PHOTO COURTESY OF LUCIANA ZOGBI
For those who don’t know about you yet, what would you tell them about yourself and your music as a bit of an introduction?
LUCIANA: “My name is Luciana Zogbi, I’m a singer, composer and YouTuber. I started my musical career creating my own version of popular songs on YouTube and recently started releasing my own original songs.”
You recently released your latest song “Down By The River.” What was the process like creating the song?
LUCIANA: “I was inspired to write ‘Down by The River’ after a trip to Greece, where I first heard about the Greek legend of Charon. I was visiting a museum when I saw a painting that depicted a burial scene where a man was putting a coin on a dead persons mouth. I asked a guide to explain the meaning behind that ritual and she taught me that in ancient Greece, people believed the coin would be used by the dead to pay Charon for passage to the next life. I then asked, ‘Who’s Charon?’ And she explained that according to Greek mythology, Charon is a ferryman that carries the souls of the newly deceased across the river that divides the world of the living and the dead. He demands payment for that passage and that’s why people were buried with a coin. If they were buried without one, they were doomed to roam the river shore for 100 years.
When I returned from my trip, I decided to write a song about one of these unfortunate souls who got buried without a coin and had to stay in ‘limbo’.”
You also released a music video for the song. How did you ensure that the video would really make the song come to life?
LUCIANA: “I wanted the video to portray a sense of loneliness that ties in well with the idea of being stuck in limbo. To do that, we decided to have only one character in the video, that roams in solitude through some different landscapes. We also decided to insert drone shots that capture the immensity of the landscape, especially when juxtaposed to our ‘small’ subject.”
What inspires you while writing music?
LUCIANA: “Inspiration can come from so many different sources. Sometimes it’s a conversation you had, or a book you read, or a moment you lived. In the case of my new song ‘Down By The River’, it was a painting.”
Is there anything else we can expect from you in the near future?
LUCIANA: “Yes! I have many new songs coming up and I hope to release a full album next year!”