21 September 2024

Upupayāma – A chat with Alessio Ferrari

Here’s a little chat with Alessio Ferrari – a ‘nature-boy’ living up in the mountains – and his one-man project Upupayāma. And we have to blame/thank the lockdowns during the Covid eerie days for something creative and imaginary that started in 2020 resulting after 4 years, three exceptional albums, the 3rd one released on 13 September 2024. For all those who are interested in what’s behind the music, what’s behind this wonderful and sometimes magical Psychedelic music of a strange-named band and an even more strange new-invented kind of language that dresses Alessio’s dreamy musical creations, here’s your chance to find out more, to understand, and of course to explore further Upupayāma’s music… Dive in or Fly away it’s up to you…

TimeLord Michalis: Where are you located and what are you doing now?

Alessio: Hi Michalis! First of all, thank you for this interview, it is a pleasure to talk to you again. At the moment I live where I have lived for almost five years now, that is, in this small village in the mountains near Parma, my hometown, and I must say that these days it is really nice, autumn is shyly approaching and colors of the sky and the trees and the earth are really wonderful. These days I am mainly busy with the promotion of “Mount Elephant”. I’m not playing much, just admiring the wonderful colors these days and little else. It sounds boring, but it really isn’t.

TLM: Please give us some information about what you were doing before you started the Upupayāma project. (I mean anything related to music, like any previous band experience)

Alessio: I started the Upupayāma project in 2020, and the first album came out in 2021. Before that, I must say that I had been playing unpretentiously on my own for years, but before that, I played in various bands of all genres, from more classic indie rock to punk to post-rock and even in a cacophonous noise band. Let’s say it’s a rather banal story. I’m a late bloomer, I like to do things if they’re done well, and by well I mean the way I like them, so I’ve always had more fun writing and composing on my own. I’m not sociopathic, far from it, I just have a hard time compromising.

TLM: What got you into music?

Alessio: It all started with a couple of cassette tapes from my older brother. They were cassettes of Oasis, The Clash, and other punk stuff. I was 12 years old, and that was the moment my life started giving my parents headaches hahaha. We had an old classical guitar in our house, one fine day I tried to play it and from there I realized that with music I could “live anywhere”.

TLM: What instruments do you play?

Alessio: I play various instruments badly: guitar, bass, sitar, transverse flute, keyboard, and various percussion instruments. I have never taken lessons for any of these instruments, but I don’t mind them at all. I don’t like academics, those ones who pop up with bollocks like “music is mathematics” and all these craps.

TLM: So, how and when does it all start with Upupayāma?

Alessio: Upupayāma was born in 2020. I had some riffs recorded in a haphazard way, and some vocal lines, but above all I had the sounds I had been looking for for a long time and I had so many ideas. Then it happened that they locked us in our houses so I started to develop the songs that then ended up in the first self-titled album, I recorded them and gave life to Upupayāma. It was special, I had already realized my dream by recording an album of my songs that I truly felt were mine. Everything was in there, as happened in the next two albums, “The Golden Pond” and “Mount Elephant”.

TLM: What the name means and in which language?

Alessio: The name Upupayāma is the union of the Italian word Upupa, which is a bird that notoriously does not live in high mountains, and the word Yāma, which is the Japanese term for the mountain. I liked the fact that in another world it is possible that there is a hoopoe, a really wonderful bird, that lives in some high mountain. This gives the possibility of infinite worlds in which we can live at least with our mind. I also really liked the name’s musicality.

I use the voice as if it were another instrument in addition to all the others. It’s an invented language, made of syllables that to my ear sound musically good

TLM: And since we speak about languages, you invented your own language, to my ears it sounds like Japanese, but tell us more about it. How come? You did do this prior to Upupayāma? Or do you need something “new” to dress your Upupayāma compositions?

Alessio: Basically, I use the voice as if it were another instrument in addition to all the others. It’s an invented language, made of syllables that to my ear sound musically good. Sometimes yes, I take inspiration from the musicality of Japanese, sometimes from Portuguese. Up to now, only one song is sung in English and it’s “White Oak”, which actually only has two lines, but only because when I was writing it that song made me clearly see that there was this Swamy made entirely of grass who was sitting under an old white oak tree. I had this clear image before my eyes and so I had to write that there was, for the rest of the songs I don’t want to convey any message, rather I like it when people who are at one of our live shows tell me that Upupayāma’s music made them explore new places, places where these people went thanks to one of our songs or people who tell us that they got pissed off listening to one of our songs or even people who gave them meaning to that invented language.

I like to think that it is music to talk to the Trees

TLM: What are your influences or inspirations? (musically, lyrically)

Alessio: Honestly? It always varies. Right now, for example, I’m listening to mostly Gal Costa, “Scientific Dub” by Scientist, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and I’m reading Stephen King. It might happen that in two weeks I’ll be listening to acid house and reading an essay on truffles. I’m omnivorous.

