NEWS / DISCOGRAPHY / AUDIO / PICTURES / VIDEO / PETER RODULFO / FEEDBACK / CONTACT

DREAMS 
HOW IT ALL BEGAN

This project was conceived in the mid 80's when I intuitively started to compose music for sole and group guitar. Some of the melodies that float through the songs of this record were born while walking on the street or while riding the subway on my way to school or work. I used to imagine and think about music ever since childhood, excluding myself from the chaotic and hostile exterior world, a common tendency in populated and violent cities like Caracas. I consider myself to be lucky because I have a good musical memory, this has been useful to compensate my almost nonexistent academic musical background; thanks to it, I have been able to recall many melodies and songs, none of which were written or have been registered by any means. Usually, on my leisure time at home (which lately is very scarce), I grab my guitar and start materializing an idea. Filling those empty spaces with chords which generally transforms the original concept into something possible, executable and ready to be listened. At times compositions are born by experimenting with the guitar, something I used to do often, besides writing, when I had fewer chores to occupy my time with.

During the lapse of 15 years I have collected a great deal of songs, many of which I composed to be performed as a solo guitar, but thanks to the interaction with other musicians they have turned out to be pieces to be executed by the entire band. For several years I played in two or three local bands, however due to the nature of those bands and the music played therein, I could only partially develop some of my ideas. I was limited by music formats which almost prohibits the artist to explore their own imagination and in which it is easy to get used to automatism when executing and composing. That coupled with the fact that I earn my living doing another type of activities led me execute my music for a limited group of people, mainly family and close friends; however, as it turned out, playing became an almost vital urge.

In 1997, I realized that I had to finish those unfinished projects, and by some means, register the huge amount of material I had collected over the years before my memory would confuse or vanish my thoughts as time passed by. I began by recording several demos on my own. Many pieces had to be further developed from fragments which I succeeded to rescue from oblivion bringing them together with technical and musical cunning. As a result from this recollection process, I came up with three CDs which a sum up more than 200 minutes of music. In one I gathered all the pieces for a solitary guitar and in the other two I recorded those compositions for the guitar plus a band. The outcome sampled a variation of styles, genres and interpretation techniques, acoustic and electric; from classical to blues, jazz, R'n'R, fusion, folk, flamenco, etc. it even boasted such things which practically made no sense and thus could be called, falling into self-indulgence, "experimental". Since I can honestly say that I only play the music I really like, and due to the fact that the arts and entertainment industry gives zero media coverage to those productions which do not follow commercial patterns, I had to be patient with my project and store my music in a trunk during many years before the miracle of globalization arrived.

I named the sole guitar CD "Acoustic Plus", as it included executions with acoustic and electric guitars and the other two I thought about producing them as a single project, which for more than evident reasons I named "Dreams". When I started to share this music with old and new friends, I discovered that my musical ideas had a good receptivity between fans and lovers of progressive music like myself. The kind of music that really strives to tell a story and intends to stay within the memory of the listener, awakening emotions and thoughts beyond a tune or an appealing rhythm.

Ever since, I committed myself to summon other musicians to form a band, with the sole object of recording the songs written for the grouped project. At the same time, I started to assemble my own studio where I could record and mix my own music. The process, which seemed to be endless and sometimes discouraging, had a successful ending when after several years of search, I found musicians who really identified themselves with the project and added their talent and cooperation to the development of the music, even when it meant, for many of them, to commit themselves as well as their precious free time. It was thanks to their active participation in the project that led us to accomplished it, mainly highlighting the work of Jesús Pérez, Frank Alburjas and Lérmit Martínez, who were involved in the project when it was just a bunch raw ideas and plenty of enthusiasm; and of course the unconditional support of my next of kin, specially my mother Rosa Clark and my wife Anabella Delgado, whom I owe the fact that I never failed to reach my goals. In early 2000 everything was ready to start the recording, initially it was planned to be a double conceptual CD with 135 minutes of music distributed in 11 themes, of which 4 were suites of more than 20 minutes each. My manager convinced me that a double CD of a stranger would not be very attractive, and I accepted to produce it in two parts, leaving three of the epic themes for a second CD that I hope to be able to finish in 2001, if my work allows me to do so.

