Inventor and Pioneer of the BolivuOpera genre, an exclusive intersection with the Seven International Opera Award winning singer Gioconda Vessichelli, straight from America... BY Sulena Majumdar Arora

On the 20th anniversary of her worldwide career, that began as a highly talented child artist, Gioconda Vessichelli who is Seven International Opera Award winning star singer from Italy, gives many insights into her career so far.

Gioconda has always said that India is her second land as she is spiritually connected to India and is the inventor and pioneer of the Bollywood Opera genre.

She is a versatile artist, as she is not only a singer but also an actress and director with a degree in performing arts from the University of Rome, Italy.

On 22 January 2022, a huge concert was held in honor of her career anniversary, where she was a protagonist with three tenors.

The whole world has heard a lot about her that she is the first singer in the world to create a fusion between western and eastern music and culture, even though her 'BollywoodOpera' style was created and patented in Delhi .

In fact she is the first non-Indian woman to receive the award for combining Bollywood music with opera music and she has collaborated with many eminent artists of Indian music such as Grammy Award winner Sukhwinder Singh, Hari Haran, Mika Singh, Salim.

Suleman, Asha Bhosle, Zakir Hussain, Anup Jalota, Loy Mendosa, Silvaganesha, Jeanne Banks,Niladari and many other top singers and has participated and performed in many festivals and auditoriums.

Gioconda has sung in many Bollywood movies like 'Prague', 'Ziddi Dil', 'Mary Kom', which brought her immense popularity. In 2017-18, her songs 'Itni Si Baat Hai', and 'That's Amore' were released by Asia's biggest label T-Series which went viral overnight.

Her revolutionary song in December 2019 'Contigo Bom Bom' first introduced raffles in India, and then her 'Bom Bom Challenge' started making rounds on social media.

Her another song, 'Thoda Daru' with Mika Singh also became very popular. She is also inscribed in the book of the Italian Opera Singer.

Gioconda Vessichellia who is the recipient of several Prestigious Awards, is rising in popularity today and as such, she is all set to create some special lightning in the Bollywood skies and is eager to tell her story by associating with Mayapuri Magazine and online mayapuri.

So here is an exclusive interview with the Seven International Opera Award winning singer Gioconda Vessichelli straight from America.

1) You are said to be the inventor and pioneer of Bollywood opera style, what have you to say about it?

I have for the first time ever introduced opera in India fused with Bollywood music.

Hence the name " BollywoOPERA"which is my invention, patented in Delhi and I am proud to say that I gained the Indian Women award (even if I am not Indian, just because I have built a culture bridge between Western culture and Indian culture.. before than me the same prize was given to Mother Theresa as another foreigner too).

2) You have sung in so many Bollywood movies and also done live performances, what is your experience about Indian listeners and audience?

Simply amazing! Wherever I sung I got standing ovation from the audience because Indian audience is always open minded and curious towards new and innovative things ...just like I am!

Because I have an inner curious child inside me that always pushes me towards unexplored things. It is a way to grow up in life ..by always keeping eyes and senses open...similarly the Indian folk does.. that's why India is growing up so fast and I am sure it will come the new most powerful country of the world very soon.

3) You collaborated with many Indian artists and singers and also worked with many global singers and music composers. What is difference you found among Indian artists, composer and other non Indian artists?

Well the non Indian artists plan everything with months of advance, they are more rigorous in respecting timings and dates, Indian artists are more spontaneous and less mechanical, sometimes I felt that we were very much delaying in delivering a music or a project..because till the last minute nothing was ready..but then in the last minute the magic happened!

And the results were magnificent! I love the way Indian artists can remember every single note by heart, without writing hundreds of pages of music scores, ..I really think Indian people have something more in their DNA, maybe because they do lots of yoga or the food..I don't know..but it is something beautiful that Indian kids start writing when they are only 3 years old while in Western countries for example they start writing at 6 years old.

