Información Muy Importante / Very Important Information:
Esta entrevista ha sido escrita por un ser humano, no por una Inteligencia Artificial / This interview is a human writing, not an Artificial Intelligence writing

En la primera etapa de Lux Atenea en Blogger publiqué una serie de entrevistas cuyas preguntas marcaron un estilo a la hora de dar forma y sentido a una entrevista cultural, a su enfoque, y al trato ofrecido a una banda musical o a un artista. A posteriori, muchas de las preguntas que vertebraban estas entrevistas se convirtieron en la piedra angular de más de un entrevistador en otros medios, cambiando la escena existente en aquel momento a un poco más de calidad informativa y a un aumento en el nivel de interés que se ha hecho notar hasta nuestros días. Fue un antes y un después con preguntas que nunca se habían visto anteriormente en una entrevista musical.

A lo largo de décadas, mis relaciones con las bandas musicales y con los artistas, y las posteriores entrevistas ocasionales si así se dio el caso, son casi más un tema personal que un acto orientado a la información pública. Muchas palabras, muchos sentimientos, muchos momentos únicos e inolvidables se han quedado en el tintero porque son privados, pero esa atmósfera de conexión cultural, de identificación con la obra, de visión de la vida y de las experiencias, creo que se puede sentir en estas conversaciones. Tal vez fue sea esa la luz cultural que atrajo a muchos lectores de Lux Atenea a interesarse por las opiniones mostradas por estos grandes artistas, llevando incluso a algunos de estos magos del arte a compartir conmigo alguna de sus perspectivas y experiencias personales para que también las publicara.

En los meses de enero-febrero del año 2005, tras publicar el especial de la banda musical de culto sToa en la 16ª edición de Shadow´s Garden webzine, tuve el placer de entrevistar a Olaf Parusel, compositor y líder de esta mítica banda musical. Este es un extracto de la entrevista concedida en exclusiva por el fundador de esta legendaria banda musical neoclásica llamada sToa, cuyos álbumes continúo disfrutando año tras año con absoluta pasión en cada nueva audición.

Lux_Atman : I like so much your new release “Zal”, are you in love with the music now as you were 14 years ago?

Olaf Parusel : Of course, I am still in love with music. There are always new and overwhelming pieces of music to find. Ok, my view on the music business is not as idealistic as it was 14 years before, but that´s a different playground.

Lux_Atman : What´s the music bands with more influence in you? what´s the new artist or music band that you enjoyed listening their CD or vinyl, recently? And, what is the older music band or artists that always you will listen?

Olaf Parusel : Hhmmmm, whom should i choose? I was influenced by many things and not only by music. For example, we had a warmup exercise in the chorus i was as a child. We formed harmonies on vocals and changed from one harmony and impression to the next just moving one note. That showed me that you can do big things with small steps. Actually I am listenening to David Darling, low, many soundtracks like the village score. Always, I will love is the music of Frederic Chopin, it touches me deep in my soul.

Lux_Atman : Why did you select the word sToa to your neoclassical music band?

Olaf Parusel : It comes from the stoic philosophy. I was at a point on my life to choose how I want to live. The philosophy of the sToa gave me a way to survive. And therefor I took the name for the project that is so important for me.

Lux_Atman : And, what´s meaning of this «T»?

Olaf Parusel : Oh, that was just the idea of the designer on our 1st and 2nd CD, and after a while more and more people wrote sToa in that way.

Lux_Atman : From your beginning, basicly you are working with women to sToa. What´s the reason, or it´s a casualty?

Olaf Parusel : Oh, I worked not only with women. At the first CD I sang myself, and I composed some pieces for a chorus which have been performed several times. Perhaps, I have other ideas in my mind to you can listen to on the next CD.

Lux_Atman : Songs like “[N]ever”, “Luvah” or “Chanson d´automn” like me so much. I´m never tired to listen them but, what´s the most difficult song that you have created? What’s your personal favourite track and why?

