End of 2014, thanks, considerations and... Christmas!

(Segue testo in italiano)

2014 has been the year in which I came back writing in my blog quite regularly, after months of silence. I've totally changed its aspect and widened the topics dealt.

I am glad I haven't decided to give up and I would like to thank friends who advised me to go on and those who supported me (and still do!). I don't care if this blog is a very small reality, I don't need numbers, I like much more people :) Therefore I would like to thank each and every of you who are reading this post and any other I wrote.

I would like to wish you all a merry Christmas, no matter if you are believers or not, I think it's always nice to wish each other good things. 

Let's start 2015 full of energy and leave our possible "I can't" a side, at least for a while!

Hugs!

Mary

P.S. I leave you with the image of our so-called Christmas Bowie, ie. how our living room looks right now! ;)

Il 2014 è stato l'anno in cui sono tornata a scrivere abbastanza regolarmente sul mio blog, dopo mesi di silenzio. Ne ho cambiato totalmente l'aspetto e ho ampliato i temi trattati.
Sono contenta di non aver deciso di lasciare perdere e vorrei ringraziare gli amici che mi hanno consigliato di andare avanti e mi hanno supportato (e continuano a farlo!). Non mi importa che questo blog sia solo una piccolissima realtà, non mi servono i numeri, preferisco le persone :) Perciò vorrei ringraziare anche tutti quelli che stanno leggendo questo post o qualsiasi altro io abbia scritto.

Vi auguro un buon Natale, non importa che siate credenti o no, perché penso che augurarsi cose buone sia sempre bello.
Iniziamo il 2015 pieni di energia e proviamo a lasciare per un attimo da parte i nostri "non ce la faccio".

Un abbraccio!

Mary

P.S. Qui sopra potete vedere come appare il nostro salotto al momento, l'abbiamo chiamato Christimas Bowie! ;)

Blutengel fly to Italy for their new video: Asche zu Asche

Today I would like to talk to you about one of my favourite bands, Blutengel, focussing on their last single “Asche zu Asche”. 

For Italian speakers: you can find my article for the magazine “Berlino Cacio e Pepe” at the following link

Da Berlino a Roma fra atmosfere gothic: i Blutengel volano in Italia per girar un nuovo videoclip 

I strongly believe that most of the readers of this blog know the band quite well but, anyway, I think that a short introduction is due.

Blutengel are one of the most famous German dark-gothic bands. They were founded in 1999 by the frontman, Chris Pohl, who had already been member of Terminal Choice and Seelekrank. After the turnover of several female singers, at the moment the only woman sharing the microphone with Chris is Ulrike Goldmann, who has been part of the band since 2005.

Chris and Ulrike are not alone on the stage during concerts: dancers and performers (at the moment: Viki Scarlet, Nicola Heinrich and Nadine Schneiderat) create a catching show, which recalls the topic of each song played.

 Photo by Marco Tridente

Blutengel have many fans here in Italy too: they follow the band in tour and at festivals in Germany, because unfortunately they have not been playing in our country for a long time. However, last month, we have had a clear sign that Blutengel are quite attentive to what happens in Italy too: Chris Pohl announced (via Facebook) that Ulrike and he would have flown to Rome to shoot the videos of two songs which will be part of their new album Omen (expected for February 2015).

In Germany there are several agencies for video production, but this time Chris Pohl was looking for something new compared to what they had shown until then with their videoclips (though they being very good). He had the chance to see the works of the director Carlo Roberti and he was quite impressed by the cinematographic style that Roberti creates, thus Chris decided to collaborate with the director’s agency: Solobuio Visual Factory. This last is not new to the dark-gothic scene, as they had already worked with bands like Kirlian Camera, Spiritual Front and L’Âme Immortelle.

The two Blutengel’s videos were shot between Rome and Tivoli in less than a week. The first result shown to the public is “Asche zu Asche”, uploaded on line on 13^th November by Out of Line, the band’s label. The German-Italian collaboration was immediately appreciated in the web, scoring more than 55.000 views in the first three days.

The effect that both Chris Pohl and Solobuio wanted was fully achieved: “Asche zu Asche” looks like a thriller movie synthesized in the 5 minutes length of the song. The sexy killer, played by the Italian actress Claudia Salvatori, is hired by Ulrike Goldmann, acting the part of an icy dark lady, in order to kill some men. The turn of events is reached when the killer changes her mind: to put an end to her violent destiny, she shoots Ulrike, instead of murdering the chosen victim. In the last scenes we see Claudia Salvatori appearing, weapon in the hand, behind Chris Pohl, who had been watching everything from the top of a high building until that moment. The immediately following image shows the woman in her flat, trying to wash away blood from her hands. The viewer feels the suspense and asks himself if Chris could have been the real instigator and if he ended up by being killed too.

It is surely peculiar, especially for those who usually follow the German band, to hear one song of theirs and seeing it played by Italian actors under such an Italian style direction. It is a “fusion” which has satisfied both Solobuio and Blutengel. Furthermore it is nice to see fans’ comments in the several social networks: Italian ones are happy to see their idols appreciating the work of their compatriots at the point that they did not hesitate to come over to Italy to start a collaboration, the German ones, on the other hand, like the news introduced by the video in terms of idea and directions.

Deutsch-Italienische Freundschaft perfectly succeeded!