Agricantus
| Agricantus | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Palermo, Italy |
| Genres | Folk, Ambient, World music, Ethnic electronica |
| Years active | 1979–present |
| Members | being redefined |
| Past members | being redefined |
Agricantus (from the Latin: the singing of the corn field) is a Sicilian musical group of mixed genres. Founded in Palermo, Italy, in 1979, the group has included many artists, including, in alphabetical order, Tonj Acquaviva (vocals, drums, sequencer and percussion), Mario Crispi (wind, vocals), Danila Laguardia (vocals), Massimo Laguardia (frame drums, percussion, vocals), Pippo Pollina (vocals, guitar), Mario Rivera (electric bass, vocals), Salvo Siciliano (guitar, keyboards).
Various formations have occurred over time. The musical work was then taken up by two distinct autonomous formations: In the 2010 Tonj Acquaviva and Rosie Wiederkehr resume the name Agricantus with the suffix “by Tonj Acquaviva. In the 2012 Mario Rivera, Mario Crispi e Paolo Dossena resume the name Agricantus with the suffix “reunion”.
Agricantus have represented in Italy an example of a mixture of musical styles, languages and dialects, modern sounds and archaic musical instruments, through three decades of music with the artistic maturity reached in the second part of the Nineties and following a particularly happy period for the world music production in Italy. Their history can then be divided into these principal moments.
Their artistic career was initially inspired the revival of Andean music and South American folk culture indicated by the Nueva Canción Chilena.
At the beginning of eighties, the group attended the popular Sicilian folk environment (Rosa Balistreri, famous folk-singer, Ignazio Buttitta, famous popular poetry, Ciccio Busacca, famous street story-singer, and other artists) drawing encouragement and inspiration to pursue your own path and by engaging actively in the promotion of popular music in Sicily. In 1984 the musical group founded the homonymous cooperative in Palermo with which he made numerous concerts throughout Europe and in prestigious occasions such as folk music and world music festivals. Especially in the second half of the 1990s, Agricantus has represented a mix of musical styles, languages and dialects, musical instruments, and new and old sounds.
The construction of a mature musical language and autonomous of Agricantus occurs at the beginning of the nineties with the release of Gnanzù!, Self-produced CD in Austria, album dedicated to the music of Southern Italy Italian, the result of a research materials of the oral tradition recorded “on field” and re-arranged through new technologies alongside the archaic sounds. This new phase also coincides with the inside in band of the Swiss singer Rosie Wiederkehr that is, from that moment on and until 2008, the voiceprint of the group.
Since 1995, following a signature of a discographic contract with Compagnia Nuove Indye and the production directed by Paolo Dossena the band produced more thematic discs (concept album) in which often use a mixture of European and non European languages side by side to the Sicilian language, using too electronic musical instruments and ethnic groups from various parts of the world.
Tuareg, 1996, can be considered the most representative album, with which Agricantus have received several national awards. At this stage, the band has also developed more collaborations with the world of cinema and has participated in international music compilations. This allowed Agricantus to overlook the panorama of world music beyond the Italian borders with the publication in the USA of the collection “The Best of Agricantus”.
In 1997 they published “Hale Boop Souvenir”, a EP that bears witness to the encounter with the Tuareg singer Fadimata Wallet Oumar
In 1998 they published Kaleidos second concept album, based on a mixture with classical music.
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