A ride inside Okgiorgio’s head
In this period the name of Okgiorgio is evoked by artists and professionals, such as that of a lamp genius. Case wants Giorgio Pesenti, musician, producer and DJ born in 1996, originally from Bergamo, the features and the dreamer and bizarre wizard attitude really has them. His electronic live in clubs, often full, imbued with unleashed dances and emotional moments, between Poghi and hugs, seem the rituals of a tribe. Started as a member of the Isis band, now fallen especially in the role of electronic music composer and DJ, even if you do not feel such, Okgiorgio is also one of the producers on which there is more attention in Italy, the reason is its ability to leave a tangible imprint on the songs on which she puts her hands. Launched by the nuclear tactical penguins, with which he collaborates in a narrow way, he worked with Rose Villain, Tananai, Angelina Mango, Dionellapiaga, Giuse The Lizia, Loredana Berté, lightning and others.
This is a golden period for you with very full live in Italy and a European tour at the gates. A big leap. In addition, the Apple Dj Mix you recorded in Los Angeles will be released on Friday 14 March.
Yes, but I haven’t sought this period in advance. It matters that I started this solo path for personal vent. And, when I started, the phrases I felt the most were: “In Italy electronic music does not work” or “everything that is not pop is struggling”. It seemed that I had to be that type of Sanremo singer who follows that road or nothing, “if not stay confined to the niche”.
Is it really “a niche”?
I would say no. But I don’t make a matter of numbers, but of people: only the invaded of electronic music are not only the lives, on the contrary. This is a period of discovery for me, it is a messed up and magical period in the run of things to do.
Don’t you think the statement “Italian electronic music does not have an audience” is a huge lie?
Total. The cool of music that is not closely linked to a text is just that it can fly abroad. And Italy has always said its international level: I think of Gigi D’Agostino, the Italian-Disco, the Italian techno with a sea of artists who are worth. Then there is Gabry Ponte, who is a more pop character. And do we want to talk about Anyma? It may or from or not, but it is Italian. But the Italians don’t notice it. Pop instead is more linked to the territory.
Your lives are conceived at 360 °, that is, you want people around you. You are at the console, but sometimes the guitar also sounds. What is the balance between this dimensions?
The 360th part from the idea that the size of “stage” is cut down. I started making DJ sets at parties, for friends. I like, in my concerts, to re -propose that atmosphere when possible. It is not an absolute principle: for the summer we are thinking of something that works “on the” stage, but now as now I prefer to break it down. The guitar speech is linked to the fact that I come from the music played and if you want to make a live, for me, you must have instruments.
So is the guitar just a start?
Yes, it’s a starting point. Over time, I want to have more and more tools until the figure of the DJ disappear. Also because I don’t feel like a DJ.
To get to where?
To a caribou -style live that has his friends and musicians who play with him on stage. I would like the same: a band on stage that completes my figure. In the world of Caribou there is a wonderful “collective” dimension, which I follow for the moment bringing my friends on tour to work, but which I would like to get on stage.
A live that has not satisfied you?
In America I was unable to create the connection I wanted with the public. I had never been, I have to work to return there and understand how to create the right relationship. Even in Italy there are perhaps the city where the public takes longer to “melt”. I like this idea of ”challenge”, it gratifies me if I can somehow win it.
What are the coordinates of your musical journey?
A bang, in fact I am confused (laughs, editor’s note). I know that if I had the opportunity to do something important abroad, there would certainly be a melodic side. It is true: my sound is foreign, but I am Italian, my name is Okgiorgio. However, I like to produce music that I would listen to, which could end up in a playlist. Now as now I would tell you music at the Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens to whom I want to add the dance. I want to create a bridge between emotion and movement.
You played with the Isis. How did you get to the console?
During the pandemia I started making music by vent totally following my personal tastes. I started from the classic guitar: I started saming it, distorting it, destroying and regenerating the sound. Then a friend, in Lockdown finished, called me and said to me: “Come and do a DJ set in Milan with your machines?” But I had never done it. He went well, some asked me for the titles of the songs I had played and were amazed to discover that they were pieces made by me. Certainly the insertion of some words in Italian in the songs, with a foreign sound, played an important role, creating something emotional.
To Fred Again?
He even managed to insert WhatsApp audio into some pieces and to make them emotional. It is impossible today, in pop or electronics, not to confront what he is doing. Many compare me to him … the comparisons never make me fly, they also cause embarrassment … but it is the best of the compliments that can be done to me.
How did your side side be born?
Very early. As a boy, at 17. I liked the idea of creating something for others, whether they were sounds or videos, when I was making the amateur videomaker. The person who made me do the big jump was Riccardo Zanotti, were the penguins. With Riccardo we have been friends for a long time. Back from London, we had seen and we started a path that has brought me more and more luck, to date. I enjoy when they ask me: “But how do you pass from producing Berté to making electronic music”?
How do you answer?
That I like music, all. It is not a gender issue, but how you do it.
How do you choose the artists to collaborate with?
I don’t know, there is no filter. But it is certainly not a matter of numbers. Of those I just don’t give a shit. Certainly to help there are time crossings, if with an artist there is feeling, I like what I heard, and then comes the moment when we are free both, we collaborate. With Rose Villain, for example, the relationship started from one of his message in which he told me that he liked my pieces, that he flew to us, did not start saying “we collaborate”. I thought: cool.
The working method?
I like songwriters. The sessions with many authors do not convince me. The latter Sanremo, given the results, sanctioned that writing the songs alone gives something more. I believe that when you realize a song there should be a reason to write it. Being in more people in a room to do it can be cool, I work with many authors and I respect them, but there can also be the unspoken, as it happened to me, of the “we are five here, we must necessarily quaglianto”. The why is clear: that is a job, you have to eat. I follow more an “free music” approach.
What do you mean when you talk about “a reason” to make a song?
I believe in the deep connection, in the reasons to write a song, in the reasons why people should listen to it. I start from there. This does not mean that you must always “innovate”, also because it would be impossible. It is enough to say something said well and sincerity. If someone who listens to you cling, that is enough and advances.
Are we in a moment of tired in the field of productions?
Yes. The trap has taken its course, nostalgia in pop too. I really hope that someone who changes the languages and music, who dysfi everything, even at the cost of not being understood by an over 40, will come in pop or pop. A punk. For example, I think of someone like Thasup who then inspired a bang of artists including Blanco. You need one so, of rupture, that you change the rules of the game and give a nice swept.
Dance all together has a social value?
Absolutely. I am interested in values and messages, for this reason during my live there is also space for words. I would like the value of the Union that is felt at a concert between people also manifested themselves outside. I dream that the gesture of helping a person who falls in a pogo can be reflected more and more in everyday life.
