An interview with Vangelis - November 1982 - UK

Mechanic of Music Interview by

Andrew Duncan Interview byAndrew Duncan

Why? I write music every day, and I can’t end up with 20 albums a year just to satisfy some businessman. I do these things because I like it, and will release an album when I want to. But it’s impossible to explain that to the industry. If I became the greatest song writer in Hollywood it would be a disgrace and destroy me. I am not going to be trapped in that absurd chain of behavior where you are obliged to create successes by repeating yourself all the time. Maybe that is unusual in this business. But to me it is unusual to be in this business. I’m only in it because I need to create the facilities you see around you. That is the most fascinating machine for me … and I collect as many as I can. My first synthesizer was the radio. At night I used to lie awake adjusting it to the interferences, and those sounds drove me crazy. I loved them. My mother wasn’t so happy though, because I was only about four years old. It’s a strange feeling I have with radios. Each has a different personality, and by mixing them together, you can achieve something like a painting. It is tremendous satisfaction because it is the whole circle of creation. Everything you hear has been done by me. In my way I can play every instrument, but I have never been to music school. I could not take that. People ask how I can compose if I can’t read or write music. I can’t understand how they can teach composition in music school. It is impossible. You can’t teach someone to be a composer - either he is, or he isn’t. Great musicians are not great because they study. They are great because they are great. Everything I do is condemned to be done only by me. My score is the 2 inch recording tape

People say that a synthesizer is a machine, not a natural sound. Everything is natural. The first instrument built - a flute or maybe a tom-tom - was a machine to create sound. Acoustical conventional instruments, like a guitar, are fantastic, but they are restricted and always give the same sort of sound. It allows us to go beyond what we have known. You can start from a beep, and develop a whole range of sounds with endless variations. It is incredible. It is like being a conductor, standing here, modifying the levels, adding echoes, filtering the sounds. The target is not to win Oscars but to be in balance with nature and use this tool which has been created through the centuries. It is like being a conductor, standing here, modifying the levels, adding echoes, filtering the sounds. The target is not to win Oscars but to be in balance with nature and use this tool which has been created through the centuries. I don’t try to put people out of work. I love working with choirs and big orchestras. The sound is different, of course. But there are so many restrictions, and the cost is astronomical. I have played with the Brussels Symphony and choir - 250 people - and it was fabulous. I would like to play on stage again if it could be spontaneous and done for pleasure and real communication.

