“Looking at the Neapolitan language dictionary, we discovered that the word “'mbruoglio” also refers to a very old recipe from Campania that consists of mixing all the seasonal vegetables you have, with a protein that can be a sausage, a bit of cod, beans… in short, it is the mix of what one finds in order to be able to feed oneself in a very tasty way. Like the Campania recipe, the album was born from the collaboration of all of us, all four of the Assurd, each of us has added our own ingredients, enriched it with a variety of foods, hoping to make it a tasty, healthy and peaceful dish”.
This is how Assurd present 'O 'mbruoglio, their new album, the eighth in their discography. “The song 'O 'mbruoglio, which also gives its name to our new album, was born from the suggestion of the wind and its ability to carry music that, by turning and spreading throughout the world, also has the strength to destroy war. This was a concept always expressed by Marcello Colasurdo who, not by chance, begins the piece with a fronna, the song is dedicated to him, in particular when he says “a musica gira ea guerra po' more” and he often repeated “meglio na tammurriata che na guerra”. The tammurriata is precisely the dance that turns, the circle dance par excellence that travels away war. The meeting with Marcello became the 'mbruoglio' (the ensemble) of our 'Voices'. And it became, thus, a prayer for everyone”.
Cristina Vetrone, Lorella Monti, Chiara Carnevale and Fulvio Di Nocera after an intense concert activity and a year after the video-single Jesce Sole – present in the album – launched in preview by il Corriere, felt the need to write and record "it was interesting to work in the studio trying to maintain that sound charge achieved live. In this last phase we had fun enriching the songs with electronic sound grafts without distorting the "popular" heart of the songs. We revisited many of the songs that belonged to our old repertoire thanks to the new sounds and personal baggage that Fulvio and Chiara brought to the group.
In 2022 it was the centenary of the birth of Pier Paolo Pasolini, we felt it was right to dedicate a song to this wonderful poet, the song is called Spurcato e scuorno because for us his death was a shame, while Tarantella oi mamma ca mo vene features a featuring with Zubin Kalhor and Omri Hason, two fantastic musicians we had the pleasure of meeting at the Lucerna Festival 2023. The electronic sound grafts have been inserted with great respect into “popular” music; we have a huge musical baggage to draw from and we like to identify with the musical world we come from, but with an eye towards an innovative language.
The album is presented on the cover with eight hands dirty with earth that together evoke the mandala, a yearning for harmony to be found and practiced internally and towards the other. On the back - instead - the harmony of the eight hands breaks in a reference to the confusion of our time. Inside there is a neutral field of freshly worked earth, ready to be sown; a reference to the origins, a blank sheet of paper, a new possibility to choose what to sow for tomorrow.
Le “ABSURD” were born in '93 and take up the songs and music of the popular traditions of southern Italy. The group was initially formed by three women, Cristina Vetrone, Lorella Monti and Enza Prestia. Their training took place through the direct intervention of old singers and made use of existing recordings on the subject, thus merging the methodology of peasant culture with the research of the most modern ethnomusicology. And, in this regard, see the material collected, from the second post-war period onwards, by Alan Lomax, Diego Carpitella, Ernesto De Martino and Roberto Leydi... From these sources, the Assurd, took up, among other things, the tammurriate (songs and dances of the Campania tradition), the pizziche (linked to the phenomenon of tarantism in Puglia), the tarantellas, the protest songs linked to the world of work and emigration, and the serenades. Over the years - continuing to tread stages throughout Europe - the repertoire has expanded and enriched with original compositions, providing a sense of continuity and constant movement to tradition. The current lineup (Lorella Monti and Cristina Vetrone) has been joined by singer and percussionist Chiara Carnevale, and - for the first time in the group's history - a male presence: that of double bass player Fulvio Di Nocera. A young and fresh addition that allows the 'Assurd' project to be timeless. To this day, Lorella and Cristina continue to collaborate with Enza Pagliara and Enza Alessandra Prestia for the choreographies "Cantata" and "Alice" by Mauro Bigonzetti on tour with the most important Contemporary Dance companies.
Article published on 6 June 2024 - 18:00
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