Music; some of my favourites include:
Ennio Morricone, Susumu Yokota, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, Joan Baez, Turin Brakes, Joni Mitchell, Japan, Gold Frapp, God Speed You Black Emperor, Air,David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Beethoven, Francis Lai,Goblin, Mina, Burt Bacharach, Jose Feliciano, Sergio Mendez, Primal Scream, The Doors, Panasonic, Aphex Twin, Buffy St. Marie, The Raconteurs, The White Stripes, Odetta Vincent Gallo, The Velvet Underground, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Elvis, Lou Reed, The Cramps, The Pixies, Japanese Folk Music, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Vivaldi, and many many more .....
Books and Writers:
John Steinbeck, (Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday, The Pearl) Murasaki Shikibu (Tale of Genji), Yukio Mishima (Death in Midsummer and other stories, The Sailor who fell from Grace with the Sea), Stephen King (Nightmares and Dreamscapes,Misery, The Gunslinger and all the Dark Tower books), Vladimir Nobokov (Lolita), Kafka (The Trial, Coming to America, Metamorphosis), Haruki Murakami (The Wind Up Bird Chronicles, Kafka On the Shore) Tony O Neill (Digging the Vein), Thomas Mann (Death in Venice),Hunter.S. Thompson, The Man Who Fell in love Withe The Moon (Tom Spanbauer) stories by Tenesse Williams, Oscar Wilde,Charles Bukowski (The Last Night On the Earth Poems), Jack Kerouac (The Big Sur, On The Road) Alexander Solzhenitsyn (The First Circle,Cancer Ward) Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu to name but a few of my favourite authors and books.
Films:
Scar Face, Never Ending Story, The Fugitive Kind (with Marlon Brando) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Pulp Fiction, Suspiria, Battle Royale, The Audition (Mike Takashi), anything by Takeshi Kitano, Buffallo 66, The Brown Bunny (Vincent Gallo), U Turn (Oliver Stone),Vamp, Near Dawn, Requiem For a Dream, Rita Sue and Bob Too, The Doors, Pirates of the Carribean 2,, The Evil Dead 1 and 2, Train Spotting,The Night of The Hunter, most films by Alfred Hitchcock , Rosemary's baby,Withnail and I, Christopher Guest films, La Dolce Vita, The Misfits, Rebel Without a Cause, Apocalypse Now, Halloween, The Company of Wolves, Faster Pussy Cat Kill Kill!, The Labyrinth Cheech and Chong.
Art:
Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Donald Judd, Masakatsu Kondo, Yayoi Kusuma, Bridget Riley,
Brancussi, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Robert Frank, David Bailey, Henry Moore, Thomas Demand, Titian, Egyptian and Greek Historical art, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michael Angelo, Mario Testino, Minchi, David la Chapelle, Yoko Ono, Basquiat, Ray Caesar.
Quotes:
Ennio Morricone says
' Life is Music'
Oscar Wilde says
' Life is far too important to be taken seriously'
Not sure who said this........
'We are not so much human beings on a spritual journey, as much as we are spiritual beings on a human journey.'
'God sees us when we work but he loves us when we sing' Sufi saying
My Nan says ' You know what thought did, thought he had and he hadn't! '
Rocking Horse is a collection of dark folk, dark nursery rhyme inspired songs, odes to the magic of nature, dreams and life's mysteries.
A child climbs on to the Rocking Horse full of wonder and joy and they move between the shadowy darkness and shimmering light of daydreams. They go on a magical journey together.
In some ways, life is a Rocking Horse and we are the child riding upon it, on this most tremendous and spectacular ride. Whilst making the album, I endeavored to capture the many paradoxes of our journey through life. The innocence and mystery, light and darkness, happiness and sadness, which we all experience in one way or another.
Reflections on my journey over these past few years are at the heart of these songs.
In 2005 I left London. I was looking for a new musical direction and had begun learning to play the acoustic guitar. It occurred to me that I could go anywhere in the world with just a guitar and write my new songs whilst I traveled.
I was eager to explore a more organic way of making music and wanted to explore a gentler, more acoustic approach.
Having fallen in love with Mexico some time before, I dreamed of returning. Mexico is a place where I can dream and breathe and where I feel very free. There is a spirit of adventure there and a great feeling of space which I hoped would somehow help me to create something fresh and exciting.
So in the spirit of Don Quixote and other legendary free souls, we sold most of our possessions and left the city in search of adventure.
