Désirée Saarela and Luca Bordonaro met for the first time at Womex in Porto in October 2021. They found a connection and enjoyed each other’s company and quite soon Désirée asked Luca if he would like to play the bass clarinet on some of her new songs. Said and done Désirée sent over some material to Luca and he added his tracks and music on her songs. It felt so right and sounded so great together that Désirée asked if Luca would like to come over to Finland and visit her home in the forest on the west coast and finally play together. So in March 2022 the duo played together for the first time and as Désirée had new material and quite many songs that she was getting together for her next album she asked Luca if he wanted to play on this album and he agreed.
In July it was Désirée’s turn to visit Luca’s beautiful home country and hometown in Sicily and there was time to play together again and enjoy beautiful Sicily. After playing live for the first time and doing concerts in Norway in September the duo flew back to Désirée’s home in the forest to record the album that will be released early next year 2023.
This great adventure and very special musical meeting where Désirée’s nordic and original singer-songwriter songs and sounds blend together with Luca’s amazing bass clarinet virtuosity and Sicilian passion for life, beauty and great food. Can’t wait for this album to be released!
Désirée Saarela
is a Finland-Swedish singer-songwriter and folk singer whose vocal expression is strongly rooted in the folk tradition. The lyrics, the stories and the mood they convey are at the core of her music. Désirée is inspired by her surroundings, by people, relations, the forest, sea, open landscapes, nature itself – and all of this becomes songs. The experience of having moved several times between city and countryside has left its mark on Désirée’s life and also influenced her songs and lyrics.
Luca Bordonaro
Coming from Sicily, Italy, Luca Bordonaro studied classical and contemporary music in Italy, Portugal, Sweden, France, and Spain. He has played and collaborated with many orchestras, chamber ensembles, folk and contemporary world music bands like the Lanciano Symphonic Orchestra (Italy), Orquestra Principe de Asturias (Portugal), Ensemble Contemporaine TM+ (Paris), Orchestra Jacaránda, Trio Caipirinha, Shakata, AstralVoyage (Spain), etc. He has also taken part in various festivals like the GroundUp Music Fest (Miami), Aurora Fine Arts Festival (Sweden), Palo Market Fest (Spain), and performed and recorded with artists like Magda Giannikou (Banda Magda), William Cepeda, Petros Klampanis, Walter Thompson, Gary Willis, Perico Sambeat, Victor Wooten, Patrice Rushen, 4-times Grammy-winning Michael League from Snarky Puppy, among others. Moreover, Luca has worked as a project manager, business agent, and video editor for Berklee College of Music, Valencia, and for the record label GroundUP Music, NY, founded by Michael League.
Since pursuing a Master’s and Post-Master’s degrees at Berklee College of Music, Luca has been creating multi-sensory experiences, as a tool to stimulate self-awareness and cultural competence. Therefore he has created an exposition of 360° VR experiences, with smells, touch, and tastes, as well as an Augmented Reality mobile app that embeds music into real-life experiences.
