Allt finns här

Désirée Saarela & Luca Bordonaro – Allt finns här (All is here)

A collaboration across country borders where two very different cultures and persons meet and find something they share that becomes new music. A wonderful meeting and a unique album – the outcome of two complete strangers meeting and visiting each other. That was how it all started.

Singer-songwriter Désirée Saarela’s new album Allt finns här is her eighth album and a collaboration with the versatile musician and bass clarinettist Luca Bordonaro from Sicily. A sincere album recorded live, just like Désirée’s previous albums, which makes it stand out from the mass market. Texts that jump directly into the deep end and bring out many different themes and aspects that have the will and the courage to move the listener. New music without filters from a Finland-Swedish singer-songwriter. The Nordic and Finland-Swedish elements blend in with the southern European elements to form a new and exciting mix and musical whole. From the volcanic island of Sicily with its scents of jasmine, lemon and almond to the land of many forests and lakes that Finland represents.

The songs of the album are about freedom – freedom to be the one you really are (free of filters), and to have the courage to believe that you are enough as you are. Songs about finding your way back home to yourself. Songs about the importance of having your closest people close to you. Songs like Jag ser ett krig från andra sidan (I see a war from the other side) that touches on the current situation of the world. A song for peace. Included on the album is also a song based on a true story from 14th century Ostrobothnia. The album is a reflection of the world we live in today, viewed from Désirée’s perspective as a songwriter. We need to be in touch with ourselves and the people around us, with the past, with our history, but also with our future and present. We need hope and belief in the future! 

  “Sometimes people ask me why I write about these heavy themes and have such profound texts that are so frank and sincere? I have thought about that a lot and come to the insight that I have largely had to fend for myself from an early age. I’ve had to tackle many things on my own and had to struggle with big issues in young years. Because a child has an open mind, I think that that is simply how it has remained. I don’t have access to the filters that would probably be useful to have now as an adult and especially when growing up. But all this has made me create and become the singer-songwriter I am today. A singer-songwriter without filters.”

“I hope I’ll continue to see the world with an open mind, because that is simply the way I’m used to dealing with everyday life and the world around me. Maybe there are people who can relate to this through my songs and texts and I can convey a feeling and a sense of hope that invigorates the listener from inside. Gives the listener the feeling that they can be themselves when listening and the sense that ‘everything that I need is here, in the person that I am and I need nothing else’.” 

Désirée Saarela’s and Luca Bordonaro’s paths crossed at the WOMEX World Music Expo in Porto in 2021. After many rewarding discussions about music and creativity the thought of collaborating came up. Since then, they have visited each other’s homes in Ostrobothnia, Finland, and in Sicily, and have also performed together in Norway. In September 2022 they decided to meet up again in Ostrobothnia to record the album Allt finns här(All is here).