GranularTrio

This piece is inspired by one of the funeral dirges collected by Brizio Montinaro in the late 1970s in the strip of land known as Grecìa salentina [i.e. the small area in the South of the Apulian region where griko, a hellenic dialect, is still spoken]. The term “Moroloja” indicates funeral laments, to be sung by a professional mourner. The exercise of this function, which is almost completely extinct nowadays, was part of an age-old tradition pertaining to funeral ritual, such as it used to be practised not only in the Grecìa area, but in the whole of Salento [Southern Apulia] and in much of the region referred to during Classical Antiquity as Magna Graecia. Professional mourners (reputae in Latin) were usually women from the deceased person’s neighbourhood (ghetonìa in Greek) whose task it was to sing dirges during funeral wakes, sometimes enacting the conflict between the departed soul and Charon, ferryman of the dead. The words of their traditional chants, which were accompanied by distinctive gestures, bear no relationship to Christian ideas of death and resurrection: after earthly life the only perspective envisioned for the soul is to fade away into a kingdom of “dark night”. Death (Tanato) is often personified and another frequently mentioned character is the “fairy” Fate, who shapes mortal destinies and thus seems akin to the Moirae of Classical mythology. In its traditional cultural context, the Moroloja was the “controlled form of lamentation” which “made it easier for the deceased to depart”, which best “honoured the mourned person’s memory” and which at the same time “prevented the soul from returning” to haunt the living.

The work presented here seeks to be understood as an ideal continuation in contemporary, electroacoustic terms of this ancient ritual, from which all of the materials used for composition are derived. An original monodic song (in griko dialect) has been entrusted to a woman’s voice, but in some moments a male counterpart has been added to act as mirror and support. Percussion instruments typical of Salento and more generally of the Mediterranean area can also be heard. The sounds of these instruments, played both in traditional styles (i.e. traditional rhythmic patterns) and in a freer and more unusual fashion, form an underlying soundscape that interacts with the vocal part, at times entering into a dialogue (formed by mutually opposing “blocks”) and at times intertwining with the singing. Gradually, this leads to a process of mutual fragmentation which contributes strongly and effectively to the dramatic expression of the ritual. The formal structure of this piece was partly suggested by the sound objects deriving from the performances recorded with the two musicians, and partly drawn from the simple, archaic structure of the original dirge, focusing especially on its dramatic ritual function, of which this composition seeks, by evocation, to offer an intact, authentic rendering.

Moroloja

A Journey, an initiatory path from highest peaks to the absolute depths of the earth. In its innermost viscera the gurgling magma brings to the surface emotions remote and unrecognisable. Darkest black and brightest light blend into an eerie landscape, alien and inaccessible to the most; this is the heart and secret seed of life on the surface.

Into the Volcano

Into the Volcano (for KTT’s electric bass sounds and multichannel diffusion)

The Hive Soundscape has been composed for the opening of a new artspace in Wiltshire. Commissioned by The Hive Artspace.

The Hive Soundscape

The author seeks to continue the line of musical and sound research initiated by his composition “Moroloja” (2006), for computer-processed voices and percussions. “Moroloja” is entirely based on an ancient funeral dirge, traditionally sung by professional mourners within the griko (greek-speaking) tradition of the Salento region (southermost Apulia). Drawing on this idea and also on some of the materials pertaining to that piece, this project undertakes to further investigate, at the moment of performance, possible relationships and links between traditional musical and vocal materials of the Italian South, medieval monody and real-time sound-processing tools. Besides a moroloi (Song of Death), musical materials will also include a love-song from the same cultural area (Beddha ci stai luntanu) and a profane medieval monody (Dolce lo mio drudo by Frederick II), juxtaposed to the two traditional songs by its affinities in poetic and musical content.
The songs making up the basic material of the piece have been chosen for an essential shared feature: notwithstanding their different historical and cultural perspectives, all three are about leave-taking, parting, being left behind. During the flow of their existence, human relationships – here considered as primarily based on love – go through multiple phases. One of these is common to all, regardless of their nature or complexity: I am referring to the moment of conclusion. Death, dereliction, the parting of lovers, whether temporary or final – and the feeling of deep melancholy expressed by the human psyche in relating to these matters – can be traced through centuries of musical and poetic activity, drawing together cultures ostensibly distant in both space and time. Amorous lyric poetry does not always express feelings of joy and happiness directed towards the lover. Countless literary examples lead us to consider the feeling of love from a different – and sometimes  ambiguous – perspective, as pain caused by separation from the loved one and as desire in the form of yearning for reunion. Among the most outstanding examples of this inflection are the mystical poems of the Middle East, where ambiguity of meaning conveyed by metaphor (human love, divine love, desire, separation, death, annihilation, reunion, resurrection, identification) is brought to an extreme degree of refinement. It is by taking its cue from these poetic ideas and from related sound imagery that this piece intends to give shape to its musical and technological content.


