The 29th edition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) kicks off Friday with Catalan director Carlos Marques-Marcet’s They Will Be Dust (Polvo Serán) and a performance by Catalan musician Maria Arnal, whose music is featured in the movie.
The lineup for the opening night fits the Estonian fest’s 2025 program, curated by fest head Tiina Lokk and her team, and includes a focus on Catalonia.
Ahead of the first 2025 night of activity on the traditional black carpet at Tallinn, THR caught up with Arnal to discuss her work, her research into AI and her upcoming album.
Maria, you will perform at the opening ceremony of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on Friday night, which sounds exciting for the audience. How is that for you, and what can people expect?
It is super exciting since this is going to be my first time performing in Estonia. The audience can expect a performance with a mix of songs from my new repertoire, but also from the soundtrack of the [festival opening] film Polvo Serán.
Catalan cinema and your Catalan music will get a spotlight at the festival. How important is it for you to showcase Catalan identity and culture?
Very much. I think there is a lot of quality and, sincerely, amazing films! I think cultural bridges are so much needed in our world, especially right now.
Your music is a fusion of avant-garde pop, electronics and polyphonic folk. Why do you love to not simply focus on one “genre” of music but bring elements together?
I never think of genres when I compose, never. I simply don’t relate to music in these terms. Normally, I build sounds one by one, and then when they are together, they blend in ways that are edgy, and I just love to move among different bubbles of genres.
Courtesy of Aradna Martin Perales
How is the work on your next album, your debut full-length solo release, going? Does it have a title yet? And what can fans expect from it?
I think it is my favorite work until now and the process that I have enjoyed the most and I have been committed to. I feel as vulnerable to share it, as excited, and I am currently finishing the last details of the album.
Your work goes well beyond music with projects that explore sound, technology, art and social issues, such as climate change, and I read that you are also exploring the potential of synthetic voice models generated with artificial intelligence in a project with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). Why did you want to explore this? And what is your hope and your fear or worry for AI in music?
I am living in this time where this technology is developing, and I wanted to understand how it works, how to use it in an ethical way, in a way that can be inspiring. Thanks to a European grant I had the opportunity to work alongside physicians of the BSC. I love collaborating with people from other fields, and the experience has been super inspiring.
Sometimes the music industry is very rigid. So, with this collaboration, I have done deep research on all the voice models that have existed, not to reproduce what my physical voice does, but to make it more complex as a musical instrument. Thanks to cloning it so many times, I have also realized what can’t be cloned, which has been super inspiring, too.
Is there anything else you would like to mention?
I am so excited [for, once I’m] back from Tallinn, when the album will be released, and for the tour [tied to] the album.