People

Ilaria Graziano aka “ILA”

Graziano is a Neapolitan (Italian) female artist who now resides in London.

She met YK thanks to Yoshio Nakatani from Chiara Sun Music, an Italian-Japanese records group based in Naples. Its purpose is to promote a mesh of Italian and Japanese pop music in the world.

There are some interviews to read for more information: RESOURCES / Interviews

History

  1. Joined Italy's first female pop group, Salsaruba. Group members were Cristina Tranchino, Francesca Falanga, and herself. Some of the songs they recorded were “Scoop”, “E Vai” and “il Maramao”. They soon broke up before their album could be released due to poor production.

  2. Sang in the song “Sospesa” from Ambra Angiolini's album, InCanto.

    Sang in “Qui” and “Give a Little Love” from Speaker Cenzou's album, Malastrada. Speaker Cenzou is an Italian hip-hop artist who will later appear in the Flux album. The idea for the album cultivated from Papa J (real name Giampiero Da Dalto), who will later be in the Al Mukawama group. Apart from recordings, Graziano also went on tour and appeared on MTV Italy to promote the album.

  3. Collaborated with Marco Francini for his album, Echos. This album was recorded on historical sites situated around Naples and the songs were improvised at the moment they were recorded using guitar, percussions and materials found at the site as instruments, with Marco Francini and Ilaria Graziano on vocals.

  4. Teamed up with DJ Miele (aka Madox, real name Stefano Miele) in several songs doing vocal melodies and lyrics for the Flux album. Apart from working with Yoko Kanno, Flux best showcases how well ILA uses her voice in different styles.

    On Miele:

    “The most important "ethnic" DJ in Italy. Neapolitan, Stefano Miele started as drum n' bass-breakbeat DJ in the mid-90s, and he had a smash hit in 1998. Today he works at integrating the musical tradition of Southern Italy within international electronic music: this research is best expressed in his latest album, Flux.”

    Miele is currently working as producer and DJ in the label Mantra Breaks.

    Back to Graziano, while with Miele, she worked with UAZZ (UAZZ Trio: Riccardo Veno (founder), Agostino Mennella, and Enrico Barbaro) on “Sienteme”. The song was released in Italian DJ Alessio Bertallot's compilation album, Bertallosophie.

    Also at this time, she had met Francesco Forni and recorded a song with her on vocals, called “Acqua nera”. It's available on Forni's website at francescoforni.it.

  5. DJ Alessio Bertallot released a second compilation, Bertallosophie Volume 2, where “L'Ultima Occasione” shows her working with UAZZ and Miele.

    She joined the band called Rainbow 4et, with Francesco Forni on guitars, Sergio Quagliarella on drums, and Fulvio Di Nocera on upright bass. They didn't release any albums; nevertheless, they did several live shows around 2003. An Italian review of one of the performances, praised Ilaria Graziano as follows:

    “the powerful and sweet voice of Ilaria Graziano, singer of the Rainbow Family, with her companions of adventure, has bewitched the summoned public. Popular songs and mantra on the music were their repertoire in which from melody to the sounds joins the spirituality of the cultures, as it has held by Ilaria. Delicate, kind, intense, melancholic or joyful songs, vibrations that purify, instill energy and positivism.”

    With Al Mukawama, she provided background vocals in their self-titled debut album.

  6. Performed with Rainbow 4et on Jan 2 in Bourbon Street (Napoli).

  7. Continued to perform with Rainbow 4et on Mar 9, May 11

    Working on a solo project.

Discography

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