GIOVANNI

  • history
  • music
  • photography
  • travels
  • dreams
My name is Alex Novo,I’m a photographer.

The world without photography will be meaningless to us if there is no light and color, which opens up our minds and expresses passion.

Contacts
Phone: +1 (800) 456 37 11
Email: example@promo-theme.com
© Giovanni Cognoli, 2024. All Rights Reserved.

Music & Videos

Videos of places Giovanni loved or would have loved to see to accompany his music—that was my goal from the very beginning of this project, an attempt to continue offering a “show” even if we can no longer see him on stage, with landscapes where Nature is still a Queen!

Photographers Daniele Camisasca (from the Aosta Valley) and Fabio Mangione (from Sicily), whom I met during my first trips, have agreed to be part of the adventure. Giovanni dreamed of seeing both the Matterhorn and Etna, and they shared their sublime images with me.

I would also like to give special thanks to Rafael Perera, who made the first video edits.

I hope others will join us in the future! As for me, I will continue to go and explore these dream locations and film them to intertwine them with his music.

Ci Sei

Album « Regarde Avec Mes Yeux »

(Through My Eyes)

Ci Sei  (You Are Here), in the images of Iceland, another of Giovanni’s great dreams!

‘Aman Iman’ (Water is life), a Tuareg proverb that I gladly borrow for the abundance of this precious resource in these volcanic lands.”

Over the past few decades, Sólheimajökull glacier has retreated by more than a kilometer, or about 50 meters per year, forming a lake.

Song composed and performed by Giovanni Cognoli, solo bass.
Discovered on his “ Ideas” MiniDic in April 2022.

Sound engineer: Pierre Fuchs
Video, Bénédicte Postel-Cognoli
Video editing: Spacer Design September 21, 2025.

A big thank you to Yacine Midas for this beautiful wandering travel
through southern Iceland!

Eccentricità Orbitale

Album « Regarde Avec Mes Yeux »

(Through My Eyes)

A piece that sustained me after Giovanni’s death and that I listened to regularly, became the first video montage completed on October 16, 2023, by Rafael Perera and with Pierre Fuchs as sound engineer, which brings together several places, scattered across the planet, which I went to film, because my husband would have liked to see them.

Bénédicte, his wife

Il Volo d’Uccello / The Bird’s Flight 

by Daniele Camisasca

On “Dérives Sensorielles, », a piece composed and performed by Giovanni on the Chapman Stick, from the album Atropine, Part I. Aerial footage filmed by drone in the Aosta Valley between the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc. While these places were among those that Giovanni would have loved to explore, Daniele, whom I met for the first time in September 2023, then offered me this magnificent overview.

Sound engineer: Pierre Fuchs.
Video editing: Daniele Camisasca, October 18, 2023.
https://www.instagram.com/camisascadaniele

Connessioni Vulcaniche 

by Fabio Mangione

On « Lien Cosmique » (Cosmic Link), from the album « Regarde avec mes Yeux », (Through My Eyes), » performed on bass by Giovanni and Guillermo Cides on the Chapman Stick who also provided the arrangements.

Etna was one of the first places I visited in 2021, because it was one of Giovanni’s dreams. I was lucky enough to meet the Sicilian photographer Fabio Mangione there in 2022, who immediately agreed to contribute to this project with his superb photos.

Sound engineer: Pierre Fuchs.
Video editing: Spacer Design, May 17, 2025.
https://www.facebook.com/fabio.mangione.7

Prigionieri dell’Unità di Misura 

Prigionieri dell’Unità di Misura (Prisoner of the unit of measure) on images of Etna, to contrast the strength and freedom of Nature. A Mount Etna that, through its eruptions, continues to grow, today reaching its peak at over 3,400 meters.

I wish to give special thanks to the Volcanological Guides of Etna North, without whom I would never have been able to reach the summit craters, nor discover the breathtaking beauty of Etna North during all my excursions since 2021.”

Sound engineer: Pierre Fuchs
Video, Bénédicte Postel-Cognoli
Video editing: Spacer Design, May 2025.

https://guidevulcanologicheetna.com

Per Sempre

(Forever)

Giovanni Cognoli, Chapman Stick &

Guillermo Cides, guitar and arrangements,

Pareidolia album.

Between the depth and almost addictive sounds of the Chapman Stick and the incredible joy and strength radiated by the guitar, this piece, once unfinished and rediscovered among Giovanni’s “Ideas” miniDiscs, has become even more beautiful than in my dreams!

