Demetrio Stratos
Encyclopedia
Efstratios Demetriou better known as Demetrio Stratos was an Italian lyricist, multi-instrumentalist
, music researcher, and co-founder, frontman and lead singer of the Italian progressive rock
, jazz fusion
band Area – International POPular Group
.
Born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt
, of Greek
parents, he studied piano
and accordion
at the "National Conservatoire
". In 1957 he was sent to Nicosia
, Cyprus
, and, at the age of 17, moved to Milan
, Italy
, to attend the Politecnico di Milano University at the Architecture Faculty, where he formed his first musical group. In 1967, Demetrio Stratos joined the Italian beat
band I Ribelli
, and in 1972, founded Area
.
Stratos recorded many records, and toured festivals in Italy, France
, Portugal
, Switzerland
, Netherlands
, Cuba
, U.S.
with Area, as well as a solo artist and in collaboration with other artists. He worked together with musicians, singers, writers, poets, directors, men of learning such as Mogol
, Lucio Battisti
, Gianni Sassi, Gianni Emilio Simonetti, Juan Hidalgo
, Walter Marchetti, John Cage
, Tran Quang Hai, Merce Cunningham
, Jasper Johns
, Andy Warhol
, Grete Sultan
, Paul Zukofsky
, Nanni Balestrini
, Claude Royet-Journoud
, and Antonio Porta.
He studied ethnomusicology, vocal extensions, Asian music chant, compared musicology, the problem of ethnic vocality
, psychoanalysis
, the relationship between spoken language and the psyche
, the limits of the spoken language. He was able to reach 7,000 Hz, and to perform diplophony, triplophony, and also quadrophony. Daniel Charles has described him as the person who decimated monody
by the demultiplication of the acoustic
spectrum
. His vocal abilities were explored and documented.
Stratos died in New York City Memorial Hospital on June 13, 1979 at the age of thirty–four. His mission was to free vocal expression from the slavery of language and pretty melodies. He considered the exploration of vocal potential as a tool of psychological and political liberation. His study of the voice used as a musical instrument carried him to reach for the limits of human capabilities. The amazing research of Stratos brings many suggestions of unexplored fields of research that are still to be studied.
parents (Janis Demetriou and Athanassia Archondoyorghi). He spent his first 13 years in Alexandria where he studied piano
and accordion
at the prestigious Conservatoire National d'Athènes ("National Conservatoire of Athens
"), and studied English at the British Boys School. As he later said, the fact that he was born in Alexandria made him feel like a special and privileged "porter" in an international hotel, destined to live the experience of peoples' passages and to assist in the true "traffic" of culture in the Mediterranean area, so full of various ethnic groups and intense musical practices. His family was of Greek Orthodox religion, so during his infancy he listened to religious Byzantine
songs, traditional Arabic music and then the early beginnings of rock and roll
. All of those sounds strongly influenced him for the rest of his life. In 1957, because of the political events
that upset Egypt, he was sent to the Catholic College of the Holy Land in Nicosia
, Cyprus
where, two years later, his family joined him.
In 1962, he and his family moved to Milan
, Italy
where he attended the Politecnico di Milano University at the Architecture Faculty. In 1963 he formed his first musical group and performed live at the “Casa dello studente” ("Student's House") Festival in Milan
, then in some of the local pubs such as the Santa Tecla and the Intra’s al Corso. Fortuitously, the original singer of the group was unable to sing one night due to a minor car accident, so Stratos stepped in to replace him, which began his venture into singing. His repertoire at that time was a mixture of soul
, blues
and rhythm and blues
. In this period, Stratos also worked in many recording studios in Milan, playing keyboards.
In 1967, he joined the Italian beat
band I Ribelli
("The Rebels") as the keyboard player. With I Ribelli, he recorded many hit singles like "Chi mi aiuterà", "Oh Darling!" and "Pugni chiusi", a song that became a symbol of the Italian
'60s
years, and Stratos' fame rapidly grew in Italy. In 1969, the band released their self-titled studio album, I Ribelli.
In 1970, he left I Ribelli and formed a musical group with some English musicians including the drummer Jan Broad, and started to dedicate himself to his work on music
and voice
research, experimenting with vocal phenomena. His interest in this research started when he observed his daughter, Anastassia (who was born in 1970), during her “babbling
” phase, when a child is not yet able to speak correctly. Stratos noticed by watching his daughter that a child initially “plays” and “experiments” with her or his own voice, but then the richness of the vocal sound gets lost in the acquisition of verbal language
. “The child loses the sound
in order to organize the word
s”. This observation by Stratos was fundamental for his poetry
. This language-voice connection and his experimentation with it was the hallmark of his entire artistic career.
In 1971, he recorded the solo single "Daddy's dream" which was published by Numero Uno, a record company owned by Mogol
and Lucio Battisti
. His involvement with commercial music definitively ended after this one commercial recording.
In 1972, Demetrio Stratos and drummer
Giulio Capiozzo founded Area
, a well-known Italian progressive rock
, jazz fusion
band. The original line-up included Eddie Busnello (saxophone
), Patrick Djivas (bass
), Leandro Gaetano (piano
) and Johnny Lambizzi (lead guitar
). Soon after, Busnello and Djivas left the group, and Patrizio Fariselli and Paolo Tofani joined the group. Djivas joined Premiata Forneria Marconi
(PFM), and he was replaced by Ares Tavolazzi. Stratos recorded many records with Area, as well as in collaboration with Gianni Sassi, the owner of Cramps Records, on solo artist albums.
