Alio Die & Mariolina Zitta - The meeting of nature and spirit

Spirit and nature have been sources of inspiration for a myriad of experiences, coming from the most disparate fields of art. Nevertheless, these two dimensions have almost always been analysed separately, leaving aside the far more substantial and complex examination of the dynamics underlying their intrinsic bond. It is therefore no coincidence that a new and evocative interpretation of this bond has come from two of the most important figures respectively of the ambient scene and of so-called "natural music", whose creative union represents first and foremost the meeting of two complementary worlds. In their joint work it is sound matter itself that acts as the conduit between the dimension of nature and that of spirit, thus allowing a symbiosis vainly sought by many, but which almost no one has been able to represent. To try to better understand the coordinates of their collaboration, we met Stefano Musso – known artistically as Alio Die – and Mariolina Zitta, respectively an internationally recognised ambient veteran and Italy's foremost exponent of "natural music".

How and where did you two meet?

Alio Die: We had known of each other's existence since the early Nineties, at least by name. The go-between who allowed us to meet was Walter Maioli, since he had collaborated with Mariolina on some recordings made in a cave (for the album "Perle di grotta", ed.), while I had produced the CD pressing of his first work on prehistory. Following that, we got in touch and then met to explore possible collaborations, which then actually came to fruition, albeit many years later.

Mariolina Zitta: It was also a getting-to-know-each-other kind of meeting, to understand whether there was the right rapport between us, because ours is music that can only be made in the presence of that element: it's "sensory" music, and you can't get around that. After this first meeting, we didn't want to impose any constraints on ourselves, not even in terms of timing: it was a very free thing, born and carried forward at a leisurely pace. Playing together, we obviously combined our experiences, mine on sound research devoted to stalactites, sound stones and bat calls, and Stefano's with this electronics used in a very refined way. His particular gift is precisely this delicacy and sensitivity in handling sounds, which makes possible an interaction I had always been rather sceptical about in the past.

AD: To be honest, we started from material Mariolina had already recorded. The first phase was indeed focused on selection: we wanted to carefully choose where to start from. Then we enriched those recordings with elements played together and recorded live, including other sound stones being rubbed and my usual treatments. After that we began the actual studio work, where we processed and layered these sounds, deciding together how to work on them to develop them without altering their original power.

MZ: Yes, the stones Stefano was referring to are serpentine monoliths that are played by friction and produce very evocative sound waves. Here the "prehistoric" sonic universe merges with the contemporary one, because to obtain those vibrations the serpentine slabs have to undergo a particular process of cutting and polishing. In this respect, another significant aspect of this work was perceiving a sense of "diluted time", necessary to conceive a setting in a place of the immutable, such as a cave. And it's precisely from this dimension that the deepest sounds originated, close to infrasound and to the subterranean, hypogean world.

What have you left of yourselves in each other (and vice versa)?

AD: The experience was enriching precisely because of how peculiar the subject matter was. Choosing to use these sounds, which Mariolina had researched in great depth, was a new experience for me and certainly a very instructive one.

MZ: Sounds that, among other things, come from rather unusual experiences, such as cave recordings and field recordings of bats obtained by lowering inaudible frequencies through the use of a bat detector. Working with Stefano, I got to experience this way of treating sound, completely new to me, where sounds aren't left in the foreground but pushed back into distant streams, which for that very reason manage to penetrate with even greater evocative force.

What do you have in common in your approaches to making music?

AD: Personally, I think what we have in common has more to do with research than with the strictly musical side. For example, the approach based on conceiving a soundscape, or research into materials and their acoustics. The musical aspect, on the other hand, is quite different, and being able to engage with a similar approach coming from different worlds only enriched the final result further.

MZ: I agree, the common ground is the search for archetypal sound through the study of its origins and its purity.

And where are your biggest differences, instead?

AD: From a strictly musical point of view we're very different: for me, sound processing is an integral part of the recording process, while Mariolina is usually devoted to a completely natural and "uncontaminated" way of making music. Let's say the compromise between these two methods was reached precisely thanks to the common denominator of research, in which we applied a particular sensitivity so as to achieve results that satisfied us both.

MZ: Yes, I've always looked with a certain wariness at the use of electronics in my compositions. This time I "allowed myself" it because, in Stefano's music, it's still the sounds that take the foreground over the purely synthetic side. So it's a refined piece of work that I enjoyed doing, and one that also allowed me to get past this distrust of "electronic contamination".

"La sala dei cristalli" is an album that brings together nature and spirituality in the broadest sense of that term. Do you agree with this description?

