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Rating: 5 QUESTIONS TO: KAMA
PREFACE
Lately in Italy there has been a proliferation of indie labels, indie artists, indie avant-garde, and indie undergrowth. It certainly makes one say "finally"! But it would also be appropriate to ask why this phenomenon is occurring, or try to understand it, or to delineate the quality and real innovation it brings to the Italian scene in relation to the media channels to which the non-indie audience is receptive, namely television, radio, and newspapers distributed nationally, channels that go beyond niche webzines or the blogosphere.
I asked Kama, a young singer-songwriter from Milan who released his first album two weeks ago ("Ho Detto A Tua Madre Che Fumi"). Alessandro Camattini, that is Kama, has already worked as a songwriter and drummer for Scigad, a band that supported Afterhours, Bluvertigo, Carmen Consoli, as well as B.B. King. After an EP in 2003, he joined Eclectic Circus, with which he produced his first single, "Ostello Comunale", and the album in question. His style mixes singer-songwriter music (among his idols Ivan Graziani and Bruno Lauzi) with indie music in the style of Badly Drawn Boy, and in his lyrics he can be ironic, dreamy, and sometimes poetic without self-indulgence. The voice is crystal clear and clean, as are the sounds, precise, round in certain hypnotic or psychedelic moments. His style is not necessarily original but certainly interesting, and thanks to two videos (the aforementioned single and "Icaro") broadcast on AllMusic, an even wider audience has been able to approach a somewhat unconventional singer-songwriter style.
But let's let Kama talk about his music and the themes briefly illustrated in the opening lines.
FIVE QUESTIONS
Dune Buggy: Briefly explain to Debaser readers, ranging from the grimmest metalhead (no offense!) to the most sophisticated avant-garde researchers (again, no offense…), what your music consists of.
Kama: Do you remember those characters from long ago, who picked up the acoustic guitar and composed songs with beautiful, understandable melodies, sung with a well-tuned and clear voice, whose lyrics spoke about what surrounded them, the paradoxes of their time, in a disenchanted and ironic manner, all accompanied by articulate but easily understandable music? Yes, those typically Italian personalities, who occasionally appear on public television… what were they called… singer-songwriters, perhaps, yes, singer-songwriters…
Well, I hope to approximate that kind of musicians, although I do it my way and with a slightly more modern touch…
DB: Your lyrics are visionary, ironic, and gentle. What happens when you compose? Do you give free rein to imagination and then slowly the words take a "song" form, or do you start with the music, with a chord progression, and build the text later?
K: Text and music are two very separate things that I usually handle at different moments. First the music, with my little "Bruno Lauzi" branded guitar and a mumbled melody, I record everything on cassette with my trusty supermarket-bought "Roadstar"… then when I have time, I gather the tapes scattered around my house and do a meticulous copy-paste work to build the structures of the songs. At the end, I add the words to the melody… And writing the text is quite demanding…
DB: What are your influences, your favorite artists, and your aspirations? And how much do the previous experiences of your bandmates
(Max Carinelli ex-Je Ne T'Aime Plus for example) influence your choices in arrangements and live performances?
K: A large part of good Italian singer-songwriter music, with a particular nod to Dalla and Graziani, the Beatles, and Mozart, who remain the first and last true manifestation of God's presence on earth : -). In general, I like all those songs that, played with acoustic guitar and voice, live their own life… Then I don't think models are necessary; whoever writes songs expresses their artistic education, starting from the themes of Cristina D’Avena that they listened to as children…
Max, Ste, Iki, and Ale are all musicians with great experience, but beyond that, they are fantastic people and ethically impeccable. I believe that to stay a year on tour you have to first and foremost create the magic in the camper… As for the arrangements, playing live means giving listeners the chance to understand the true essence of the song and its performer, it’s a bit like the difference between a photo and a video. Live songs are never the same and this can only happen thanks to the skill of those who play them with me…
DB: Blogs and music: what are the opportunities today for a young artist to make themselves heard outside the indie, avant-garde, or snobbishly cultural undergrowth?
K: The excessive accessibility scares me a bit. It’s true that more offer means more music, but it seems to me that we have reached the point where anyone feels entitled to call music and spread homemade recordings of songs without any value. A great help has been given by the definitions "indie", "noise", "low-fi". Perhaps with singing in Anglo-Puglian, long falling vowels, and untuned guitars. I believe that a musician's maturation is very important, as is modesty… And I wouldn't want the pearls to be lost amid the tidal wave…
DB: Since the late '90s, the Italian indie scene has been steadily growing, for better or worse. On AllMusic Extra in the late evening, there’s a good selection of alternative music, among which your videos also pop up. Can you move to a major without selling out your art? Can you enter the mainstream scene while staying true to your policy? If there is a devolution of this indie spread, will everything go back to how it was or will major labels, important radio stations, and television have broadened their horizons?
K: I still have to understand what indie means. Who are the indie???... Are they the ones who sometimes accuse you of making songs too "clean" and with voices too in tune? Those who mistake an out-of-tune guitar for a daring backdrop of pathos? Those who confuse recordings made with poor means (and infinitesimal budgets) with noise arrangements in line with Sonic Youth? Personally, I only distinguish between good songs and bad songs… and songs recorded well or poorly… I believe that access to TV and radio programming is mainly dictated by the quality of what is recorded. The fact is that unfortunately most things labeled "indie" are unlistenable and are destined to remain in the rooms of niche listeners. And that's just as it should be.
As for the old story of the majors and the manipulated artist, frankly, I think it's more of a rehearsal room fairy tale than a reality. When you have the opportunity to work with important figures in the music world (arrangers, producers, etc…) you try to learn as much as possible, to improve and that’s it. If we want to talk about majors that produce few artists and take on few business risks (which are generally instead borne by small, struggling labels), that don't visit small venues, etc… that’s another discussion…
CONCLUSIONS (?)
Of course, it's not the time to draw suitable conclusions, precisely because it's impossible to historicize an ongoing phenomenon, and especially because the discussion deserves broader and more detailed treatment. I hope Kama's answers to the last questions can spark a lively debate; regarding his songs, I invite you to listen to some on http://www.myspace.com/alekama
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