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Nagamag:
What are the genres that describe better your music style?

Arkanna:
At the moment, I would say electronica, trip-hop, downtempo, chill, sometimes with world elements.

Nagamag:
Few words about your musical background and career?

Arkanna:
I grew up in a musical family. With musicians on both my parents sides. I was brought up listening to Rock n Roll, Motown, Soul and everything in between. The UK charts were always on in my house growing up, hearing bands of the 80's like Bronski Beat, The Human League and The Cure. Also often, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and my Mums favourite, Rod Stewart.
When I was a teenager, I loved Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, The Doors, Nirvanna and lots of dance music like Beats international, The Source, Technotronic and 808 State.

I first picked up the guitar at age twenty one. At the time I started going clubbing and loved progressive house back then and all the chillout stuff around at that time. Before this I was more into drawing and painting as my creative outlet. A number of years later I started writing my own songs and played a few acoustic gigs. I was listening to bands like Morcheeba, Beth Orton, Faithless, Massive Attack,Lamb, Portishead, The Chemical Brothers, The Future Sound Of London, Bjork, PJ Harvey and Leftfield.

Soon I met my partner, who was an MC in a Drum n Bass band at the time, and as a DJ he introduced me to a lot of breakbeat, Techno, Hip Hop and DnB. He introduced me to my first production software and I was hooked.

I started to teach myself production developing my acoustic tracks into a more electronic sound. I put a few of my first productions online. In 2009 I was offered work with London based techno/breaks producers, Elite Force and Meat Katie, recording vocals for 'Fire's Still Burnin' on their Dustbowl EP, released on U&A Recordings.

While still working on my own productions, I was also writing and recording music as part of a collective called Timeshade. This brought about a release in 2010 in which my vocals featured on Bambook's track 'off the system' feat Arkanna, the vocals taken from one of the Timeshade songs.

Later, I collaborated with producers from Nomad Records based in Italy, on a three track EP. It was never officially finished due to some problems within the label at the time. You can listen to 'Love is Timeless', on soundcloud, which is one of the tracks from that EP.

Finally by 2017 I felt happy enough with my own music production to begin independently releasing my music, the first of which was 'All This Time'.

My latest release 'Wonder Cloud' has been supported on BBC music Introducing in Scotland and recently remixed by the very talented Side Liner.

Nagamag:
Do you remember your first connection of love to music that was the right impact to be a music artist now?

Arkanna:
I have always loved music as far back as I can remeber. I was always singing when I was a child. I was given my first keyboard when I was 10 and remember writing lyrics to the songs I made up on it. The Casio SA-1, I thought it was so cool lol. I actually found one a few years ago in a charity shop. I had to buy it haha.
Music for me is about my connection to the unknown mystery, the all or whatever you want to call it or see it as. It is my healer, my passion and a tool for self- reflection and discovery.

Nagamag:
What are your plans for the near future?

Arkanna:
I am currently finishing my EP and plan to develope and release a lot of the music I have written over the past few years, as well as all my current material. I'm also collaborating on a track for another artists forthcoming album, more details on that in the very near future.

Nagamag:
Music has no borders and many of us we may listen to more genres that we are mainly involved. So share with Nagamag which track comes first in your mind from music but is NOT similar to your genre?

Arkanna:
Ane Brun "All My Tears"

Nagamag:
Of Course Nagamag would love to listen also which track from a similar artist you admire?

Arkanna:
Massive Attack "Teardrop"

Nagamag:
What are the genres that describe better your music style?

Leonardo the Space Pianist:
My music style’s roots are a crossover of different experiences, the seed is in my background as classical pianist and metal keyboardist. I describe my music as Contemporary Space Music, where there are influences of cinematic, experimental, neo-classical, progressive metal and wave genres.

Nagamag:
Few words about your musical background and career?

Leonardo the Space Pianist:
I was born in Venice, Italy, and discovered the piano at the age of 6 and astronomy at 9. At the age of 12, by reading Isaac Asimov, playing Beethoven and Bach, listening to Queen, Steve Vai and Robert Miles, I decided I would travel the Space and play my music outside planet Earth. So I became a professional pianist AND an aerospace engineer.
As a pianist I graduated at the Music Conservatory in Italy, studying composition and developing my passion for synths and electronic music. I was mentored by Jordan Rudess, Dream Theater's keyboardist. In the meanwhile I graduated with a PhD in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Padova, researching on hypervelocity impacts and space safety. During those years I did a concert at the ESRANGE Space Center in cold Sweden while taking part in his first space mission with the SCRAT Project, a very important milestones of my Journey.
In 2006 I created the Music House to develop my View - the project 'Nullo Die Sine Nota’. The Latin sentence means 'Not A Day Without a Note'. I recorded four studio albums and two EPs, with always new music in the flow. I played in several countries like Italy, Germany, UK, Netherlands, and Turkey. I teamed up with many artists during the years, like Yossi Sassi, Aliki Chrysochou and Anna Utopia Giordano. In the last nine years, I have worked with several dancers too; the latest chapter of this experience is 'BlackShip', an innovative show for contemporary music, contemporary fusion dance and visual art.
In 2016 I moved to Malta. I wanted to deeper discover myself, islands are the perfect metaphor of our planet, and an excellent place for freediving…and it is actually working!
Currently I am developing further my space music and researching and lecturing at University in aerospace.
Nearly forgetting, I am also passionate about martial arts and photography.

Nagamag:
Do you remember your first connection of love to music that was the right impact to be a music artist now?

Leonardo the Space Pianist:
The very first memory I have is of myself at 3 years old with a yellow toy-piano. I liked to improvise (clearly!) with it and sometimes to disassemble (maybe an early sign of engineering). Besides this I realized that I wanted to become a pianist when I was 6 years old, I remember there was another kid playing an old upright piano at school, seeing the other school mates around happy and smiling. When he finished I have vivid in my mind that I played my first real piano key, thinking: Wow! I want to play it and share music with people!
So a few months later, I started my musical journey.

Nagamag:
How did the Covid19 pandemic influence your artistic activity?

Leonardo the Space Pianist:
I am seeing it as an opportunity of growth, despite the difficult moment that everyone is facing. I increased considerably my online activity, publishing every week vlog episodes on my YouTube channel, starting to stream regularly my music performances on Twitch and releasing with a higher frequency new music on the main music distribution platforms, like Spotify. The effects of the pandemic will take quite a lot in my opinion to be completely managed and society and music industry will be quite different in the near future. 2 new EPs and 4 singles are in the workflow for the upcoming months.

Nagamag:
Who is the Space Pianist?

Leonardo the Space Pianist:
I am a Dreamer that step by step is designing his way to perform the first piano concert on Mars.

Nagamag:
Music has no borders and many of us we may listen to more genres that we are mainly involved. So share with Nagamag which track comes first in your mind from music but is NOT similar to your genre?

Leonardo the Space Pianist:
IGORRR "Downgrade Desert"

Nagamag:
Of Course Nagamag would love to listen also which track from a similar artist you admire?

Leonardo the Space Pianist:
Infected Mushroom "Heavyweight"