"Labyrinth" was the first song I composed and included in the first CD of the project entitled "Dreams". At first, I just had one melody, which appeared in my mind spontaneously about 7 years ago while walking on the street. It was something like a traditional waltz, with a 6/8 tempo, and so I began to structure the piece in that direction with my classical guitar. Later I began to experiment with a few rhythmic and harmony variations which slowly began to stray away from classical and moved towards fusion until one day, I decided to record a demo adding percussion elements and that is how the group's version was conceived and recorded on the CD. Around those days, I was writing a Sci-Fi short-story which partially developed in a labyrinth, later a friend told me that the song sounded as a "Labyrinth". It was then that I understood that both of them were extremely interconnected. It was something like running fast without a fixed course, like travelling or drifting, lost, on an endless rough terrain, only to find out that the end and the starting point was one in the same. This year, while recording the songs of the CD in my studio, I thought about the idea of giving my work a conceptual feel in the greater sense of the word, something that would break through all musical barriers, presenting a story that would also allow us to explore the literary aspect of the plot. And so, I began to develop the unconcluded story, keeping a tight relation with the music, and at the end it permitted to combine two parallel stories more by coincidence than by a real intention to do so: A suite that tried to narrate, with music, the evolution of mankind and its culture; and a story that showed the final stage in which the man is confronted with the task of colonizing a virgin world by forming a ethnically divided civilized culture, yet tightly united through their human essence and by their "Universal Codes".

The story, which I named "Dreams" due to its relationship with its musical counterpart, ended up being more of a long story than a short one, and thus costly to reproduce on the printed portion of the CD. Using the same philosophy that was applied throughout the whole project, of expanding artistically and technologically, it occurred to me that I could include a multimedia section on the disc, and thus making it an enhanced CD. A digital format which would allow to showcase the story in different languages and shapes, adding pictures, information and active links to web pages, including my own and permitting the listener/reader/spectator interact directly with the artist and its works.

Once the conceptual integrity of the project was defined, the artistic and visual element was yet to be included in order to provide a complete and tightly interrelated work. By coincidence, as fantastical and unreal as it may seem, one day I found through the internet a distant relative that lives in England, Peter Rodulfo, who was looking for his great-grandfather's family, which during the 19th century lived in Venezuela and Trinidad. Since our last name is so unusual in the American and European continent, it was not hard to find common genealogical roots which led us build a great friendship and maintain constant communication with each other. Peter is a brilliant renowned artist with a vast trajectory as a painter and sculptor. Surprisingly I was able to appreciate his art, as well as, deeply identify myself with it up to the point where I could mentally connect my music with his paintings. Not being able to hold back, I dared to ask him to paint the CD's artwork and to my utterly surprise he immediately and gladly accepted. Soon after Peter sent four paintings which were inspired by the music I sent him and his amazing imagination. Each time I see these beautiful paintings it seem as though I can hear the music due to the fact that they are extremely and completely interconnected. What is even more surprising is that Peter, was able to describe the essence of the story through his painting entitled "Lost and Found" which established a strong bond that surpassed images and sounds. The graphical design of the multimedia section was complemented by the illustrations and collages created by my wife Anabella, who I admire among many things for her enormous sensibility and artistically innate talent. Her work, entitled "Materia Prima" ingeniously represents the small epic that became the production of this project. Impregnated with dream like images and tuned in with the music and the literary concept of the project. Furthermore, Anabella illustrated all seven parts of the short-story which are included in the multimedia section. The audiovisual element was the final portion of the whole concept to be integrated with the project. This complement to my work, consists of a series of videoclips conceived and directed by Wilman Sirit, a colleague that showed a great cinematographic talent, as well as, a vast technical and artistic grasp of the environment.

I hope that you enjoy this, our final product which was conceived by cumulus of efforts. Please do not forget to write any and all comments that you may have.

Regards, 

November 6th, 2000

NEWS / DISCOGRAPHY / AUDIO / PICTURES / VIDEO / PETER RODULFO / FEEDBACK / CONTACT
About...

Back to the main page