Munsha is the alias of Daniela Lunelli, a Berlin-based singer, cellist, and composer, who works and performs with theatre, installation, video art, and multimedia.
Her approach to music came at an early age, which culminated in academic study on the one hand and her active involvement in the punk and rock scene on the other.
Her double background, as an academic and as a performing musician, has created a style in which the rhythmic grit of rock music nestles and coexists in unconventional harmonic structures; concrete sounds merge into melodies; harmonic suspensions into electronics.
The focus of her work lies in contemporary, avant-garde music and vocal research. Munsha merges academic experience, transcultural and rock music, experimentation, and technical knowledge into a whole, ranging her productions from electronic, noise, and drone music to songwriting and soundtracks.
Through contemporary music and electronic music as well as the research of new languages, she tests new forms of “sound dialogues”, alternating on stage cello-voice performances with electronic live sets.
Over the years she has composed music for theatre, dance and performative art, sound installations, and interdisciplinary productions, besides her solo project and several collaborations.
She began studying piano at the age of eight. Soon after, she began her studies in singing and cello at the Conservatory of Music “G. Martucci” of Salerno. During the years, contemporary music, Avant-garde of the 1900s, and voice research were her main focus, while still involved in several rock, dark-wave, and punk bands.
After graduating in Opera singing under the guidance of maestro Daniela Del Monaco and Multimedia Composition [M.A.C.M.], she attended workshops and continued education courses at the International Academy of Music in Milan, the Conservatory “C. Pollini” of Padua, with the vocal coach, Mario Castiglia, and the cellist Riccardo Agosti, improving herself on classical music as well as on modern singing techniques.
Simultaneously, she started her training as an editor, sound designer, producer, and post-producer for film and television, making contact with the most important Italian film production institutions such as Cinecittà, Fonoroma, and International Recording. At the end of her training as a multimedia sound designer, she has devoted herself entirely to the composition and performance of her own musical productions.
She has composed for several stage plays, dance performances, and sound installations: Wald_Maschinen_Schlachthof Gebet [2017], mixed_me EinMenschShow [2016], Shining [2014], Amen [2013], Nex Generation – on a tale of Peppino Impastato [2012], Disimagination – Rotture non programmate di un dialogo amoroso [2011], Take Away – The Vox Burger [2011], Abnormal [2009], Divina Vasaia [2009], Zanclide: Duality for solo voice [2008], Scilla [2008], Maquillage [2008], Tattica 001 [2007].
Also, she co-signed multidisciplinary productions like Affaticamento, Qualcuno voleva annegarvisi dentro, Come un lago senza fango, Sir, come un cielo d’estate sempre blu, Processionea, La Macchina Inutile.
She has collaborated, shared the stage, and worked with Bob Rutman, Linda Sharrock, Die Wilde Jagd, Jochen Arbeit, thisquietarmy, Alessandra Zerbinati, Steve Summer, Zhang Yimou, Renato Rivolta, International Academy of Music in Milan, Hopek Quirin, Martina Bertoni, Tatwerk | Performative Forschung, Fine Art Academy of Naples, Veronica Cruciani, Cristina Vetrone, Salvatore Gatto and others.
Her music appears also in many compilations as well as cinematographic works like Polizeiruf 110 – Grenzgänger OST by Schneider TM, Solar Sound, Sc009: Glitch Compilation, All tomorrow’s children OST and the latest Uccellino Giallo movies.
She has committed herself to various B-side musical projects like IBIZAMOVE, 42WIREDBEASTS, Lopsided, and the floating Soundscapes of Einstürzende Neubauten’s guitarist Jochen Arbeit, Max Maffia & The Empty Daybox, just to mention some.
2018 she joined the Berliner theatre company spreeagenten.
Since 2001 she is also dedicated to teaching multiple musical disciplines and vocal coaching through the Cross-Over Technique.
About the sound:
Munsha’s double background, as an academic and as a performing musician, has created a style in which the rhythmic grit of rock music nestles and coexists in unconventional harmonic structures; concrete sounds merge into darkwave melodies; harmonic suspensions into electronics. The result is a complexity of sounds in which no element is a protagonist, but each is essential to the existence of the structure itself: the rhythm parts appear and disappear to make space for noise and minimalist environments, in which the voice is the key factor, whilst simultaneously remaining a harmonic part of a whole.
Everything bounces like a ball; roles are independent, unrelated to space and time.
The subsequent recordings of 33 and Hybrid001 were the logical result of her academic studies and the experiences as a live performer.
33 was released in 2012, as independent sound production, focusing on the connection between her “stalker number” [the number 33 has played a significant role in her life for as long as she can remember] and its link with history, mathematics, religion, and so on. She performed the work as a game, walking on the timeline to the entry in her 33rd year: 33 days, each day a song.
Hybrid001 was produced in 2014, on the occasion of her first concert in Berlin. Every single CD has its own handmade artwork. This was meant to be a gift for each visitor of the performance.
The first official release came in March 2016. The EP Who Will Play After? was released by Perfect Entropy Production, recorded, and produced at FarF StudiO.
A DELUXE EDITION contains the 4 songs of the original EP plus 7 remixes and reworks from other artists. In April 2017 she has published the album 2GATES, released again by Perfect Entropy Production. To follow she released The conceit of Childhood [2017] and the mini-EP The Heavy Atoms [2018]. After having worked to many soundtracks for theatre and performances, 2021 is the time for the EP 41022012.