In 1973, Stratos took part in the eighth Biennale de Paris
, and Area released their first studio album, Arbeit macht frei
("Work Brings Freedom"), taken from the inscription that was on the gate at the entrance of Auschwitz Nazi
concentration camp.
In 1974, Area toured festivals in France
, Portugal
, and Switzerland
. Stratos gradually became more and more deeply involved in the mysterious world of vocal sounds, resuming and widening his immense work on the importance of the voice in the Asia
n and Middle East
ern civilizations. In Milan, he worked together with Gianni Emilio Simonetti, Juan Hidalgo, and Walter Marchetti, founders of the group Zaj
(an experimental music
and performance art
group formed in 1959), in the context of the Fluxus
experience (an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines), and he then became involved with John Cage
's music when he recorded Cage's "Sixty-Two Mesostics Re Merce Cunningham" in a version for a solo voice and microphone, subsequently performed at numerous festivals in front of large audiences mainly consisting of young people. At the festival of the proletarian youth in Lambro Park, Milan, Stratos introduced the Mesostics in front of 15,000 people. Later, this piece was partially included in the recordings dedicated to the music of Cage, Nova Musicha N. 1: John Cage (CRSLP 6101), which were published by Cramps Records and inaugurated the "Nova Musicha" series. In the meantime, Area recorded and released their second studio album, Caution Radiation Area
.
In 1975, Stratos was involved with compared musicology and studied the problems of ethnic vocality
, the vocal methods in East Asian music, and—in particular—the overtone singing
techniques. He gradually became more and more deeply involved in the mysterious world of vocal sounds, widening his immense work on the importance of the voice in the Asia
n and Middle Eastern civilizations. Also in 1975, Area released their third studio album, Crac!
.
In 1976, Stratos released his first studio album as a solo artist, Metrodora, which was the result of his vocal studies and research. Its title and the single lyric that was included were inspired by Metrodora, a Byzantine
woman physician
of the 6th century. In Paris, Stratos contacted Emile Leipp, the director of the Laboratory of Acoustics at the Paris VI University (Faculty of Sciences). Area released their fifth studio album, Maledetti (Maudits)
, and the band went on tour, giving exhibitions at some festivals in France and Portugal. Together with Patrizio Fariselli (prepared piano
), Paolo Tofani (guitar and synthesizer), Paul Lytton (percussion), and Steve Lacy (sax soprano), he performed a concert in the "Aula Magna" at the University of Milan. The live recording of that performance, Event '76, was published by Cramps Records in 1979.
In this period, Stratos was involved in the study of psychoanalysis
and was researching the relationship between spoken language and the psyche
. Stratos spoke at several seminars at the Istituto di Glottologia e Fonetica ("Institute of Glottology and Phonetics") at the University of Padua
, in Italy
, formulating his own and true "pedagogy of the voice". In Padua
, worked together with the Centro Medico di Foniatria ("Medical Centre of Phoniatrics"), on research related to the limits of the language. Stratos underlined the link between language and the psyche, and he highlighted the connection between them with the sounds made by his own vocal cords, which he considered to be a musical instrument.
In 1977, his vocal abilities were explored and documented by Professor Franco Ferrero at the University of Padua
,a) In 1977, his vocal abilities were explored and documented by Professor Franco Ferrero at the University of Padova.
b) In April 1979, Demetrio Stratos had been diagnosed with a severe case of aplastic anemia
. He was 34 years old. His condition deteriorated rapidly and he was transferred to New York City Memorial Hospital for treatment. Back in Italy, his friends organized a concert to pay for his medical expenses. Many musicians accepted the invitation to perform, and the concert was planned for June 14, 1979. It was to become Demetrio Stratos’ memorial concert: he died in New York City on June 13, 1979, while waiting for a bone marrow transplant.
c) At the time of his death, rumors circulated that his illness was caused by his secret and dangerous vocal practices. People wanted to believe that Demetrio Stratos had died for daring too much and wandering outside the limits of human possibilities: a modern Icarus, punished for flying too close to the Sun.
d) Demetrio Stratos’ life perfectly incarnates the spirit of the ’70s. Recently, film director Gabriele Salvatores
' (Mediterraneo
; I'm Not Scared
) announced his intention to produce a movie exploring music and politics in Italy during those years through the life of the charismatic singer.
e) Vocal gimmicks aside, Stratos’ mission was to free vocal expression from the slavery of language and pretty melodies. From the observation of his daughter Anastassia, he concluded that humans have enormous expressive potentials that are progressively reduced during verbal development to just a few socially appropriate functions such as language and harmonic singing. For Demetrio Stratos, the exploration of vocal potentials was a tool of psychological and political liberation: he literally wanted individuals and social groups to find their own voice.
| accessdate = 2009-05-21
}} a study that produced two scientific publications. He also found the time to do some live performances at the "Arsenale" Theater and at the Marconi's Gallery in Milan.
