Part 2

Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please.

I won't tell you about my daily life, but I will tell you about how ideally a day of mine is in the creative process.

I would wake up about 5 AM, have two hours of meditation, after that I would have a light breakfast and dive into a creative mood until about 12 AM. Then I would prepare the main meal of the day, eat and relax a bit till about 4 PM.

Then get back to the creative work until the evening, when I would go out for a walk, reflect on the day and end it with one hour of meditation.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece, live performance or album that's particularly dear to you, please?

It differs from project to project. For Dordeduh I start by shaping the concept for the album, followed by studying specific topics to get more inside and inspiration.

The next thing would be to go through all the music I already wrote / jammed for the new material and select only the parts that fit to the subject, followed by writing new material according to the concept. Meanwhile, in parallel, the lyrics are starting to take shape and that’s usually a lengthy process.

While I write the music and the lyrics I already have my mind focused on the production, how to shape the songs in order to have the best materialization of the concept in the music. Then everything that will end up on the album is going to be recorded in the studio and when everything is recorded, we move to the mixing and mastering process.

During all this time in the studio, many side things are happening: sometimes little changes here and there, sometimes reshaping whole songs; but also that’s usually the time when we focus on crafting a promotion strategy, thinking and choosing songs for videos, preparing the material to be played live and many other details.

With Sunset in the 12th house things go somewhat similarly except that there’s no pressure for having any concept or lyrics.     

Listening can be both a solitary and a communal activity. Likewise, creating music can be private or collaborative. Can you talk about your preferences in this regard and how these constellations influence creative results?

Yes. For Dordeduh I usually tend to start things by myself and when the concept and the musical themes are starting to shape my colleagues jump into the process. Often Sol writes some stuff on his own and brings it in the process.

But generally speaking I like when skilled people bring their input to the table. Working with professional people (with no ego issues) is the best thing that can happen to an artist.

It’s quite sad to see that many times people prefer to record things in their home studios without even considering hiring a producer, or even a proper sound engineer. Of course the budget can be a huge impediment, but on the other hand working with professionals can make a huge difference.     

How do your work and your creativity relate to the world and what is the role of music in society?

Beyond the fact that music connects people through common resonance, I believe very much in the healing aspect of the music.

Even science is starting to catch up with the healing properties of music. Certain frequencies are known to have healing and transformative properties and certain harmonies are boosting even more those properties.

In this regard I think it is important to make music consciously. Generally speaking the people that are writing music are guided by their feelings most of the time, by how they feel it is appropriate for them to express. For me it’s important to study and learn about what we intuitively create and chisel it further, guided rationally until I reach a higher aim.

This process can bring an extra equilibrium by combining the creative side with the rational side. This turns out to be very useful in many situations.

Art can be a way of dealing with the big topics in life: Life, loss, death, love, pain, and many more. In which way and on which occasions has music – both your own or that of others - contributed to your understanding of these questions?

We have addressed more or less these topics since '94, at the beginning of our musical journey.

In our main topic, the spirituality and the personal growth through the spiritual journey, these topics are very present because the transformation takes place in the daily, mundane life where all these are very vividly felt. So I think we offered our fair share of contribution in this regard.

How do you see the connection between music and science and what can these two fields reveal about each other?

Like I mentioned previously, nowadays science is advancing very much into using frequency based healing techniques. On the other hand this is not something new. It is perhaps new in the scientific world, but it was something that was known and has been used in ancient times.

On the other hand technology reached very far into the sound engineering field, for studio and live equipment. Things got so advanced that sometimes I wonder if we don’t get caught too much by gear related subjects and lose the creative area, by forgetting why we have been making music in the first place.   

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

For me the topic itself is not mundane at all, but the appliance of it is. It reflects on an idealized version of the message but also on the way all these materialize in the routine of daily life.

It’s more like a metaphor that becomes the finite product that went through the transformation process.  

Music is vibration in the air, captured by our ear drums. From your perspective as a creator and listener, do you have an explanation how it able to transmit such diverse and potentially deep messages?

I have.

I think that beyond the scientific, measurable components, there are things that are meant to touch the soul. It’s a complete package of vibrations, tuning frequencies and food for the soul.