Does Jesus exist? Do the angels (including Lucifer) exist
? If yes, what is wrong with them? From where come miracles such as
Joan of Arc’s story or the Roman Empire’s conversion to
Christianity? What is wrong with Men?
What
is wrong with the politicians? With the scientists? With the
industrials? With the banking system, the cancerous food industry,
the banking offshore system, the Will of Yaweh, the Will of Allah,
the Will of Jesus-Christ, the endless conflicts with parents,
children, brothers and sisters, the show business, the karma, the
pedophile priests and hundreds of other questions. I can’t tell you
all the details of my quest- I would need a book! What I can do is to
give the name of the book where I could find intelligent and
scientifically logical answers to most of my questions. The answers I
didn’t find in the Bible or the Koran, I found in this book : the
Urantia book.
For
those interested, they can begin the journey with this link:
http://www.urantiabook.org - - http://www.urantiabook.org
Some
will prefer to continue to believe in Earth, Purgatory, Hell and
Heaven as the only alternatives to death and nothingness, but this
book teaches a far more complex Universal organization than the
simple stories shown in the Bible, the Koran, the Bagavadghita, the
Talmud, the Book of Mormons, the teachings of Buddha, Guru Nanak, the
4 gospels, etc., etc. concerning the origin of the Universe, the
human race, the angelic network, etc..
They
all have elements of truth but also a lot of 2nd
degree elements that need to be interpreted. And this very fact is
causing all these wars between religions. So what is the point?
The
best is to make your own search of God within, called the divine
parcel, the soul…
Meditation
techniques, yoga practice, spiritually enhanced music, and to be
unconditionally in love, are good habits to be one day able to enter
into contact with our divine parcel and feed our soul to make her
grow.
After
all these years of quest, what I can answer to your question is this:
in my opinion, God exists, but not the God usually known through the
books or the institutionalized dogmas. Lucifer also exists, and his
stinky network of servants also. His is a very powerful network,
rich in money and talented in mind control.
On
the other side, you have the loyal angelic network working with human
volunteers to keep the balance between evil and goodness. The entire
planet would be in the same chaos as Haïti without this loyal
angelic organization to resist against the army of Lucifer’s
servants… for example, the numerous people who use the name of God
to do the opposite of God’s will! The
10 Commandments are very clear and I believe in its authenticity.
Why? Because it was far in advance of the traditions of 5,000 years
ago. YOU SHALL NOT KILL! YOU SHALL NOT FOOL AROUND WITH SOMEBODY
ELSE’s SPOUSE. Ah ah ah! Even now, who is obeying to this list of
10? This is why I think it is the more genuine divine (therefore
timeless) document of all those published in the bible.
Jesus’s
teachings are timeless also, evidenced by how difficult they are to
follow, even 2,000 years later…
You are regarded as one of the pioneers in the New Age music scene.
Clearlight Symphony was not New Age in my view though. Please give us
an insight in your musical journey from the 1970s to this day.
When
came into my head the Clearlight symphony, I believe the new age
music didn’t exist yet. The closest music evoking this kind was
Indian music, German Rock (Tangerine dream, Klaus Schulze, etc.) and
Terry Riley, Steve Reich in the US…All these musicians were
influenced by the oriental musical moods, usually instrumental.
I
could only understand the new age roots when I experienced India, in
the late 70’s. At the time of the Clearlight Symphony, I was seeing
myself more as a classic-rock musician, so no reference for new age
can be found in my first albums.
It
is only after the death of Jonathan and my first yoga trip to Arizona
and my meeting with the Sounding of the Planet’s staff and then
California with the apparition of all these labels Fortuna, Windham
Hill, etc. than I began to be interested by this musical expression,
joining music and spirituality, body and mind, yin and yang...
My
first opus in this sense has been Offrandes (1978) and Rhapsodie pour
la planète bleue (1981).
But
my vision of new age is in fact too progressive for the traditional
new age mvt and for this reason, even as a pioneer, I am quite
isolated in my little ivory tower but what else to do ? I receive
this music that I record and I have no other choice.