Olaf Parusel : The most difficult song is not released and I was working on it before sToa. I wanted to compose a song from the view of a murderer. That was hard for my ethical opinions but I wanted to scratch this border in my art. Always, I felt very bad writing music and lyrics for that, but it was an interesting experience to go to these dark places. I think everyone has this darkness inside. As an artist you can touch this without harm. My favourite track is “sTOa” from our first album urthona. That´s where everything begun.

Lux_Atman : When I bought your first CD published, “Urthona”, I listened a new looking for the neoclassical music. “Urthona” was a music revolution. What´s the philosophy included in “Urthona”?

Olaf Parusel : Oh, thank you. To be honest, I don´t feel it was something like a revolution. So many composers created so overwhelming music before, and compared to, I feel like nothing.

Lux_Atman : One year after, “Porta VIII” has light but this record is not a melancholic music work. It´s more spiritual and the inspiration was the fairy tale “Ariadne et Barbe Bleue”. Is “Porta VIII” a gnostic looking to the meaning of the life? When you discovered this fairy tale?

Olaf Parusel : Yes, this CD represents a part of my thoughts about live. You can not have all of everything, you have to decide and to follow some ways. And you should not wait to long otherways your life can end before you had the ability to live your real life.

Lux_Atman : Do you believe in God?

Olaf Parusel : I have a pantheistic view. There is no God looking on us. For me, everything is god. You can call it also nature, Allah, micro and macrokosmos.

Lux_Atman : Connie Levrow left sToa in 1997. From then, do you continue in contact?

Olaf Parusel : Yes, we are in contact. She is singing still but in a different style of music.

Lux_Atman : “Urthona” (1993), “Porta VIII” (1994), “Zal” (2002). Why this long time to publish your next music work?

Olaf Parusel : It was not on the time to release it earlier. In the meantime I studied musicology and philosophy. Then was the time for “Zal”.

Lux_Atman : Your songs is based in an elegant voice singing to oneself, moving on with an orchestral music. How do you do to create this songs, your fingers talk quickly or were created mixing musical ideas for a long time?

Olaf Parusel : I need a very long time. It is not really the composing that needs the time. It is more the choosing. I want to have some distance to the songs and, then, I decide if I will work on them longer or not. The effect is that only the essence will left for a release. Perhaps, 90-95 percent of the songs I am composing will get lost on the way.

Lux_Atman : The shadow of William Blake is present in all your work with sToa. Who is William Blake for you? What´s meaning to you all spiritual books wrote by Blake?

Olaf Parusel : I have a deep relation to his paintings. If I see them, feel that there is something in these pictures I feel too. The same effect is when I am listening to our music while looking on blake’s paintings. I can not describe in words what it is.

Lux_Atman : You have played in concerts and, what´s your unforgettable music experience lived? Do you prefer working in the studio, or playing live?

Olaf Parusel : I don´t like performing live. It is too stressful for my. After the show, I feel good but before it is terrible.

Lux_Atman : Have you visited Spain?

Olaf Parusel : I was two nights in Madrid on the flight to our mexican tour, and like many germans, I was in Mallorca to visit the cloister of Chopin, in Valdemossa.

Lux_Atman : Now, are you working in your next album? Is there anyone you would like to collaborate with musically?

Olaf Parusel : I work on a new album and I had some collaborations in the meantime too. There is one project together with Tim (Erblast) where we known and unknown songs. The concept there is to take all the tempo out of them, and make them slowly flowing and dark. I composed some music for a tv-documentation on the crusaders too.

Lux_Atman : Thank you very much! This interview it´s a dream made real to me. All the best wishes to you and sToa. In Spain, I hope to see you soon.

Olaf Parusel : Thanks again !

Reseñas publicadas en el especial dedicado a sToa, el Neoclasicismo de Culto:

– “Urthona” (1993) (leer reseña)
– “Porta VIII” (1994) (leer reseña)
– “Zal” (2002) (leer reseña)

Félix V. Díaz (Lux_Atman)
Lux Atenea
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