The first edition of the Music Camp took place in Amantea (CS) from September 5^th−29^th, 2024. The project was carried out thanks to the support of Culture Moves Europe, funded by the European Union and implemented by the Goethe-Institute and involved 5 Ukrainian musicians from very different musical backgrounds. The spaces used for the project include La Piccola Biblioteca di Amantea, the new multifunctional cultural center purchased by our association, based in via Mazzini 26. Opened on August 6^th, 2024, the space consists of a study room, a conference and projection room, and a music studio.

The camp focused on fostering creativity, collaboration, and the desire to produce music together.

One of the main objectives was to introduce the participants to creative exploration, encouraging them to step out of their comfort zone, especially in the matter of musical genres, and to produce compositions that reflect this principle.

The goal of our approach was not only to support and nurture the creative path of the artists involved, but also to promote Calabrian musical talent, thanks to the meetings held with local musicians and the collaborations that we encouraged.

Our way of supporting the Ukrainian people − victims of a horrible invasion − was through contributing to the creation of new artistic heritage at a time when war is systematically erasing national identity through the destruction of culture and the values it conveys.

This is the result we are most happy with: to have helped women artists grow as creative minds and to have reinforced each of their personal and shared goals to create an immortal legacy for their country.

THE PARTICIPANTS

The 5 selected participants come from diverse and varied musical backgrounds:

Mariia Yaremak is a pianist and composer known for her performances, creative projects, and extensive musical experience. She is an ambassador for the British organization Creative Youth, whose patron and president is the Duke of Edinburgh, and she has been nominated for the Woman in the Arts award of the Ukrainian Institute and UN Women in Ukraine.

Daryna Degtiarova, aka Axxi Oma, is an electronic, trip hop, and IDM music producer, singer and performer, originally from Kharki. She moved to Berlin in March 2022 due to the Russian invasion. Through her reference genres – folktronics, electronics and Ukrainian downtempo – she intends to transform the realm of the subconscious into sounds and images.

Anita Kopylenko is a musician with experience in music competitions, committed to deepening her knowledge of song-writing and composition and exploring different techniques and styles in order to improve her creative process.

Anna Dukhnivska, aka Anna Aloka, is a DJ, singer, and event organizer from Kiev. She has performed at major festivals such as the Bucht der Traumer and the Zugvogel in Germany as well as at prestigious venues such as the Berlin clubs Katerblau and Klunkerkranich. In addition, she represented Ukrainian musicians at the International Charlemagne Prize in Aachen in 2023.

Xenia Nema, aka Palmo X, is a multidisciplinary musical artist. Since 2017, she has been working in the production field, dealing with sound design and music for commercials. Recently, she has specialized in the design of digital musical instruments.

THE PROGRAM

The first step of the project was to launch an Open Call on our website and to send it to the main cultural channels in Ukraine in order to spread it as much as possible.

After reviewing the 36 applications received, we decided to select 5 participants with different musical styles, interests, and techniques in order to have a range of creative possibilities.

Next, we outlined a weekly schedule that covered each step we had prepared to welcome the musicians. Once they arrived in Amantea, we began to establish connections and personal relationships in order to open the door to creative collaboration, and beyond. The jam sessions helped to break the ice, allowing us to gain confidence to start deeper conversations in the workspaces dedicated to each of them.

We kicked off the first week with a meeting in which the musicians were able to get to know the whole team and introduce themselves, telling their story and their musical influences. A conversation followed about everyone’s expectations of the music camp and the time we would spend together in Amantea. In particular, we focused on identifying their goals and several possibilities emerged. The musicians expressed a desire to learn about the local music culture, experiment with their compositions with new and unknown sounds, and to collaborate on the short films of Kino Guarimba, our international film residency.

During the following weeks, we delved into the main phases of music production, pre-production, production, and mixing/mastering, and carried out a program consisting of the following activities:

Jam Sessions: meetings for open creativity, improvisation, and collaborative experimentation.

These were focused on breaking the ice and getting to know each other better, getting to the heart of the experience right away. Through improvisation and collaboration, the musicians were able to experiment freely, each bringing their own personal style into a group setting.

Masterclass: the tutor of the residency, Francisco Rousset, musician and sound engineer, held several Masterclasses on recording, mixing, and mastering, which the musicians attended with great participation.

Naked Sessions: held at the beginning of each week, these were dedicated times to share the participants’ projects, laying bare the work done up to that moment. The musicians presented melodies or pieces of songs and received feedback and new creative input from the tutor, in order to better advance in their work.

Group experimentation sessions: these were creative exercises aimed at exploring the ways in which colors, images, drawings, or names can be represented on a sound level.

Labs: These sessions focused on methodical work, delving into how to use experimentation as an integral part of individual compositions.

