Suzanne Ciani on Coca-Cola Sound, Buchla Synthesizer, and Terraforma Festival

Suzanne Ciani, the electronic musician known for creating the iconic Coca-Cola 'Pop&Pour' sound effect, discussed her creative process at the Terraforma Festival 2017 in Villa Arconati, Italy. She explained that her work begins with a disappointment with reality, leading her to create sounds 'more real than real.' Ciani emphasized the importance of capturing the essence of an action in short, condensed compositions, which she later expands. She described her approach to playing the Buchla modular synthesizer, invented by Don Buchla, as learning to control the movement of sound. Ciani noted that age brings artistic freedom, shifting from literal representation to following the machine's movement. She contrasted this with a more New Age sensibility that reconciles Eastern and Western dualisms in the era of mass nomadism and friendly technologies. At the festival, she performed in the woods, starting with familiar elements, then improvising like jazz, and returning to the starting point—a circular journey embracing uncertainty. Ciani praised Buchla as the Leonardo da Vinci of electronic music and discussed her album 'The Velocity of Love,' playing with the concept of speed versus the slowness of love. Her documentary 'A Life In Waves' captures her lifelong dedication to expressing the sensuality of machines.