BON VOYAGE
|
||||||||
REVIEW CD
BON VOYAGE – Lungo i sentieri dell'Africa - 2004
The sonic exploration carried out of Stefano Scala is extremely sophisticated. They manage to reveal the deepest expressive possibilities of each instrument the play, creating soundscapes that let listeners discover the aural universe that flows within and without each of us.
(Phil Rosmann – composer)
The Musical Researcher, Ethno-musicologist, Musician and Composer, Stefano Scala, has for some time been following an exemplary journey of knowledge. His sound journeys have taken him to various parts of the world, and in “Bon Voyage” he focuses above all on Africa and particularly Senegal, Guinea, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo and Zaire. The 16 tracks are all performed by the composer, as he skilfully uses a vast array of African instruments, mainly percussion. They are all traditional pieces apart from the last, which is entirely composed by Scala himself, in which we seem to follow the composer on his journeys, crunching over dry leaves and hearing occasional notes of music from ocarina and udu. The CD opens with a fascinating homage to Senegal and its prince: the djembé. Scala's arrangement in track 3 is interesting, and track 14 is fantastic with its bark trumpets, bass drum, rattles, guiro and voices. The feeling of marvel towards sound, timbre as a vehicle of emotion, rhythm as a vital element and the respect for other cultures make Stefano Scala a real voice of experience. So much sound and religious research by Stefano Scala is also seen in the transparent cover price, with some of the sales proceeds destined to the Nossa Senhora de Loreto project aimed at helping the world's poor and needy.
(Percussioni – Peppe Consolmagno)
Not all musicians with a passion for sounds from around the world manage to transmit the unique nature of the music that surrounds us. The hidden difficulties in the ethno-musicological reproduction of the sensations, emotions and individual narrative descriptions of a country often lead researchers to confuse, or treat superficially, particular themes which require in-depth investigation.Fortunately, this is not always the case: some composers manage effortlessly to faithfully reproduce sound characteristics which animate the musical traditions of the world, thanks to years of experience.Stefano Scala is without doubt, and deservedly, a member of this restricted circle of musicians who search for the sounds necessary to "translate daily experience into live sound". Having had the possibility to listen to various works by this ethno-musicologist, I have to admit that I felt fully involved in the process of musical reconstruction that the musician performed through his journeys of exploration. This CD dedicated to Africa is highly seductive: “Bon Voyage – Lungo i Sentieri dell'Africa” is an album of research (with no fewer than 16 tracks), in which the musician performs traditional pieces from the culture of Senegal, Guinea, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo and Zaire with various instruments (mainly percussion). In the last track Scala gives us one of his own compositions, which nevertheless follows in the wake of the other tracks on the CD. The reconstruction of traditional pieces is rich in atmosphere and cyclical rhythm. This is journey through the heat of Africa that will lead you to the discovery of sounds as distant as they are incredibly unique. A fine work.