The four elements, – the nighttime surf of the Pacific Ocean; the volcanoes Etna (Sicily) and Parinacota (Chile); the sky above Pico del Redentore (Sibillini Mountains, Marche, Italy) overlooking Ascoli Piceno, Giovanni’s hometown; and the Laguna Colorada (Bolivia) – will accompany Giovanni and Guillermo’s music.

Video, Bénédicte Postel-Cognoli

Video editing: Spacer Design, June 2025

From the bottom of my heart, I thank Guillermo Cides who helped bring “Per Sempre” to life, the piece you are about to hear!

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Giovanni Cognoli · Full biography

"I have always been fascinated by the idea of "being an instrument", like a brush dipped in color that is used by a painter moved by that natural energy that creates shapes, cosmic geometric balances, always in harmony with the immortality of the universe.

Mick Karn once told me that music is the only art without a specific form. Only us with the instrument we play can give it shape. Then it doesn't matter if people like what you do. The important thing is that it is authentic.

I began studying context rather than music theory as a boy. I realized that I had to rely on what made me resonate with the "vibrational whole" to rebuild emotional networks through the power of a universal language.

There was a great musical ferment in Ascoli Piceno between the mid-80s and 90s, which then produced, above all, nationally renowned bassists such as my friends Mario Guarini and Roberto Pascucci, or the very famous Saturnino Celani but also the pianist and composer Giovanni Allevi, with whom I had the honor of sharing some musical projects."

Giovanni.

"Giovanni Cognoli was born on September 13, 1968 in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, between sea and mountain, the same Friday when Pier Paolo Pasolini's film "Teorema" was censured. Independent composer and musician, his favorite instruments are the electric bass, whose potential he explored from a very young age, and the Chapman Stick, an innovative instrument rich in sound, which he was introduced to in the early 2000s by the musician Virginia Splendore.

Active in the recording industry since the early nineties, Giovanni Cognoli always remains faithful to his primary aim of creating something artistically significant as a priority, regardless of the commercial results which he has always considered, ultimately, to be not essential.

The study and influence of the ambient and minimalist music of Brian Eno, Steve Reich and the initiatory music of David Sylvian and Robert Fripp and, above all, the meeting with the bassist Mick Karn contributed to early directing his stylistic research in the field of instrumental and experimental music.

His spectrum as a solo musician is, in short, that of a predominantly fretless and piccolo bassist with the use of tapping, and various effects rich in sublime colours - an epigon of looping since the 90s (#1) - with melodic lines and jazz chords and with ambient atmospheres, even if his music is essentially unclassifiable."

His wife, Bénédicte Postel-Cognoli:

#1: Some of which were recorded live, which allowed him to have different musical layers when performing a composition solo.

« Regarde avec mes yeux »

Looking through my eyes

Your music is like a protective shell, while having the lightness of a beautiful iridescent soap bubble similar to those we loved to play with as children, and into which I slipped when you died. Your sense of humor brightened our daily lives. We gave names to lots of things and I also had different names for you, when you simply called me « mon Amour ». You were, in turn, « mia Bellezza » or « ma Beauté » (my Beauty) and you told me then that you had never before been called "botte", « barrel » in italian, or even « mon Tout Beau » (my All Beautiful), “tubo” meaning « pipe » ;)

On October 24, 2020, cancer, as a result of ocular melanoma, ripped my Giovanni, but it could not take away our love, now his music which supported me to face a world without him. So, I started going out only with an mp3 player to be able listen to the recordings I had made during his concerts and they encouraged my in my every step! Then, I had the feeling that through his compositions, he was always with me, until, gradually, he was inside me.

A few hours before that fateful moment on the morning of October 24, I told him: “Your music will live on! » and this promise evolved into «Regarde avec mes yeux » (#1), title of one of the 6 albums and of the musical biography, to discover some of his pieces against a background of images of places he loved or would have liked to see (#2) which have in common a minimal environmental impact, on our earth, because they are sparsely populated.

So, while listening to his music and making it sound in different parts of the planet, I went to meet Sami in Lapland, indigenous people in the heights of the Bolivian Andes, nomads from the steppes of the valley of Orkhon in Mongolia, Bedouins in Wadi Rum, Jordan, and Tuaregs in Tassili, Algeria, I drew incredible energy from all these places and I rubbed shoulders with women and men who gave me, in turn, the strength to continue and keep my promise alive!

Etna which gave me the photos of several covers of its albums, and where I made numerous excursions with volcanologist guides (#3), those whom I call the “sons of the volcano”, because they were all born on Etna, has become a precious refuge where I can gain height to metabolize the horrible reality that forever deprived me of my love. Malta, in the sea depths of which Etna is said to have been born, was my first trip. There, lives his great friend, another Giovanni, who accompanied us to during my husband's last days and thanks to whose support he was able to die at home.

