Live sound mix by sound artist Joseph Sannicandro for Free City Radio with Stefan Christoff, mixed live on radio CKUT in Montreal, 26 December 2018.
This mix was presented live on CKUT for Free City Radio the day after Christmas. I also presented a similar mix in an art gallery in Boston on 8 December, which was the Feast of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
“Ma(d)re nostrx” draws on field-recordings I’ve made mostly around the south of Italy, manipulated samples, and music. The guiding theme of the mix is connecting music from Italy (traditional folk music and experimental music from the 70s and 80s and beyond) and music from across the Mediterranean (Mare Nostrum), finding points of articulation via the theme of motherhood and goddess worship which predates the Abrahamic religions. In Italy, many of the feasts dedicated to the Madonna have pre-Christian origins, for what it’s worth, and in any case, we all have mothers so there is something universal in that, the hope of a new birth, of natality. Some of these songs and field-recordings also approach motherhood from a less universal but sadly still common perspective, that of the grieving mother. So here there is still some resonance with the Madonna, but also the mothers of Sidùn and Tel al-Zaatar, of Napoli, of Saint-Paul and beyond. Mare nostrum, Pater noster, la Madre, etc. etc., you get it.
Because it was Christmas, and because Stefan Christoff and I had just released our latest release (on Moon Villain) the mix begins with a track from that release and a couple Christmas/Solstice tunes before getting into the mix proper around 9:00 minutes in, but I selected tracks that still resonate with the overarching themes. I’ve been based in Napoli in southern Italy this year, and I’ve been writing and thinking a lot about the internal complexities of Italian music, but hope to do more of these that shift the focus elsewhere in the Mediterranean while still exploring the circulation of music and identities across the sea. (Joseph Sannicandro)
Listen/download on Soundcloud
Artwork fragment of Jacapo da Pontormo’s “Visitation”, design by Stefan Christoff
TRACKLIST
00:00-4:13
Stefan Christoff @spirodon + Joseph Sannicandro
(temps de travail, syncope, 2018)
4:13-4:45
Joseph Sannicandro – “Prostrate Prayer” [fx]
(Cathedrals Project, 2015)
4:30-6:13
John Fahey
“We Three Kings of Orient Are”
(The New Possibility, 1968)
6:00-7:15
PJS (@pjs11)
“glows” (2018)
6:56-8:55
Low
“If You were born today (song for little baby Jesus)”
(Christmas, 1998)
8:03-9:27
Joseph Sannicandro
“doorway drone”
(Cathedrals Project, 2015)
9:07 – 9:40
Joseph Sannicandro
“Pisciotta at 19h”
(unreleased field-recording, 2018)
9:30 – 10:22
the new objective – “Madras”
(le maitre ignorant, 2012)
10:01-12:00
Luciano Cilio “Study for Winds”
(Dialoghi del presente, 1977/2004)
10:30- 11:30
Joseph Sannicandro – “crutch drone”
(Cathedrals Project, 2015)
11:30-13:08
Joseph Sannicandro – “the limits of solidarity”
[sample from Jonas Carpignano’s film Mediterranea (2012)]
12:15-13:30
Walter Marchetti – “nei mari del sud musica in secca”
(nei mari del sud musica in secca, 1999)
13:10-14:20
Joseph Sannicandro – “Pisciotta bells and sewer and cars”
(unreleased field-recording, 2018)
13:37- 14:38
Halim El-Dabh – “Wire Recorder Piece” (excerpt)
(1944)
14:25-15:35
Fabrizio De André – “Sidun”
(opening samples of crowd, Ariel Sharon, Ronald Reagan and short melody
(Creuza de ma, 1984/2014)
15:09-16:37 Jerusalem in my Heart (via @constellation-records)
“Yudaghdegh El-ra3ey Walal-Ghanam” (mo7it al-mo7it, 2013)
16:15-18:18
Futuro Antico – “Schirak”
(Futuro Antico, 1980/2014)
17:28-18:28
Joseph Sannicandro – “cloud of bugs”
(unreleased field-recording, 2017)
18:07-18:35
Joseph Sannicandro – “aventino trombetta”
(unreleased field-recording, 2015)
18:20-19:15
Francesco Messina – “Harem”
(Medio Occidente, 1983)
19:05-21:15
Dissói Lógoi – “Da Occidente A Oriente”
(Da Occidente A Orient, 1993)
21:00-22:33
Paolo Fresu, Daniele di Bonaventura, A Filetta Corsican Voices – “Sanctus”
(Mistico Mediterraneo, 2011)
21:48-21:22:30
Joseph Sannicandro – “McCarren Park at night”
(unreleased field-recording, 2017)
22:30-24:26:40
Heroin in Tahiti – “Elba”
(Sun and Violence, 2015)
23:00-26:20
JS – “Monti, Roma”
(unreleased field-recording, 2015)
26:17-27:20
Cheikha Rimitti – “Bakhta”
(Aux Sources Du Raï, 1999)
27:07-29:55
Francesco Messina / Raul Lovisoni
“Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo”
(Prati Bagnati Del Monte Analogo, 1979)
29:26-31:53
Franca Sacchi – “Danza mia cara”
(En, 1971/2004)
30:20-33:10
Joseph Sannicandro
“Piazza Pinto, Pisciotta: Children playing in the late evening 1020pm
(unreleased field-recording, 2018)
31:28-32:30
Claudio Rocchi – “Tarantella”
(Suoni Di Frontiera, 1976/2017)
32:12-32:55
Alan Lomax & Diego Carpitella – “Tammurinata”
(Italian Treasury: Sicily, 2000)
32:40-34:22
Futuro Antico – “Concrete music / oa-oa”
(Dai primitivi all’elettronica, 1990/2014)
33:10 (and repeating)
Small sample from Lucio Battisti – “Anima Latina”
(Anima Latina, 1974)
33:57-35:11
Luciano Cilio – “Interludio”
(Dialoghi del presente, 1977/2004)
34:22-34:56
Joseph Sannicandro “Tarrytown NY, horn”
(unreleased field-recording, 2018)
34:57-37:12
Arif Sağ – “Yandim seker”
(Anadolu Döktürmeler, 2000)
36:01-37:45
Muqata’a (@muqataa) – “Istihdar”
(Inkanakuntu, 2018)
37:45-39:13
Machinefabriek (@machinefabriek) – “Sirocco”
(Sahara Mixtape, 2018)
38:30-40:10
Joseph Sannicandro “click clack”
(unreleased field-recording, 2015)
39:10-41:12
Joseph Sannicandro – “The Sun Sets in the West pt 1”
(The Sun Sets in the West, 2017)
39:38-42:30
Sicilian field-recordings (Sicilie LP, year unknown)
40:12-41:15
Joseph Sannicandro – “written history, white light”
(galaverna, 2015)
41:19-42:20
Pergolesi – “Stabat Mater”
41:40-42:35
JS – “BLM speeches for Philando Castile, Gov Mansion protest, St-Paul” (unreleased field-recording, 2016)
42:22-43:15
the new objective – “matt wivviott remix”
(unreleased, 2013)
Sound Propositions 