Patrizia Ferrara is an Austrian, ethnic singer and songwriter. She is a member of the band of the Brazilian singer-songwriter Celia Mara, for over 20 years now and she has joined Waldeck and has started writing for him, after the release of “On Solid Ground” album.
Recently, we met Patrizia in a live show at Fuzz Live Music Club. She sang many Waldeck’s songs, as “Memories”, “Addicted”, etc and she achieved to stand out. Her amazing show gave us the chance to discuss with her about her musical background and her following plans. Also, Patrizia talks to us about her musical origins, the difficulties in the musical field and her collaboration with Waldeck.
Patrizia loves Greece and hopes to come back soon, because the bad weather didn’t let her visit many places. Although, she singled out the graffiti as a form of art.
Read below the whole interview of Patrizia Ferrara!
Patrizia, welcome to SounDarts.gr! What have you been up to lately?
Hello! Thank you! These days I’m busy writing lyrics to the music of a fabulous Austrian Vibraphon player. His name is Florian Klinger and he will be featuring me as a singer and songwriter on two songs of his otherwise instrumental Jazz Album. I also just finished a live EP with Martin Spitzer a renowned Austrian Jazz guitarist. We honor the great American songbook and perform some of the greatest Jazz Standards that are dearest to my heart. Not one original song though! We will celebrate it with a release concert in Vienna April 3rd.
Recently, you collaborated on stage with Klaus Waldeck at Fuzz Live Music Club. Tell us a few words about this experience.
It was a very interesting night. My first time to Athens, a very nice venue and a beautiful crowd indeed. I really enjoyed the work of the light technician. He did an excellent job.
What are your feelings about the Greek audience?
The Greek audience is warm and welcoming. Absolutely wonderful. The crowd sang along with several Waldeck hits that night, and that’s always a wonderful experience but I must say I expected to see more people dancing in the audience.
Maybe I didn’t see them all to clear with those stage lights shining in my face! (Laughs) I hope they had a great time!
Will you be interested in visiting our country again? And if so, why? What is your opinion about Greece and its people?
I would like to come back and visit Greek for sure. I would have liked to see more of Athens and its people but we stayed only for a few hours this time.
I enjoyed the immense amount of graffiti in the city. It made me wonder what it all means and if it is a sort of revolution that is going on, or if it has to do with art and politics in the country.
I met only a few Greek people mainly the once working for the club and a very nice guy that picked us up and drove us everywhere. He offered right away to help me find something in a store that I had promised my friend to bring back for her from Athens. I had a great time and I hope we’ll be back soon to experience more of this beautiful country.
We heard you singing in reggae, swing, and jazz style. What are your personal influences?
Exactly those, swing, jazz ballads, reggae but also singer-songwriter and soul music.
If you were about to write a song, where would you get inspiration from?
I get inspiration from the music that I hear in my head when I am writing the whole tune myself, meaning the music and the words. So I hear it in my head and then it is a matter of writing it down right so that other musicians will understand it the way I heard it in my head.
When composers or producers ask me to write words to their music, I usually listen to the song once or twice and then pictures start to form in my head. I see stories that are triggered by the sound of the music. Or for example a composer gives me a title of a song let’s say “The Storm” and tells me to write a story about that subject.
Then according to what the music triggers in me, I create a picture in my mind with the subject “The Storm”. But music is always the leader. It tells me what the story looks like.
If you had the chance to collaborate with another artist or a band, who would you choose, and why?
Mhhh thinking….. There are many good bands out there that I would like to collaborate with.
And actually I fall in love with music every day. It is hard for me to name anybody right now. Maybe Tracy Chapman would be one!
Patrizia, would you like to give us some information about your musical background? How did your story begin?
Yes, I started singing pretty late when I was 19 years old. I decided to join a Jazz music school, and at the audition the teacher called me aside and told me that I would pass for sure but that he thought that I didn’t need any training at a school but rather get experienced singing in clubs. So, he offered me to become a part of his band and we started performing in cocktail bars and little clubs almost every night. I learned a lot from him and it would have been all too good to be true but unfortunately I realized after 2 years that he betrayed me with quite a bit of money over the years. So after 2 years of singing in bars and clubs, I decided again to go study music and this time it worked out well. I did it, and it worked out well for me. It broadened my musical world, depend my understanding for the different music genres and I was taught how to play the piano and read music and all that comes with it.
I would characterize you as a singer of the ethnic music scene. Would you try to experiment in another musical genre or sing in another language? And if so, in which one?
Yes, definitely you are right! I am a member of the band of the Brazilian singer-songwriter Celia Mara, for over 20 years now. I also toured with dub and reggae legend, Lee Scratch Perry, and I toured Europe with Italian and Spanish music groups. I also toured with the Turkish pop singer Sertab Erener.
How is your relationship with the audience? Do you prefer the live communication or are you a fan of social media?
I am a fan of the live communication. Social media is good too but you never know who you are really dealing with. I have experienced stalking and aggression on the social media.
People feel very free on the social media and that’s not always appropriate at all.
Your last EP, entitled “On Solid Ground”, was released in 2015. Please, tell me, are you about to get in the studio again? Maybe for a studio album this time?
The EP “On Solid Ground” was released in 2015 in Vienna and my debut album “Simple Things” was released in 2009 in New York. I’m a songwriter with all my heart and both albums represent my songwriting at the time.
When I lived in New York my music was very much influenced by the amazing singer-songwriters and poets in New York and so I felt compelled to tell my story as well. I had traveled to Palestine twice in 2007 and 2008 and performed there. I got a lot of inspiration from there and the cover photo for my first album was also taken in Palestine. Obama was running for president of the United States back then and that moment in history also became a part of my first album.
Then I moved back to Vienna and recorded my second album “On Solid Ground” full of love songs for different people in my life. Since then I have joined Waldeck and have started writing for him. So far I’m not feeling the urge of recording a new album. But who knows! That could change.
Interview: Elektra Limnios