Albert Hera asked Tran Quang Hai in an interview, “What do you think about Demetrio Stratos?” Tran Quang Hai answered:
In 1978, Area left Cramps Records and moved to Ascolto, a record label owned by CGD
. For Ascolto, they released their sixth studio album, 1978 Gli Dei Se Ne Vanno, Gli Arrabbiati Restano!
, the last one that included Demetrio Stratos. In the meantime, Stratos continued with Cramps and Gianni Sassi as a solo artist, releasing Cantare la Voce. In February, representing Greece
, he did a concert at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, organized by the Atelier de Création Radiophonique for the X Internationals Biennale of Young Artists, entitled "Musics at an Exhibition" created by Daniel Caux. Then, he performed live as a solo artist at the Pre-Art Gallery of Milan and went on tour in Portugal with Area. His international fame grew when, at the invitation of John Cage
, he took part in concerts given at the Roundabout Theatre in New York
on 18 and 19 of March. This was the time of "Event" a show by Merce Cunningham
, and the Dance Company, under the artistic direction of Jasper Johns
, with Cage's musical direction and contribution, and also featuring scenography and costume designs by Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Lancaster, and Andy Warhol
. In this, Stratos produced an astonishing array of sounds and sound effects using only his voice.
On June 2, Stratos was in Bologna
for the second International Week of the Performance. In Amsterdam
, on June 15, Stratos participated in "Sounday" by John Cage
, an uninterrupted performance of approximately ten hours, from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm, which was organized at the Centrum Bellevue by Dutch Radio KRO Radio Hilversum IV. In Amsterdam, Stratos held a seminar with a live performance at the Stedelijk Museum. On 26, 27, and 28 June, Stratos participated at the Cage's show "Il Treno di John Cage – Alla ricerca del silenzio perduto" ("John Cage's Train – In search for (or Raiders of) the lost silence")", three musical rides on a prepared train, stuffed with microphones, monitors, 210 tape records, amplifiers and random sounds, all directed by Cage himself with the assistance of Walter Marchetti and Juan Hidalgo. On July 4, he was on stage with Grete Sultan
and Paul Zukofsky
for a John Cage
concert at the Margherita theatre
in Genoa
.
From July 28 to August 5, Area participated at the World Festival of Youth and Students
(for Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship) in Havana
, Cuba
. Stratos was invited by the local Ministry of Culture to meet the delegation of Mongolia
n musicians and to participate in discussion on vocal methods in East Asian music. Upon returning from Cuba, Stratos recorded a sound poem, O Tzitziras o Mitziras, for the historical-critical anthology Futura, released by Cramps Records, in which he explored the onomatopoeic force of the song of the cicadas suggested by a Greek tongue-twister. In September, he did a live performance at the Elfo theatre in Milan, which was featured in the “Settimana John Cage” ("John Cage Week") at the Opéra Louis Jouvet in Paris. He was invited by John Cage to teach a course related to the possibilities of the human voice for the Center for Experimental Music at University of San Diego
in California
.
character in a theatrical review organized by France Culture
. In the same month, from the 8th to the 11th, he was at the Alberico theatre in Rome
for a series of recitals. Stratos planned the show "Rock' n' roll Exhibition" with Paolo Tofani and Mauro Pagani in order to bring back to the light the great musicians of the `50s
rock and roll
years. A live test session with an audience at the "Porta Romana" theatre in Milan had been recorded, and it was later released on LP in the following June. Also with France Culture, in the series “Poésie Ininterrompue” ("Uninterrupted Poetry") directed by Claude Royet-Journoud
, Stratos had a long interview with Daniel Charles
, where he performed many vocal sequences and provided explanations. Stratos left Area in order to dedicate himself exclusively to vocal research, experimentation, and the pursuit of his solo career. At the Music Conservatory "G. Verdi" of Milan, he held a course of Semiotics
of Contemporary Music on the voice. The series of lessons continued until March. On Friday 30 March, Stratos held his last concert, performing solo, at the "Teatrino di Villa Reale" ("little" Theater of the Royal Villa) in Monza
.
In April, Demetrio Stratos was diagnosed with a severe case of aplastic anemia
. On April 2, he was recovered at the Milan Polyclinic, but his condition deteriorated rapidly and he was transferred to New York City Memorial Hospital for treatment. Meanwhile, in Italy, his friends organized a concert to pay for his medical expenses. Many musicians accepted the invitation to perform, and the concert was planned for June 14, 1979. It was to become Demetrio Stratos’ memorial concert, where over hundred musicians played in front of an audience of 60,000 at the Arena of Milan, the first great and spontaneous reunion of youth in Italy. He died in New York City Memorial Hospital on June 13, 1979 at the age of thirty–four, while waiting for a bone marrow transplant (the official cause of death was a myocardial infarction
, more commonly known as heart attack).
His death cut short a collaboration with poet Antonio Porta, another Novissimo
, on a project set to the music of Stratos' voice upsetting not only the avant-garde and experimental musicians who saw Stratos as one of their most important and representative members, but the entire show business community. The news spread in all directions, including media that was not so aware of alternative music. At the time of his death, rumors circulated that his illness was caused by his secret and dangerous vocal practices. People wanted to believe that Demetrio Stratos had died due to daring too much and wandering outside the limits of human possibilities, as if he was a modern Icarus, punished for flying too close to the Sun.
