Story by V. Michelle Bernard
My Home, a recent album of original music and hymns arranged in a Bossa Nova style, is the result of three years of work by Felipe Paccagnella, a member of Potomac Conference’s Washington Brazilian church in Takoma Park, Md.
To find out more about his inspiration behind the album, we interviewed him:
Visitor: How long have you been involved in music, and specifically writing and arranging?
Paccagnella: I have always loved music since I was a little child. I always had my flute, guitar and little drums everywhere I went. I started taking formal piano lessons when I was 7 in Brazil.
Visitor: How many of the songs on the album did you write or arrange?Paccagnella: I wrote three of the songs in my album. The titles are My Home, Fear Not and Your Grace. All of the other songs in the album were arranged by me. I also had the help of Marcos Lima, a dear friend of mine from Brazil who did a beautiful job playing guitar and giving his valuable opinion on my arrangements.
Visitor: What inspired you to produce this album?
Paccagnella: There was a period in my life where I would wake up early every single day and immerse myself [in the] woods. I would take my Bible and just spend time with God. On one of those days I asked God what He wanted me to do with my life, and I strongly felt in my heart like I should record an album. At the time this was a crazy idea, I had no resources or knowledge on what to do, but I said yes.
Visitor: What influence would you like the album to have?
Paccagnella: This specific album is very special to me. It is about heaven and how that is our home. The album brings me a lot of peace whenever I listen to it. I would like God to use this album to bring peace to anyone who listens to it. I would like it to [provide] a “heavenly atmosphere” where people are able to relax and feel God’s love to the point where they feel the need to love others.
Visitor: You do a lot of live performances with other musicians and playing in churches. What role does music play in your faith life?
Paccagnella: I do, it is a blessing to do what you love. Music is like prayer to me, except for way more powerful. Sometimes I feel God so close that all I can do is close my eyes and play. God’s presence is very humbling. I can honestly say that I feel God closer to me whenever I play music about Him and that there is no greater joy in my life then to feel God’s presence through music.
Visitor: What's next?
Paccagnella: There are so many projects that I can’t keep a track off. I will be doing a lot more concerts in the coming months talking about the songs in the album and some other hymns/praise songs. I have some Bible verses that I read and stories about how God has used these songs in my life. There will also be another Christian music album coming soon.
I will also start releasing videos on my social media outlets about how some of these songs have impacted my life and performing them, probably just playing guitar and singing.
Jazz is another huge part of my life. I have been blessed with musicians that I consider family, and we have been recording and performing some of my original jazz instrumental music. I can’t begin to express how grateful I feel and honored to have such amazing musicians in my band, “Light Switch.” I plan to release an album with this group next year.
I also plan on releasing an album entitled “klumsy” next year with some original songs I wrote in my adolescence. I have also been doing a Bossa Nova concert as a tribute to Joao Gilberto, a brazilian composer that died this year. I will also be working with the singer Linda Harris very closely with her “Shaking off the Dust” album that I produced this year and should be released next year. That's not even the beginning of what has been going on. Lots of work, lots of opportunities, and more than a million reasons to be grateful about what God has been doing in my life.
Connect with Paccagnella and purchase his album:
Website: https://www.felipestudios.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FelipePaccagnella/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fepaccagnella/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fepaccagnella
Jazz band Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightswitch_band/