Or when I have met people remembering phone numbers by heart..and most of all entire concerts with thousands of notes without writing a single note..it is like they have a computer rather than a human brain!!

4) Your voice is melodious and also peppy and naughty, what is your actual voice and style trait?

My voice is the mirror of my soul..it has lots of nounces and it is very versatile. My teacher Luciano Pavarotti (the biggest opera singer of the world) used to say that the Big can contain the small and not vice-versa.

I started my career as an opera singer (where ópera singers sing without microphones and all live and with a strong voice technique that allows the voice to overpass a huge orchestra of about 50 musical instruments WITHOUT using microphones and without loosing your voice..and imagine that operas 'duration goes from 3 to even 5 hours!).

So when you are used to do as a very rigorous life (waking up at 4 am to start singing LIVE in theatres , starting acting while singing at the same time, remembering thousands of pages of opera scores while you are on stage and coordinates , going 'a tempo'with the conductor and orchestra ..syncronizing all this actions at the same time..it is not an easy thing..but it enhances your brain s power.

That is why when I sing pop and I even use the mic and I don't have an acting script to follow on stage and an orchestra of 5 elements and not 50..it is much more relaxing for me,and such kind of mood gives me the possibility of exploring new sounds in my voice.

Because I used to be a child prodigy with 4 octaves of range extension and now I have discovered that this big range is not only in my voice extension but also in the different colours and voice emission that I can make happen with my voice! That makes me so happy because I always prefer to be a painter who has 20 colours to make its masterpiece rather than being a painter who has only 1 colour.

5) Please tell us something about your concert held on 22 January?

-It has been a lovely surprise in occasion of my 20th aniversary of career started as a child prodigy: I was accompanied in the concert by 3 tenors and lots of beautiful memories are now in my heart because I started the concert by singing from the opera "Tosca" the aria "Vissi d'arte" that sealed the starting point of my career, when I won the first International opera competition (6 ones more followed) but the first one was very important for me because the pianist of the legendary soprano Maria Callas after accompanying me with piano, he came close to me and said "your voice reminds me a lot Maria Callas ' voice...if now that you are a child you can already sing such a difficult opera like Tosca, when you will become an adult what will you sing?".

And actually when I became adult a contemporary composer who was ALIVE and sitting in the audience (what a huge responsibility for the singers during the show.) Composed "Lavinia fuggita"opera ,a very difficult opera which I learned in only 5 days (not months like it happened for my collegues) and I sung it in.

Teatro Comunale di Módena, it was aired in Italian government Radio2 as a FIRST worldwide execution..and I was the soprano singer !! That is how my name is in the encyclopedia of opera nowadays ;-).

6) You are the first singer ever in the world to build a fusion between Western and Eastern music and culture through your Bollywoopera style? How could you make it possible?

Yes , it was one of the thousands of ideas that my hyper creative brain suggested me and it happened in a particular moment of my life when I went to India for a spiritual journey which lead me to dip in Gange River and in that moment Meri Ganga Mata ji gave me the answers to all my life questions.

And all the perspectives of my life changed in an imprevedibly, lovely and energizing way! That is why I thought that India as gifted me a lot from a spiritual point of view and I had to gift to India a bit of my creativity in a process of karmic "do ut des".

7) You are a born artist and singer, did you ever think of being in such a space in Bollywood, I mean have you ever imagined that you will be tagged as the queen of Bollywood music opera fusion?

No I would have never imagined, Also because when it happened I was in India to find the replies to my questions of life and I came alone, in incognito with a small bag of 5 kg ,carrying only the essencial things, in an adventure mood, no make up, no big luggages where to carry all the insicurities things and that was in the essential not in the superfluus things that the magic happened!

8) Have you ever gone through our magazine 'Mayapuri'?

Yes, of course I have and I loved reading it. I always go through Mayapuri magazine and online Mayapuri. Such beautiful and intelligent content.