Stratos' memorial, inscribed with the beginning of the Odyssey
“Musa, parlami di quell’uomo di multiforme ingegno” ("Tell me, Muse, of the man of many devices"),b) Il prof. Franco Ferrero, che frequentò Stratos nel Centro di Studio per le ricerche di Fonetica del CNR dell’Università di Padova, ammette: “Stando a quanto ho riscontrato durante l’emissione, le corde vocali non vibravano. La frequenza era molto elevata (le corde vocali non riescono a superare la frequenza di 1000-1200 Hz). Nonostante ciò Demetrio otteneva non uno, ma due fischi disarmonici, uno che da 6000 Hz scendeva di frequenza, e l’altro che da 3000 Hz saliva. Non si poteva supporre, quindi, che un fischio fosse l’armonico superiore dell’altro. Constatai anche l’emissione di tre fischi simultanei”.
c, e) La strabiliante ricerca di Stratos porta molte suggestioni e piste di ricerca ancora da studiare. Vorrei limitarmi a due sottolineature particolarmente stimolanti ed innovative per il nostro tempo: la preminenza del significante rispetto al significato e il valore rituale della voce in ordine all’accesso alla scaturigine del corpo.
d, f) “La voce, sostiene Stratos, è oggi nella musica un canale di trasmissione che non trasmette più nulla” e ancora: “L’ipertrofia vocale occidentale ha reso il cantante moderno pressoché insensibile ai diversi aspetti della vocalità, isolandolo nel recinto di determinate strutture linguistiche”.
| accessdate = 2007-12-26
}} is at the Cemetery of Scipione Castello (44.833815°N 9.958291°W), a little village that is a fraction of Salsomaggiore Terme
, a town in northern Italy
, which is located in the province of Parma
, in the Emilia-Romagna
region. Every year since 2000, Scipione Castello organizes a musical festival in memory of Demetrio Stratos.
Area
, Demetrio Stratos, Patrizio Fariselli and Paolo Toffani were included in the Nurse with Wound list
, a list of musicians and bands that accompanied the first album by Nurse with Wound
, entitled Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella
and released in 1979. The auditorium of Radio Popolare, a Milan based radio network, was entitled to Demetrio Stratos. The Rassegna di Musica Diversa "Omaggio a Demetrio Stratos" ("Review of Different Music “Homage to Demetrio Stratos”") is a review that was born in 1996 and every year promotes many Italian emerging musical groups and ideas, especially those who are more innovative. This homage review takes place in Alberone di Cento
, a city in northern Italy
, that is located in the province of Ferrara
, in the Emilia-Romagna
region.
In 2002, the progressive rock
, jazz rock
Italian band Picchio dal Pozzo discovered the tape recordings made in 1979 by the band with Stratos performing at the IPPAI Theatre (Institute for Youth's Protection and Assistance) in Genoa
, Italy. Stratos' performances were featured on Picchio dal Pozzo's 2004 album, Pic_nic @ Valdapozzo, whose songs are built around Stratos' voice. The effect is particularly striking on the song "Epitaffio", in which Stratos creates a sweet melody with his "Flautofonie" technique, while a subtle beat, harmony and night sounds are provided very gently as not to shadow the voice.
The “Demetrio Stratos” International Prize for experimental music, established in 2005 and promoted by his wife Daniela Ronconi Demetriou, Area
's member Patrizio Fariselli, Claudio Chianura, Walter Prati and Gerd Rische, awards emerging musicians and new projects for music experimentation, and career achievements in experimental music. The award for the emerging artist best project has been assigned to Romina Daniele
in 2005. The Career Awards have been received by Diamanda Galás
in 2005, Meredith Monk
in 2007, Fred Frith
in 2008, and Fátima Miranda
in 2009.
La voce Stratos ("The Voice Stratos") is a book and a documentary on the life and career of Demetrio Stratos released in 2009 and directed by Luciano D'Onofrio and Monica Affatato, and with the collaboration of Stratos' wife Daniela Ronconi Demetriou. It includes over thirty interviews with Stratos' collaborators, musicians, artists and phonetics researchers, as well as photos, videos, and previously unseen footage. The second edition of Suonare la voce: tributo a Demetrio Stratos ("Playing the Voice: Tribute to Demetrio Stratos") was held in Genoa
in the same year. The two days of seminars and concerts culminated with a performance by Spanish artist Fátima Miranda.
On 25 August 2009 in Siena
, the remaining Area
members, Patrizio Fariselli, Ares Tavolazzi, and Paolo Tofani together with Capiozzo's son, Christian on drums, and Mauro Pagani
on vocals and violin reunited for the first time in over a decade during the ninth edition of the festival La Città Aromatica ("The Aromaric City"), dedicated to Demetrio Stratos thirty years after his death. On 29 and 30 January 2010, there was another tribute to Stratos and another reunion of Area with UT Gandhi (Umberto Trombetta) on drums. They played at the San Lazzaro di Savena
(Bologna
) theatre as part of StratosFerico: Omaggio a Demetrio Stratos ("StratosPheric: Tribute to Demetrio Stratos").
