My Journey
Music, photography and the paths between them
The Beginning
Music and the outdoors were part of Paolo Barelli’s life from his earliest childhood.
His father, Giorgio Barelli, was a drummer who performed with several bands in Trentino during the 1950s and 1960s. He was also a painter, signing his works “Bei”. Paolo grew up surrounded by music, from the live performances he attended with his mother as a small child to the sounds of Ray Charles and Otis Redding at home.
Family life also meant spending weekends outdoors, camping in the mountains even during winter. On clear nights, his father would point out the Milky Way and teach him to recognise the constellations. Those early experiences left a lasting fascination with landscapes, darkness and the night sky.
First Notes and Friendships
Paolo began playing guitar as a teenager and soon discovered the electric bass. At the Madonna Bianca music school in Trento, he met other young musicians with whom he formed VaeVobis.
Among them were Nicola “Nick” Manini, Angelo Giacomozzi, Giorgio Beberi, Carlo Alberto Canevali, Andrea Rossato and Walter Peroni. The group became a place for friendship, experimentation, early performances and original compositions.
One summer, Paolo, Nick, Angelo and Giorgio worked together picking strawberries in the fields of Valsugana. The experience inspired Fragole Bianche, a song written by Paolo, Nick and Angelo.
With the money earned that summer, Paolo bought his first electric bass, a four-string fretless Eko. Until then, he had played a borrowed instrument. He still uses that Eko today.
Explore music from the VaeVobis years.
Discovering Photography
Photography gradually became another way of exploring the world.
During the 1990s, Paolo shared numerous mountain excursions with his friend Nicola Tamanini, photographing landscapes and places encountered along the way with a manual Yashica 35mm film camera.
The mountains he had known since childhood became subjects to observe through the lens, encouraging a different kind of attention to light, space and detail.
One night in particular would remain unforgettable. In the early hours of 17 November 1998, Paolo and his wife travelled to the hospital for the birth of their daughter. Above them, the Leonid meteor shower filled the clear sky with brilliant meteors and luminous trails.
There are no photographs of that extraordinary night. Its images remain only in memory.
Music, People and Places
Over the years, Paolo played in different musical settings, exploring rock, folk, jazz and instrumental music.
With Nero Vinile, he played bass and sang lead and backing vocals in a repertoire that included songs by the Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Bob Dylan.
His experience with the BloodRockers Band brought together rock music, social commitment and the Ladin culture of the Dolomites.
Originally a rock cover band, the group gradually developed Ladin-language adaptations of well-known songs, including De dant a l’us del paradis, based on Dylan’s Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. This musical direction emerged through collective experimentation during rehearsals.
The band’s guitarist, singer and composer Fernando Ianeselli also set to music a long poem by mountaineer Tone Valeruz, creating the three compositions known as the Ladin Trilogy. These appeared on the recordings Live in Cianacei and Te La Neif, released with La Ciantarines da Soraga.
The band’s work also included support for blood donation and Emergency, as well as Ianeselli’s later concept work Quo Vadis – Storie di migranti.
Listen to recordings from the BloodRockers and La Ciantarines da Soraga.
Other musical experiences included JMP Trio, with Massimo Antoniolli and Jacopo Lhos, and composing music for the travelling equestrian performance I Cavalieri Storici.
Returning to the Night
The arrival of digital photography offered new possibilities for exploring the night sky.
After some initially disappointing attempts, Paolo began studying night photography more seriously, including through an online course with photographer Lance Keimig.
Together with Luca Matassoni, then a high-school student, he spent nights in the mountains experimenting with long exposures and the relationship between the stars and the Alpine landscape.
In 2017, this interest took shape in T(E)N — Trentino Esterno Notte, a photographic book combining images of Trentino after dark with stories, observations and poetic texts.
New Musical Horizons
Another important chapter began when Paolo took up the double bass, studying with Flavio Zanon at CDM Rovereto.
He performed with the Standard Jazz Quintet, led by Stefano Raffaelli, and the Clazz Orchestra, led by Stefano Bellini, participating in concerts featuring artists including Neri Marcorè, Patrizia Laquidara, Petra Magoni and Frida Bollani Magoni.
The double bass also became a source of ideas for new compositions.
His original music includes Love’s Philosophy (Ballad in G), In a Summer Day, Shadows Dancin for Survivors and The Rescuers Tune, alongside more recent instrumental works such as Giochi frigi, Homo Homini Lupo and Tre passi nel blu.
The latter grew from an improvised double bass idea and developed into a composition for strings, piano and percussion, with recorded production, mixing and mastering by Davide Congedo.
Still Looking, Still Listening
Music and photography continue to accompany Paolo’s life, sometimes following different paths, sometimes meeting in unexpected ways.
The night sky and mountain landscapes remain a source of fascination, while everyday details — a flower, an insect, an animal or a passing moment — can still invite a photograph.
His curiosity also extends to moving images and the possibilities of visual storytelling.
There is no single destination to this journey. Only the continuing pleasure of listening, observing and discovering what might come next.