Roberto Mazza: Scoprire le orme (ADN, 1991)

Charming and fluctuating. You could call it new age, you could call it world music, but the most fitting description for "Scoprire le orme" is unearthly. It's just oboe, bardic harp and synthetizers, all played by the composer, Roberto Mazza. The textrures are vaguely inspired by different folkloric traditions, specially the one of the Hebrides islands, in the north of Scotland. There is no recognizable "traditional" feeling, though, as every element is reimagined and transfigured: the resulting atmosphere is oblique and irreal, calm but always veined with disquiet. The unusual scales explored by Mazza and the circularity of the patterns, furthermore, give the music a really "esoteric" touch. I have to admit I don't know any other similar music (but I'll try to suggest something anyway, not too dissimilar I hope).

I couldn't find much information  about Roberto Mazza. The notes on the booklet of the cassette explain he was born in 1953 not far from Milan. He played the woodwinds in the experimental band Telaio Magnetico (alongside Franco Battiato, Lino "Capra" Vaccina, Juri Camisasca) during the Seventies, and then started touring with harpist Vincenzo Zitello. He got passionate with the rediscovery of the celtic harp and almost forgotten indoeuropean musical traditions. This is his first solo work, as far as I know, followed by "Cyprea" some years afterwards.

Tracklist:

1. Vulcani blu
2. First Song
3. Stanze parallele
4. Ebridi
5. Acrostici indolenti
6. Altari della luna
7. Visioni del sentiero azzurro
8. Esperidi
9. Mahoraga
10. Artigli arguti
11. Koan
12. Le lunghe ore luminose

Download (240 kbps)


Similar music on the blog:
Militia: Elvengamello (Materiali Sonori, 1997)
Nicola Alesini, Pier Luigi Andreoni: Marco Polo (Materiali sonori, 1996)