Marko Ivic, a Venezuelan artist with Croatian and Italian roots is steadily becoming a known figure for his vast compositional abilities and creative sound design. Driven by an appreciation for the intricacies sound holds, he draws inspiration from the likes of Glass, Reich, and Eno. Marko's goal is simple yet profound: to share the joy he feels when he plays and to remind people of the subtle dimensions of existence often overlooked.
The artist’s latest release, Mudita, is an astounding piano composition. Shimmering reverbs expand the twinkling arpeggiated melodies, telling a story that flows alongside the music. The listener is first shown a picturesque clearing, beautiful sunlight and rich greenery steadily transform your emotions into more meditative equivalents. Brought into a rising climax a punchy intensity falls over the atmosphere, continuing to rise into the stratosphere as all elements concentrate their ferocity. Though the tension fades, this ferocity remains amongst the delicate final melodies.
Marko shares, “Mudita is one of the most intuitive songs of the album. In terms of composition, it came to life very fast. I was improvising one day when I "discovered" the melody, and within 2 days the song was finished, and remained in that shape all the way till the recording days. Other songs in the album, for example, experienced changes and corrections over a longer period of time.
The title came later, when I was trying to find a suitable name for it. Since the beginning, the song had a mystical feeling for me, like alluding to something ancient, eternal, like the earth.
But one day, while I was on a plane, I was reading a book with the conversations between the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, when I heard the term Mudita for the first time. The Dalai Lama explained that in Buddhism, Mudita is a word used to describe a feeling of well-being because of someone else's fortune, like the opposite for feelings of envy, or something like that.
The meaning captivated me, and I immediately felt I had found a title for the song. The song has a cyclical harmonic structure, and this makes me think of interconnectedness and how joy is something we can experience even if it is in someone else's experience. For me, to be kind to someone else is the most powerful act we have in our hands.”