FIVE - THE STORY - Five years Berlin School

Five first years on the Berlin School's stage

Thanks to Frank Heller for this photo

FIVE THE STORY

Dear Fellow listeners, Dear Fellow listeners,

The album "FIVE" celebrates my first five years on the Berlin School stage. During this time I have been fortunate to be able to share my own musical vision with passion and sincerity and to live my dream. This anniversary, it is with you, that I wish to share it here.

Take care of yourself and those around you, long live music, long live Love,
Laurent Schieber (Sequentia Legenda)
🎹😘🎹

Thanks to Alan Busby for this photo

BLUE DREAM BEGINNING OF MY MUSICAL ADVENTURE

The album "BLUE DREAM" released in December 2014 was the beginning of my musical adventure, other opus followed. Some albums were nominated for the Schallwelle Awards and I am proud and very happy about that. There was also the release of the double album "EXTENDED".

I had the privilege of meeting and dialoguing with musicians such as Thorsten Quaeschning, Bernd Kistenmacher, Harald Grosskopf, Bertrand Loreau, Olivier Briand to name but a few, and of collaborating with Tommy Betzler, Jean-Luc Briançon (Kurzt Mindfields), Michael Brückner (Live Session).

BLUE DREAM

MY SOUND UNIVERSES ON THE AIRWAVES

Radio moderators have not been outdone in broadcasting my sound worlds on the airwaves. I keep in memory some of the shows, for example "BLUE DREAM Trilogy" on SineFM with Simon Thomas, the moments in Jos verboven's show "Electronic Fusion", the memorable "Murmure du son" with the duo Sylvain Lupari and Robert Hamel, the appearances with Ecki Stieg in the unavoidable "Grenzwellen", without forgetting the programming in one of the most podcast radio shows in the world : "La Planète Bleue" by Yves Blanc. The show "Le Bunker" with for the occasion a two-hour "Special Sequentia Legenda" organized by Guy Devilla will also remain a superb moment of emotion for me.

I had the chance to express myself and share my passion during interviews, for example with Jean-Claude El Jice for an interview in the Belgian magazine "Le Progressiste". I remember my first interview in German and live via Skype in the "New Age" show with Rainer Tyson Schramke.

REVIEWS & INTERVIEWS

DIRECT AND PRIVILEGED CONTACT WITH THE LISTENERS

The stage performances in Germany, Switzerland and France were each time beautiful and rich experiences allowing me to have a direct and privileged contact with the listeners.

Here is the teaser produced by Guillaume Diard for Synthfest 2019:

UNEXPECTED PROJECTS WERE BORN

Unexpected projects were born, such as the participation in the book to read and listen to "La Lune, pourquoi on a décroché ?" by Lydia Mirdjanian in which my title "Solitudes Lunaires" was used as a soundtrack. I also think back to the Edgar Froese memorial project organized by Rebekkah Hilgraves. Surprises too, such as the presence of my track "AU REVOIR" in the La Planète Bleue volume 9 compilation, more information about it here.

There were also unfortunately some disappearances, I would come back here only on the premature departure of my friend Philipppe Vallin with whom I had a rich and warm contact. Phil had his own way of writing, an enlightened musical culture, a sensitivity that resembled me. One of Philippe Vallin's articles about me.


There have also been projects that could not be completed for various reasons, sometimes due to lack of time. The collaboration with Ron Charron (Kuutana Serenity) is still going on.

Some projects are in progress: the collaboration with the talented Hélène Vogelsinger, a concert project in a planetarium, a festival in Switzerland, my next album "BEYOND THE STARS".

And finally, to conclude this retrospective: During these five years, I have had the great pleasure to be able to benefit from the warm and unconditional support of the listeners whom I salute here. Thanks to all those who believed in my musical vision.