Later,
since I was appreciating to listen to music while practicing the
yoga, I got the idea to compose the kundalini opera, a music designed
to tune the chakras, 1 hour for each chakra. 7 chakras, 7 hours. Each
chakra being different from the 6 others, I used 7 different styles,
from the intense to the mellow, from the romantic to the mystical…
I
have not a lot of feedback about the K.O. (very poor distribution)
but when I get some, they are always positive…Just for that it was
worth the try !
I
also worked on different pieces for piano solo. Piano for the third
ear represents the 6th
chakra of the K.O. for instance. Ethnicolors the 1st,
Journey to tantra land the 2nd,
Solar trance fusion the 3rd,
flowers from heaven the 4th,
Rhapsodies for the blue planet the 5th,
and Inner Peace concerto, the 7th.
When
the samplers appeared and favored the use of natural sounds, even
human, I got the idea to do Ethnicolors (Yin face) and Tribal Hybrid
Concept (yang face), a blend between sacred chants and instruments
coming from tribes facing extinction with my modern orchestration
chill out or tribal. My last work has been a modern adaptation of
middle age chants and should be released soon.
Tech talk: Please take us through your instruments since you started
as a musician.
Due
to my now long career, I can say that I tried them all. I began in
1966 with an electric Farfisa. Horrible sound but back then, I didn’t
know !
Then
my mother bought me for my 20st birthday an organ double keyboard
Wurlitzer. He had already some little effects such as the one used in
the Who’s next album title, Baba O’Riley.
I
had a fascination for the mellotron, so I had to use it for my
Clearlight Symphony.
At
home, I also bought an electric piano Wurlitzer. It was easy to carry
around, but other than that, it was not really fun to play on it.
Then
came the synthesizers. I got first an ARP Odissey. I used it for
Clearlight Visions. Then during the 2 years were Frederic Rousseau
was working as my assistant, we used the ARP 2600, the mini moog…Then
came the sampling machines. My best friend was working at E-MU, so I
could use even the first prototype. Amazing experience…I also uses
as soon as I could the Kurzweil K 1000. A wonderful acoustic piano
sound with only 80 pounds to carry. The dream of all pianists !
Now,
I am in love with the Kurzweil 2600, and I realized all my last
productions with it in a recording studio, but not enough money to
purchase one for myself !
What do you regard is being your personal style as a musician ?
In
term of musical style, I am a self made man, and so with my own
philosophy. Since I believe in the 7 chakras, I was seeking for a
particular style for each chakra. This is how I ended with 7
different styles, so I don’t even know if I have one specific
style.
In
acoustic piano, my pleasure is to play beautiful and romantic themes,
but I am not against some swing as well…I would put my own
pianistic style between Frederick Chopin and Keith Jarrett, with a
little less virtuosity than these Masters of keyboards.
Please tell us more about your company Clearlight Music, Kundalini
Opera and Chakra Art.
These
Companies are independent little structures, mainly to stay alive
after the dumping of the record Cies.…When internet became a
serious tool for independent musicians, an old friend of mine and
good amateur of prog music, Dan Shapiro, proposed to make a joined
venture with me to create a label with the aim of remastering, making
and distributing all my titles. It was in 1999. The good side to be
producer of your own music is that you can use it the way you want
without having to ask permission to anybody.
Since
I had 2 different categories of music for sale, the prog rock
Clearlight and the yoga music’s stuff, I decided to split in 2
different websites, Kundaliniopera.com being focus on my 7 CDs
selected for the K.O. and Clearlight888music taking care of
everything else.
The
chakra art is an idea of Dan. I don’t follow much how it
goes…probably very slow.
But
the free download platforms and their success put our little business
to bankrupt. Thousands of CDs are still in Dan’s garage in their
boxes…
I
decided to only keep the website clearlight888music and
kundalniopera.com as show-room. But now CDbaby.com is taking care of
my CDs, when some honest and true fans prefer to buy me a CD than to
rob the music…By the way, CDbaby is the only site that pays me
royalties. So please, thank you to purchase only here and nowhere
else. It will help me to continue to survive in this cruel world.
