An interview with Marcel Gherman aka Megatone in one of the biggest newspapers in
Moldova, Jurnal De Chisinau. Translated from Romanian. The interview was given in 2007
on the occasion of the release of new Megatone album Mulberry Forest Voyage on
label Krakilsk in Norway.
www.krakilsk.org
Some tracks by Megatone may be listened on myspace pages, together with
additional information:
http://www.myspace.com/httpwwwmegatonecom
http://www.myspace.com/megatoneelectronica
The official site of newspaper Jurnal De Chisinau:
http://www.jurnal.md
Jurnal De Chisinau newspaper issue, Friday the 18th of May 2007
"My music is a sonic representation of the cyberspace". Interview with young
composer Marcel Gherman alias Megatone
- Please tell me, Marcel Gherman, when did you discover the computer?
At the end of the 80ies, I had a friend whose parents were programmers. I like
technology, speed and sensory overload. This is the world in which I wanna live.
- Have you learned piano first, then learned to compose music on
computer?
I studied piano in my childhood, later I took lessons of composition from the
composer and conductor Oleg Palymski. True electronic music has no melody nor
tonality, but rather it's entirely based on modulations and digital sound
metamorphoses. Nevertheless, piano develops a sense of harmony and equillibrium
that applies to electronic music as well. The possibilities offered by the
digital means of sound synthesis are remarkable: almost any possible sound can
be recreated from several oscillations, it's an acoustic equivalent of the
hyperrealistic computer graphics from "Matrix". The listener of my music enters
a jungle of sound, dives into a medium of plasma, floats thru waves and currents
of digital sonic particles. It's a digital representation of the cyberspace, an
equivalent of the holodeck from "Star Trek".
- The techno genre is a relatively young one? What works from this
musical domain have become classics?
Techno genre originated in the middle of the 80ies in Detroit. The word techno
is sometimes coined as a general term to a series of other musical directions
from youth counterculture: trance, drum'n'bass, hardcore etc. Techno rhythm has
been used by band Kraftwerk since 1970. Despite some preconceptions, electronic
music was already existing in the 50ies, thru the creation of composers as
Iannis Xenakis (born in Braila) and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Electronic music
derived from the experiences of classical avantgarde music.
- How large is the audithorium of those who produce techno music?
The popularity of techno music in the West is extraordinary. Certain techno
festivals from Germany and France have gathered a public of over 2 million
people. Techno music is produced in astronomical quantities. Between 1994 and
2003 I have made techno radioshows on the National Radiostation of Moldova,
including programs "Techno Mix" and "Zona De Limita". In this period I convinced
myself that in our country as well there is a great interest for techno music.
- Are there many authors of techno music in Moldova?
Composers Mihail Afanasiev and Oleg Palymski have many disciples who could
form in Moldova an important electronic music scene.
- How have you broke through on the international scene? How have you
debuted?
On the 1st of January 2005 my first album, "A Journey To The Core Of Reality",
was launched on label Tibprod in Norway. I appeared under the alias Megatone. My
tracks have also been released on compilations from labels Simlog, Tibprod,
Invasion Wreck Chords (Belarus) and Zaftig Research (USA). I created an intro
track named "Nirvana" for the new compilation of label Peak Records from
Switzerland which is up to be released in june. At the present time, I am
working on a collaboration with Japanese science-fiction writer Kenji Siratori,
one of the most important representatives of the new cyberpunk wave. Siratori
has offered me several texts of his to which I have to add music.
- This spring you released a new disc. What is its title? Who released
it?
Recently, a second album of mine called "Mulberry Forest Voyage" has been
released in Norway as well, on label Krakilsk lead by musician Arnfinn
Killingtveit. Label Krakilsk has previously released a series of artists from
Norway, Italy, UK, United States and Brazil.
- How is your new disc promoted on the Internet, on the radio and in
press (including the local media)?
My album has been reviewed in the electronic music agenda Vital Weekly. Tracks
from the album have been broadcasted on FM radiostations and on the Internet in
UK, Germany, France, Israel, Portugal, Latvia and other countries, including on
Resonance FM, the most important art radiostation in London. Track "Black Lotus"
has been broadcasted in the podcast Ambient Worlds, with thousands of listeners
in 100 countries. The same track has been presented on the show "Zona Libera" on
Radio Guerilla in Romania. The media from Moldova hasn't presented my album in
any way.
- Please tell me about the most important tracks on your new disc. Who
inspired you, what principles have you followed, how did your intuition help you
in its creation?
Album "Mulberry Forest Voyage" is inspired from the impressions and atmosphere
of village Drutsa, sector Rascani, where I spent my childhood summers. The album
(80 minutes) includes 18 tracks which explore various forms of the ambient
genre. I like to act as a shaman thru my music, to guide my listeners into an
initiation journey. The most important, for me, tracks are "Infinity" and
"Eden", the final track.
