CNN iReport

From the CNN Ireport hub in Second Life, here's Vickie Maidstone

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And hello everyone, thanks for joining me here today, I have today for you a documentary that I have been going over in my head and today, it is my pleasure to bring to you, Sheela Nagy and LabGraal. I found out about this group through a down loaded mp3 file of which they had on a music website. After listening to it a few times and telling in was different in nature, I was able to get in contact with Nevar Lobo inworld. This was after I ran a search and found that LabGraal has a place here in Second Life and after arriving I found Mr. Lobo there. We talked at length about the group and he was able to arrange for me to meet Sheela Nagy, the leader of the group. In the mean time I had sent a notecard with some questions for her and was pleased with the answers to which I will put the entire notecard here.

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1)When did LabGraal begin??

LabGraal was founded by me (Rosalba Nattero in RL) and Giancarlo Barbadoro (JohnTitor Shan in SL) at the end of the eighties. Giancarlo and I found ourselves walking down the same road in the search of the Graal, and since both of us are musicians we decided to make this passion also flow-off into music. the othe members, Andrea Lesmo (Narval Roux), Luca Colarelli (LokiGraal Merlin, and Giaanluca Roggero (Gyot Greenwood) joined us soon after. Since then the band's formation has never changed.

2) Where did you start?

Our adventure started in London. Our first public exhibition took place at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall. It really was a stroke of luck, we five were in England on a study journey on megalithism, and due to a series of encounters we were given the oppurtunity to play at the Festival "Mind, Body and Spirit" at the Royal Albert Hall of London at the time. We weren't up to it at the time but we seized the oppurtunity to perform after having to rent everything we needed instrument wise. We played a Celtic concert and gotten note worthy acclaim and haven't stopped since.

3)How many members of your group?

Our band is made up of five members,

Rosalba Nattero, vocals

Giacarlo Barbadoro, flute

Luca Colaelli, Bagpipes and Guitar

Andrea Lesmo, bouzuki and keyboards,

Gianluca Roggero, drums

Giancarlo Barbadoro is also the poet of the group and the songs we compose are mostly insprired through his poems.

4) Yor music is described as tribal in nature, and from the videos on youtube it is, why a tribal sound??

Our music is tribal because it takes inspiration from the native traditions of Europe. There is a deep rooted link among all of the world's tribal music; Keltic music, sounds of Africa,the australian Aborigines, Native Americans...is all music linked together by the same way of feeling and interpreting relationships with nature. We take inspiration from the ancient heart of keltic music, which is music that starts from the heart and is interpreted with all the passion that can be lived through contact with nature. Celtic music is freedom, its the adventure of life. We found the same spirit in the music of Native Africans. Indeed, we often played with musicians native to other traditions because we all speak the same musical langauge.

5)Roughly, what do you see in your music that makes it different from other musicians?

It is really always so difficult to make comparisons; yet I believe that the strong will to express a message of freedom is what makes our music so particular. Our music is a cry in the struggles against injustice and oppression, for the defense of  Native People's sacred lands, for all other species that share this planet with us,which however are killed and tortured each day to be used as a source of food. at the same time, our music is also an act of love, one directed at nature and all its inhabitants. This is the spirit of our music. This is what has been transmitted to us during our journies among Natives; and we hope that we will be able to continue to pass this on this meassage to anyone listening to us.

6)Say in two or three years from now, where will LabGraal be?

Lets hope on the moon, playing in the Sea of Tranquility...LOL...But we be satisfied with Australia, a land in which we left our heart and in which I am sure we'll return to. We have so many projects, one of which is the sequel to our film "Shan", that is already in progress.

7)What is the relationship among you and the members of the group like?

It is an intense relationship, we a re tied together both by common research and by the will to use our music in an effort to create a better world. We are Like a family that discusses everything. sometimes we argue, but we always agree on fundamental issues. There is a whole lot of fun in everything we do, especially teasing one another constantly, even when we are on stage. Perhaps the constant, which keeps us so closely tied, is the awarness that nothing lasts forever-that everything can from one moment to the next. this awareness makes us free, at the bottom of it all, Our music is amystical research.

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I had a chance recently to attend one of their concerts and was just really able to enjoy hearing familiar songs they performed on youtube, and this time was really thrilled to able to hear the full versions of them. I also had a chance to invitee them to the hub as you can see in a couple of shots of me, Sheela Nagy and JohnTitor Shan (and I think thats a parrot on John's shoulder) Charlie.

LabGraal since the late eighties have produced seven albums, of which "Shan" was made into a movie and a single "Mother Earth People". In the course of a conversation I had with Sheela, she had asked if I like to have copy of a couple of theirs albums and the movie, I very graciously gave her my address and within a few days was listening to some of the most beautiful music and watched the movie. The pictures are from the concert and they draw a very large crowd and at its peak had 90 plus people on the sim, the party she also did had about 50 on the sim then.

Sheela and John are also founders of the group Eco-Spirituallity which deals with the Indigenous Peoples through out the world and their purpose is to raise awareness of native people and their sacred lands, and I'll have a report soon about in more detail. You can learn more about LabGraal at http://www.labgraal.org, http://myspace.com/labgraal. The movie "Shan can also be view at; http://www.shanmovie.com.

I'm Vickie Maidstone, CNN Ireport