| NIMA KAZEROUNI AND HIS SOLO PROJECT |
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| WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2009 4:00 P.M. |
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This entry is brought to us by guest blogger Cat.
So Many Wizards is a solo project consisting of musician Nima Kazerouni, his guitar and a variety of instruments projected on TV screens stacked next to him on stage. Even though Nima resides in Long Beach, he has plenty of shows in L.A. I have seen him play everywhere from Spaceland and Silverlake Lounge to bare street corners in downtown Long Beach.
I think So Many Wizards is worth a review because no matter what the tone of the song—happy or sad—you cant help the feeling of wanting to dance around.
I once asked Nima’s girlfriend, Bree Vilaubi, what his project’s name stood for. She told me there was a time when he was obsessed with reading Don Quixote over and over. One day he stumbled upon a page that was a rant of so many of these things and so many of those things and so many wizards. I’m not sure if this is how the name really came about, but the story was really enjoyable. Nima’s obsession still stands.
Interview:
C: I have been reading Henry Miller’s novel, Sexus, recently. In one section, a character talks about how laughter is contagious and when someone is sad they will have a million crocodiles to weep with. It then goes on to say, though, that joy is not contagious because you can’t make people joyous just by being joyous yourself. Joy has to be generated personally. How do you think you are able to convey so much joy to others in your music?
N: There's really no formula to the matter, but while thinking about it right now, there is definitely a certain deep, inner joy that stays constant with me along the way to a song’s eventual completion.
Deep down I'm a very joyful person, but in this modern world—with all its lovely distractions—it's easy to forget what's important and then let it bring you down. Playing my music definitely brings me back to that good place. It's in the true sense, a meditation that when tapped into right, (e.g., writing the right melodies over the right chords) brings out the joy. While on writing structure, it's no mystery that my latest songs and overall style are very simple. This is definitely done on purpose. I would prefer a two-chord song coupled with a melody that moves me very much over a good, complicated chord progression with an okay melody. It's the feeling that matters; when I write a song that captures that good feeling—and mostly these are naturally simple songs that achieve this—I don't second-guess myself. But, I guess it always depends on the vocal melody over the chords.
Also, just to make sure, songs that bring me joy are not necessarily synonymous with happy songs. I’m writing a new E.P. with very simple chord structures that tap into the inner joy described above, but they are all hopeless love songs; some very sad.
C: When you were little, did you ever want to be/do anything far-fetched (like an astronaut) that would give us insight to little Nima?
N: Ha. But of course. As far back as I can remember, since age four or five, my on-going dream was to make it to the World Cup. I was obsessed. I have this visual of kicking the ball against my backyard wall every day for hours on end. The thing is, I was really good. From early child hood through high school, I played soccer off and on. Always though, there were too many distractions to give it the necessary dedication it deserved. The funny thing is, right before immigrating to the United States at the age of three, my family stayed with my uncle in Buenos Aires for several months and my parents seriously considered raising my sister and I there instead of coming here. If that would have been the case, I'm telling you I would be playing professional soccer today. We all know that over there soccer (football) is the main distraction. But everything happens for a reason of course; thank goodness for music.
http://www.myspace.com/somanywizards
So Many Wizards has a variety of rotating players and is ever changing. In the past Nima has had Vincent Mazza on guitar and Johann Carbajal on Drums and keyboard. Currently, he has Eric Felix on drums and Joaquin Pastor on guitar. Nothing is constant.
E.Ps are handcrafted limited editions made by Nima Kazerouni.
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