After "Keys for Peace" and more than 1200$ collected for a humanitarian association (SOS Enfants), 16 international composers have composed tracks in collaboration.
At the beginning
At the initiative of Stephen Weber, a group was born on Facebook, bringing together artists from all over the world, to discuss all subjects around the composition and promotion of our music, to share our latest releases.
Then the idea came to think bigger, and to make this group of composers a collective that records and produces its own records.
Thus was born the first project: Keys for Peace, which was released on the date of the International Day of Peace.
It is a French association that was chosen by the composers who gave their royalties on this album.
A year later, more than $1200 was donated to the association that works for the protection of children and the reintegration of young people who were forcibly enlisted in armed militias.
The new project : Keys for Calm
A great artwork by Catty Luo
This time, the artists chose the theme of mental health.
And NAMI was chosen, thanks to the work of Shere Fraser, to be the beneficiary of the album's royalties.
The latter is released on October 10, International Mental Health Day.
And this time, all the artists worked as a duo (as a trio for one track !)
16 artists for 8 tracks, expressing the collective and collaborative meaning of the project.
The artists each wrote a short text to talk about their collaboration. We share their notes here.
Enjoy reading!
1. Coping with Change (Dave Lewis, Roger Evernden)
One of my favorites from this album.
A beautiful melody all in softness, played with a lot of musicality.
Roger and David composed a piece perfectly in the theme.
The change of key at 1'21 brings a new dimension, melancholic this time, to the softness evoked throughout the piece.
Perfect to start the album and introduce the following compositions.
2. Summer Rain (Shere Fraser, Amaury Laurent Bernier)
With the second track, we have the richness of an instrumentation, composed by Amaury, at the service of the sonic purity of Shere's flute.
The harmonic structure and the melodic discoveries keep the listener in suspense from beginning to end.
These two artists had already worked together on the first album, we have here the confirmation that they know each other perfectly and that it works wonderfully: it's a real gem!
3. Sonrisa Triste (Ara_Piano, John Hamilton)
“Sonrisa Triste”—“Sad Smile”—is a collaboration between ara_piano and John Hamilton.
The opening melody attempts to capture that moment when both love and heartache are present simultaneously.
This could be at the ending of a relationship when affection is still present but an inevitable ending occurs. Or it could be simply saying good-bye to a good friend whom you know you will not see again.
There is a hint, in the opening melody, of Ennio Morricone’s work in Cinema Paradiso.
The bridge section creates a feeling of hope amidst sadness, and even an allusion to a happy memories before returning to the main theme.
The piece is (this is John speaking) beautifully and tenderly played by ara_piano with subtlety and gentleness throughout. We hope you like it!
4. Shine a Light (Julia Thomsen, Lise Jonsson, Catty.L
"Shine a Light" is a heartfelt piano and instrumental composition by Julia Thomsen, Catty.L and Lise Jonsson, designed to inspire peace and hope in those facing challenges.
The piece begins with Thomsen's improvisational piano theme, skillfully complemented by Jonsson's melodic countermelody, creating a rich dialogue between the two.
Catty's wrapping of the arrangement with cello and other instrumentation adds depth and cohesion, culminating in a return to the original theme, making it a truly uplifting auditory experience.
Back to Mind (Luca Mazzillo, Lisa Cullum)
"Back to Mind" is a gentle and peaceful piano solo that tells the story of a forgotten memory suddenly returning”
New Future (Angelo Nicola Guiliano, Vicenzo Piano)
I love this one too, the melodic progression plays a balancing act throughout the song, between several feelings.
Joy, sorrow, hope, fatality... Everything intertwines beautifully, as in life.
Calm, however, predominates throughout the song, which encourages us to follow this path of tranquility to face the hazards of our existence.
Anime in Contrasto (Davide Fasiello, Roberto Ventimiglia)
"Anime in contrasto" (Contrasting Souls) is Davide Fasiello and Roberto Ventimiglia's first collaboration (and Rob's very first attempt at composing in pairs!).
The aim of the project was to make the piece sound like a solidly coherent whole, whilst maintaining the traits of two distinct personalities unaltered: in fact, Davide wrote the core of the piece and set both the key and overall mood, around which Roberto created the intro, middle and outro sections, also taking care of building a well-balanced musical form.
Performed by Davide, the piece is part of the soon to come charity compilation "Keys for Calm" by some of the Contemporary Classical Collective members.
Just a Minute (Antonio Romo, Raphael Beaudon)
When we decided to work as a duo, I immediately thought of Antonio, because I love his sense of melody in his piano pieces, especially the one he composed for the first album: "Blessed Are The Peacemakers".
In addition, he is a fundamentally kind person, so I was sure to work calmly and easily.
He composed the entire piano part. It was up to me to dress it up with instrumentation.
When I heard the melody for the first time, I really loved it.
So I was almost immediately afraid of doing it wrong, of ruining this beautiful piece.
So I decided to leave the exposition of the theme to the solo piano at the beginning of the piece. Then I told myself that I was really going to let the piano play the leading role, adding a few notes supported by fairly discreet strings.
For variety, I also chose to use some pizzicato, always in the spirit of highlighting the theme invented by Antonio.
I sent it to him and we quickly validated it. As expected, it was easy between us!
I am very proud of this piece, and I hope many will like it too.
Conclusion
We are very proud of this project. And we hope it will bring a lot of money to the association.
You can help by listening, adding to your playlist, and sharing the album on your social medias.
I love this album.
Working in association with another artist was the best idea in this collaborative project.
It made us all better, and so did the songs.
It was very easy to work, because we already did it last year.
Some artists take care of the covers, others of the mastering, and everyone participated in the ideas, in the promotion of the album.
A big thank you to Shere who found the association and who took care of this file from beginning to end.
See you next year for the third album ! ^^
Thank you !
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