How it started

The Muidas project blossomed about three years ago. At first it was just an attempt to kill time, then it became something more serious. I don’t know exactly when the idea of releasing the songs came to mind. It all just gradually fell into place.

Background

Guitar Geek

Photo by Matthijs Smit

I have been a guitar player for the better part of my life. I started to play when I was twelve under the supervision of a strict yet highly motivating rock guitar teacher. During the first couple of years, lessons were heavily focused on technique and blues masters (mostly BB King, Eric Clapton, and Robben Ford). I then entered what I would describe the winter of my music journey. In the mid 90s, for kids of my age, it was very common to play in rock and heavy metal bands. Therefore, like the majority of my friends, I went down the path to become a heavy metal guitar player. I worked hard on Metallica and Iron Maiden’s songs and looked at Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani as role models for my development. Unfortunately, after a few years performing in various local rock bands, I started to feel frustrated with my artistic choices. In truth, I didn’t quite manage to acquire the right tools to conquer Master of Puppets or fly around the intricacies of Images and Words. My heart was very much oriented towards other music styles. I really enjoyed Santana’s simple yet vibrant sytle and his soulful touch. I was blown away by Mark Knopfler’s elegant solos. John Coltrane spoke to me with a giant voice, through his saxophone. Robben Ford’s rhythmic patterns mesmerized me. Swinging, shuffling, and moving around with ups and downs was now my new favorite playing style. In the next years, I then started to focus on learning blues and jazz standards.

Around the time that I was heading to college, I played lead guitar for a local 70s rock and blues band. It was then that I laid another important brick to my music foundations: progressive rock. During this period, I devoted my attention to the work of progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd, Genesis, and Jethro Tull. In particular, the atmospheric and psychedelic nature of Pink Floyd’s songs became a strong inspiration for my own compositions. I finally decided to spend my savings on a cheap Behringer multi-effect pedal and started experimenting with effects of various kind. In the following years, I kept consolidating my identity as a rock/blues guitar player from the progressive era with a technical background coming from more contemporary guitar players such as the previously mentioned Paul Gilbert and John Petrucci. I tried to form bands to put into practice my musical ideas but nothing truly worked. I always felt like something was missing. In the following years, due to work and school priorities, I mostly stopped playing in bands and mainly focused on smaller projects and occasional gigs.

The Piano

Photo by Ebuen Clemente Jr

It was the summer of 2008 and I was attending a beginner-level German class in Berlin. On the last day, our teacher made us watch Good Bye, Lenin! It may have only been that I was pretty bad at German (I still am) but the soundtrack totally captivated me. Yann Tiersen’s melancholic and atmospheric piano moods resonated like something I had never heard before! In the following years, I started to expand my musical horizons to include other contemporary pianists such as Ludovico Einaudi, Philip Glass, and the like. For the first time in my life, I was just a listener with no ambition to play. That didn’t last for long. At a certain point, I naturally felt the desire to play this music. At first, I tried to create guitar arrangements. All attempts more or less failed. I finally realized that there was only one option left: learning to play the piano at a not-so-young age. Driven by passion, I started spending my evenings teaching myself the basics. After a while, mostly thanks to Alfred piano lessons and YouTube instructional videos, I managed to realize my dream: playing Einaudi and Yann Tiersen compositions on the piano. What next?

Mindfulness

Photo by Benjamin Balázs

The thin ice of modern life is undoubtedly taxing on our mental balance. It is very hard to stay afloat without feeling overwhelmed and stressed out. Throughout the years, I experienced burnouts of various intensity and duration. In particular, about four years ago, I got hit by a big stress wave. Life started to feel a little too frantic and confusing. At first, I didn’t know what to do to ease the situation. After several ups and downs, I finally landed on mindfulness. In retrospect, I feel that this was the missing piece in the puzzle of my musical journey. Almost immediately, I started to develop a deep connection with ambient music for meditation and relaxation. Brian Eno became one of my favorite artists.

Who would have ever thought of music as form of therapy?

Muìdas - Putting it together

Photo by Mohamed Nohassi

New Inspiration

About three years ago, thanks to the influence of the newly discovered ambient music and my recently acquired keyboard skills, I started experimenting with guitar amp simulators and software instruments (pianos, pads, effects, filters, soundscapes etc). In the beginning, I didn’t have any particular aim. Within a few months, however, new ideas evolved into compositions where music and meditation came together as a whole. It was beginning of the Muìdas project!

Muìdas

At this point, you may be wondering where the name Muìdas comes from.

In my compositions, I try to create different moods: edgy moods evoking melancholy, anxiety, and trepidation; or happy moods evoking hope, tranquillity, and joy. The same song often includes more than one mood. Each mood refers to a sensorial experience. It could be the sound of wind blowing or waves washing ashore, the sight of the horizon over a calm ocean, or the feeling of lightness while meditating. Muìdas is a Sardinian word meaning murmurs, rumbles, distant sounds. Now you know where I come from 😊

Next: Follow me on Spotify!

I am planning to release my compositions as singles. I hope you will enjoy them! I will update the blog a few weeks before each release date. In the meantime, stay healthy, stay safe, and be kind.

If you have managed to read up to this point, a heartfelt thanks for your time and appreciation.

If you get the chance, please follow Muidas on Spotify!