Luca Fogale: intervista dal Canada

Qualche tempo fa incappo nell’ascolto di un giovane cantautore che credo essere italiano visto il nome, Luca Fogale, sento una prima canzone, “Shelter” e la trovo meravigliosa, dopo averla ascoltata a ripetizione decido di ascoltare anche le altre sperando di non rimanere deluso come per altre band che centrano un brano ma si perdono nella dimensione dell’album; non è stato il caso, Luca Fogale ha registrato una perla che su YouTube non sembra raccogliere il numero di visualizzazioni che gli spetterebbero (soprattutto considerando chi ne colleziona centinaia di migliaia quando non milioni). Cerco qualche informazione sul ragazzo e scopro che in realtà non è italiano ma canadese. “Sarà figlio di immigrati” mi dico, in fin dei conti al momento in cui lo stavo scoprendo anche io mi trovavo a vivere e lavorare a qualche mare di distanza da casa e so quanto sia facile partire e non tornare, nonostante la bellezza del nostro paese. Ascolto dunque l’album a loop e continuo a trovare il primo brano ascoltato come di una delicatezza e allo stesso modo una forza incredibile, decido che lo voglio anche suonare. Di tablature su Internet, neanche a parlarne, decido quindi di chiedere direttamente li dove avevo ascoltato il brano a ripetizione se qualcuno avesse idea di come suonarla (sperando almeno negli accordi da cui partire). Dopo poco arriva una risposta alla mia richiesta ed arriva proprio da Luca che mi invita a scrivergli in privato sulla sua mail.
Detto fatto, nel giro di poco ho la mia bella tablatura trascritta dall’autore in persona e una corrispondenza via mail con un giovane musicista che meriterebbe di fare una bella carriera
In una delle mail gli ho detto che mi sarebbe piaciuto intervistarlo e si è dimostrato disponibile da subito; qui di seguito potete trovare l’intervista (in originale per mantenere il senso esatto delle sue parole, ma non si esclude una futura traduzione) e un paio di link per conoscere meglio Luca.

Buona lettura e soprattutto buon ascolto:

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– You told me your parents are from Italy, where about? Have you ever been here?

My father was born and raised in Ca’rainati, a small farming town a little ways outside of Castelfranco, and my mother was born and raised in Castelfranco. Funnily enough, it took them both moving to Vancouver to meet each other! I’ve been very fortunate to have been able to visit my family in Italy and see a lot of the country half a dozen times. I can’t express how much I love it there, and am planning on moving to Italy for an extended period of time once it becomes possible.

– Some months ago, I randomly had the chance to listen shelter and I got just amused, after that I went further listening your music and I found it just great, an amazing alternative folk. Who are the artists that inspired you most?

Thank you so much! I’m so happy to hear that. I listen to music constantly, during the time that I was working on that album I was listening to a lot of Bon Iver, Jeff Buckley, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Ben Howard to name a few.

– I am following the Canadian songwriting scene and I think that now more than ever it’s blooming, do you agree? Do you think there is a reason why this is happening now and not years ago?

I completely agree, I think that in the last 5 years the Canadian songwriting scene has taken a major stance in the global market, most likely due to a few factors. Our grant and funding system in Canada is exceptional, so there are a lot of resources for emerging artists to help assist in the songwriting and recording process. Also, I think now more than ever you can be influenced and contribute to any genre of music that there is, since music catalogues have become so accessible through all of the major distribution platforms, so if you have the drive and resources to make good music, it doesn’t necessarily matter where you live.

– Apart from singing, what instruments did you play in the record?

Besides the drums and a few guitar and keyboard parts, I played most of the instruments on the record. It was quite the learning process!

– I think you have a great singing technique, have you studied or are you just a gifted guy? The same for the guitar, I know you use several tunings is that something that comes from a school of music or from your curiosity or your idea of playing guitar?

Thank you so much! I haven’t studied singing very much, but rather just stumbled through the different stages of learning how to sing, and I’ve made a ton of mistakes and hopefully learned from most of them. I still have decades of work to do, it’s and incredibly complex instrument. I studied guitar with an incredible teacher here in Burnaby who taught me nearly everything I know, but I picked up open tunings from listening to Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell, I was fascinated at how their chord voicings sound on some of their recordings.

– Are you planning to play across Europe? If you have played in Canada and in Europe have you found any difference?

Yes, I’m planning a European tour for next fall, which is something I’ve been looking forward to for years.

– Are you working on a new album?

Yes! I’ve got a number of songs that I’m currently working on band arrangements for, I’ll be doing some recordings early in the new year. These songs are quite a bit different from the ones on my last album, edging more into the soul and gospel realm.

– Lately there is the tendency to collaborate with other artists and to create side projects, do you have any?

Absolutely, I do a lot of songwriting with/for other artists, mostly local artists here in Vancouver, which is a really wonderful way to build a community and stay creative.

– Do you know any of the Italian songwriters? I mean not the mainstream ones of course.

To be honest I’m not too familiar with the current Italian songwriting community! I’m still working a lot on learning the language so it’s a challenge to decode a lot of things that aren’t completely straighforward. In terms of Italian music in general, I’m a huge Lucio Battisti fan (amongst others), and have been since I found his music about a decade ago.

Nicholas Ciuferri

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