Sadness in beauty
Fiona Joy Hawkins,
artist, pianist, composer and singer from Australia who tries to translate her
personal visions through colours and sounds. Born in Tamworth, New South Wales,
she was classically trained as a pianist being deeply influenced by the Ravel’s
Bolero and the music of George
Winston, Prokofiev and Mendelssohn. With the years, she has developed her music
with an own print in the Celtic and New Age music with jazz influences. Her
latest album is Sensual journeys including
wonderful piano trips like Contemplation and
Flight of the Snowbird, always along with
her sensual voice. Her music is a landscape of sounds that gives us back to the
female essence of existence, our true link with nature.
Your latest
album is called Sensual Journeys. How
would you describe the creative process of these Sensual Journeys?
I like to think of myself as a story –teller so I
write conceptually derived music using a variety of subjects. Thoughts, images, emotions, landscapes and
sometimes even politically inspired messages…
In this case, it’s very much a mixture, but all aimed at celebrating the
female essence of New Age music.
How important is
sensuality in your personal journey?
Sensuality is not something I specifically aim for, in
fact I don’t have any commercial or directional imperative in mind other that
subject matter. Sometimes a subject
dictates sensuality, for example Tango on Wednesday (the Tango is a very sensual
dance) and is described as a vertical expression of a horizontal intention. I’m wondering if sensuality can be described
as a rhythmic thing, embodied in movement rather than key structure? The more I think on this the more uncertain I
am. Perhaps an even better reason to
adhere to the synchronicity of seeing something one way and translating it into
a piece of music based on the story. Too
many variables in my head will only confuse those translations. So back to
‘sensuality’ – it’s possibly an accidental thing, a natural party of beauty and
sadness……… and therefore a natural part of my music?
Your Flight of the snowbird reminds me all
the ephemeral things in life. To where does it take you?
I was sitting on a boat inside the Antarctic Circle,
about as close to the South Pole as you can get. As I looked out the window I saw an Albatross
gliding next to the boat, he was just inches off the water. He stayed alongside me for about 30 minutes
effortlessly. I just happened to be at
the piano looking out the window. Writing that piece was easy, it just came to
me as I watched the bird. Every time I hear it I can feel the ebb and flow of
the ocean and slow and gentle roll of the boat.
The album opens
with Contemplating. The piece starts
with melancholic notes and goes on in crescendo including some vocals and
percussion. What were you contemplating?
If I were to write my whole life as a single piece of
music, this would be it. That was my thinking
as I wrote this track and that is the reason behind the dramatic rises and
falls within the piece. It is female and
yet it is male. It is has softness and
yet drama, it questions and it answers.
It’s my all-time favourite piece to perform live and the one I am most
likely to listen to on my home stereo. I thought it fitting to start the album,
given my personal attachment to the track.
Then you give us
your Joy through your piano and it
seems your real joy is always the present, being there expressing yourself
through your music. What does the artistic creation mean to you?
The creation of music is essential to me, I can’t not write
music. When it comes, it pours through
me and I am a servant to it. I love this
entrapment. The artistic nature is both
my strength and my weakness. The biggest change with Joy, was the transition
from writing sad to happy music. I remember asking my Producer Will Ackerman
what would happen to me if ever I became happy.
Most of work has always been sad and in a minor key and I was concerned
that the well of creativity may dry up.
So when I asked him if I would still be able to write music, his answer
was “Yes, you will start to write Happy music’.
And I did.
Frozen Rose, is it a chant of hope or loneliness?
It’s based on a piece I wrote when I was 12 years old
and it was played at my Grandma’s funeral (she raised me), I guess it has a lot
of sadness in it, yet the rhythm is also uplifting. Once again it goes back to finding beauty in
sadness and sadness in beauty.
The minimalism of your compositions makes me think in
delicacy. Is it a reflection of your personality?
Wow, never thought about
that before…mmm? I would definitely use the word fragility, but not sure of
delicacy – that implies a certain lady-likeness or sweet gentleness and
sometimes I can be loud and laugh a lot.
I think the message I’m
aiming at with this album is delicate. Sensual Journeys is dedicated to all
Mothers and to my sister Felicity and her late Son Alex. My son found her son drowned in the backyard
pool. It was the worst moment of all our
lives. I can only speak of my sister’s loss with
music – this to me is a true expression of ‘delicate’.
Your paintings
are more vigorous than your music, with vivid colours and vibrant brushstrokes.
What do you get from painting?
I have often pondered the difference of my sad and
contemplative music and bold colourful art and wondered if anyone would ever
understand the connection. To me it’s
two different sides and yet connected, but others must certainly wonder. I would say my music has typically been a
more serious and deeper pursuit and my art has bought me light and humour and
happiness. Even saying this, I find
music a meditation, but a far more sombre and serious one. Painting bright colours is like a breath of
fresh air. I hope there are not
psychologists reading this!
How would you
paint a White view?
This piece has a distinctly oriental flavour and I
tried to capture the feeling of a back lane in China-town. I had just read Memoirs of a Geisha and for
some reason it left a lasting impression on me that I wanted to express in my
music.
If I talk you
about a naked ship, what does it suggest you?
I think of two ships passing in the night and then I
think of two naked people. Now I’m
really in trouble if a psychologist is reading this right?
An interview by Juan Carlos Romero
Fiona Joy Hawkins website www.fionajoyhawkins.com.au
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