The second edition of the Music Camp took place this year from September 5th to 21st in Amantea, Southern Italy. The music residency was carried out thanks to the support of The Embassy of Ireland and The Embassy of the Netherlands. Last August, La Guarimba opened a multifunctional space and library called La Piccola Biblioteca di Amantea at Via Mazzini, 26. Here we have a study room, conference and projection room and a music studio. 

The aim of the Music Camp is to foster creativity, collaboration and encourage the musicians to focus on the process of making music to produce something new. We aim to introduce the musicians to creative exploration and encourage them to step out of their comfort zone. 

Our intention is to support the musicians through whatever process and creative path they may take and to nurture that creativity. We also want to promote Calabria’s culture and music in this process, in the hopes that the traditional style inspires them.

THE PARTICIPANTS

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

Mariama Condé is an American neo-soul and trip hop singer, specialising  in complex, jagged and broken beats. Her background in theatre and musical theatre influences her practices as an artist and a musician. Mariama also plays the guitar and is expanding her technical skills. Her artist name is Sylph Indigo and her music can be found on Spotify. 

Manthos Damigos is a Greek singer-songwriter, composer and experimental musician. Coming from Corfu, Manthos makes music for theatre, commercials and short films. Currently he is writing his dissertation on musical hybridity, studying the blending of musical practices. This Music Camp acts as an informal case study and allows him to meet other international musicians, network with them and learn from them. Manthos’s goal is to meet and connect with people and to make as much music as he can in his time during the music camp. His music can be found on SoundCloud.

Berlin-based Dutch artist Daniel de Boer is interested in global music genres and bringing them together into pop-music. As an upright bass and electric bass player, he is part of many bands and has toured with Circus Extreme in the UK. He is working on Part II of his album Out of the Shadows, developing songs with his fellow musicians and taking inspiration from the Calabrian folk music. You can find de Boer’s music on YouTube and Spotify. 

Íosac Ó Cathasaigh is a multi instrumentalist from Dublin. He plays mainly guitar, banjo, piano and low whistle. Íosac is interested in learning about Amantea and Calabria’s rich culture and music history, and engaging with the fellow artists at the Music Camp. His music can be found on Spotify and Bandcamp under his artist name, ÍOSÓG.

Maryna Radionovska, also known by her artist name RadioMaryna, is a vocalist and pianist from Ukraine. Maryna makes indie-pop music with a moving tango rhythm. She is here to collaborate and learn from her fellow musicians, especially to boost her theoretical knowledge and skills. 

THE PROGRAM

The first step of the project was to launch an Open Call on our website, social media and word of mouth.

After reviewing the 27 applications received, we selected 5 participants with varying musical styles, interests, and techniques in order to have a range of creative possibilities.

Following this, we created a weekly program, outlining each step to help the musicians in their creative processes. Upon their arrival in Amantea, we organised activities for them to form connections and personal relationships. 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.

Writing Sessions: Additionally, the musicians organised creative writing sessions for themselves to have a chance to organically develop ideas with a creative prompt.

Workshops and concerts with local musicians: the traditional music group Felici e Conflenti, specializing in polyvocal songs, held a session with the 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. The traditional musicians taught the residents about traditional insturments and the history of each one. The musicians were encouraged to sing, dance and experiment with the 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.

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.

Christian Ferlaino, ethnomusicologist and researcher, shared his knowledge with so they could 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 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.

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.

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

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

Maryna collaborated with Vaiva Botyriute on the sound recordings of her film and created acapella recordings for Thomas Jabouley’s film. 

Manthos wrote and performed music for the films of Vaiva Botyriute, Hanna-Rae Sabyan, Senait Mengstab and Marianne Maljuf. 

Mariama was an actor in Senait Mengstab’s film. 

Daniel’s music was used in Caroline Kriesen’s film. 

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.

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.

–> songs performed

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:

Performances

LISTEN SOME OF THE MUSIC CREATED

COLLABORATIONS WITH LOCAL MUSICIANS

collabs?

THE MUSIC STUDIO

The music studio, located inside the Piccola Biblioteca di Amantea in via Mazzini 26, 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. 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

LILIBETH BOLÍVAR
Production Coordinator

FRANCISCO ROUSSET
Sound technician and Tutor

FOTUNATO VALENTE
Videomaker & Editing Tutor

TERESA CONDORELLI
Production Assistant

ANTONIO REDA
Photographer

ISABELA BARRETO
Intern

NIMA SCHAPER
Intern

VALERIA WEERASINGHE
Image Coordinator and illustration

IN COLLABORATION WITH

ORGANIZED BY