Workshops and concerts with local musicians: the traditional music group Felici e Conflenti, together with Federica Greco and Beatrice Caldreva, specializing in polyvocal songs, held meetings with the Ukrainian musicians to introduce them to the local music history and the main sounds of its tradition.

Felici e Conflenti is a traditional music group that for years has been organizing one of the most beautiful and engaging festivals in Calabria, whose goal is to promote the dance and musical culture of the Reventino area. During the meeting we organized, the musicians were involved in singing, dancing and discovering new musical instruments.

Starting the meeting, the local musicians presented context on the Calabrian musical history, explaining how the tradition is currently experiencing a moment of rediscovery and reinterpretation by young people.

The group then introduced the tarantella, exemplifying the sound tradition of our region, which immediately captured the Ukrainian musicians. After that, we listened to the group perform peasant polyvocal songs, a particularly evocative mode of singing that alternates and overlaps the voices in an ancient and magnetic melody. One of these songs was a lullaby with a sweet sound and a relaxed rhythm, while another was a song about immigration and the difficulties of abandoning one’s loved ones.

Then, the Ukrainian musicians enthusiastically learned a traditional song of local tuna fishermen, and at the end, sang together with the local group.

Dancing was also very popular. Christian Ferlaino and Giuseppe Gallo taught traditional dance steps, and the musicians with our team, put themselves to the test, having fun with the dance of a tarantella.

The presence of Christian Ferlaino, ethnomusicologist and researcher, gave everyone the opportunity to appreciate the history of the Calabrian musical tradition and the diversity of the musical instruments used. In addition to the typical instruments, such as the accordion, battente guitar, and bagpipes, Christian brought a series of his handmade instruments based on his study of everyday objects and children´s toys.

The Ukrainian musicians began to explore the instruments, experimenting with the unusual sounds created by the objects.

This meeting was incredibly appreciated by the participants who stayed later than the scheduled end time to ask questions, test the instruments, and get to know the local musicians better. This was a magical moment of cultural exchange and enrichment that ended with a dinner together.

Federica Greco and Beatrice Caldreva, Calabrian singers and musicians, held the second workshop.

They focused on the feminine dimension of traditional polyphonic songs, explaining their specific history. The Ukrainian women were curious to hear that the main reason for the lower distribution and popularity of these songs is due to a varying sphere of influence, the women having namely the domestic one and, more generally, that of care. On the contrary, the greater resonance of peasant or fishermen’s songs is due precisely to the fact that they were sung in the open air.

Federica Greco and Beatrice Caldreva brought two songs exclusively sung by women and taught them to the Ukrainian musicians by practicing them together. They translated the lyrics of a song and pointed out how bold they were for the time and how often historical preconceptions about women are incorrect or at least partial. The other song was “A Rosabella,” what they called one of the most representative songs of Calabria. Seeing Ukrainian musicians singing songs in Calabrian dialect, practicing pronunciation, familiarizing themselves with its sounds, was an unforgettable experience, a unique moment that we are happy to have made happen.

COLABORATIONS WITH THE KINO GUARIMBA INTERNATIONAL FILM RESIDENCY

When Kino Guarimba began, the two residences were united. The artists of both projects participated in shared collective activities in order to get to know each other and create opportunities for collaboration. In particular, after the welcome breakfast, they carried out a very useful exercise that allows everyone to introduce themselves: Speed Dating. During this time, everyone had a minute to talk to each other before moving on to the next meeting.

Another shared activity was that of the Pitch, the most important moment for the presentation of one’s project. Anita Kopylenko and Maria Yaremak presented their projects to the film residency, sharing the musical compositions they made and ideas for their own short films. At the same time, they offered their willingness to collaborate with directors for the creation of original music for their shorts.

Four out of five of the musicians actively collaborated with projects from the film-makers in residence.

The collaboration between the two residencies was one of the goals that we hoped to achieve and that we are happy has been carried out with so much enthusiasm.

Anita composed 1 original song for 1 short film.

Xenia’s music was used in 2 short films, and she composed the soundtrack for the video trailer of the September edition of Kino; the song mentions Amantea and is dedicated to our country.

Axxia has collaborated on 3 films: she worked as a sound engineer on 2 short films and wrote the soundtrack for 1 short film.

Maria’s music was used by three directors for their short films, two of them used tracks from her repertoire, while one was composed from scratch in our music studio specifically for the short film.

THE PRODUCTIONS

The production process was a combination of the two main elements of the program: the Naked Sessions, in which the participants discussed their musical interests and production ideas, and the time in the studio, during which they materialized their ideas. In addition, time spent at home was also used wisely, combining group work with independent work.

The setting of the Calabrian coast represented an important creative input for the production process. The musicians took time to explore the city, connect with its people, and draw inspiration from its distinctive elements, using the environment to fuel their creativity.

