Name: Dalila Kayros
Occupation: Singer, composer, vocal researcher, sound artist
Nationality: Italian
Recent release: Dalila Kayros's Animami is out via Subsound.
Recommendations: 1. Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu – Book). 2. Book of Days (a movie by Meredith Monk)

If you enjoyed this interview with Dalila Kayros and would like to find out more about her music, visit her official website. She is also on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud.



When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What about music and/or sound drew you to it?

In my childhood, I used to sing Italian pop songs mixed with nonsense freestyle lyrics. My passions were music and video games.

Lots of songs and sounds drew me into this life. I love many different music genres, and every one of those has something special that motivates my desire.

When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening and how does it influence your approach to creativity?

I usually dream with sound, even songs! Most of them are on my albums.

When I listen to music, new dimensions appear in my mind, and my imagination vibrates. Sound shapes the world around us.

How would you describe your development as an artist in terms of interests and challenges, searching for a personal voice, as well as breakthroughs?

I work on my inner self-growth, training my awareness. This kind of approach in life reflects the evolution of my artistry.

Please tell me a bit about your sense of identity and how it influences your preferences as a listener and your creativity as an artist.

Personality is a never-ending development process. From that perspective, identity must be considered fluid. It’s too important to be in constant evolution.

My identity is not perfectly defined, so I consider myself a being in progress. That’s why my music has so many influences. Variety is the spice of life!

What, would you say, are the key ideas behind your approach to music and art?

The key ideas behind my approach to music and art are:

Letting my mind be able to express my deepest feelings and putting everything under the guidance of my intuition.

Most important are listening to music, reading about different subjects, and paying attention to the soundscape I am involved.

How would you describe your views on topics like originality and innovation versus perfection and timelessness in music? Are you interested in a “music of the future” or “continuing a tradition”?

From my perspective, music has to be a timeless portal to an imaginary future. When that future turns present, then past, it becomes a tradition.

There's no contrast between originality, innovation and timelessness and perfection, but I think they are great companions regarding a piece of art.

I'd like to add one more ingredient to the "magic formula", which is the artist's deep soul.

Over the course of your development, what have been your most important instruments and tools? and what are the most promising strategies for working with them?

The main instrument throughout my development has been fostering my culture and living the life I want to live at all costs.

Will and constancy are the essentials. The most promising strategy for working with such instruments is finding a way to be happy with yourself, despite all difficulties.

Please take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine to your work.

Waking up

- Music
- Reading
- Studying
- Music
- Free time
- Walk

- Sleep

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

I love composing concept albums. After choosing the topic of interest, I start my research. Later I let my mind work intuitively by speaking the language of creativity through the archetypes of the inner self.

In the case of my last release, Animami, I worked with the electronic musician Danilo Casti. We found the right sound to better express the concept. The music composition process was very collaborative in different ways.

Before recording and composing the whole album, we experimented a lot together by releasing a few live EPs of real-time compositions. That was very intense and useful to dig deeper into the research of our new sound.

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?

Creating music alone is a "mystic trip", and I love it. But every process needs to be powered and renewed through multiple sights.

Both solitary and communal activities have the same importance, so being aware of when is the right moment to go private or collaborative is the key.

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

My creative work is related to the human inner world.

As music is culture, it has the role of connecting people through the grammar of the soul and spirit.

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?

The process of composing music is a kind of "magical" activity. During the music composition process, a part of me related to the past dies. A new album means a new me. A new me means that an old me has to die. By experiencing that, I can say death and loss are doors to a new rebirth.

On the other hand, during a concert, I feel a great connection to other people and the world around me. In that case, I think I'm experiencing the core of life.

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

The connection between music and science is undeniable.

Science means research. Sound research expands the borders of musical genres, allowing the constant evolution of that art.

Science means innovation as well. In terms of new technologies regarding sound processing, producing and listening stuff, the music grows at the same level as science. As the medium influences the composition of a piece, we cannot think about music without thinking about the medium. So the medium is deeply influenced by science.

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?

There is not such as a big difference between making a great cup of tea and writing music if you love what you are doing. But you may prefer one particular thing more than everything because it makes you feel your soul connected with your body and your blood as red as never, ever after! That's the music to me.

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

"In the beginning, there was the Sound, and the Sound was with God, and the Sound was God. It was with God in the beginning. Through it all things were made; without it, nothing was made that has been made. In it was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”

God is the Sound!