Evocazioni e Invocazioni

Ancient resonances tinge Davide Ambrogio's timbre. He is a Calabrian singer and multi-instrumentalist – guitars, Calabrian lyre, zampogna (bagpipes), electronics and percussion – from the mountainous Aspromonte area. His debut (which translates as ‘Evocations and Invocations’) is a melodic and rhythmic exploration of his home dialect, intertwining acoustic instruments and electronics, tradition and sound design, singing and spoken word.

Belonging to a generation of cutting-edge artists (he's a member of the adventurous LinguaMadre) it's no surprise he's more aligned with Kate Tempest's artistry than the canon of the folk revivalists. The nine tracks here emerge from the idea of following the aesthetic and ecstatic dimension of sound. Ritual-like chants, celebrations, lullabies, protest songs, laments and spells create an ancestral connection. Opener ‘A Sant’ Andrea’ touches on ideas of memory and the sense of belonging, while ‘A San Rocco’ displays a percussive ostinato of pencil-plucked guitar before launching into a zampogna-led trance-inducing dance. ‘A San Michele’ is a lament, an explosive cry of conscious rage against the ‘Ndrangheta criminal organisation. Elsewhere, on ‘Veniti Sonnu’, a lullaby originally recorded by Alan Lomax, crystal clear arpeggios and layered singing lead to an eerie atmospheric theme. On ‘Canto dal Carcere’ spoken word and rap explore isolation and the suspended time of an inmate. Ambrogio is an innovative artist forging new paths to reconnect past and present.