Each of the production processes was personal and unique, influenced by the creative and operational methodology of each of the participants. Some of them focused much time with instruments and composition, others have worked mainly with digital tools.

In particular, Xenia Nema incorporated organic elements such as plants, rocks and sand into her creative process and built new instruments herself in search of new sounds. This research, later shared with Anita Kopylenko, led to the creation of a sound archive of Amantea, which will be useful to future participants for their own compositions.

In general, the participants actively collaborated with each other, drawing strength and creative inspiration from each other’s help.

Anita produced “Sugar See”, her first pop-rock ballad sung in English and Italian. She learnt to play the electric guitar, which she used in the song.

Maria produced two songs: “I Still Love You”, a pop-orchestral song in which she sings for the first time and for which she composed the orchestral parts, working with Italian musician Roberto Reale, aka Skyler Vittorini. She also created an orchestral composition entitled “Amantea” using sounds from the village that she recorded and the folk song of Beatrice Caldreva, mixing classical and traditional music. She made a video clip of this work with evocative images of Amantea.

Axxi produced three electronic music tracks: “Nothing Is Ok With Us” “Wind of Amantea’”, “Never Dream of Flying” and “Mermaid”. She composed, sang and recorded in our studio. Taking an interest in Calabrian music and recording techniques, she recorded Beatrice Caldreva’s voice, guitar and tambourine in the songs “Fortuna” and “Sposa”, songs in Calabrian dialect, never recorded before.

Palmo X, who arrived here after two years of artistic blockade, composed two songs “Back to Living” and “San Amantea”, which became the soundtrack of the video trailer for the September edition of Kino Guarimba. She delivered a library of 37 sounds that she recorded and edited to leave to future residency participants.

Anna Aloka composed 1 electronic music song: ‘The Joy of Life”, which she composed while learning to use Abelton and for which she sang for the first time.

THE FINAL CONCERT

The final evening was held at the Terrenito on June 21^st, and was shared between the Music Camp and the Kino Guarimba. The event opened with a concert by the musicians who performed their pieces incredibly, with attention to the smallest details, to an audience of 150 spectators. For all the musicians, the concert was an opportunity to try something never done before:

Maria, a music student since childhood and a professional pianist, wrote and performed a song live for the first time in her career.

Anita, who started producing electronic pop rock music in 2023, performed on stage for the first time.

For Xenia, a designer of digital musical instruments, it was also her first performance in a live concert. During the residency she worked with organic sounds and instruments, building one herself. For two years she felt that she had a creative block that prevented her from writing and composing. During the final reflections, she revealed that the music camp finally allowed her to break out of her artistic block.

Anna, who has been working as a DJ since 2020, not only sang on stage for the first time but also wrote, composed, and produced her own music.

Axxi, who usually produces electronic, trip hop and IDM music, infused with vocals and field recordings, had the opportunity to delve into live sound. The concert was her first live performance with Ableton.

LISTEN SOME OF THE MUSIC CREATED

COLLABORATIONS WITH LOCAL MUSICIANS

The Music Camp proved to be extremely useful in establishing connections with local musicians. We took the opportunity to contact the cultural association and traditional music group Felici e Conflenti, one of the most active music groups in Calabria and organizer of one of the most beautiful festivals in the area. This meeting strengthened the mutual desire of our associations to work together on future projects and, above all, gave us the opportunity to do something unique: record an album of polyvocal songs and traditional music. It was the first time these songs were recorded and compiled in an album, and La Guarimba is happy to have produced it.

Also, thanks to the meeting with the singers and musicians Federica Greco and Beatrice Caldreva, we were able to expand our network of contacts with local musicians. We are pleased to be able to offer them the opportunity to use our recording studio and to have embarked on a collaboration that will help us to show our international participants, and beyond, the richness of our musical tradition.

THE MUSIC STUDIO

The music studio, located inside the Piccola Biblioteca di Amantea in via Mazzini 28, the new multifunctional cultural space available to our association, was inaugurated with the recording of the repertoire of songs and traditional music of the Felici e Conflenti group and that of Beatrice Caldreva. It was the first time that traditional songs and music were recorded in the studio and we are happy to have played our part in this.

CREDITS

GIULIO VITA
Artistic Director

FRANCISCO ROUSSET OSIO
Sound technician and Tutor

VALERIA WEERASINGHE
Image Coordinator and illustration

FRANCESCA SOFIA
Production Coordinator

MARIA FRANCESCA CIANCIARUSO
Production Assistant

SERGIO DURRÈ
Photographer

LILIBETH BOLÍVAR
Comunications

LOUCA FRANCISCO
Intern

DUSTIN HOVANEC
Intern

JIHAN MOON
Intern

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