What kind of music and which bands do you enjoy listening to now ?
Usually
composers of music focus mostly on their own music to avoid
influences from the others. I don’t make an exception…I used to
listen a lot of music last century, but now I essentially listen to
my own music, especially when I play it to others. It can happen that
I some times listen to some friends music, but my cycle of listening
others from morning to evening is over.
It
is a long time a genius like mc Laughlin didn’t record a music that
would make me change my mind !
But
don’t worry, I have music broadcasting 24/7 in my head anyway…
Your label is called clearlight 888 music. What means 888 for you in
this musical context ?
I
talked to you before about the reality of entities vibrating at a
higher frequency than ours, therefore invisible to our eyes and
indiscernable by our physical ears. Beware, the following sounds like
Sci-fi, but know that reality is even far more complicated than the
craziest sci-fi movie.Because one element is allowing our 2 species
to communicate together in spite of this difference in frequencies:
the telepathic waves from mind to mind. The pineal gland at the
center of the brain, known in the Orient as the “third eye” or
6th
chakra, is the device used by human as receptor-sender of mental
waves. Our prayers leave our mind by this gland, for instance.
Artistic, scientific, philosophic inspirations arrive by this gland
also. One of the functions of the human brain is to operate as a nano
Hertz wave radio. If you can learn how to tune your consciousness to
the channel 888, then you will have access to the angelic channel
working for the loyal Universal Forces. Through this channel, you can
feel the individual love of God and the angels as clearly as you can
feel the sun on your individual skin at the beach during a sunny
day.As usual in this “fair and balanced” Universe, God
allows Lucifer to fulfill his fate of Universal rebel and revealer of
personalities. The existence of Good and evil is forcing each of us
to choose clearly in which camp he wants to serve. This freedom of
choice system seems to be the only way that God found to know who
each of us really is. Very complicated system, but our human life is
just the beginning of a very long Journey, where the last (us) will
be the first (Gods). And the wisdom of God, based on the fact that
Time and Space, beginning and end, etc., are relative notions, is not
easy to understand for human beings believing in death and having
their focus on the short term.As the right inner channel to capture
the will of God is the channel 888, the rebel forces have also their
access code to the human brain.Their
frequency of broadcast is the channel 666If you ask to Georges Lukas
what was his aim when he wrote the scenario of this saga, with dark
side of the Force, Jedi’s teachings and so forth : he was
describing this fight that does exist between the army of Lucifer and
the servants of the dark side and the army of God and Goodness with
all the pure beings that also exist on this planet and the
Universe.Without their work, a guy like Hitler and his servants would
have won WW II and established his absolute control upon the World
for 1,000 years as it was planned. His army of mass murderers was on
the edge (a matter of weeks) of being able to use the first atomic
bomb when Patton ran through Germany with his shermans to interrupt
their evil job. The first city to receive the first bomb was
scheduled to be Paris. The cathedral of Notre Dame was the target. So
thank you guys!In fact, each single human brain is hosting a battle
between the channel 666 and the channel 888. The first is the channel
of the bad ideas and the 2nd
the channel of the good ideas. A bad idea is when one or several
peoples will suffer and lose unfairly something because of it. A good
idea is when one or several peoples will feel good thanks to it and
will gain something. Simple...Knowing that the brain is a computer
with advanced technology that exceeds our understanding, able to
receive and send telepathic waves through the pineal gland exactly
like a walkie-talkie, you know now how the loyal and/or the rebel
angels enter into contact with us. It is of course better for our
karma to turn the knob of our consciousness on the frequency 888.
This is the frequency used by most of the genius, all arts, science
and thoughts combined. But when a murderer explains that he killed,
raped, tortured or anything ugly you can imagine, because he heard a
voice ordering him to do so, it is not at all a figure of speech.
This person says the truth. He
was
just channeling the channel 666. So Clearlight being the spiritual
state of Nirvana, 888 being the angelic frequency and musician being
my function, it enables you to know from which source is this music
coming. Thank you for your time and attention. Namasté
Thanx a lot for this interview Cyrille and all the best. I hope you readers of PA will find it informative and useful.
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