«Eccentricità orbitale», was the first video montage produced, in October 2023, and the common thread of the images is the profusion of water, an essential element for life, with skies full of colors and light, like the music of my Giovanni!

His wife, Bénédicte Postel-Cognoli

#1 “Looking through my eyes”, only title not given by Giovanni, with « Ci sei » (You are here), discovered after his death on his “idee” / ideas minidiscs.
#2 Filmed during my travels.
#3 Of Etna North : LINK

Giovanni Cognoli · Biografia

"Mi ha sempre affascinato l’idea di « essere strumento », come un pennello intinto nel colore che viene usato da un pittore mosso da quell’energia naturale che crea forme, equilibri geometrici cosmici, sempre in armonia con l’immortalità dell’universo.

Una volta, Mick Karn mi diceva che la musica è l’unica arte che non ha una forma specifica. Solo noi con lo strumento che suoniamo possiamo dargliela. Poi non importa se quello che fai piace. L’importante è che sia autentico.

Ho cominciato sin da ragazzo a studiare il contesto, piuttosto che la teoria musicale. Ho intuito che dovevo affidarmi a ciò che mi metteva in risonanza con «l’insieme vibrazionale» per poter ricostruire reti emotive attraverso il potere di un linguaggio universale.

C’era un bel fermento musicale inconsueto, ad Ascoli Piceno tra la metà degli anni 80 e 90,  che ha prodotto, poi, soprattutto bassisti di fama nazionale come i miei amici Mario Guarini e Roberto Pascucci, o il famosissimo Saturnino Celani, ma anche il pianista e compositore Giovanni Allevi, con il quale ho avuto l’onore di condividere alcuni progetti musicali."

Giovanni

"Giovanni Cognoli nasce il 13 settembre 1968 ad Ascoli Piceno, in Italia, tra mare e montagna, lo stesso venerdì in cui veniva sequestrata la pellicola di Pier Paolo Pasolini “Teorema”. Compositore e musicista indipendente, i suoi strumenti prediletti, il basso elettrico, di cui ne esplora le sue potenzialità sin da giovanissimo ed il Chapman Stick, uno strumento innovativo ricco di sonorità, a cui viene iniziato nei primi anni 2000 dalla musicista Virginia Splendore. Attivo discograficamente sin dai primi anni novanta, Giovanni Cognoli rimane fedele al suo scopo di creare prioritariamente qualcosa di artisticamente significativo, a prescindere dai risultati commerciali che ha sempre ritenuto, in fondo, non indispensabili. Lo studio e l'influenza della musica ambient e minimalista di Brian Eno, Steve Reich ed iniziatica di David Sylvian e Robert Fripp, e soprattutto l’incontro con il bassista Mick Karn hanno contribuito ad indirizzare precocemente la sua ricerca stilistica, nell'ambito della musica strumentale e sperimentale.

Il suo spettro di musicista solo è, in somma sintesi, quello di un bassista prevalentemente fretless e piccolo con uso di tapping, ed effetti vari e ricchi di colori sublimi (epigono del looping sin dagli anni 90’ (#1) - con linee melodiche e accordi jazz e con atmosfere ambient, ciò che rende la sua musica sostanzialmente non classificabile."

Sua moglie, Bénédicte Postel-Cognoli

#1: Alcuni dei quali sono stati registrati dal vivo, il che gli permetteva di avere diversi strati musicali durante l'esecuzione di un brano in solo.

Giovanni Cognoli · Biographie

"J'ai toujours été fasciné par l'idée "d'être un instrument", comme un pinceau trempé dans la couleur qu'utilise un peintre mû par cette énergie naturelle qui crée des formes, des équilibres géométriques cosmiques, toujours en harmonie avec l'immortalité de l'univers.

Mick Karn m'a dit un jour que la musique est le seul art qui n'a pas de forme spécifique. Seuls, nous, avec l'instrument dont nous jouons, pouvons la lui donner. Alors, peu importe si ce que tu fais, plaît. L'important est que ce soit authentique.

J'ai commencé à étudier le contexte plutôt que la théorie musicale quand j'étais très jeune. J'ai senti que je devais suivre ce qui me faisait entrer en résonance avec le « tout vibratoire » pour reconstruire des réseaux émotionnels grâce à la puissance d'un langage universel.