AD: To talk about this record, the first adjective that comes to mind is "ritual", because of these rhythmic repetitions coming from the stones. And this kind of "primitive" approach to sound already carries a spiritual and magical value in itself. In some ways even a religious one, understood in reference to that awe toward something greater that can be conveyed by the sounds of nature.

MZ: Generally, I associate the spiritual dimension with the use of voice, which isn't present on this record. So I'd think of it more as a feeling close to an animist kind of spirituality, conveyed entirely by the force of the natural instrument. On my other records, the voice, as overtone singing or vocalizing, has had an important place, always evoking a feeling of elevation, but these elements, as powerful as stones and stalactites, have their own energetic force regardless.

Stefano, this experience with natural sounds is, in a way, closing a circle for you, wouldn't you say?

AD: Well, let's say it's an eternal return, because many of my records feature contamination with natural sounds. In some respects it's definitely the crowning of a path, also because I had already experimented with some of these elements in experiences like cave recordings or collaborations with other musicians. This was a chance to explore this subject in depth specifically, and I think the reasoning behind the artwork makes sense too: all my artwork is meant as a "password" to the content of the records, something that can offer an introductory approach without being merely descriptive.

Mariolina, in so many years of career this is only your fourth record. Is this expansion of creative timeframes the result of a specific choice?

MZ: Definitely yes! I've always wanted to release work only and exclusively when I felt I had material capable of communicating something, and of doing so with a certain quality: that's how it was for the experience with the stalactites, just as it was for the one with the bats. In general, I carry all my projects forward even in the periods between one record and the next, since music is only one area of my activity, which I alternate with teaching natural soundscapes and with vocal experimentation. The recorded output, moreover, isn't my main destination, but just one expressive means that I pursue alongside others, all bound up in the world of sound and auditory sensoriality.

Do you feel you can call yourselves musicians?

MZ: It depends on what you mean by musician. From my point of view, a musician has a rhythmic and melodic mental structure that follows mathematical laws, and that's therefore very far from mine, which responds more to sensory, intuitive stimuli. That's why my sensibility has led me to express myself through sound, through which I describe landscapes and sensations. In that sense, yes, I can be a musician, but I certainly don't have a mind structured for music in the strict sense.

AD: Mine isn't a musician's approach in the conventional sense of the term. I feel like a non-musician even in my creative approach: it's not the mind that filters and governs it, but sensibility. In that sense I think the concept people have of a musician is primarily intellectual in nature, precisely as a mirror of today's society. Wanting to move beyond this kind of cliché in an attempt to renew the very concept of music by seeking out its origins, I, like many contemporaries, see myself much closer to the figure of the non-musician, even though my output is certainly musical and not the result of experimentation for its own sake.

Mariolina, I want to go back to something you touched on earlier: how do you see the interaction between electronics and the world of natural sound?

MZ: I have to admit I'm not much of an electronic music listener; I know a bit and follow what I like, but I certainly can't claim to be an expert. In any case, mine is a search that has always made purity an essential side of things, and most of the times I've heard electronics applied to sound, the sound has come out distorted, contaminated. It should be said, though, that there are many entirely natural sources whose sounds are very close to electronic ones, and that my work with Stefano is proof that electronics can easily interact with sounds without overpowering them or altering their nature. Electronics can help us enormously in capturing sounds that were unimaginable to hear only a few years ago: micro-sounds of insects, plant fluids picked up by sensors, underwater voices captured with hydrophones, ultrasounds and infrasounds… In that sense, there's always a new challenge for me, one I might keep pursuing by perhaps dedicating a bit more time to studying equipment and software.

AD: For me, on the other hand, electronics are an integral, if not the main, part of the creative process. Since the way I interact with sound is always in service of the final result, I'm not afraid of distorting it, because I have to satisfy a sensibility that certainly can't be artificial. Using these sounds and intervening with loops, samples and effects can, in this case, be an added element to make sounds that might originally be not particularly enjoyable more "musical".

Stefano, one thing I'm curious about: where does your stage name come from?

AD: L'Alio Die is an expression from ancient Latin representing a wish for a better time, a greeting to another day.

What projects do you have for the immediate future?

AD: I should soon be releasing a record where I've processed sitar sounds, and another with Zeit – the fourth with him – which will pick up the themes already tackled in the previous ones, moving closer to cosmic music. As for the label, we should be releasing more work by Aglaia, with whom I'm very much in sync.

MZ: As far as field recordings go, I've just come back from a wonderful experience in which I captured the bellowing of deer in Valtellina, recorded at night and at dawn. I have other sounds in the drawer, and when I feel it's the right time, I'll bring them out. Then, right now I'm trying to channel my vocal experience into the study of operatic singing, and I hope to eventually integrate that experience into this other field as well.

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