HOW DID I FURIOSI GET ITS NAME?
GABRIELLE: So glad I asked. The group was once comprised of Felix, myself and two different violinists. One of those violinists and I were sitting in the back of a moving truck on a stinking hot day, moving his minimal possessions from one overpriced hole-in-the-wall to another. It struck us that the group needed a better name than the one it had (which will not be revealed). We thought of Orlando Furioso, the epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto. Any Baroque, Renaissance or Mediaeval composer worth his or her salt has composed on this subject, and it seemed fruitful. We first came up with The Orlando Ensemble, but then we worried that people would think we were from Disney World. Then we thought of just Furioso, but that didn’t seem to describe the players. We settled on I FURIOSI (The furious ones) because it sounds like us and it conjures images of the Furies. We then hauled collapsing boxes into the new apartment and declared the day Jakarta Day, as it felt like what we assume Jakarta feels like most of the time.
AISSLINN: I like to think the name was there already just floating in the universe and we are just sort of borrowing it.
FELIX: There's this website called
www.yourbaroquebandname.com and i put in my first pet's name and the street i grew up on, and it calculates what my baroque band name would be.
HOW DID YOU MEET?
AISSLINN: Looking back through our press material I see there are lots of sly little allusions to some scandal surrounding how we met. Mystery is a good thing, no?
FELIX: There are some stories better left untold......and plus, some things are more enticing when there's an air of mystery, yes?
GABRIELLE: It is in your better interest not to know.
ARE YOU EVER GOING TO BE NAKED ON STAGE?
JULIA: I think I show the most body parts on the most regular basis. I don't think anyone would want to see much more than they already have.
AISSLINN: I will if we ever do the musical HAIR. After all things are said and done we do family shows and beyond that I just can’t justify making people pay to see me nekkers.
GABRIELLE: Not until we perform outside of a Presbyterian Church and plastic surgery is a lot cheaper.
FELIX: Where've you been the last 3 years!?!??! you want more??
WHAT DOES “BAROQUE” MEAN?
AISSLINN: We call ourselves a Baroque Ensemble to show that we specialise in a certain period within the larger genre of classical music. We mostly play music from 1600-1750, although we certainly don’t limit ourselves to those dates. At one of our concerts you’ll here Baroque music, some folk music, and even a little jazz and pop thrown in once in a while. So-really-it’s “I Furiosi Baroque Ensemble” instead of “I Furiosi Klezmer Ensemble” or “I Furiosi Classic Rock Ensemble”…..if you see what I mean.
FELIX: Ask Gabrielle. I'm pinky and she's the brain
GABRIELLE: The word ‘Baroque’ actually refers to a kind of oddly shaped pearl, an asymmetry and gaudy ornateness. The term was coined after the fact to describe the period of approximately 1600-1750 by people who had found the decadence of the age to be ugly and impious. Luckily, we live in a time that appreciates decadence, and I FURIOSI has found its niche.
JULIA: To me, it means that we have a lot of creative freedom because the notation is not nearly as specific as it later became. It means we can add all sorts of ornaments and that we have a lot of choice when it comes to musical decisions. I usually tell my students to imagine a building that is just an outline, then decorate it in your mind with gargoyles and curlicues and elaborate decorations. That is what we get to do to the bare bones written for us in Baroque music.
WHAT’S SO FUNNY ‘BOUT PEACE, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING?
FELIX: Everything - where do i start?
JULIA: Nothing. I like peace, love and understanding.
AISSLINN: I. however, find those even funnier than salted cod, banana seats, and hairnets.
GABRIELLE: And the greatest of these is hairnets.
DO YOU HANG OUT TOGETHER IN YOUR SPARE TIME?
FELIX: Only when we have to do our community service hours together.
AISSLINN: I am not familiar with that expression. Spare time…..hm, is that a bowling thing? But seriously folks, I think my colleagues are the greatest but we are all busy running around doing other stuff (paying the rent, taking care of family, weaving decorative rugs, signing autographs). The way I look at it is getting to hang out with my homies is one more reason to put on a concert.
JULIA: Not if I can help it. Actually, not enough. We always have a great time hanging out together but we are usually working when we see each other. When we do hang out it is a treat.
GABRIELLE: I sleep in my spare time. It is a nice break to be able to just hang out. We do usually have to mix it in with our other reasons for getting together, which include recording, administration, concerts, rehearsals and being unconscionably rude to one another.
WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE COMPOSER?
JULIA: I don't have a favourite. Lately I am into Ravel, Rameau and anyone French, whose last name starts with an R.
AISSLINN: Sonny Bono, Gordon Lightfoot, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, Gyorgy Ligeti. Actually, Joseph Haydn is not so much my favourite composer as my “musical boyfriend”. When I get down with a Haydn String Quartet I just feel like I know what was going through his head when he wrote it. It’s a bit weird.
GABRIELLE: It depends on the day. I’m big on Campion at the moment, but I am also struck by Stradella. I love a good Handel ditty, and wild horses couldn’t drag me from my Purcell. You can’t go wrong with Monteverdi, and Couperin and Campra seemed to have it all figured out. I wouldn’t spit on Schütz, and Dowland had a thing or two to say. I’ve never complained about Johnson, and Cara and Tromboncini make me pretty happy. Gesualdo gives me goosebumps, but all in all, I think I’ll have to go with The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.
HOW DO YOU CHOOSE YOUR THEMES?
JULIA: We usually have a planning meeting where everyone comes up with ideas. The themes are inspired by specific music we want to play, a guest (like motorbikes for Jamie Sommerville), an encore (Roxanne), a costuming idea, something going on in someone's personal life (Gabrielle's narcolepsy) - the ideas are endless. This year we seem to have more than ever, so we will have to hone it down to the best ones.
AISSLINN: What she said.
GABRIELLE: We get inspired by everyday events or by rare events. Sometimes we meet weirdoes who give us an idea; sometimes we think of themes in the shower or on a plane. I usually think of them while eating meat. It’s the iron high.
WHY DO BIRDS SUDDENLY APPEAR EVERY TIME YOU ARE NEAR?
JULIA: I think they liked the hat I wore at the "You Shall Find Me a Grave Man" concert.
FELIX: Maybe it's because just like me, they long to be.......close to poo, i mean, you.
AISSLINN: I don’t know, but I feel I get pooped on more than average. Should I be concerned about this? Is it something I did? Have you guys seen me do anything that might seem like I am trying to wage war on all of bird-kind?
GABRIELLE: Yeah, me and Tippi Hedren. I need to talk to Hitchcock about that.