1. Could you tell about the beginning of ROMA AMOR and also tell me about your former bands?

ROMA AMOR: Each of us come from a different kind of musical experience: Enrico and José have been, and still are, involved in folk bands and orchestras that take inspiration from the traditional music of Ireland, Albania, parts of Italy, France and so on, while Candela has a past as a musician in groups of ’77 punk-new wave style, as a singer and bass player. Euski has been linked for a long time to bands where she could compose or rearrange songs together with other musicians, with sounds that recall the Italian or French tradition, and echo her inspiring artists such as Almond, Bowie, Brel, Scott Walker, with shades of the early Eighties where she’s had her major musical mark. ROMA AMOR has had the “magic” power of putting these worlds together, maybe it rose from the need of searching a new way of expressing a more mature musical feeling, and it happened very spontaneously.


2. Why did you name your band ROMA AMOR. Does the name ROMA AMOR has any special meaning?

RA: In ROMA AMOR music is energetic, yet sombre; romantic, yet “angry”; accurate, yet rough; in other words it is something and its contrary at the same time: “Roma Amor” mainly conveys this meaning, being a two-faced word. There is also the fact that historically, going back to the Roman Empire, the word “Roma” was forbidden to be uttered, so there were some secret names of the city: some scholars said it was Flora, some others Valentia, but for most of them it was “Amor”, the two-faced word for Roma.

“Roma Amor” is also a song Euski loves very much, it is a Married Monk’s song. She heard it for the first time in the live recording by Yann Tiersen, “black session”. The sound is absolutely unique: the atmosphere it evokes, the suffered voice… well a great song indeed. Maybe this helped to choose the name of the band.



3. Old Europa Cafe released your debut CD. For me this album is a masterpiece. I think that you put a lot of emotions in this recording. Tell me please about the process of your recording. I think that all material was recorded alive?

RA: We are thankful to OEC and to Rodolfo personally, for taking us among his productions, without changing anything of our recordings and for his support. Our recordings have always focussed on emotion and spontaneity. For that reason we’ve never paid too much attention to the quality of the resulting sound: the more imprecise, the better (isn’t life like that?).


4. On your album there are some covers. Including songs of Marc Almond and Jacques Brel. Did these people have some special influence on your creation?

RA: When Euski was ten (that was very long ago!!!) she fell in love with Almond’s voice, and since then she’s never stopped shivering while listening to his voice. Almond, like Bowie and Scott Walker, introduced Brel to Euski through their cover songs, and opened the doors to his beautiful and touching poetry. It is impossible not to consider these inspiring artists because they have become part of our musical lives. They are not the only ones, of course, we listen to a lot of other composers and singers, but it happens frequently that the mood of the songs we create take inspiration from them.


5. ROMA AMOR's music must sound great alive. Especially: "Les Amants de Saint Jean" or "La Follia". Could you tell us about your live performances. Do you often play?

RA: Most of the songs are recorded live, only in one single track: in our performances we need to breath an atmosphere that makes us feel comfortable: a welcoming and small place, people who relax, drink and give us their energy. It is not always possible to find such mood: that’s why we prefer choosing the right place.



6. As I said before you released your album on OEC. They also put your song on their sampler. Are you satisfed with this collaboration?

RA: With OEC we’ve got a relationship of reciprocal faith and esteem. Rodolfo, the boss of OEC, has revealed a kind person, correct and very professional. He bet on an unknown group and he took the risk: ROMA AMOR sound is not exactly the typical OEC production, and this would be enough to be satisfied of the collaboration with OEC. Furthermore Rodolfo keeps showing his enthusiasm towards our band and believing to our music. The fact that he was part of the Great Complotto is something that drives Candela, our bassist, crazy (he’s a fan of the Italian new-wave of the late seventies, so it couldn’t ask for anything better than collaborating with a member of the XX Century Zorro).


7. ROMA AMOR's music is called as a "neocabaret". Do you feel like a part of any movement or any "scene"/gender? Do you find any bands/artist/performers with whom you identify?

RA: “Neocabaret” or “Dark cabaret” are labels merely used in order to define a music style between folk and melancholy chansons, that uses a deep timbre and acoustic musical instruments such as the accordion, or the piano, classic guitars and so on. In other words noir cabaret music or tavern music, but not in the theatrical way, as it happens for example in the Francesco Guccini’s album “Opera Buffa”, an Italian masterpiece of the genre. It is rather something that has to do with the songs you sing for the few intimate friends at the end of an evening (or night) spent eating, drinking and chatting together. Considered in this sense and as a subgenre of a certain kind of music with melancholic and sombre tones, the label “neo-cabaret” is the one we like the most. After all ROMA AMOR were born thanks to the fusion of two sensibilities: the noir-dark of Euski and Candela, and the more folk traditional of Enrico and José. Obviously the artists and the music where we identify as a band are the one which inspired us: apart from the already mentioned Almond, Brel, Walker and Bowie, there is also De André, the traditional European folk and the chanson francaise.


8. I think that ROMA AMOR's songs could sound great from a vinyl. Have you ever thought about releasing your material on this medium?

RA: We think it would be woooonderful! We love vinyl, it is “human”: you can see it showing the marks of life in the course of its existence, its sound is less perfect than in a flawless CD, more genuine... we don’t expect to be original, a lot of people share this opinion… do you? We hope, someday, to have a ROMA AMOR album on a vinyl.





9. Could you tell me about the place you live - Ravenna. Recommend some bands from this city or places you go...?

RA: Surely Ravenna is a fascinating place to live. A popular and familiar place during the summer, packed with tourists that take photos to the churches of the Byzantine era and go to the seaside to relax and enjoy. But in the autumn, when the fog comes (and here in our region the fog is as thick as hell) it becomes quite melancholy and sombre. In this atmosphere it is easy to nourish imagination, romanticism and nostalgia. Beside the “liscio”, the typical dance of Ravenna and of the region of Romagna in general with its walzer, polka, mazurka and tango, that is the soundtrack of the summer evenings in the Riviera watered by Sangiovese wine and fed by piadina, you can find in our music also the more melancholic and romantic aspects linked to the fog, to the sea in winter and to the dark mood of the cold season.

About the second part of your question, we identify more in the traditional music of Ravenna and in its atmospheres rather than great part of contemporary bands that we feel far from our sensibility.


10. What are you plans for the future?

RA: Maybe it’s too early to talk about it, as things could evolve in different directions, but we’ve started making some researches about the folklore of our region that we believe could supply enough material in order to compose original new songs to put into a possible future second album (Euski has an irresistible interest towards the study of folklore, since she has memory). The rural world, the culture of farmers, has always been between Christianity and the Pagan world, between faith and superstition. So, beside the religious figures, other ones survived, maybe less benevolent and protective, such as la Borda, la Zirinelada, il Papon…scary supernatural figures that our ancestors didn’t believe in when nature was benevolent and temperate, but when in autumn the sky started to get darker and fog suddenly appeared to blur and transforming everything into an enemy and mysterious world...well, they became more likeable to exist. The tales of oral tradition, the lullabies, the rhymes and the legends of our region are rich with these odd characters and with mysterious, scary events: we are getting inspiration from it to create new original compositions.


11. Could you want say something for the end of this interview?

RA: Ops, we think la Borda is coming to take us and drown us into the ditch…so it’s better for us to go! Thanks to all the Apostazja team for the availability and kindness, we appreciate very much… ciao!



Michał Majcher


Więcej informacji:

www.myspace.com/romamorensemble