Dissoi Logoi | Nyx | Amirani Records

amirani records

All tracks have been recorded, edited and mixed in the Dissòi Lògoi studio by Franco Parravicini and Alberto Morelli, in an erratic way and with very mediterranean timings, between 2000 and 2011

Authors who inspired us for the titles are Kurt Vonnegut – Madre Notte (original title: Mother Night), Gao Xingjian – La Montagna dell’Anima (original title: Lingshan), Shaun Tan-L’Approdo (original title: The Arrival), Massimo Bavastro – 25 apocalissi, S. Giovanni – Apocalisse, Omero – Odissea

Heartfelt thankyou to all friends and musicians who took part to this project. Thank you also to Emiliano “Cap. Elica”, Fabio “Magister” and Stefano “Tangatabrother” for their precious suggestions. Cover concept and design by Caterina Formenti. Logo by Antonio Bertolami. Graphic design by Alberto Bonanni. Thank you to Flami “wonderwoman” Formenti for her support in translation

dissoi logoi | nyx | amirani records

tHe nyX ProJect

The title we chose for this project is the name given by the Greeks to the NIGHT, which was not only a moment of the day but most of all a primordial goddess.

NYX is mother to good-natured children like Hypnos (Sleep), Oneiroi (Dream), Hesperides (sunset Nymphs associated with dance and chant) and Philotes (Pleasure of love, Friendship, Tenderness) … but NYX generated also terribly ill-natured children among which Thànatos (Death), Moros (Doom), the Keres (goddesses of violent death), the Moirae (the”Fates”, the three crones who control destiny, in Rome known as “le Parche”).

This many-sidedness and ancientness of NYX inspired us to choose the title of a project that moves in a programmatic way transversely through languages, feelings and emotions that are often conflicting and ambivalent, in the wake of “contrasting arguments” that mark our musical journey. Besides, this project is influenced by the social and political context in which it took shape. Whether we like it or not, this world permeates us and we metabolize it through our different languages and expressive modalities.

We allowed ourselves a lot of time to think, through the act of playing, recording, composing and breaking down the material as we produced it. The outcome is a set of tracks seemingly far away from each other but all sharing a shady, almost nocturnal, matrix. Then we guided the selection of titles through a game using chance and putting it in one of the places devoted to the word: the novel. So we took some of the books that we had just read or were reading and we started opening pages at random and reading, always at random, some passages, sentences, until we came across what we felt was the most suitable for the track (E’ una sorpresa continuare a respirare-Surprisingly We Are Still Breathing, Non una parola che dicesse qualcosa-Not a Single Word Meaning Something, Grottesco tutto il baraccone-Grotesque The Whole Booth). In some instances it was also the title of a novel that went well with the atmosphere of a track (La Montagna dell’anima-The Soul Mountain, Madre Notte-Mother Night, L’Approdo-The Arrival, Odissea). Sometimes there happened to be sentences that came out almost automatically (L’ultima migrazione delle falene-The Last Migration of Moths) or tracks already defined, written by other musicians and reinterpreted by us simply because we like them and we think they are close to our feelings (Il lamento di Arianna-Ariadne’s Lament, well-known and yearning aria of Claudio Monteverdi). Furthermore there are some tracks (La Ricamatrice-The Weaver, Il Settimo Angelo-The Seventh Angel) that were composed for multimedia works inspired to the theme of Apocalypse (La giostra dell’Apocalisse-Apocalypse Tournament, theatre, music, visual arts and meetings, Rotonda della Besana, 21-29 June 2008, Milan, Italy).

dissoi logoi | nyx | amirani records

Looking at them from a distance, we found that in all of these compositions there was a sense of ironic disgust for the present, for such a grotesque present full of overbearing egocentricity. It’s a present that sometimes seems to herald an Apocalypse (Il Settimo Angelo) and that sometimes seems to show a possible utopian and maybe never reachable landing (L’Approdo, Odisseo, L’ultima migrazione delle Falene).

There was however something more, free from the circumstances of our times, which remained open, which could not be defined by a title or by words, in the same way as indefinite are the outlines of things by night.

