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The Style Council was one of my favorite groups back on my teen years. Some of its songs still fit me really well on my mid years. I wold even dare to say only now I really get the point.

There were some verses I particularly liked to repeat (eyes shut to enjoy the moment):

I am only sad in a natural way

and I enjoy, sometimes, feeling this way…

Sad in a natural way in a great pitch, but what does it mean? It is funny, but so many years after listening it, I finally felt them. The melancholic joy of a natural sadness is something hard to explain, but I knew I was experiencing it when I finally hit the “send” button.

I was a hard to finish task, suggested by a mentorship on business management for musicians I am taking, and it consisted of making a playlist of my unpublished songs, the ones which are on phase 0, roughly more than a draft, just my voice and nothing else.

What a difficult thing it was to open dusty archives and come across old recordings! It was like leafing through a photo album of older versions of myself, and I had no idea how outdated I was about myself. So many surprises! And I mean surprise on every level of the word.

Some songs were far more developed than I remembered. Others were mere fragments that worked better once connected. I had much better finished material than I remembered, and truly enjoyed what I found out when I looked closely at it. But if I was so pleased, why did I feel “sad in a natural way”?

Because in those songs of my past self were also my past stories, pains and joys. The odes to the objects of my passions, the memories of the moments lived.

If I could, how much advice would I not have given to my past self! Would I have lost the idea of many songs? Sure, but it would also have saved me many nights of sleep and many tears, as well.Would it have been worth it?

How many of those experiences could I have done without and still be the person I am today?But would it really have been better? Would I be a better me, so to speak? In other words, would I have been able to create what I create today if I hadn’t had these experiences?

I highly doubt it. Not that my current persona is the pinnacle of human development, far from it, but it is indisputably the result of the experiences I have had so far. For better or for worse.

If being stuck in the past sounds like being a prisoner of a specific period of your life, pretending the past never existed sounds like a detachment from reality. Of course, looking back on the past is never the same. As we move forward in our lives, the conflicts we have overcome tend to seem silly and we ask ourselves: “How could I have suffered so much over something so unimportant?”

But instead of invalidating my past selves, I think it is much more productive to keep the precious lessons they have to teach me, and use them whenever a new challenge presents itself: After all, yesterday’s difficulty also seemed insurmountable at some point, and yet here we are.

Have I overcome all the difficulties I encountered along the way? Of course not! Some I have overcome, others I have simply bypassed, and there is always the risk that I will still have to overcome them at the next turn. It is all part of the game.

It might sound sad, but only in a natural way.

Be seeing you!

G.F.

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It has been a slow first half of the year for me in music business. I do try to keep myself busy, but it has been hard to avoid having some serious conversations with myself about failure, aka “the forbidden word of contemporary times”.

Failure has become a sin, a bad word that we shy away from in conversation. It carries a heavy weight in our craving-for-quick-results society, where success is relentlessly celebrated and expected at every turn. But the obsession with immediate gratification leaves little room for the valuable lessons that come from stumbling and falling short.

Although the idea of what does it mean to be a hit or a failure is hard to describe, we all know how does failure feels. Even the mere possibility of it lurks in the corners of our ambitions, feeding on our fears and insecurities, often making us hesitant to dream big or pursue our passions wholeheartedly.

Yet, in those open-hearted talks with myself, I have come to realize that failure is not an end but rather a crucial part of the journey toward success.

The first positive side of failure is that it only comes to those who have tried. and trying is always better than having the question “what would have happened if I had…” constantly haunting you. It also teaches you resilience, reveals character, and provides invaluable lessons that may foster growth and personal development, if you let it happen.

But, maybe the most important thing about failure is that it provides a very good scale for your passion. How so? Well, I believe we all agree that failure is not something pleasant. It hurts the ego, it brings you confusion and disappointment, but that said, how hard you want to give your passion a second try?

If despite the bad experience and even without any security that things will work out the next time, even though you want to try it again, then there is no doubt you are dealing with something very important to you, something that you simply cannot do without, your true vocation if you will. In short: you are a person with a quest, and the way I see it, people with quests are the best.

The world is a mess and if your are willing to go through all the trouble (possible failure included) it is because of a calling, and that is huge! So huge that the ups and downs will be part of your way, but they will not affect the core of what you do.

When you manage to see obstacles as essential experiences, fluctuations will not affect the essence of what you do. Your commitment remains unwavering, like a compass, steady and free from the shackles of societal expectations.

Sure we all think about quitting here and then. Sure we all need a little help here and there. And sure, we might come to the conclusion that maybe it is time to finish a chapter when the weight of our struggles feels unbearable. However, it is crucial to remember that under no circumstances should one take a drastic decision based on a singular failure, as mistakes are often stepping stones to growth and success.

Instead of letting temporary setbacks define our path, embrace then (as graceful as you can) and let them lead you to a more profound understanding of what it means to persevere and truly strive for a goal.

Be seeing you,

G.F.

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You may cry for no reason at all. Or for all sorts of reasons.

Searching through your memories, you may remember a song you haven’t heard in years and feel a warm feeling in your heart when you hear it again.

You mayl remember what was happening in your life back then come to the conclusion that you are much better now, but that something was definitely lost along the way.

What is it?

