Laura Inserra

Laura Inserra was born in Sicily, Italy. At the age of 15 she started studying classical piano, but her passion for research led her to the improvisation style. She played with different musicians and she explored various musical genres, and within a few years she was able to apply the free improvisation technique on many instruments: bass, soprano sax, classical flute and ethnic percussion instruments. Thanks to musicians and teachers from various continents, she learned to both play and construct native instruments of the world, like the didgeridoo from Australia, the djembe from Africa, bamboo flutes from India and other instruments created by her. In 1993 she moved to Rome to study psychology. At this point her research intensified, specializing in ethnic/tribal instruments and cultural anthropology. This is when she also started teaching percussion instruments and didgeridoo. She attended the Classical Music Conservatory in Italy, where she studied classical orchestral percussion. Thanks to my teacher Gianluca Ruggeri she intensified her skill in minimalist music. These years were very important because they allowed her to develop her personal style. At 21 she created and directed a theatrical multimedia performance called ‘Apologia della Gioia’, involving a live ensemble of thirty artists as musicians, actors, dancers, poets and performers. This is the vision she holds in all my works: different expressions of art all in an unique event. Now these productions are called Samavesha. While she was living in Rome, she authored and performed various pieces of music for theater, dance performances, exhibitions and soundtracks for movies with acclaimed musicians from all over the world. ‘Mood’ is an album with different songs from these works. For almost two years she also collaborated musically and as assistant composer for Paolo Buonvino, one of the most famous italian movie soundtrack composers. Currently, she is based out of Berkeley, California, where she create soundtracks, performances and concerts with artists of all genres. She is the fonder and the artistic director of Samavesha, a production that seeks to unite different expressions of Art in beautiful, inspiring and unique events. In the past few years, she has discovered the Hang, a new instrument made in Switzerland. ‘Hang: a collection of works’ is an album dedicated entirely to this instrument. Her research is focused primarily on the Hang although she perform with a variety of instruments and I teach percussion and rhythmic improvisation, didgeridoo and circular breathing, Hang and other workshops. For more information: www.laurainserra.com Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.