Part 2
Take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work, please. Do you have a fixed schedule? How do music and other aspects of your life feed back into each other - do you separate them or instead try to make them blend seamlessly?
Dobrawa Czocher: My life splits up in two modes: either I am traveling because of work or I am home trying to hide a bit and find some balance.
If I am traveling, any sort of routine is simply impossible. I am focused on tasks then, but I also try to always be open, observing and learning from factors, meetings and situations that appear around me. But I couldn’t be fulfilled having no time hidden in a safe place. Then I care about routine very much. I noticed that these moments are usually also the most productive musically, because I have time for discoveries. I let my body rest, I let myself read, watch and walk and this always brings creativity.
These two approaches blend into me and I couldn’t be myself not having them, but usually these calm times with cello in my hands, walking in nature and sleeping without guilt are most missed.
Can you talk about a breakthrough work, event or performance in your career? Why does it feel special to you? When, why and how did you start working on it, what were some of the motivations and ideas behind it?
Hania Rani: Well, I think for both of us it was our debut album, which from today's perspective seems to have happened a very long time ago. And although it is so different from what we would compose now, it was an extremely important step, breakthrough - I would think for us as individuals.
It was a first step toward something new, innovative and personal. An act of courage. The scale is of course micro, and compared to the first step on the moon it means nothing. But I think for us, this first album opens a lot of new spaces in our own mind.
There are many descriptions of the ideal state of mind for being creative. What is it like for you? What supports this ideal state of mind and what are distractions? Are there strategies to enter into this state more easily?
Hania Rani: I strongly believe in laziness and free time. Time for our thoughts to wander freely, not pushed with deadlines or further plans. A very rare and precious time when you are not working on anything particular, even not on your own self. You don’t want to develop anything, to reach a certain level. I feel these moments are examples of extreme unconscious mindfulness. I also think good art hates ego, so doing it without a purpose is a good way to avoid it.
Being creative is not a full time job, it is a way of perceiving life and everything that surrounds you. It needs time, rest, being stupid, naive, unlearning what you know and believe in.
Music and sounds can heal, but they can also hurt. Do you personally have experiences with either or both of these? Where do you personally see the biggest need and potential for music as a tool for healing?
Hania Rani: I do really believe music can heal, very recently I also learnt a tiny bit more why it happens which is not so romantic as we probably would love to. It’s simply because music can easily catch our perception, so we forget about other stimuli and can focus on a moment, which makes us feel relaxed, happy, joyful.
Music is also a language that still is based on a pretty natural and positive frequency range for our ears and nervous system. Especially this that is performed by acoustic instruments, human voice or comes from the sounds of nature. It immediately makes us feel better, calmer, safer.
With Dobrawa we compose music that definitely is calming down the listener, also because it is based on instruments that are using the very natural range of tones - not too high and not too low. I also think our compositions are based on a huge need for peacefulness, silence, simplicity and getting back to ourselves, to our roots.
There is a fine line between cultural exchange and appropriation. What are your thoughts on the limits of copying, using cultural signs and symbols and the cultural/social/gender specificity of art?
Dobrawa Czocher: I believe that art is the perfect tool to awaken people as well as to point out problems that we as humanity face nowadays. Of course I would need an example of usage for mentioned matters but I would rather say that art should be a language above fear and appropriation. Unless it’s really offensive and could cause deep harm to anybody. This is a very subtle topic and in order to answer that I would need, as said before – examples.
Anyway I believe that even if the topic is not easy, art has this amazing power to change the world for the better, to make people aware and in consequence enable them.
Our sense of hearing shares intriguing connections to other senses. From your experience, what are some of the most inspiring overlaps between different senses - and what do they tell us about the way our senses work?
Hania Rani: Very compelling for me is the connection between listening to music and having exact reactions in and on the body.
Shivers for example are always the most genuine indicator that music is authentic, that I believe it, I go with it and love it. It never lies. Sometimes even I may not yet understand what exactly strikes me about this music, I may not understand it’s greatness but my body knows before my logical thinking that I am into it.
Another example: if music is poignant, I just can’t breathe, I also often cry. But it could also be calm and easy and tears would appear. There is also music that reminds me of places, situations, people. I could even remember the smell of the places I used to listen to some music.
I think the reason for that is because everything in humans is connected: mind, body, spirit - so when we listen to music we experience it wholly.
Art can be a purpose in its own right, but it can also directly feed back into everyday life, take on a social and political role and lead to more engagement. Can you describe your approach to art and being an artist?
Hania Rani: For me personally art is a gate to more spiritual life. It is a language which is sensitive to nuances, ambiguity, and things placed somewhere in between. I think life is full of these subtleties and usually in our busy life in the XXI century we just can’t notice them because of lack of focus and omnipresent stress. Therefore, in my opinion, an artist’s task is to stay focused and open to life and living.
I also believe that a more spiritual life means more connection and compassion that we need in order to be fulfilled and art is a teacher on how to find that. Art is truth as well, it should show what is heroic but also what is ugly, so going further - an artist should be a truth seeker.
But these are my personal points of view, art for another person could be something absolutely different and that’s wonderful. For me however art is very close to life itself, it's all aspects. I admire artists who can in their own way present the complexity of human nature, the wonder of living and ask a series of questions which we probably will never find an answer to.
What can music express about life and death which words alone may not?
Dobrawa Czocher: Music, like all forms of art, is a language but with the difference that this one is the most abstract. Therefore, in my opinion, music has a special capability to express emotions that words can’t describe or would somehow pair them to one meaning.
Life and death are mysteries that we try to understand since ages and quite frankly - to no success. Although we can have our own understanding, we can’t be sure. Music is multidimensional for me and can picture our most intimate and incomprehensible feelings, especially those connected to aliveness, loss or death.
