With which kind of music did you grow up? What did inspire you to make music on your own? Did you have classical training on the piano?
Although it is often assumed that I am classically trained, I resisted any formal instruction as a child and really just allowed a naturalness to my journey so that I could feel unconstrained and impulsive. I allowed my intuitions to breathe.
I grew up in a very theatrical atmosphere. My mother had been a ballet dancer as a child. She is also an amazing painter. When I was very little, she had begun to immerse herself in the Theatre. I was fascinated by the ambience of the stage. My mother always encouraged my imagination to flourish and so it did run rampant throughout those early years.
I was allowed to stay up late and devour the wonderfully eerie horror flicks of my childhood, which instilled my awe and wonder of the mysterious and the unknown. And the smell of Turpentine often permeated the air in the house when my mom would decide to paint late at night. Usually, I felt really isolated by the outside world growing up, but the environment in my house was ripe for developing an artistic sensibility. And so I started playing the piano. It was like a revelation and a rescue from anything ordinary that threatened to get in. Continue reading
Jo Gabriel 