Demetrio Stratos’ life perfectly incarnates the spirit of the ’70s. Recently, the Italian director Gabriele Salvatores
announced his intention to produce a movie exploring music and politics in Italy during those years through the life of the charismatic singer.
Besides the official Area discography, for which Stratos is remembered, it is important to remember his solo works, a massive set of productions full of experimentation and vocal research. His study of the voice used as a musical instrument carried him to reach for the limits of human capabilities. Stratos was able to reach 7,000 Hz
, when a tenor
normally reaches 523 Hz and a woman soprano
1,046 Hz (C6). He would hold notes for long periods of time, modulate them vibrato-like, and leap and dive from low to high and back again, with pinpoint accuracy. Using various overtone singing
and other extended techniques, he was able to perform diplophony, triplophony, and also quadrophony, the ability to produce two, three, and even four sounds simultaneously (multiphonic
) using only the human voice as the musical instrument. In collaboration with the CNR
of Padua
, he has released many studies in ethnomusicology
, vocal extensions and Asian music
chant
.
The amazing research of Stratos brings many suggestions of unexplored fields of research that are still to be studied such as the particularly stimulating and innovative pre-eminence of the meaning over the meant, and the ritual value of the voice. His research into the field of phonetics
(Articulatory phonetics
, Acoustic phonetics
, and Auditory phonetics
), and experimental poetry led to him freeing his voice of every naturalistic restraint, restoring its depth and dimension. The result of this can be heard in the two recordings of his compositions Metrodora and Cantare la Voce where what sounds like an instrument is in fact his voice.
Because of his great ability, his acquired techniques and his studies with the CNR, he was able to produce results that are still unattainable by others. Daniel Charles has described him as the person who decimated monody
by the demultiplication of the acoustic
spectrum
. He achieved a diplophony which is triplophonic, even quadraphonic. His vocalization became micro orchestrations (voice instrument) without any technological amplification or manipulation. He elevated rock singing to new heights with his vocal gymnastics.
Demetrio Stratos has released several studio albums and singles as a solo artist, and is featured on several albums recorded by other artists.
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
, music researcher, and co-founder, frontman and lead singer of the Italian progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
band Area – International POPular Group
Area (band)
Area - International POPular Group, most commonly known as Area or AreA, is an Italian progressive rock, jazz fusion, electronic, experimental groupb) “It was the mid-1970s and live events roused enthusiasm as never before; they fulfilled the need to be together and the illusion of continuing as a...
.
Born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, of Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
parents, he studied piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
at the "National Conservatoire
National Conservatoire (Greece)
The Greek National Conservatoire was founded in Athens in 1926 by the composer Manolis Kalomiris and a number of other notable artists like Charikleia Kalomoiri, Marika Kotopouli, Dionysios Lavrangas, and Sophia Spanoudi...
". In 1957 he was sent to Nicosia
Nicosia
Nicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...
, Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, and, at the age of 17, moved to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, to attend the Politecnico di Milano University at the Architecture Faculty, where he formed his first musical group. In 1967, Demetrio Stratos joined the Italian beat
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
band I Ribelli
I Ribelli
I Ribelli is an Italian rock group. It was formed in 1959 as Adriano Celentano's backup band and later continued performing as an independent act...
, and in 1972, founded Area
Area (band)
Area - International POPular Group, most commonly known as Area or AreA, is an Italian progressive rock, jazz fusion, electronic, experimental groupb) “It was the mid-1970s and live events roused enthusiasm as never before; they fulfilled the need to be together and the illusion of continuing as a...
.
Stratos recorded many records, and toured festivals in Italy, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with Area, as well as a solo artist and in collaboration with other artists. He worked together with musicians, singers, writers, poets, directors, men of learning such as Mogol
Mogol (lyricist)
Giulio Rapetti , in art Mogol, is an Italian music lyricist. He is best known for his collaborations with Lucio Battisti.-Career:...
, Lucio Battisti
Lucio Battisti
Lucio Battisti was an Italian singer-songwriter . He is considered to be one of the best-known and most influential musicians and authors in Italian pop/rock music history....
, Gianni Sassi, Gianni Emilio Simonetti, Juan Hidalgo
Juan Hidalgo Codorniu
Juan Hidalgo is a Spanish contemporary composer born in Las Palmas, Canary Islands in 1927. After studying piano and composition in Barcelona and Paris with Nadia Boulanger and Bruno Maderna, in 1957 participates in the XII Internationale Ferienkurse Für Neue Musik festival in Darmstadt with his...
, Walter Marchetti, John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, Tran Quang Hai, Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham
Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance...
, Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns, Jr. is an American contemporary artist who works primarily in painting and printmaking.-Life:Born in Augusta, Georgia, Jasper Johns spent his early life in Allendale, South Carolina with his paternal grandparents after his parents' marriage failed...
, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, Grete Sultan
Grete Sultan
Grete Sultan was a German-American pianist.Born in Berlin into a musical family, she studied piano from an early age with American pianist Richard Buhlig, and later with Leonid Kreutzer and Edwin Fischer...
, Paul Zukofsky
Paul Zukofsky
Paul Zukofsky is an American violinist and conductor known for his work in the field of contemporary classical music.-Career:...
