19 March 2011

DEMETRIO STRATOS "CANTARE LA VOCE" (CRAMPS, 1978)


This is the third installment of the Cramps series.

For me he is THE VOICE I admire the most.


Efstratios Demetriou (Alexandria, April 22, 1945 – New York, June 13, 1979) better known as Demetrio Stratos was a Greek lyricist, multi-instrumentalist, music researcher, and co-founder, frontman and lead singer of the Italian progressive rock, jazz fusion band Area – International POPular Group.

Born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, of Greek parents, he studied piano and accordion at the "National Conservatoire". In 1957 he was sent to Nicosia, Cyprus, and, at the age of 17, moved to Milan, Italy, to attend the Politecnico di Milano University at the Architecture Faculty, where he formed his first musical group. In 1967, Demetrio Stratos joined the Italian beat band I Ribelli, and in 1972, founded Area.

Stratos recorded many records, and toured festivals in Italy, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Netherlands, Cuba, U.S. with Area, as well as a solo artist and in collaboration with other artists. He worked together with musicians, singers, writers, poets, directors, men of learning such as Mogol, Lucio Battisti, Gianni Sassi, Gianni Emilio Simonetti, Juan Hidalgo, Walter Marchetti, John Cage, Tran Quang Hai, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Grete Sultan, Paul Zukofsky, Nanni Balestrini, Claude Royet-Journoud, and Antonio Porta.

He studied ethnomusicology, vocal extensions, Asian music chant, compared musicology, the problem of ethnic vocality, psychoanalysis, the relationship between spoken language and the psyche, the limits of the spoken language. He was able to reach 7,000 Hz, and to perform diplophony, triplophony, and also quadrophony. Daniel Charles has described him as the person who decimated monody by the demultiplication of the acoustic spectrum. His vocal abilities were explored and documented.

Stratos died in New York City Memorial Hospital on June 13, 1979 at the age of thirty–four. His mission was to free vocal expression from the slavery of language and pretty melodies. He considered the exploration of vocal potential as a tool of psychological and political liberation. His study of the voice used as a musical instrument carried him to reach for the limits of human capabilities. The amazing research of Stratos brings many suggestions of unexplored fields of research that are still to be studied.

(from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demetrio_Stratos - go there for more information)




DEMETRIO STRATOS "CANTARE LA VOCE"


Demetrio Stratos, vocal

1. Investigazioni (Diplofonie E Triplofonie) [14:43]
2. Passagi 1, 2 [05:19]
3. Criptomelodie Infantilli [06:26]
4. Flautofonie Ed Altro [06:18]
5. La Sirene [06:24]


Recorded in Studio Sciascia/Rozzano, Italy.

CRAMPS nova musicha n.19 (POCE-1230 - japanese edition)
(first issued as CRAMPS # 5206 119, released in 1978)

8 comments:

  1. thank's for this ... im also kind of a fan of Area , and bought the "Revolution" box set on Akarma of their first 4 lps ...
    there's also a wonderful album 'event 76' featuring Lacy and Paul Lytton in an extended improv with the band ... which used to be on Cramps ... and has also been reissued by Akarma.. thats a beauty.. too , & recommended.


    Do you have Paolo Tofani's(areas guitarist) solo on Cramps?

    cheers
    M

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unfortunatley I do not Tofani's solo on Cramps.
    But Fariselli's solo "Antropofagia" and a very few others...

    Cheers,
    E

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Daniel Charles has described him as the person who decimated monody by the demultiplication of the acoustic spectrum."
    What gibberish ! - Daniel Charles ought to be ashamed of himself.
    Wikipedia aside, many thanks for this record Onxidlib. It's quite fascinating, very virtuosic and kind of excessively intimate.
    The cover, suggesting tracheotomy, I find vaguely unsettling ..
    But Thank you - it's quite a listen! I never really listened to Area.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes, this comment by Daniel Charles is really gibberish. (What a word - didn't know it and had to check the dictionary).

    Aera is a mixed affair for my taste.
    But Demetrio Stratos is extraordinary!!

    The cover is a bit unsettling, although I never looked at it with thoughts about tracheotomy - for me it always suggested the freedom of the voice.
    But off course to have a hole at this part of the body is more than unsettling...

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  5. You can load in .ape with .cue?

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  6. I won't do it as I have only a limited time for preparation of my posts - but there is fine software which can do all those tasks (even de/encoding flac or wave into ape or mp3).

    It's called "traders little helper" and one can get it for free here >

    http://tlh.easytree.org/

    ReplyDelete