Dr. Beaf
Smoke City on (more) heroin, and steroids. That bloody awful sax solo at the end of Almagre is technically phenominal - I can't stop listening to it. This album stopped me in my tracks, and anything with bass clarinet typically does. Well done!
Favorite track: El Martir.
AR147
RHABDOMANTIC ORCHESTRA "Almagre"
LP | all digital formats
release date: 06 May 2022
“la beauté sera convulsive ou ne sera pas” (Breton)
After 6 years from the acclaimed album “albore”, Rhabdomantic Orchestra is back with a new full length born from the meeting with the Colombian singer Maria Mallol Moya.
“Almagre” is a sort of novel in music inspired by surrealism aesthetics and south american magical realism. Set in an imaginary Mediterranean, crossroads of encounters and clashes between cultures, red as the blood that keeps staining its waters, almagre is a visceral, reactionary, spiritual yet political album that marks a change of direction from the sense of purification of the previous work towards a continuous tension to the sublime.
After the allusion to the white of albore, now is the time for “almagre” an arabic-hispanic word used to name the red color obtained from iron oxide.
The album was composed and arranged by Manuel Volpe with the intention to create a musical Babel made up of continuous contrasts of languages and suggestions with a strong narrative approach to orchestration. Each episode develops itself in linearity through the superimposition of cyclical figures where the instruments act as characters in continuous exchange with Maria's eclectic vocal shades.
“What I would like to explore with Rhabdomantic is the evocative and narrative power of the arrangements to achieve a sort of magical realism where the imaginative power of music can speak for it self.” (MV)
Afrobeat, spiritual jazz, mediterranean melodies, salsa, kraut rock drifts and library music are just some of the ingredients used in this record, condensed and blended with the aim of giving back a fluid vision of what we call world music.
“Almagre” was recorded and mixed by Volpe at Rubedo Recordings, Turin. the master is by Kelly Hibbert and the artwork is by the italian illustrator and collage artist Beppe Conti.
PERSONNEL
Maria Mallol Moya: vocals
Manuel Volpe: bass, guitars, farfisa organ, wurlitzer, synth
Simone Pozzi: drums, percussions
Marco Zanotti: percussions
Juan Carlos Calderin: percussions
Gianandrea Cravero: guitar
Zevi Burdovach: farfisa organ
Nicola Meloni: hohner organ, electric piano
Fabio Mina: flutes
Maurizio Busca: tenor sax, clarinet and bass clarinet
Simone Garino: baritone sax, alto sax
Diego Grassedonio: tenor sax
Davide Pignata: alto sax
Stefano Cocon: trumpet, flugelhorn
credits
released May 6, 2022
Born in 2014, Rhabdomantic Orchestra is an open collective of musicians based in Turin led by composer and multi-instrumentalist Manuel Volpe.
The band have released 2 albums with the german label Agogo Records (K7 group) gaining the favor of international press and radios worldwide (FIP Radio France, Deutschlandradio Kultur, Rai Radio 3, Itapema (Brasil), Brooklyn Radio etc) with enthusiastic reviews and mentions, leading the orchestra to be invited at Cully Jazz Festival (CH) among artists such Seun Kuti, Mulatu Astatke and Tony Allen.
Their unique blend of different musical languages as afrobeat, spiritual jazz, salsa, mediterranean flavors and psychedelic drifts, is the result of deep studies and prolific international collaborations with artists such Haitch (Nigeria), Misrak Mosissa (Etiopia), Maria Mallol Moya (Colombia), Juan Carlos Calderin and Roy Aron (Cuba).
Their latest album called "Almagre" (2022) features the Colombian singer Maria Mallol Moya and is inspired by surrealism aesthetics and south american magic realism.
Born in 2014, Rhabdomantic Orchestra is an open collective of musicians based in Turin led by composer and multi-
instrumentalist Manuel Volpe.
The band have released 2 albums with the german label Agogo Records (K7 group) gaining the favor of international press and radios worldwide....more
Like so many others, this came like a bolt out of the blue and, even though it's well before payday, I had to have this astonishing album on vinyl to prove it exists. The feel of the tunes makes me feel like the Impressions do, Curtis Mayfield, the big spaces and instinctive horns and stuff drifting in and out. Great grooves and I can see lots of ghosts nodding along to this with big smiles on their faces. At last! Anthony Cottrell
I got the Dost 1+2 combo CD. There are various songs from this CD that I like, e.g. Gümüş, Yeni Yürekle. I hope to see them play life. Tebrikler, Derya Yıldırım ve Grup Şimşek! Gabriel Rosa