, Nanni Balestrini
Nanni Balestrini
Nanni Balestrini is an Italian experimental poet, author and visual artist of the Neoavanguardia movement.- Context :Nanni Balestrini is associated with the Italian writers movement Neoavanguardia. He wrote for the magazine Il Verri, co-directed Alfabeta and was one of the Italian writers...
, Claude Royet-Journoud
Claude Royet-Journoud
Claude Royet-Journoud is a contemporary French poet and artist living in Paris .-Overview:Royet-Journoud's publications in French include his tetralogy, published between 1972 and 1997: Le Renversement, La Notion d'Obstacle, Les Objets contiennent l'infini, and Les Natures indivisibles...
, and Antonio Porta.
He studied ethnomusicology, vocal extensions, Asian music chant, compared musicology, the problem of ethnic vocality
Vocality
Vocality or special vocal effects are vocal or vocally inspired devices including guttural effects, interpolated vocality, falsetto, blue notes, Afro-melismas, lyric improvisation, and vocal rhythmization. All of the listed devices are attributes of African vocality and are used to emotionalize...
, psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
, the relationship between spoken language and the psyche
Psyche (psychology)
The word psyche has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and has been one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older...
, the limits of the spoken language. He was able to reach 7,000 Hz, and to perform diplophony, triplophony, and also quadrophony. Daniel Charles has described him as the person who decimated monody
Monody
In poetry, the term monody has become specialized to refer to a poem in which one person laments another's death....
by the demultiplication of the acoustic
Musical acoustics
Musical acoustics or music acoustics is the branch of acoustics concerned with researching and describing the physics of music – how sounds employed as music work...
spectrum
Spectrum
A spectrum is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary infinitely within a continuum. The word saw its first scientific use within the field of optics to describe the rainbow of colors in visible light when separated using a prism; it has since been applied by...
. His vocal abilities were explored and documented.
Stratos died in New York City Memorial Hospital on June 13, 1979 at the age of thirty–four. His mission was to free vocal expression from the slavery of language and pretty melodies. He considered the exploration of vocal potential as a tool of psychological and political liberation. His study of the voice used as a musical instrument carried him to reach for the limits of human capabilities. The amazing research of Stratos brings many suggestions of unexplored fields of research that are still to be studied.
The early years 1945–1971
Demetrio Stratos was born as Efstratios Demetriou in Alexandria, Egypt on April 22, 1945, of GreekGreeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
parents (Janis Demetriou and Athanassia Archondoyorghi). He spent his first 13 years in Alexandria where he studied piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
at the prestigious Conservatoire National d'Athènes ("National Conservatoire of Athens
National Conservatoire (Greece)
The Greek National Conservatoire was founded in Athens in 1926 by the composer Manolis Kalomiris and a number of other notable artists like Charikleia Kalomoiri, Marika Kotopouli, Dionysios Lavrangas, and Sophia Spanoudi...
"), and studied English at the British Boys School. As he later said, the fact that he was born in Alexandria made him feel like a special and privileged "porter" in an international hotel, destined to live the experience of peoples' passages and to assist in the true "traffic" of culture in the Mediterranean area, so full of various ethnic groups and intense musical practices. His family was of Greek Orthodox religion, so during his infancy he listened to religious Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
songs, traditional Arabic music and then the early beginnings of rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
. All of those sounds strongly influenced him for the rest of his life. In 1957, because of the political events
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
that upset Egypt, he was sent to the Catholic College of the Holy Land in Nicosia
Nicosia
Nicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...
, Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
where, two years later, his family joined him.
In 1962, he and his family moved to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
where he attended the Politecnico di Milano University at the Architecture Faculty. In 1963 he formed his first musical group and performed live at the “Casa dello studente” ("Student's House") Festival in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, then in some of the local pubs such as the Santa Tecla and the Intra’s al Corso. Fortuitously, the original singer of the group was unable to sing one night due to a minor car accident, so Stratos stepped in to replace him, which began his venture into singing. His repertoire at that time was a mixture of soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
. In this period, Stratos also worked in many recording studios in Milan, playing keyboards.
In 1967, he joined the Italian beat
Beat music
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a pop and rock music genre that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1960s. Beat music is a fusion of rock and roll, doo wop, skiffle, R&B and soul...
band I Ribelli
I Ribelli
I Ribelli is an Italian rock group. It was formed in 1959 as Adriano Celentano's backup band and later continued performing as an independent act...
("The Rebels") as the keyboard player. With I Ribelli, he recorded many hit singles like "Chi mi aiuterà", "Oh Darling!" and "Pugni chiusi", a song that became a symbol of the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
'60s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
years, and Stratos' fame rapidly grew in Italy. In 1969, the band released their self-titled studio album, I Ribelli.
In 1970, he left I Ribelli and formed a musical group with some English musicians including the drummer Jan Broad, and started to dedicate himself to his work on music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and voice
Voice
Voice may refer to:* Human voice* Voice control or voice activation* Writer's voice* Voice acting* Voice vote* Voice message-In film:* Voice , a 2005 South Korean film* The Voice , a 2010 Turkish horror film directed by Ümit Ünal...
research, experimenting with vocal phenomena. His interest in this research started when he observed his daughter, Anastassia (who was born in 1970), during her “babbling
Babbling
Babbling is a stage in child development and a state in language acquisition, during which an infant appears to be experimenting with uttering sounds of language, but not yet producing any recognizable words...
