ILARIA CROCIANI

Believing yourself to be alone, misunderstood and helpless in enduring the pains of living is the biggest and most foolish mistake anyone can make. The disinterest for, or the unwillingness to listen to the life stories of those around us, as well as the incapacity to recognise ourselves in others, are myopic attitudes that can only amplify the inconsolable loneliness and torment that may assail us when going through phases of weakness or weariness in life.

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The truth is that we are all venturers of the every-day. Without a map or an instruction booklet, we improvise the paths of living on unmarked roads, which are often dusty and bumpy. Indeed, no one is a “unicum”. We all share similar existential questions, incertitudes and hesitations. Sometimes even discomforts or hardships.

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Keeping ourselves open and genuinely interested in the personal experiences of those who have preceded us or those who surround us is a brilliant antidote to loneliness. Observing different perspectives and ways of coping with life through listening to the stories of others is an inimitably meaningful learning path to personal growth and fulfilment.

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The music in this album is a celebration of the inspiring women whose stories of hardship, integrity and resoluteness offered me comfort in a moment of particular vulnerability while reinvigorating my inner strength and sense of hope. This album truly represents the primary outcome of a journey of personal discovery and reflection that led me to fully appreciate the importance of looking at other people’s real-life experiences to build resilience in the face of life’s adversities. I discovered my songs’ remarkable protagonists, Shirley Howard, Gina Sinozich, Isabella Leonarda, Barbara Strozzi, Marion Bell, Germaine Greer, Vera von Lehndorff, and Minnie Berrington, and learning about their lives was, for me, a real epiphany. Each of them - past or contemporary, unknown or famous - was there to convey a message of hope. While offering the chance to reflect on values like moral integrity, courage, fairness and gratitude, each of their stories was there unequivocally to prove the importance of self-trust and perseverance.With this album, I wish to communicate the same message of hope, suggesting an open invitation to be genuinely interested in learning from others, past or present, listening to their stories or researching and studying them.

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Because, after all, it is not too hard to retrace echoes of one’s hesitancy and melancholy, as well as desires and dreams, in other people’s stories. It is not complex to delineate those connections and parallels between people’s experiences, which can reveal that life is the same for everyone: the most fascinating and unreachable of mysteries.

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Indeed it is not difficult to understand it. Actually just as simple as a game of Connect the Dots.