Giulia Valle - Berenice (2009)

"I chose the title Berenice because this poetic and somehow dark word had been stuck in my mind for days.

It evoked in me the figure of a fragile woman, thin and dark haired... with a shade of melancholy, but also with unusual strength, mostly manifested through maternal sweetness. A certain hint of nihilistic eroticism, combined with a raging love for life. A being from earth, but still somehow ethereal.

Then I realized that Berenice was the main character in an eponymous story by Edgar Allan Poe I had read many years ago. A tale of love and death, a trip to the depths of despair by a man who sees his beloved ravaged by an incurable disease which erodes her beauty and gradually transforms her into a monster. In spite of this, the mans tormented love grows each day. Then I learned more about the word; Greek in origin (BereNike), the name means who brings Victory.

Berenice was also the name of a renowned Egyptian queen, a constellation, and a progressive artist (Berenice Abbott, a key figure in the Art-Deco movement)...

To me, this word means drama, beauty and timelessness. Mythology and vanguardism. Strength and frailty as one... the union of contrasting elements, the essence of postmodern lives.

But most of all, this is the title of the third album Im doing with my beloved quintet... because WE LIKE THE WAY IT SOUNDS!!!!!!!!!: Berenice... Enjoy!"