You may then finally understand that you will have to go on without that answer.

You may feel as though the day is passing smoothly as the diffuse afternoon light enters the room. Perhaps the silence sounds, at first, like a buzzing in your suddenly peaceful mind, but you will get used to it, even when the dog next door starts barking again.

Maybe you will find te time to make a list of the things you have accomplished this year and are surprised at how long it is.

Maybe you will feel a sudden urge to cook something exotic and very spicy while listening to Ella and Louis and then you feel like dancing around the house and even get scared when you remember that just a few hours ago you were crying for no reason at all.

Or for all the good reasons.

Be seeing you!

G.F.

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A few weeks ago I saw a call for applications for the use of a recording studio. The application form was not very complicated, but I had to write a description of the project. Since I had not come up with a name yet, I started thinking about a good one that would convey what I wanted to express.

When I finally managed to think of a title that I liked, something that truly resonated with the theme I was aiming for, I opened the application page with a sense of anticipation, only to discover that all the positions had already been filled.

A wave of disappointment washed over me and left me with a harsh (and not exactly new), but valuable lesson that I should never forget (again): if you wait too long to seize an opportunity, you may miss it. And how much time I wasted looking for the perfect title, which will now be shelved until a new opportunity arises! It wold for sure have been better to send a less perfect title that could had been modified later, but now it was just too late.

Time, relentless, marches on, urging us to act decisively. We know what happens when we refuse this call: the more we hesitate, the more we allow our ambitions and passions to fade into the background, leaving us with a sense of regret and what could have been. Every moment we hesitate not only allows our ambitions to fade but also creates a chasm between us and our goals, ultimately limiting our control over life.

The fear of making the wrong choice can paralyze you and it is not hard to find why. After all, making decisions, either big or small, can be very hard for numerous reasons, such as the potential for failure, the expectation of others, or the innate desire for perfection.

However, it is important to recognize that each choice we make, regardless of its outcome, contributes to our personal growth. Our control over our lives is subject to the control of time over all things, including ourselves. Every moment wasted in indecision can lead to lost opportunities, and many lost opportunities are the stuff of which lost dreams are made.

The ability to weigh options and consider consequences is a crucial skill that builds confidence over time, ultimately making the next decision a bit lighter than the previous one, since we begin to understand ourselves, our choices and their potential impacts better.

In the situations that life presents, it is not always up to us to make the decision, but when there is this gap, we must use our capacity for agency to the maximum. As hard as decisions may be, they are our opportunity to assert ourselves; otherwise, it is life that will invariably decide for us, and we may find ourselves being swept along by circumstances rather than steering our own course.

Each choice has the potential to guide us toward opportunities we never imagined possible or to steer us away from our goals. Embracing the potential of our agency allows us to shape our destinies, ensuring that we do not merely react to the tides of life but actively sail towards our desired shores.

Be seeing you!

G.F.

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Last October, while getting ready eparing for a performance in a park, I surprised the makeup lady who had asked me if I was nervous. I replied that I was not nervous, because I got used to accepting unexpected events. She kindly said: “Oh, but I am sure there will be no unexpected events.” “Of course there will”, I thought, but since I had to be quiet so she could apply the lipstick, I kept my mouth wide shut.

I did not want to sound pessimistic, blasé or anything like that. I just knew that something would go wrong, simply because it was a live performance, in a public place. For starters, you cannot control the weather (although humanity has systematically proven that it is possible to make it considerably worse).

What experience has taught me is that live performances are subject to unforeseen events (of course, studio recordings are too, but in these cases, repetitions and corrections are made until the desired state is reached, and if you are interested in recordings, you will probably like to read about my most recent recording experience, reported here), they are is a kind of playground for the unexpected. The stage is a place where every corner invites spontaneity and surprise. Good and bad ones, of course.

In my first live performances I was nervous precisely because I wanted to control everything that happened, from the technical part, through the musicians, to the interaction with the audience; I wanted everything to be rehearsed to the millimeter. This desire for meticulous control stemmed from my deep passion for music and an unwavering commitment to providing an unforgettable experience, but despite its noble origins, this type of behavior can be quite harmful in the end.

The very thought of an unforeseen was responsible for a good amount of totally unnecessary anxiety, until I understood that live performances are unpredictable, it does not matter who is on stage. It is not a question of being a professional or not. Even the performer with the largest team and infinite financial resources will still be acting under the influence of several factors that he simply cannot control. And if we are talking about a festival, with several acts, the unpredictability factor increases exponentially.

I realized that this exaggerated fear of the unexpected was limiting and, above all, very frustrating. It held me back from experiencing the richness of the stage experience. Worst of all, it kept me from having fun while performing, and darling, if you are not having fun on stage, neither is the audience.

Learning to appreciate the beauty of uncertainty can be a difficult exercise, but the more you practice, the easier it becomes, and once you learned the ropes, nothing can make you nervous anymore. In fact, I believe it is a dynamic process that extends not only throughout a career, but also into our daily lives. By accepting and embracing the unexpected, I have become not only a more confident performer, but also a less fearful human being.

Let us not forget that the great Nina Simone once stated that freedom is to live without fear. And this is the kind of lesson that you take from the stage to life.

Be seeing you!

G.F.