[vc_row el_class=”interview”][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”intro-text”]Giolí & Assia is the musical duo made up of the classically trained multi-instrumentalist, music producer and DJ, Giolí, and the talented singer, songwriter, manager and art director, Assia.
The pair joined forces after hitting it off online. With their relationship firmly established, it wasn’t long before they began working together creatively with Assia transitioning from Giolí’s manager to musical counterpart.
Since the two teamed up, they have captured worldwide attention with a number of their songs and videos going viral. Between them, they have a rapidly growing fanbase of over 600,000 on Facebook alone and have been featured in multiple Spotify playlists, with their song ‘Echo Of The Woods‘ wracking up almost 2 million streams.
The Italian artist’s recently got together to answer a few questions for us about their origins in music, the meaning behind their excellent album Instantanee, their new favourite musical instrument the Handpan, their plans for 2018 and more. Follow on below to learn more about one of 2018’s most dynamic duos.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
- Hey Giolì and Assia, how was 2017 for you guys?
- 2017 was a really intense and hard year. In 2016, everything was new and unexpected to us, it was the first year we travelled all over the world. 2017, unlike its predecessor, was the year of working hard in the studio to create the tracks on our debut album and it was the year we founded our record label, Diesis Records. It was also the year during which we started the “duo project”, partnered with Believe Digital, and laid the foundations of what will be involved in our 2018 summer tour. Despite all the hard work, the end of the past year was amazing because we got to share the Timeout 72H mainstage with some of the most popular worldwide performers including Jason Derulo, Martin Garrix, Nervo, Don Diablo, and Wiz Khalifa.
- What sparked your musical partnership?
- We met on social media where we started chatting about music and photography. When we first started messaging, we quickly discovered that we had a lot in common. Our passion, dreams and life goals aligned with one another’s. It was easy and quick to establish a relationship, both on the musical and personal side of things. We started off as artist and manager but we would experiment with a lot of things when we would go to the studio to create new tracks. One day we decided to incorporate vocals into our techno productions and were pleasantly surprised by audience’s reception. They loved the first tracks we put out – ‘Stay Closer’, ‘Paradise to Share‘ and ‘How Can I?‘ – and expected us to release an album full of similar tracks, so we figured it wouldn’t hurt to continue collaborating.
- Giolì, how has your background in classical music helped with your DJ career and live shows?
- It has mostly helped from a production perspective. The instruments I played and the music I composed in the past helped shape who I am today. It’s funny to say, but when I was a teenager I used to listen exclusively to classical music, and everything I composed during that period was solely meant to be played on the piano or in an orchestra. House music came into my life three years later, and it never left! I love the way both elements in both genres can be used interchangeably.
- Assia, what first gave you the idea to start singing with Giolì in addition to managing her?
- We never defined our respective roles in our creative partnership. I was technically the manager and she was technically the artist, but we were a lot more than the labels. We have always managed all aspects of our jobs together, including social media, marketing strategy, the music, and the tours. It has always been one of my dreams to sing professionally so we decided to experiment with my vocals and slap them on top of the techno tracks. This is actually how ‘Endless‘ came to fruition! After its release we received positive international feedback regarding future collaborations, so we came up with the idea to release an album.
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”large-quote”]
“We equate the name Istantanee to something immortal and immutable, yet pure and spontaneous at the same time.”
[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUmlufHlEaQ”][vc_column_text]
- What inspired you to start using the Handpan?
- We knew that a video with the Handpan would go viral because of its intriguing and magical qualities. We reached out to an American Handpan manufacturing company to pitch our idea and explain the marketing potential it had. The first video was awesome and completely surpassed our expectations; it got more than 15 million views and gained us 300k Facebook followers. Every Handpan video we put out subsequently racked up between 1 million and 5 million views. Despite its newly found marketing potential, the Handpan is an incredible instrument on its own and we were keen to use it in our productions to prove that it wasn’t only meant for ambient and chill tracks, but electro and techno as well. It is comprised of both percussive and the melodic features which makes it a pretty unique instrument.
- Tell us a bit about the story behind Istantanee…
- As mentioned previously, the idea to release an album was sparked by all the positive feedback we received about the possibility of spearheading a duo project. We chose a Polaroid as the cover of our first collaborative records so we thought it would be cool to call the album Instantanee, the Italian word for Polaroid. Instantanee will contain 12 tracks; each one is unique and tells a different story from the rest, just as a polaroid immortalizes a specific moment in your life. We equate the name Istantanee to something immortal and immutable, yet pure and spontaneous at the same time.
- How has “going viral” benefitted your music career? Has it opened up a lot of opportunities for you as artists?
- Of course, it has. If you go viral millions of people will be exposed to your posts and videos so you’ll get more attention and new fans every day. Nowadays, every artist wants to go viral because the more audience you get, the more opportunities will be presented to help your career. Because of our viral videos, we received requests from all over the world which then led us to travel and perform in clubs and festivals from Asia to Europe to America to Africa.
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”large-quote”]
“Apart from coming up with ideas for the record label, such as showcases and an agency, our dream is to create a Diesis clothing line and to be more involved in the fashion industry.”
[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy0qtyQG0jU”][vc_column_text]
- How much freedom does running your own label give you as artists?
- Lots of freedom, for sure, but also a lot of responsibilities. On one hand, you have full control of your music, you can plan everything to your liking, and manage your social media without having to follow any specific rules. On the other hand, you have to tackle more responsibilities – being both an artist and head of a label is definitely more stressful than being “just” an artist. You need to plan and manage marketing strategies for not only your own but other artists’ tracks. It’s not always simple because we travel often and we also need to keep working on our own productions in the studio.
- Are you planning to grow the label and sign more emerging artists?
- Yes, of course. We strongly believe in Diesis Records. Apart from coming up with ideas for the record label, such as showcases and an agency, our dream is to create a Diesis clothing line and to be more involved in the fashion industry. We have already designed the logo we would use.
- Have you guys got any exciting projects planned that we should be looking for?
- Yes! We are planning our summer worldwide tour ‘Instantanee’ with our new management. We’re not allowed to reveal the details quite yet, but it will be the best tour we have yet to go on so there’s a lot to expect.
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Giolí & Assia recently shared their brand new single, ‘Borderline,‘ which can be heard above. Instantanee is set to arrive later this year. Follow Giolí here and Assia here.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