” phase, when a child is not yet able to speak correctly. Stratos noticed by watching his daughter that a child initially “plays” and “experiments” with her or his own voice, but then the richness of the vocal sound gets lost in the acquisition of verbal language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
. “The child loses the sound
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
in order to organize the word
Word
In language, a word is the smallest free form that may be uttered in isolation with semantic or pragmatic content . This contrasts with a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of meaning but will not necessarily stand on its own...
s”. This observation by Stratos was fundamental for his poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
. This language-voice connection and his experimentation with it was the hallmark of his entire artistic career.
In 1971, he recorded the solo single "Daddy's dream" which was published by Numero Uno, a record company owned by Mogol
Mogol (lyricist)
Giulio Rapetti , in art Mogol, is an Italian music lyricist. He is best known for his collaborations with Lucio Battisti.-Career:...
and Lucio Battisti
Lucio Battisti
Lucio Battisti was an Italian singer-songwriter . He is considered to be one of the best-known and most influential musicians and authors in Italian pop/rock music history....
. His involvement with commercial music definitively ended after this one commercial recording.
Area 1972–1978
- For more information about the Italian progressive rock band, please, see Area (band)Area (band)Area - International POPular Group, most commonly known as Area or AreA, is an Italian progressive rock, jazz fusion, electronic, experimental groupb) “It was the mid-1970s and live events roused enthusiasm as never before; they fulfilled the need to be together and the illusion of continuing as a...
.
In 1972, Demetrio Stratos and drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
Giulio Capiozzo founded Area
Area (band)
Area - International POPular Group, most commonly known as Area or AreA, is an Italian progressive rock, jazz fusion, electronic, experimental groupb) “It was the mid-1970s and live events roused enthusiasm as never before; they fulfilled the need to be together and the illusion of continuing as a...
, a well-known Italian progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
band. The original line-up included Eddie Busnello (saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
), Patrick Djivas (bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
), Leandro Gaetano (piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
) and Johnny Lambizzi (lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
). Soon after, Busnello and Djivas left the group, and Patrizio Fariselli and Paolo Tofani joined the group. Djivas joined Premiata Forneria Marconi
Premiata Forneria Marconi
Premiata Forneria Marconi is an Italian progressive rock band. They were the first Italian group to have success abroad, entering both the British and American charts. Between 1973 and 1977 they released five albums with English lyrics...
(PFM), and he was replaced by Ares Tavolazzi. Stratos recorded many records with Area, as well as in collaboration with Gianni Sassi, the owner of Cramps Records, on solo artist albums.
In 1973, Stratos took part in the eighth Biennale de Paris
Biennale de Paris
-History:The 'Biennale de Paris' was launched by Raymond Cogniat in 1959 and set up by André Malraux as he was Minister of Culture to present an overview of young creativity worldwide and to create a place of experiences and meetings.-Presentation:...
, and Area released their first studio album, Arbeit macht frei
Arbeit macht frei (album)
Arbeit macht frei is the debut album of the Jazz fusion band Area. It is notable for featuring Patrick Djivas on bass and Eddie Busnello on saxophone, which parted after the release of the album...
("Work Brings Freedom"), taken from the inscription that was on the gate at the entrance of Auschwitz Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
concentration camp.
In 1974, Area toured festivals in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Stratos gradually became more and more deeply involved in the mysterious world of vocal sounds, resuming and widening his immense work on the importance of the voice in the Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n and Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
ern civilizations. In Milan, he worked together with Gianni Emilio Simonetti, Juan Hidalgo, and Walter Marchetti, founders of the group Zaj
Zaj
Zaj was an experimental music and performance art group formed in 1959 in Milan, Italy by composers and intermedia artists Walter Marchetti and Juan Hidalgo with the support of the American composer John Cage...
(an experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
and performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
group formed in 1959), in the context of the Fluxus
Fluxus
Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...
experience (an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines), and he then became involved with John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
's music when he recorded Cage's "Sixty-Two Mesostics Re Merce Cunningham" in a version for a solo voice and microphone, subsequently performed at numerous festivals in front of large audiences mainly consisting of young people. At the festival of the proletarian youth in Lambro Park, Milan, Stratos introduced the Mesostics in front of 15,000 people. Later, this piece was partially included in the recordings dedicated to the music of Cage, Nova Musicha N. 1: John Cage (CRSLP 6101), which were published by Cramps Records and inaugurated the "Nova Musicha" series. In the meantime, Area recorded and released their second studio album, Caution Radiation Area
Caution Radiation Area
Caution Radiation Area is the second album of the Jazz fusion band Area and was released in 1974. This is the first album that contains the better known line up, with Ares Tavolazzi replacing Patrick Djivas on bass. This album is notable also for being the first one in which experimental music is...
.
In 1975, Stratos was involved with compared musicology and studied the problems of ethnic vocality
Vocality
Vocality or special vocal effects are vocal or vocally inspired devices including guttural effects, interpolated vocality, falsetto, blue notes, Afro-melismas, lyric improvisation, and vocal rhythmization. All of the listed devices are attributes of African vocality and are used to emotionalize...
