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It’s fascinating to look closely at Zemfira…the impression she creates is comparable to the results of an astrological scan looking for life in some far off galaxy. Amazing light clusters consisting of the fragments of shattered planets, coloured clouds made up of fire, light and spirals of star dust, all captivate while in the back of your mind rings out the astronomers eternal warning that ‘this beauty will soon disappear forever’. And so matter accumulates for the next Big-Bang, or the creation of a black hole devouring everything in its vicinity. In that deep space, tomorrow is very soon, just a million years away.
On Earth, everything happens slightly faster. During our interview and photo-shoot, DE I observed how Zemfira gathers matter together for her version of the Big-Bang - her new album, the creation of new life. She is ready to become the universe, yet it seems she understands the risk, that the final explosion made result in impenetrable, infinite darkness…
DE I: More that anything else, what is it you need right now?
Zemfira: To free myself from the album. It has a grip on me, and is turning me inside out. We’ve only got 14 recording sessions left…It’s a very good album. I never said that before about my work, but this time I can. And I really want the maximum number of people to hear it and I’m ready to appear on a box of matches if it helps people hear about it because it’s worth listening to. If this was somebody else’s album, I’d still be very happy because there are some very good songs here. Some of the lyrics came to me pretty quickly, and they’re the ones I prefer. Of course I had to grapple with some of the material. But my overall style is changing for the better, less chaff and more wheat, and I’ve begun to really value the words. Value them as much as life. This album is about the need to live. There’s a lot of life in it. I’m going through a wonderful period right now. I’ve finished a stage of my life where a lot of things were lacking in consciousness, and now the next level seems much clearer.
DE I: You once said that you don’t make compromises. You don’t release your work until it’s fully developed. How do you determine when it’s ready?
Zemfira: When people quote my lyrics I sometimes think “God, where did I get that from!” So I now have one very fixed position on this – it doesn’t make any sense to open your mouth if you’ve nothing to say. Of course, you have to deliver values of which you’re completely convinced, convinced that they’re not garbage. The position of some of my colleagues who are afraid to be silent for 2 years only because they’re afraid at the end of that gap they won’t attract a full house is alien to me. My profession is not to tolerate indifference.
DE I: As an artist, who is the cruelest person you can think of?
Zemfira: The audience, the listener – he (she) is the cruelest person on earth.
DE I: Not a very inspiring conclusion. So why do you need to make music then? Or more simply, what is the point of music at all?
Zemfira: It gives me the possibility of being better than I really am. It allows me be in love with myself, and it also can provoke a feeling of helplessness and uselessness in me. No person can affect me that strongly and in so many different ways. Music is a unique language and to explain it or substitute it with something else is impossible. And music is an enormously powerful communicator which draws together in itself time, events and people.
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Ïîëíóþ âåðñèþ èíòåðâüþ ÷èòàéòå â æóðíàëå DE I/DESILLISIONIST ¹-1
© DE I / DESILLUSIONIST ¹-1. «ZEMFIRA - FALLING IN MUSIC»
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