Laurent Schieber (Sequentia Legenda)
🎹😘🎹

TESTIMONIALS

Thanks to Beata Pardela for this photo

YOUR MUSIC IMMEDIATELY CAUGHT MY ATTENTION

I discovered your music at the end of 2018 on Bandcamp, and the first shot I heard was "MIND LAKE". As I am a great lover of electronic music, as well as the editor of the only Polish internet radio EL-Stacja promoting exclusively electronic music, your music immediately caught my attention. I am fascinated by the genre of the Berlin School and this style of music is the most important for me.
The music created has a gentle sequential structure that allows you to immerse yourself in your dreams, to think and above all to relax with it. For me, the moments spent with this music act as a balm for the soul, carry everyday problems somewhere far away and give great relaxation and the strength to struggle with reality. This music has a great calming and relaxing power and I am happy to listen to it.

Beata Pardela
(Radio Moderator - EL-Stacja - Poland)

🎙️ Beata Pardela asked a question to Sequentia Legenda: "I would like to know how your music has influenced you, how it has evolved over the last five years, when you have created so many really great and precious pieces, and how you evaluate your work in five years. What are your ideas and plans for the coming years?"

🎙️ Sequentia Legenda: "My influence goes back to my teenage years when I discovered Mirage Klaus Schulze's album by chance. That was my musical trigger. So it was much later, in 2014 with BLUE DREAM, that I took the plunge and brought my musical work into the open. Those first five years were pure joy as I was able to share my passion with success and recognition. I am proud and honoured. These first five years have been a pure joy in that I have been able to share my passion with success and recognition. My dream has come true and my next projects will be in this line with a constant evolution."

FIVE YEARS WHERE EVERY TIME I'M SURPRISED

For me it's five years where every time I'm surprised that you manage to surprise me. The challenges in your personal life perspire on the sweetness of your music. Even in its most intense moments. And this sensitivity that you lay down in music responds freshly to mine.

Sylvain Lupari
(Reviewer - Synth&Sequences)

🎙️ Sylvain Lupari asked a question to Sequentia Legenda: "Five years Laurent since BLUE DREAM! Are you satisfied with your evolution? How did you see yourself five years ago? Are you where you wanted to be?"

🎙️ Sequentia Legenda: "Time goes by quickly indeed, too quickly! I am a sensitive and demanding person with myself and I must admit without pretension that I am happy and satisfied with the journey I have made in five years. I have always favoured work, quality, rigour and sincerity. In the end, I am satisfied to find myself five years later in total adequacy with my musical vision of the start! I have made no concessions, I have kept the course I set myself and this is the one that will guide me for the next five years: sharing my sensitivity through my sound universes."

Thanks to Anton Uraletz for this photo

VAST SEAS OF HARMONIC SEQUENCES

My way to Berlin-school electronics was easy but long and took almost 20+ years since I heard it for the first time… there is so much interesting music around, and I explored it step by step, style by style. In the end of December 2015, a friend of mine gave me a tip to «BLUE DREAM» and «AMIRA» – «Man, you’ll like it… I swear». And yeah, I did. That was a sort of enlightenment – vast seas of harmonic sequences that set up a whole Universe of sound… the seas to immerse in, delving neither into psychedelic nor abstruse soundscapes. Straight-forward, simple and even sequencing is the remarkable and one of the most precious advantages of Sequentia Legenda… it forms these breezing soundscapes that carry you upwards and away on its wings of soaring dreams and reveries to the azure faraway distance where the Highmost Welkin meets the Sound of the Sequence. And that’s the way it is.

Anton Uraletz (Russia)

🎙️ Anton Uraletz asked a question to Sequentia Legenda: "My question about your last 5 years is simple – how have you fell in love with sequencing? What does it mean to you?"

🎙️ Sequentia Legenda: "I fell in love with the sequences from the very beginning of my discovery of Klaus Schulze's discography with the two sound universes of Mirage. The sequencer is my favourite tool, it is very often by the setting up of the loops that my creative work begins. The sequencer is my machine for weaving the soundtrack. It is important for me to make several loops of notes cohabit and to bring this harmonic and rhythmic ensemble to life.  My vision of sequencing: Loops in perpetual evolution."