We traveled around Mexico and California. Hitchiking sometimes and taking buses and driving other times. We spent a lot of time camping in the desert and on beaches.
Floating through dusty little towns, living in mountains and forests and canyons, chasing dreams. We were unsure of what lay ahead but were happy to be free of the hustle and bustle and grey skies of the city.
I began writing the songs, many of which which eventually made it onto the Rocking Horse album, in 2005 to 2007 whilst traveling.
The journey was magical and the friends we made along the way were a great source of inspiration and support. I wrote a lot of songs and many days and nights were spent by an open fire with my acoustic guitar thinking of a verse or a melody.
The natural beauty which surrounded us gave me a feeling of peace and mystery which I embraced within my new work.
Gradually the songs began to grow into a coherent and meaningful collection of music and as the days and weeks turned into months and years I began thinking about creating my next record.
In 2007 I completed writing the songs for my Rocking Horse album.
Rocking Horse is very different from my earlier records and marks a new musical and vocal approach which I was naturally drawn towards as I traveled around with my acoustic guitar, writing songs, sleeping under the stars and keeping away from the bright lights and big cities in favor of the vast wonder of deserts and forests and mountains.
I asked the wonderfully talented Max Richter (composer of Waltz with Bashir Soundtrack and The blue Notebooks and producer of Vashti Bunyan's Lookaftering album) to produce the album and we began working together in Scotland In Spring 2008.
Acoustic guitars, flute and cor anglais, violins, cello, organ and piano are just some of the instruments we used to interpret the dreamy, folk and modern classically inspired songs.
Rocking Horse was completed at the end of the summer and was released on November 24th 2008
I have been publishing a journal which I kept whilst making the Rocking Horse album which you can read on my Kelliali.com website. My journal also contains more recent entries about gigs that we've been playing and watching and all kinds of other music related stories.
I released my Butterfly album independently in April 2009. The album includes brand new songs, acoustic versions of some of the songs from 'Rocking Horse' and an original cover of 'Willow's Song' from the cult classic Paul Giovanni soundtrack 'The Wicker Man'.
We have been enjoying playing some spectacular gigs and will continue to play all over the UK and Europe this spring and summer. Please join us for our live shows if you can, it makes all the difference to see friendly faces and we've been having a great time hanging out with friends and listeners at the gigs.
My band consists of Jane South on flute and Peter Shoulder on acoustic guitar and Alex Beamont ..o. They are a wonderfully talented group of musicians and I feel very fortunate to be playing with them. You can see photos from our gigs at the kelliali.com Gallery
For the first time ever, all my new releases are available to buy directly from me, aswell as T-Shirts and other merchandise. Please visit my shop
All proceeds go directly into making another beautiful album. Thank you for your support!
I don't know why I've only just 'discovered' Kelli Ali's solo work but better late than never. Heaven's Door is beautiful... will try to make it to the upcoming London show.
the coolest and best singer award goes to kelli Ali..... cause she acoustics it out and evolves on this new wonderful album, although i have loved every single thing that you have done.
wish your label could book you in Seattle,WA USA America loves you too!!!!!
very happy to discover you Keli . . . saw you in a video w/ Bootsy yesterday & I really liked the song . . . played it a couple times then started wondering who you are , so now I am here and happy to be , only heard the first song that played while I read your page and now as I write this comment I still hear it in my head & love the way it feels.....thank you for what ya' do KeliAli.
Hi Kelli! I love the song butterfly. You have such beautiful chord progressions in your new songs! Is rocking horse ever going to be on itunes? I love the song what to do.
Thank you for sending me the ltd ed cd! It just came here and I listened to the whole thing already, your voice is so beautiful- I love it. Thanks again love!
- Cait
Kelli...its Bridgett from USA. thanks for adding me again<br />when i get more money i am gonna buy your 2 new cd's and im totally having you sign them, cause you know your my favorite singer in the whole world! i loved you since SP first single hit the states.<br />i love your new sound. how do you do it?<br />reinvent yourself musically all the time... your so cool. im so proud of you that your still enduring.<br />your lyrics and voice sooth me, like no other singer, i cant explain it. i was listening to "almost diamonds" today<br />well your already pressed into such a emerald , and your sharing int with us.<br />thank you for U !<br />and thanks for writing back to me. you dont know how much you made my day, that Kelli Ali wrote me 2 times. ill always remember that!.<br />your biggest fan<br />-Bridgett
