Ana Patan
Frida Kahlo - Viva la Vida, The Music to the Theatre Play

contemporary / guitar / jazz / folk / soundtrack / instrumental / rock / experimental / ambient

"Charming biotic imperfection in this age of artificial sterility. "

10 pieces of music made for a theatre play about painter Frida Kahlo, an unconventional soundtrack played on only electric guitar, alive, rich in melody, rhythm and emotion, in shades of light and darkness.

The stories in the music grew out of the subjects' adventures and resilience, the director's inventive vision, the screenplay and the actors' interpretation.
"Every afternoon I'd watch their rehearsal (online, they in Romania, me in a forest in Sweden!) then, in the evening, I'd record what I've heard in my head during that rehearsal, often until the early morning hours. I would send the sound files over, so the team can use them in their next rehearsal and let me know how the music works, or how to eventually adapt it - mostly time-wise - to their choreography and acting. The next day would run a similar course, enriched and even more unhinged.

It was indeed exhilarating to work like this, I had a wild bout of inspiration, with almost no jurisdiction from myself over my creative process. Anything was game.
I did the best I could out of my guitar playing and sometimes vocals. Bass lines, melodies, chords, moods, decorations... If percussion was needed (there is a lot of dancing going on, which tickled some latin bone deep inside) I tried to produced it by clapping, or by hitting the blocked strings on the guitar, or both. Heart-beats would be generated by lighter pokes with the finger tips. Other special effects, such as the accident, or a terrible cry of pain, could also be produced by scratching the thicker guitar strings between my nails.
I was most pleasantly surprised with this instrument's versatility, its seemingly unlimited range of sounds and emotions. I also had to learn a lot about Mexican music and rhythm structures, embracing Frida Kahlo's cultural sounds without restrictions but at the same time not trying to cancel my own musical feel, from a different part of the planet and in a different time of history."

The download comes with a 14-page brochure with lots of pictures and stories about each piece, the theatre play, Frida's paintings and the music creation process.