Therefore take these tracks as they come, like short stories which tell about nightmares, dreams, emergencies, love, fears and everyday deeds. Stories of places and people close and far away. Don’t lock them in a single frame, they will get away as light flashes in the night. — Dissòi Lògoi, April 2011

dissoi logoi | nyx | amirani records

Tracklist

01 La Montagna Dell’Anima (intro) (A. Morelli) [The Soul Mountain-intro] Franco Parravicini: acoustic guitar, e. bow guitar, Alberto Morelli: bow vibraphone, Francesco Manzoni: trumpet, flugelhorn, Daniele Sala: double bass

02 Grottesco Tutto Il Baraccone (F. Parravicini) [Grotesque The Whole Booth] Franco Parravicini: electric guitar, electric bass, Alberto Morelli: electronic organ, Mario Arcari: oboe, clarinet, Marco Bonetti: saxophones (contralto, soprano and tenor), Alessandro Castelli: trombone, Simone Mauri: bass clarinet, Federico Sanesi: drums

03 La Ricamatrice (F. Parravicini) [The Weaver] Franco Parravicini: electric guitar, Alberto Morelli: voice-conch, live electronics, Simone Mauri: bass clarinet, Federico Sanesi: drums and ethnic percussions (gamelan e angklung)

04 Il Settimo Angelo (F. Parravicini, A. Morelli) [The Seventh Angel] Franco Parravicini: electric bass, electric guitar, e. bow guitar, adungu (harp from Uganda), live electronics, Alberto Morelli: piffero (oboe from Northern Italy), ethnic percussions (udu, darabuka bendir, rattles), live electronics, Francesco Manzoni : trumpet, Marco Bonetti: alto saxophone, Alessandro Castelli: euphonium, trombone

05 L’Approdo (A. Morelli, F. Parravicini) [The Arrival] Franco Parravicini: electric guitar, e. bow guitar, electric bass, live electronics, Alberto Morelli: piano, electronic organ, ethnic percussions (darabuka, bendir, tibetan cymbals) marranzano (jew’s harp from Sicily), live electronics, Patrick Fassiotti: vocals, Maurizio Dehò: violin, Mario Arcari: oboe, Dario Catanuto: live electronics, Tommaso Bradascio: drums

06 Il Lamento D’Arianna (Claudio Monteverdi, arr. Morelli, Parravicini, Sanesi) [Ariadne’s Lament] Franco Parravicini: acoustic e. bow guitar, Alberto Morelli: bow vibraphone, Marco Bonetti: saxophones (contralto and soprano), Alessandro Castelli: trombone, Federico Sanesi: drums

07 E’ Una Sorpresa Continuare A Respirare (F. Parravicini, A. Morelli) [Surprisingly We Are Still Breathing] Franco Parravicini: electric bass, electric guitar, Alberto Morelli : piano, Mario Arcari : oboe, clarinet, Maurizio Dehò : violin,  Alessandro Castelli: trombone, Marco Bonetti: saxophones (alto, soprano and tenor), Federico Sanesi: drums

08 Non Una Parola Che Dicesse Qualcosa (R. Mazza, F. Parravicini, A. Morelli) [Not a Single Word Meaning Something] Roberto Mazza: oboe

09 Madre Notte (A. Morelli) [Mother Night] Franco Parravicini: electric bass, Alberto Morelli: piano, ethnic percussions (ntimbo, drabuka, bendir), Francesco Manzoni: trumpet

10 L’Ultima Migrazione Delle Falene (A. Morelli, F. Parravicini, lirics: A. Morelli) [The Last Migration of Moths]
Franco Parravicini : electric bass, live electronics, Alberto Morelli : piano, harmonium, voice, live electronics, Simone Mauri : bass clarinet, Federico Sanesi : drums

The last migration of moths
they dance in the light
of my lamp
the dance to tell me that
they will get away
from this darkness

L’ultima migrazione delle falene
danzano sotto la luce
della mia lampada
danzano per dirmi che
se ne andranno via
via da questo buio

11 La Montagna Dell’Anima (exitus) (A. Morelli) [The Soul Mountain-exitus] Franco Parravicini: acoustic guitar, e. bow guitar, Alberto Morelli: bow vibraphone, Francesco Manzoni: trumpet, flugelhorn, Daniele Sala: double bass, Federico Sanesi : drums

dissoi logoi | nyx | amirani records

 

CD version (incl. shipment cost world-wide)

$ 16.00
Out of Stock

Leave a Review

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.