Il y avait un ferment musical insolite à Ascoli Piceno entre le milieu des années 80 et 90, qui produisait alors surtout des bassistes de renommée nationale comme mes amis Mario Guarini et Roberto Pascucci, ou le très célèbre Saturnino Celani, mais également le pianiste et compositeur Giovanni Allevi, avec qui j'ai eu l'honneur de partager quelques projets musicaux. "

Giovanni

"Giovanni Cognoli est né le 13 septembre 1968 à Ascoli Piceno, en Italie, entre mer et montagne, le vendredi où a été saisi le film « Teorema » de Pier Paolo Pasolini. Compositeur et musicien indépendant, ses instruments de prédilection sont la basse électrique, dont il a exploré le potentiel dès son plus jeune âge, et le Chapman Stick, un instrument innovant et riche en sonorité, auquel il a été initié au début des années 2000 par la musicienne Virginia Splendore.

Il publie régulièrement des disques depuis le début des années 90 et reste fidèle à son objectif de créer en priorité quelque chose de significatif sur le plan artistique, quels que soient les résultats commerciaux qu'il a toujours considérés, en fin de compte, comme non indispensables.

L'étude et l'influence de la musique ambient et minimaliste de Brian Eno, Steve Reich et initiatique de David Sylvian et Robert Fripp, et surtout la rencontre avec le bassiste Mick Karn ont contribué à orienter, très tôt, ses recherches stylistiques dans le domaine de la musique instrumentale et expérimentale.

Son spectre de musicien soliste est, en somme, celui d'un bassiste à dominante fretless et piccolo avec usage du tapping, et des effets divers et riches en couleurs sublimes (épigone du looping depuis les années 90(#1), avec des lignes mélodiques et accords jazz et avec des atmosphères ambient, même si sa musique est, dans le fond, difficilement classable."

Sa femme, Bénédicte Postel-Cognoli

#1: Dont certains ont été enregistrés live, ce qui lui permettait d'avoir différentes strates musicales lors de l'interprétation d'un morceau en solo.

« Regarde avec mes yeux »

Ta musique est comme une coquille protectrice, tout en ayant la légèreté d’une belle bulle de savon irisée semblable à celles avec lesquelles on aimait jouer enfants, et dans laquelle je me suis glissée à ta mort. Ton sens de l'humour illuminait notre vie quotidienne. On donnait des noms à plein de choses et j’en avais aussi différents pour toi, quand tu m’appelais simplement « mon Amour ». Tu étais, tour à tour, « mia Bellezza » ou « ma Beauté » et tu me disais, alors, que l’on ne t’avait jamais avant appelé « botte », « baril » en italien, ou encore « mon Tout Beau », « tubo » qui signifie « tuyau » ;)

Le 24 octobre 2020, le cancer, consécutif à un mélanome oculaire, m’a arraché mon Giovanni, mais il n’a pas pu me retirer notre amour, ni sa musique qui m’a soutenue pour affronter un monde sans lui. J'ai ainsi commencé à ne sortir que munie d’un lecteur mp3 pour pouvoir écouter les enregistrements que j’avais faits durant ses concerts et ils encourageaient chacun de mes pas!  Alors, j'ai eu le sentiment qu'à travers ses compositions, il était toujours avec moi, jusqu'à ce que, progressivement, il soit en moi.

 Quelques heures avant ce moment fatidique de la matinée du 24 octobre, je lui avais dit : « Ta musique vivra! » et cette promesse s’est muée en  Regarde avec mes yeux (#1), titre d’un des six albums et de la biographie musicale, pour découvrir quelques-uns de ses morceaux sur fond d’images de lieux qu’il aimait ou aurait aimés voir (#2) et qui ont en commun un impact environnemental minime, sur notre terre, car peu peuplés.

Ainsi, tout en écoutant sa musique et en la faisant retentir en différents points de la planète, je suis allée à la rencontre de Samis en Laponie, d’indigènes dans les hauteurs des Andes boliviennes, de nomades des steppes de la vallée de l’Orkhon en Mongolie, de Bédouins dans le Wadi Rum, en Jordanie, et de Touaregs dans le Tassili n’Ajer, en Algérie, lieux dans lesquels j’ai puisé une incroyable énergie et où j’ai côtoyé des femmes et des hommes qui m’ont donné, à leur tour, la force de poursuivre et de faire vivre ma promesse!

