Our folk is making a great dock

Something is changing in the Italian music scene. If on the one hand the mainstream continues to consolidate its languages ​​based on pop and trap, on the other there is a whole undergrowth of futuristic music (we mention the usual Jacopo Incani and Daniela Pes, goodness of them? Let's mention them), with a sprouting of new experiences that in the long run could breach in an ever wider way. This is what, for example, wishes to a new label called Baccano that can remember the experiences of the 70s record companies specialized in worlds separately. There is talk of folk, of a folk generated in arcane eras that dart towards the future, unbeaten (but not upset) by electronics.

With his project never ever, Toni Cutrone has been in place for years a mélange between the drone music and the dark magic of our Mediterranean folk, not the postcard one, but the one rooted in rites and rhythms that once animated parties, sabbat and revolts. As he flew to look for inspirations, he was taken for the scrum by Daniele Rosa to manage the Baccano project that moves within the Luiss University Press, the publishing house of the Roman University directed by Rosa himself.

Cutrone says: «Daniele knew me why he never ever followed me and was fascinated by the heritage of Southern Italy and the Mediterranean. So he wanted to meet me to talk to me about this project. Initially the idea was embryonic: “I want to do this, help me understand how to give it shape and how to set it”. In subsequent meetings we reached a point: that of creating a label vaguely inspired by those that dealt with Library Music in the 70s, but with a contemporary cut. The idea is to refer to cultured music, where the academies were once centers of production and printing of music and books, revisiting our folkloristic heritage ».

So Baccano was born, Label who takes care of periodically publishing discs in which the arcane folk of the Mediterranean basin marries contemporary instances. Maintaining in all this ideal of ritual, earth and blood. Of truth. «We have collaborated with artists who work with traditional music in an innovative way without falling into the ethnic cliché or world music, looking for a more contemporary approach. In addition, I proposed collaborations between different artistic experiences to make the project even fresher. I involved people with whom I had already worked and knew. In the end we managed to create a first sextet of musicians for three albums, following our guideline that mixes past and present, different generations but united by the same vision ».

The first three Baccano outputs concern the joint venture among the drone to never never and the atavistic percussion of Lino Capra Vaccina (already brought on tour), the one between Alfio Antico and Go Dugong and, finally, Maria Violento & IrTurmbranda with the Tropicantimo collective. All in the name of a sound immersion in the popular roots of Sicily. «Almost casually we found ourselves tied to Sicily, it represents well this desire for contamination between past, present and future. Then there were events that brought us to those places: never never and Lino Capra Vaccina have created a job that involves Sicily, but only because we recorded it in the field of orthigia sound, letting us inspire from the Nymph Aretusa. That's where something ethereal, mythological, linked to that imagination of the dark Mediterranean was born ».

«On the contrary, in the case of Mary violence there is a popular, folkloric, deeply Sicilian past. She is Palermo, and for two or three years she has started to resume her roots. He started this project in which the traditional repertoire re -elaborates in a very faithful way. In fact, the A side A of his album is acoustic and deeply linked to tradition. At that point I thought of putting it together with the tropicantism, with which I had already collaborated and which are part of a crew of East Rome. Also in the project between Alfio Antico and Go Dugong. Sicily is present, because there is Alfio who sings in Sicilian, but there is also a very physical musical language, linked to rhythms. It is a Sicilian album in the wider and deepest sense of the term. Go Dugg is of Apulian origin and works a lot with Taranta, in its rhythms you strongly feel the call of Puglia. So Sicily is like a hat, a starting point. But the next releases will have a more varied regional focus, always looking for a dialogue between identity and contemporaneity ».

As for the possible return of interest of a wider audience for experiments of this type, Cutrone notes that “it has been a strong desire for fifteen years, by musicians and artists, to rework our roots. For example, I think of Daniela Pes, who was truly an explosion of fire, or Iosonouncane, a fantastic project, but also to the Niña of Naples, all people who are getting closer to their heritage, to their region – generally in the South, I must say. Often this recovery is then contaminated with stimuli in the electronic, experimental, ambient fields. In this sense I think it was Remorse never never cleared the practice of reworking the songs of Southern Italy in a contemporary key. There was an explosion, a response that I did not expect, both nationally and internationally. The fact that they are played by Italians gives even more strength to the whole. Because abroad listeners have the opportunity to compare themselves with something really Italian, something visceral, sincere, who comes from the earth and from our unconscious. Not pizza and mandolin ».

And the future? «We already have several ideas and names in mind for the next jobs. In the short term, the goal is to bring the project live, through live and showcase. One of the first stages will be the International Book Fair of Turin, where we will try to make the public of the Luiss University Press meet (or clash) with music that, perhaps, do not fall into its usual ratings. In this way we will experience a sort of hybridization between readers and listeners, and also bring these music to different circuits. Insert them into unusual contexts, see what happens, play with expectations. Obviously, I know that whoever follows me, Lino, Go Dugg, Alfio or Maria Violence already appreciates certain sounds. But now we are contextualizing everything in another frame and I am very curious to see the reactions ».