“The Mouth that contains Pearls of Teeth revealing Pearls of Love” performance at Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo, ph. by Marianna Lo Meo
Canzonieri is a multimedia artistic and musical project by artist Emiliano Maggi and musician Cosimo Damiano. The project blends electronic and electroacoustic experimentation with neofolk and minimalism. The project was concieved when Emiliano was working on a trio of sculptures for an exhibition.
“At the time Cosimo and I started making music, I was in the process of creating three ceramic jugs that symbolise the verses of the aforementioned Sicilian Arabic poet al-Ballanubi and the painted depictions of musicians in the ceiling muqarnas of the Palatine Chapel,” explains Emiliano.
“I discovered the love poems of the Canzoniere al-Ballanubi and the Armenian Sayat-Nova and their purity and suffering. Damiano and I, having already started rehearsing new music, decided to compose an original piece and a performance entitled “The Mouth that contains Pearls of Teeth revealing Pearls of Love” employing modular synth, flutes and voice, interpreting the theme of love ever-present in al-Ballanubi cycle of poetry.” After this, the duo started writing more music following the structures of the Canzonieri.
Lord Spikeheart by Salvatore Delle Femmine.
Their performances feature live electronic manipulations of acoustic instruments such as voice, harmonium, flutes, string instruments and percussion. Here, they often use self-built or customised instruments which vary based on the venue and circumstances.
“We have different instruments for every song, sometimes customised flutes or strings,” explains Emiliano. “In the past years, we’ve built electric guitars into dead trees and this practice will never end since every time you create a new sound. Depending on the sound obtained and the function they have, Damiano creates sound processing chains which are manipulated electronically.”
“More recently, we built a wooden platform with a microphone on the bottom where you can reproduce sound by dancing on top of it. Building new or customised instruments can open infinite dimensions.”
The duo’s next performance comes with the announcement of OPENLESS – the newest project from Berlin Atonal. Across August 23, 24 and 25, Kraftwerk will be transformed into a space exhibiting musical and visual arts blending music, sound, installation and research into one. For this performance ahead of their release on Kuboraum Editions, the two are joined by musician Lord Spikeheart (Martin) and multi-disciplinary artist Lara Dâmaso – a collaboration which we’re very excited about. Emilaino sits down in a conversation with his collaborators, moderated by SLEEK, to uncover more about their respective practices before they share the stage together.
Emiliano: Voice has an important focus on folk and popular music. Martin and Lara, how important is knowledge into your research and practises?
Martin: Music, as a form of art, is an area of knowledge. It is a medium for the human expression of thoughts and feelings that can be interpreted through the senses. It evokes meaning through imagination. Knowledge is part of the cultural and spiritual identity of each individual. It is within ourselves, therefore the art I do is the constant representation of my inner world and the world around me, as it explores and expresses the experience and reality of my being human.
Lara: My practice and research take roots in various forms of knowledge. First an embodied one, stemming from many years of training in classical and contemporary dance as well as holistic practices. This embodied knowledge is deepened and nourished through repetition, through questioning and an exploration of the crossing points of these practices. It serves as a skeleton, a strong structure through which I can give myself freely to the unknown, to movement, to the process of learning. Embodied knowledge is the foundation to welcome, channel and transform chaos in order to generate change.
Then there is the knowledge of theory, philosophy, spirituality and diverse cultures that accompanies and influence my practice on a conceptual level but I am mainly working on the relation between the context, something that is set and known, and the invisible, the present, the unknown, to which I offer myself in order to open a sensitive dialog and thus be in a constant process of learning. Knowledge is acquired through intimate relationships with the visible and the invisible, humans and non-humans and through my work I want to open spaces where intimacy can flourish and thus irrational and rational knowledge.
Emiliano: The relationship between music and poetry it’s so strong that it has survived through the ages. Dancing, painting, performing, architecture, sculpture, they are all forms of expression but there’s something unique that connects poetry and music. As an artist and musician how do you connect them?
Martin: Sure, poetry and music have been intertwined for centuries. The rhythmic language, the selection and arrangement of words or sounds, the repetition, the power of provoking awareness and emotional responses, to express feelings about any topic, belief and human experience, the possibility of following your own writing and compositional patterns … all these elements, and more, connect these two forms of art. Music takes a whole lot of new meaning with words which express personal emotions, and set the tone. The sound of words can become very powerful especially when there is no rhyme.
When I write, I kind of follow the same structures or rules of writing a poem, though most of the people who listen to my music cannot really understand what I am saying because of my vocal techniques, like the growling and screams, and the singing in my mother tongues Kikuyu and Swahili. So, without the text translation, they can only focus on the tone, and the sound of the words but they probably get a totally different meaning. A verse in which I express feelings of love and gratitude can be translated with words of destruction and death. Though, they can get the same emotional state, or the intense emotions I channelled into and processed through the song. In this sense it is like poetry transcending linguistic and cultural barriers.
Lara: Poetry emerges in my work from the spaces in between. The space between the elements that compose a work, the silences, the voids. I do not try to connect poetry and music but rather to make room for it. It’s about crafting a sensual and erotic approach to the unknown. With every medium I work with silence and void are the carriers of resonance. Poetry is that resonance, infinite movement that exists in the absence.
Emiliano: Abstract vocalises are songs, emotionally and spiritually, it is an explosion into unknown areas to extract the infinite out of the finite. What’s your approach to the interpretation of your feeling?
Martin: Vocalisation is a natural, powerful instrument of communication and self-expression belonging to the body. Therefore each vocal element in my music, be it a scream, a guttural sound or a whisper, is an expression of my feelings, thoughts and beliefs. I use a lot of guttural growling. Growls are a very powerful singing tool to convey all kinds of emotional states. They add depths and intensity. This technique gives you a lot of control and balance. Depending on which emotional state I am in or the message I want to communicate or emphasise, I can choose from a palette of vocal techniques: falsetto, terrifying screams, whispers, low tones…
Lara: I transform them into movement by detaching myself from them, letting them flow through me into the space where they transform again as they meet other emotional presences. In this process I am exposed to a wide range of feelings, some that I have previously acknowledged and can name, some not. It’s an exercise of observation rather than interpretation, they are mine and others, my emotions do not always belong to me, I sometimes absorb them or carry emotions that have been given to me and must release them into a new space, in a new form. It is a cathartic approach and my vocalisations are laments. I know the work is done when my movements become silent.