
Dear readers, we are pleased to offer you in this article an interview with an Italian composer and multi-instrumentalist with a Psychedelic Rock and Acid Folk sound. We welcome Alessio Ferrari, creator of the Upupayāma project.
Hi Alessio, how are you?
“Hi! First of all, thank you for this chat. I’m very well, thank you. Autumn has started here where I live, which I love, all around my house is a riot of colour. I have always considered autumn as the season of rebirth so I am very happy.“
You are a composer and multi-instrumentalist, how did your passion for music start?
“It is a very banal story. I was twelve years old when I listened to a cassette tape of my brother. It had everything on it: punk rock, brit pop, electronic music. That day I think I laughed with happiness, I had discovered music, I was like going crazy, in fact I think I literally wore out the tape by dint of listening to that cassette.“
How did the Upupayāma project come about and what is the meaning of the band’s name?
“I had these notes, guitar riffs, bass riffs, drum rhythms recorded. Just before the 2020 lockdown I had developed some of them into actual songs. One night I listened to them and I said to myself ‘Wow! I’ve been looking for these sounds forever, I’ve been dancing to these rhythms forever…’. Here they are, I found them! … Or they found me”. It was an epiphany.
As for the name, Upupayāma is the combination of two words from two profoundly different languages, Italian and Japanese. Upupa is the name of a beautiful bird that famously lives in the plains or at most in the hills, while Yama is the Japanese name for mountain. I liked being able to make a wonderful bird that does not actually live in the high mountains live in the mountains, to make something real that is not real only by means of imagination. Just as in the music I make, I like to think I can make the surreal coexist in the real.“
You propose Acid Folk and Psychedelic sounds, how did you approach this music?
“I have always been very passionate about psychedelic music. To tell the truth, also folk music, although I have to say I dabble it less it than the former.
The passion for psychedelic music came through bands like the Stone Roses, Beatles just to name two. From there I started a search that I believe will never stop and that has led me to love everything, for example I am currently listening a lot to The Congos and Scientist, they have crazy rhythms and crazy sounds. I’ll probably be listening to The Prodigy in a week. Today I listen to everything, I don’t put barriers in my way.“
The new album ‘Mount Elephant’ is due out on September 13, 2024 via Fuzz Club, how would you describe this work?
“I think it is my most immature album… and I am happy about that. I don’t like it when I hear or read about ‘mature albums’. If there’s one thing I love about music it’s that I think it can take you to any world you want and I’d like a world where there’s no talk of ‘maturity’, we’re not apples, tomatoes or oranges.“
An intense and enveloping album, what themes does this new work deal with?
“I do not aim to bring themes into what I do in music. I like to think, and I hope so, that the themes of Upupayāma’s music are decided by the listeners. For example, for me Moon Needs the Owl is a Thai festival where you dance and sweat and dance until you’re exhausted, while for someone else it may represent a nuthatch doing its daily work on a tree trunk. I also love music that conveys themes, that opens up discussions, but I prefer Upupayāma to be an open space, one day hundreds of people can be part of it, another day just one person. I like to imagine Upupayāma as a collective ritual, something in which people live their own personal experience.“
Long instrumental textures incorporating different stylistic elements and genres, how do you compose your tracks?
“Not having an academic musical background, I do not have a method, nor do I claim to have one. In my case I see this as an advantage: not knowing any rules, I don’t follow them, so I just have fun. When I compose I never start from a pattern, a rule, etc., it can happen that sometimes a song simply comes from a rhythm I have in my head, other times from a bass line. What happens is that I play on it, I improvise, I hear a flute coming, a congas rhythm, etc.“
Being the only member of the project, will there be a chance to hear your music live in the near future?
“Indeed! Live there are six of us and we have already played in Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland and a little bit in Italy) and we hope to play more and more.“
You have released several albums with the Upupayāma project, how has your sound evolved over time?
“Good question. However, I would not speak of ‘evolution’, rather I would speak of ‘paths’ or places, both musical and human. I see the first album today as a placid, peaceful place, I am in the middle of this beautiful place and I look around. The second album, The Golden Pond, I see it as a journey, it’s a journey where you don’t go very far, but it’s still a journey. Mount Elephant, the last one, I see it as a dance, a ritual.“
What advice would you give to young artists approaching music with more sophisticated sounds like yours?
“Do what you like and do it the way you like it.“
Music is constantly evolving, how do you see the modern scene in your country and more generally in the Acid/Psychedelic Rock scene?
“In Italy at the moment I can’t talk of a scene. Apart from a few bands that I could count on the fingers of one hand, I find everything very unconnected but above all ‘pedagogised’. Outside Italy I have noticed that people are more relaxed, they love what they love because it makes them feel good (musically speaking). For example, I have many more ‘musical’ acquaintances, i.e. people who are involved in music, abroad than in Italy.“
How difficult is it, if at all, to establish yourself in the modern music market by proposing a more elaborate sound like yours?
“Obviously it’s not easy, but being able to play a bit in Europe and at some of the coolest festivals around (Duna Jam, Fuzz Club Fest, Red Smoke to name a few) makes us very happy and honoured. Of course, we’d love to play around more and hopefully it will happen. I think it’s difficult, especially after 2020, that year has created quite a few difficulties for mainstream music, I let you imagine independent music. It could have also been an opportunity to turn a corner on a way of life unfortunately more and more focused on quantity to the detriment of quality, instead it only accelerated a process of mental flattening that had been going on for too many years.“
Do you have any other activities or artistic passions outside music?
“I love to read, I love to immerse myself in a context and a world not my own and let myself be carried away. Living in a small mountain village, I also love wandering through the forests, but above all I play, play and play.“
I thank Alessio for the interview, wishing him all the best for the release of the album and the continuation of his artistic career.
Read our Review of the new album here: [Review] Upupayāma – Mount Elephant