- I wish you a lot of success
Moldova, Jurnal De Chisinau. Translated from Romanian. The interview was given in 2007
on the occasion of the release of new Megatone album Mulberry Forest Voyage on
label Krakilsk in Norway.
www.krakilsk.org
Some tracks by Megatone may be listened on myspace pages, together with
additional information:
http://www.myspace.com/httpwwwmegatonecom
http://www.myspace.com/megatoneelectronica
The official site of newspaper Jurnal De Chisinau:
http://www.jurnal.md
Jurnal De Chisinau newspaper issue, Friday the 18th of May 2007
"My music is a sonic representation of the cyberspace". Interview with young
composer Marcel Gherman alias Megatone
- Please tell me, Marcel Gherman, when did you discover the computer?
At the end of the 80ies, I had a friend whose parents were programmers. I like
technology, speed and sensory overload. This is the world in which I wanna live.
- Have you learned piano first, then learned to compose music on
computer?
I studied piano in my childhood, later I took lessons of composition from the
composer and conductor Oleg Palymski. True electronic music has no melody nor
tonality, but rather it's entirely based on modulations and digital sound
metamorphoses. Nevertheless, piano develops a sense of harmony and equillibrium
that applies to electronic music as well. The possibilities offered by the
digital means of sound synthesis are remarkable: almost any possible sound can
be recreated from several oscillations, it's an acoustic equivalent of the
hyperrealistic computer graphics from "Matrix". The listener of my music enters
a jungle of sound, dives into a medium of plasma, floats thru waves and currents
of digital sonic particles. It's a digital representation of the cyberspace, an
equivalent of the holodeck from "Star Trek".
- The techno genre is a relatively young one? What works from this
musical domain have become classics?
Techno genre originated in the middle of the 80ies in Detroit. The word techno
is sometimes coined as a general term to a series of other musical directions
from youth counterculture: trance, drum'n'bass, hardcore etc. Techno rhythm has
been used by band Kraftwerk since 1970. Despite some preconceptions, electronic
music was already existing in the 50ies, thru the creation of composers as
Iannis Xenakis (born in Braila) and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Electronic music
derived from the experiences of classical avantgarde music.
- How large is the audithorium of those who produce techno music?
The popularity of techno music in the West is extraordinary. Certain techno
festivals from Germany and France have gathered a public of over 2 million
people. Techno music is produced in astronomical quantities. Between 1994 and
2003 I have made techno radioshows on the National Radiostation of Moldova,
including programs "Techno Mix" and "Zona De Limita". In this period I convinced
myself that in our country as well there is a great interest for techno music.
- Are there many authors of techno music in Moldova?
Composers Mihail Afanasiev and Oleg Palymski have many disciples who could
form in Moldova an important electronic music scene.
- How have you broke through on the international scene? How have you
debuted?
On the 1st of January 2005 my first album, "A Journey To The Core Of Reality",
was launched on label Tibprod in Norway. I appeared under the alias Megatone. My
tracks have also been released on compilations from labels Simlog, Tibprod,
Invasion Wreck Chords (Belarus) and Zaftig Research (USA). I created an intro
track named "Nirvana" for the new compilation of label Peak Records from
Switzerland which is up to be released in june. At the present time, I am
working on a collaboration with Japanese science-fiction writer Kenji Siratori,
one of the most important representatives of the new cyberpunk wave. Siratori
has offered me several texts of his to which I have to add music.
- This spring you released a new disc. What is its title? Who released
it?
Recently, a second album of mine called "Mulberry Forest Voyage" has been
released in Norway as well, on label Krakilsk lead by musician Arnfinn
Killingtveit. Label Krakilsk has previously released a series of artists from
Norway, Italy, UK, United States and Brazil.
- How is your new disc promoted on the Internet, on the radio and in
press (including the local media)?
My album has been reviewed in the electronic music agenda Vital Weekly. Tracks
from the album have been broadcasted on FM radiostations and on the Internet in
UK, Germany, France, Israel, Portugal, Latvia and other countries, including on
Resonance FM, the most important art radiostation in London. Track "Black Lotus"
has been broadcasted in the podcast Ambient Worlds, with thousands of listeners
in 100 countries. The same track has been presented on the show "Zona Libera" on
Radio Guerilla in Romania. The media from Moldova hasn't presented my album in
any way.
- Please tell me about the most important tracks on your new disc. Who
inspired you, what principles have you followed, how did your intuition help you
in its creation?
Album "Mulberry Forest Voyage" is inspired from the impressions and atmosphere
of village Drutsa, sector Rascani, where I spent my childhood summers. The album
(80 minutes) includes 18 tracks which explore various forms of the ambient
genre. I like to act as a shaman thru my music, to guide my listeners into an
initiation journey. The most important, for me, tracks are "Infinity" and
"Eden", the final track.
- I wish you a lot of success
RSS Feed