TLM: How can you describe the music of Upupayāma?

Alessio: I like to think that it is music to talk to the Trees.

The first album, as well as the second and third, are made with the stomach, not with the head. I couldn’t do otherwise

TLM: You self-released the first Upupayāma’s self-titled debut album, digitally through Bandcamp in late 2020, the ‘impact” was huge I’m guessing, that a few months later (July 2021) Centripetal Force and Cardinal Fuzz labels released it on physical vinyl format. Did you expect such recognition (a reissue came just after a few months) by the press, and people? Tell us more about your debut album…

Alessio: No, I didn’t expect it at all. As soon as I finished recording the first album I kept telling myself “If fifteen people listen to it and three of those fifteen tell me it’s beautiful music, I’ll have realized my dream”. Instead, it happens that many people like it and the word starts to spread on the web and people even buy it hahaha, it was wonderful! I have to say though that when genuine music comes out, made more with the stomach than with the head, people feel it and can’t help but appreciate it. I feel like saying that the first album, as well as the second and third, are made with the stomach, not with the head. I couldn’t do otherwise. It’s exciting when you understand that people recognize this.

TLM: In November 2022, the second album “The Golden Pond” was released. I think it was a more “grounded” album, but please describe it in your own words, and tell us everything we need to know about your second LP.

Alessio: If the first album is a record of setting out on a long journey, “The Golden Pond” is a record of reaching a place and staying there, enjoying it, and then leaving again. I think it’s a record more deep in thought. It’s a denser album, it has many stories inside, and so I think it’s worth sitting down and listening to it.

It’s as if you were a newborn on a good LSD trip and the “you” of the future was telling you your whole life…

TLM: I believe that the music should be made in a studio and then should go out, to the open air, to be played live in front of people. Do you think so? I’m asking this because you are a one-man project that does everything on his own but at some point, you did put together a group of musicians to help you deliver your Upupayāma vision to a live audience.

Alessio: I totally agree! In fact, that’s what I’ve always had in mind since I was recording the first album. Playing live brings back your whole history amplified with the volume at 10. Let me explain: it’s the people who are there to listen to you and watch you who are telling you your story and it’s as if you were living it for the first time but with the wisdom of having already lived it, the great thing is that you don’t know it while you play live. It’s as if you were a newborn on a good LSD trip and the “you” of the future was telling you your whole life, you are a newborn and you don’t give a shit about what they’re telling you because you don’t understand and then when after a few years you become aware of everything you don’t remember anything, and you live your life to the fullest. I know that you don’t understand anything of what I said, but I hope that the message I want to give is understood ahahahahah!

“Fil Dagī” takes up this vision I’ve had for years where people in a forest gather around a fire and start dancing, while “Moon Needs the Owl” takes me to the 70s in a disco in Thailand full of these guys in stylish clothes dancing and sweating and laughing like crazy

TLM: I did get the LSD comparison though, hehe… Let’s move on… You have a new album scheduled for release on September 13th, on a new label (Fuzz Club) entitled “Mount Elephant”. The label says about it “…finds inspiration in traditional Bhutanese music, Thai disco, and Anatolian psych, by way of the lysergic acid-folk, ‘70s kosmische rock…”. Please describe the album and give us any further useful information.

Alessio: I love equally every album I make. “Mount Elephant” was a lot of fun and the writing process was very fast. It’s a winter album, it was all composed and recorded last winter. It was fun because it’s an album where I “played” a lot, I let myself go more with the percussions, the rhythms, and the atmospheres. The two singles are very important to me, “Fil Dagī” takes up this vision I’ve had for years where people in a forest gather around a fire and start dancing, while “Moon Needs the Owl” takes me to the 70s in a disco in Thailand full of these guys in stylish clothes dancing and sweating and laughing like crazy. Yes, I have to say there is a good dance component in this album and I really like that.

Upupayāma – Fil Dağı (Official Video)

Upupayāma – Moon Needs The Owl Pt. 1 (Visualiser)

TLM: Are you going to support the release of your 3rd album with a set of live gigs?

Alessio: We are working on it.

TLM: Any interesting bands that got your attention?

Alessio: I mention three names: Flammer Dance Band, Zack Oakley, Les Imprimés.

TLM: Future plans?

Alessio: I am already working on the fourth album and I am enjoying it very, very much. I also hope to get our music out there as much as possible.

TLM: Anything last to add?

Alessio: I’d just like to add that nowadays there’s nothing more conformist than being a non-conformist, so stop pissing off if Oasis got together, they’re a great band and enjoy them while they’re at it, otherwise we’ll have to listen to rock songs created specifically to sound good on tik tok.