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Rude Awakening is the debut single by Fabio Cicala, an eclectic artist from Campania by birth and Londoner by adoption. The single gives the title to a project of 9 songs, recorded between 2019 and 2020 at Abbey Road Studios and Soho Sonic Studios in London.
This is a sound diary of only classical guitar tuned to A at 432 Hz, which collects the first compositions of Fabio Cicala. The musical project presents fragments of different genres harmonized in minimal and vibrational sounds, at times hypnotic, a musical texture that helps to relax and meditate.
Extremely simple in structure, Rude Awakening alienates the listener by bringing him into a timeless, metaphysical condition, using, as in a composition by Erik Satie, the ostinato technique, that is, the repetition of a series of notes, of a rhythm, in an almost obsessive manner. But the piece promises to soon scratch the linearity of the rhythm, thanks to the chromaticisms of the arpeggio, which with their harmonic ambiguity, pleasantly confuse the listener. At times, almost sketching the significance of the "hypnotic journeys of assorted rhythms" of Vangelis' compositions.
The single is inspired, among others, by the sounds and mastery of Steve Vai and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, capable of superbly blending the sounds and rhythms of Indian music with Western ones.
This song in particular, translated into Italian as “Brusco Risveglio”, – says Cicala – expresses the beginning of the journey of personal and spiritual growth that began in 2014 when I moved to the United Kingdom.
It's a rude awakening because you can no longer relate to people and life as you did before, you have to adapt to a new culture, a new temperature, new foods and new jobs.
It's a feeling that we've all experienced at various times in our lives, for example when a relationship or job ends, or when we've lost a loved one.
The abrupt awakening opens the way to an alchemical process of transformation, of inner research, which, as in the archetype of a fairy tale, on the one hand makes us lose a part of ourselves, on the other makes us discover new "gifts" that we can share with those around us.
For me, the gift was music, which, while I was juggling shifts as a bartender and as a waiter, made me accept my condition as an emigrant, and motivated me to cheer up others through my harmonies.
A complex work with endless hours of rehearsals, copying various ancient and modern masters, experimenting with different musical genres, and discovering that I can only become the best of myself, both as a person and as a musician.
Completing this sound diary has been like freeing myself from a burden, from a phase of life and creativity that was necessary but passed. And now I feel free to explore music with greater enthusiasm and awareness!
Fabio Cicala is an eclectic artist originally from Caianello. He graduated with honors in scenography from the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, a city to which he remains attached, under the guidance of Antonio Capuano.
As a child he began to play keyboards as a self-taught, then as a teenager he switched to the guitar, after discovering Jimi Hendrix. He began to study it in his hometown from a guru of the six strings, who encouraged him to continue his artistic-musical path alone.
He responded to a job offer for an acoustic guitarist in the windows of an Italian restaurant in Fleet, a few kilometers from London, and performed first one evening a week, then two, three, and finally four evenings, transforming a hobby into a real profession.
As he expands his musical repertoire and begins to gain acclaim, he begins to write the first fragments of his compositions. In addition to playing at the restaurant, he plays for private parties and events, and begins to perform as a street artist in central London.
Alongside his work as a musician, he also appears as an extra in Hollywood films such as Kenneth Branagh's Artemis Fowl, and as a set decorator for CBBC (the children's BBC) and independent films.
Between 2019 and 2020, he recorded his first compositions for solo guitar at the iconic Abbey Road Studios.
In 2022 he was part of the cast of The Way Home – the first musical of Italians in London, a project written and created for the Italian community, which collects for the first time the experiences of compatriots in the United Kingdom. The musical is staged at the Royal College of Music, and is sponsored by various Italian institutions and companies present in the country across the Channel, such as the Consulate General of Italians in London.
Fabio experiences music as a tool for personal and spiritual growth, is very active on social media, and lives and works between Italy and the United Kingdom.