Thanks to Oleg Parfentev for this photo

THE ART OF SEQUENTIA LEGENDA

I will start from a distance and tell you how I discovered electronic music and the Berlin school in particular.

...it was somewhere in the 90's, I don't remember exactly. I couldn't sleep at night, so I turned on the radio. There was beautiful, unusual music on the air, not like the music on other radio stations. I stayed on that show and listened to it until morning. Later I found out that it was a program about electronic music called Back to the Universe. Programmed at certain hours of the night, and its permanent host was (and still is) DJ, musician and journalist Martin Landers. Here is his website and information.

This man (his programs) took me into the world of electronic music, which I had never known before, and it was from him that I got to know the Berlin School and other areas of electronic music, Klaus Schulze and many other musicians and bands.

I heard the music of Sequentia Legenda for the first time 3 years ago on https://vk.com/ (it's our Russian analogue Facebook).

Only there you can put music in addition to texts, photos and videos. As a rule, it is pirated, which means that nobody pays for it. I really liked the songs (AU REVOIR, SOLITUDES LUNAIRES, THE APPROACH), and I kept them.

Much later, I decided to search the facebook page of Sequentia Legenda. And I had by chance the release of the new album OVER THERE, which of course I also liked a lot.

And then, Laurent, I recognized your blog, your page on bandcamp.com and all your music. And I also met you and made friends on facebook.

Each of your albums, I discovered it gradually : listen, listen, listen... They are different, but there is definitely a recognizable style, the style of Sequentia Legenda. Each album has a favourite track or even several. I also really like the way your CDs are made: the photo, the design and of course the sound. Thank you very much for your autographs and wishes. It's very expensive! In the age of digital sound, it's very nice to hold a CD (or a vinyl record) in your hands! (At least for me).

What does your music mean to me?
Laurent, for me, what you do on stage is magic. It's magical. I have no idea how it works! Yes, there's an idea, there are means and tools to implement it (synthesizers, computers, instruments). But how it all ends up in this fascinating music - I don't understand! And I don't have to understand it. Magic must contain mystery. But I MUCH like what you get in the end!

At the moment, for various reasons, I am not as actively following news and innovations in the field of music. But when I hear a melody on a radio station, I immediately recognize Sequentia Legenda. How do I feel? If something you like sounds like SOLITUDES LUNAIRES (one of the diamonds in your collection!), I'm delighted. The heart starts beating more often, breathtaking, you fly away... It's not in words!

In conclusion, I would like to thank you, Laurent, for the joy and happiness you bring to us, the listeners, with your magical music. You have always had and will always have a constant and faithful listener who needs you. Keep on creating. I know this is a difficult moment in your life, but let your two suns (Dylan and Valentin), as you once said, light your way and give you strength and confidence. You are a wonderful father, a wonderful musician and, in general, a kind and good person.

I am very happy to have met you and the art of Sequentia Legenda.

I wish you much, much luck and all the best!

Oleg Parfentev (Russia)

🎙️ Oleg Parfentev asked a question to Sequentia Legenda: "I'm interested in how the composition is born? Where does it begin? The very beginning. How do you put in your head this melody, this rhythm that will later be a success in your album? How does it happen? (I suspect that creating a melody is a long and tedious process (I might be wrong). But it always has a beginning, a starting point (a starting impulse). What does this mean to you? Share it, please, if you can share it :)"

🎙️ Sequentia Legenda: "The creative phase, begins in a subtle and unpredictable way, it's a call, a magnet that will attract me to my keyboards. Inspiration can come from an image, a story, a sound, a walk, a chance too. Then, in front of my machines, the experimental phase begins, often by setting up the first loops, then the first layers. Then begins the real work of composition, which can sometimes be time-consuming, because I am a demanding person - demanding on myself as well. For example, for my first track FLY OVER ME (BLUE DREAM), it took me no less than sixteen months to be satisfied with the result! Music is an achievement and I always want to put quality before quantity, I want to offer the best of myself for my listeners and for the beautiful musical movement that the Berlin School represents."