L’Etna qui m’a offert les photos de plusieurs couvertures de ses albums, et où j’ai fait de nombreuses excursions avec des guides volcanologues (#3), ceux que j’appelle les « fils du volcan », parce que tous nés sur l’Etna, est aussi devenu un précieux refuge où prendre de la hauteur pour métaboliser l’horrible réalité qui m’a pour toujours privée de mon amour. Malte, dans les profondeurs marines desquelles serait né l’Etna, a été mon premier voyage. Là, vit son grand ami, un autre Giovanni, qui nous a accompagnés, chez nous, lors des derniers jours de mon mari et grâce au soutien duquel il a pu mourir à la maison.

« Eccentricità orbitale » a été le premier montage vidéo réalisé, en octobre 2023, et le fil conducteur des images est la profusion de l’eau, élément essentiel à la vie, avec des ciels plein de couleurs et de lumière, comme la musique de mon Giovanni!

Sa femme, Bénédicte Postel-Cognoli

#1 Seul titre qui n’ait pas été donné par Giovanni, avec « Ci sei » découvert après sa mort sur ses minidiscs « idee » / idées
#2 Filmés au cours de mes voyages.
#3 Ceux de l’Etna Nord : LINK

« Regarde avec mes yeux »

(Guarda con i Miei Occhi)

La tua musica è come un guscio protettivo, pur avendo la leggerezza di una bellissima bolla di sapone iridescente simile a quelle con cui amavamo giocare da bambini, e nella quale mi sono infilata quando sei morto. Il tuo senso dell'umorismo illuminava la nostra vita quotidiana. Davamo nomi a tantissime cose e anche io avevo nomi diversi per te, quando mi chiamavi semplicemente “Mon Amour”. Eri, a tua volta, "mia Bellezza" o « ma Beauté » e mi dicesti, allora, che mai prima d'ora ti avevano chiamato "botte", e nemmeno "mon Tout Beau " (Il mio tutto Bello), "tubo" ;)

Il 24 ottobre 2020 il cancro, conseguenza di un melanoma oculare, ha rapito il mio Giovanni, ma non poteva portarmi via il nostro amore, né la sua musica che mi ha sostenuto nell’affrontare un mondo senza di lui. Così ho iniziato ad uscire solo con un lettore mp3 per poter ascoltare le registrazioni che avevo fatto durante i suoi concerti che incoraggiavano ogni mio passo! Ho avuto subito la sensazione che attraverso le sue composizioni lui fosse sempre con me, finché, poco a poco, l’ho sentito dentro di me.

Poche ore prima di quel fatidico momento, la mattina del 24 ottobre, gli dissi: “La tua musica continuerà a vivere! » e questa promessa si è tradotta in “Regarde avec mes yeux » (#1), titolo di uno dei 6 album e della biografia musicale, per scoprire alcuni suoi brani sullo sfondo di immagini di luoghi che amava o avrebbe voluto vedere (#2) e che hanno in comune un impatto ambientale minimo, sulla nostra terra, perché scarsamente popolati.

Perciò, ascoltando la sua musica e facendola risuonare in diverse parte del pianeta, sono andata ad incontrare i Sami in Lapponia, gli indigeni sulle alture delle Ande boliviane, i nomadi delle steppe della valle dell'Orkhon in Mongolia, i beduini nel Wadi Rum, in Giordania, ed i Tuareg nel Tassili, in Algeria, luoghi da cui ho tratto un'energia incredibile e dove sono stata a contatto con donne e uomini che mi hanno dato, a loro volta, la forza per continuare e mantenere viva la mia promessa!

L’Etna, che mi ha regalato le foto di diverse copertine dei suoi album, e dove ho fatto numerose escursioni con delle guide vulcanologiche (#3), quelli che io chiamo i “figli del vulcano”, perché sono nati tutti sull’Etna, è diventato anche un rifugio prezioso dove poter guadagnare quota per metabolizzare l'orribile realtà che mi ha privato per sempre del mio amore. Malta, nelle cui profondità marine sarebbe nato l'Etna, è stato il mio primo viaggio. Lì, vive il suo grande amico, un altro Giovanni, che ci ha accompagnati negli ultimi giorni di mio marito e grazie al cui sostegno, egli ha potuto morire a casa.

“Eccentricità orbitale” è stato il primo montaggio video prodotto, nell’ottobre del 2023, e il filo conduttore delle immagini è la ricchezza d’acqua, elemento essenziale per la vita, con cieli pieni di colori e luce, simili alla musica del mio Giovanni!

Sua moglie, Bénédicte Postel-Cognoli

#1 Titolo non dato da Giovanni stesso, con « Ci sei », scoperto dopo la sua morte sui suoi minidiscs “idee”.
#2 Riprese durante i miei viaggi.
#3 Quelli dell'Etna Nord : LINK