Envoys

Riflessioni (Reflections) is based upon my personal approach to all different meanings this word may take up. A set of aesthetical choices are based on my personal musical rendering of the acoustic, cognitive, philosophical, psychological and perceptive implications rising from the observation of the reflection physical phenomenon, related to the mental processes started up during the “reflection” attitude. The sound images I developed during the composition process are based upon other images: visual, metaphorical, psychoacoustic, strongly related to memory and reminiscences. The intrinsic structure of the piece is linked to the Gestalt psychological theory, and specifically to the basic concept: “Totality is more than the sum of the single parts”. This idea not only represents the basic functioning of the perceptive process, but also the psychic ones. We can imagine to observe, from the top of a building, a typical metropolitan scene: the chaotic rush hour traffic flow, hearing its typical sound. We’ll not perceive the scene as a group of spots, colors and movements, but as a meaningful unit where one element could prevail (with shape function, either visual or sonorous foreground), compared with the others that fall back (background function). The shape element is selected according to individual interest and merely subjective thoughts. Since a given reason persists, the scene seems to be organized related to this reason in a relevant way.
Totality as a meaningful unit is represented by the German word “Gestalt”, which means structure, configuration, the peculiar organizational structure of the individual parts that set up totality. A Gestalt psychology fundamental assumption is that the human nature is organized in structures or totality, experienced by the individual. Human nature can be understood only as a function of such structures or totality.
Another Gestalt assumption I referred to during the composition is the “power of here and now”. Gestalt psychology focuses on present like expressive section of experience totality, a place where future tensions and past influences cross each other. This is an experimental approach with a heuristic procedure, not rigorous, intuitive, analogic-deductive.

Riflessioni

For Sounding Sculptures, Theremin, Trumpet, Bass Clarinet, Audio Sequencing and Live Electronics

Etheric Bodies has been produced at ICCMR (Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research) – Plymouth, for the ..::Electroshop::.. ensemble.
..::Electroshop::.. arises from an original idea by Antonino Chiaramonte and Anna Troisi and has the form of an open working group consisting of performers, composers and artistic collaborators from around the world. It is a workshop, a live and fluid collective, where the building of sounding artworks – the “concrete” musical instruments – overlap with the creation of compositions. A biunique correspondence between these original instruments and the music is thus created. It is in this way that the composition conforms to the concept of a “unique work of art”.
Etheric Bodies is an open tripartite score consisting of functional patterns subdivided into blocks (performative/operational score). These blocks, indicating predetermined rhythmic-melodic modules, also notate any composer-determined performative and interpretative features (double sounds, aeolian sounds, toungue ram, dynamics etc.). The score is intended as guidelines for the performers, who are free to improvise within the boundaries of the modules (controlled improvisation). Operational notes useful for the live electronics performer’s actions are also included, indicating processes as well as certain fixed parameters (stored in presets within a Max/MSP patch) as starting points for real-time modification: in this area too, however, ample space is provided for improvisation within the framework of general operational models. During development and rehearsal, musicians have been encouraged to experiment modes of interaction with pre-existent sound material (tape part) played by means of an audio sequencing software. The sounding sculptures, designed and carried out by Anna Troisi starting from a metallic mesh, perform real-time processing of pre-existing audio samples by means of infrared proximity sensors and potentiometers mounted on them. Two Arduino Duemilanove USB boards are wired with the sensors on a side, and with an original Max/MSP granulation-based patch, created by the composer, on the other side. Other kind of real time processing is obtained by combined use of plug-ins (e.g. reverberations, delays, filters, pitch shifting). Among the latter, a major role is played by the GRM Tools bundle. The tape part is composed only using processed trumpet and bass clarinet sounds.

Etheric Bodies

Antonino Chiaramonte (aka emj_antonin) is an eclectic Italian musician, internationally acclaimed electroacoustic composer, live electronics performer, sound designer and flautist. His musical research is focused on electroacoustic music, music & the moving image interaction and musical metalinguistic topics as deepest communication media. His music production is oriented towards research and experimentation on new expressive abilities which arise from the interference between different music languages and technologies applied to the arts. His attention is focused on intermediality, live electronics and performers' interaction, in a continuous dynamic exchange between gesture/improvisation and control/composition. He is also active as movie soundtracks composer. His works have been successfully performed in Italy, Switzerland, U.S.A., Canada, Belgium, The Netherlands, China, France, Finland, Japan and U.K.

emj_antonin

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