, the vocal methods in East Asian music, and—in particular—the overtone singing
Overtone singing
Overtone singing, also known as overtone chanting, or harmonic singing, is a type of singing in which the singer manipulates the resonances created as air travels from the lungs, past the vocal folds, and out the lips to produce a melody.The partials of a sound wave made by the human voice can be...
techniques. He gradually became more and more deeply involved in the mysterious world of vocal sounds, widening his immense work on the importance of the voice in the Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
n and Middle Eastern civilizations. Also in 1975, Area released their third studio album, Crac!
Crac!
Crac! is the third album of the Jazz fusion band Area and was released in 1975. With this album, the band gained more popularity in Italy, thanks to songs like "L'elefante Bianco", "La Mela di Odessa " and "Gioia e Rivoluzione", which quickly became concert favourites...
.
In 1976, Stratos released his first studio album as a solo artist, Metrodora, which was the result of his vocal studies and research. Its title and the single lyric that was included were inspired by Metrodora, a Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
woman physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
of the 6th century. In Paris, Stratos contacted Emile Leipp, the director of the Laboratory of Acoustics at the Paris VI University (Faculty of Sciences). Area released their fifth studio album, Maledetti (Maudits)
Maledetti (Maudits)
Maledetti is the fifth album of the Jazz fusion band Area and was released in 1976. It can be considered a concept album: during the XX° century, an imaginary bank in which history is stored, loses data from the XV° century , causing people forgetting how to govern the world...
, and the band went on tour, giving exhibitions at some festivals in France and Portugal. Together with Patrizio Fariselli (prepared piano
Prepared piano
A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound altered by placing objects between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers....
), Paolo Tofani (guitar and synthesizer), Paul Lytton (percussion), and Steve Lacy (sax soprano), he performed a concert in the "Aula Magna" at the University of Milan. The live recording of that performance, Event '76, was published by Cramps Records in 1979.
In this period, Stratos was involved in the study of psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
and was researching the relationship between spoken language and the psyche
Psyche (psychology)
The word psyche has a long history of use in psychology and philosophy, dating back to ancient times, and has been one of the fundamental concepts for understanding human nature from a scientific point of view. The English word soul is sometimes used synonymously, especially in older...
. Stratos spoke at several seminars at the Istituto di Glottologia e Fonetica ("Institute of Glottology and Phonetics") at the University of Padua
University of Padua
The University of Padua is a premier Italian university located in the city of Padua, Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 as a school of law and was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe. It is among the earliest universities of the world and the second...
, in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, formulating his own and true "pedagogy of the voice". In Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
, worked together with the Centro Medico di Foniatria ("Medical Centre of Phoniatrics"), on research related to the limits of the language. Stratos underlined the link between language and the psyche, and he highlighted the connection between them with the sounds made by his own vocal cords, which he considered to be a musical instrument.
In 1977, his vocal abilities were explored and documented by Professor Franco Ferrero at the University of Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
,a) In 1977, his vocal abilities were explored and documented by Professor Franco Ferrero at the University of Padova.
b) In April 1979, Demetrio Stratos had been diagnosed with a severe case of aplastic anemia
Aplastic anemia
Aplastic anemia is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cells to replenish blood cells. The condition, per its name, involves both aplasia and anemia...
. He was 34 years old. His condition deteriorated rapidly and he was transferred to New York City Memorial Hospital for treatment. Back in Italy, his friends organized a concert to pay for his medical expenses. Many musicians accepted the invitation to perform, and the concert was planned for June 14, 1979. It was to become Demetrio Stratos’ memorial concert: he died in New York City on June 13, 1979, while waiting for a bone marrow transplant.
c) At the time of his death, rumors circulated that his illness was caused by his secret and dangerous vocal practices. People wanted to believe that Demetrio Stratos had died for daring too much and wandering outside the limits of human possibilities: a modern Icarus, punished for flying too close to the Sun.
d) Demetrio Stratos’ life perfectly incarnates the spirit of the ’70s. Recently, film director Gabriele Salvatores
Gabriele Salvatores
Gabriele Salvatores , is an Italian Academy Award-winning film director and screenwriter.-Biography:Born in Naples, Salvatores debuted as a theatre director in 1972, founding in Milan the Teatro dell'Elfo, for which he directed several avant-garde pieces until 1989.In that year, he directed his...
' (Mediterraneo
Mediterraneo (film)
Mediterraneo is an Italian film that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1991. The film is set during World War II, and regards a group of Italian soldiers who become stranded on a Greek island and are left behind by the war...
; I'm Not Scared
I'm Not Scared
I'm Not Scared is a 2003 film directed by Gabriele Salvatores. Francesa Marciano and Niccolo Ammaniti wrote the script based on Niccolò Ammaniti's successful 2001 Italian novel Io non ho paura...
) announced his intention to produce a movie exploring music and politics in Italy during those years through the life of the charismatic singer.
e) Vocal gimmicks aside, Stratos’ mission was to free vocal expression from the slavery of language and pretty melodies. From the observation of his daughter Anastassia, he concluded that humans have enormous expressive potentials that are progressively reduced during verbal development to just a few socially appropriate functions such as language and harmonic singing. For Demetrio Stratos, the exploration of vocal potentials was a tool of psychological and political liberation: he literally wanted individuals and social groups to find their own voice.
| accessdate = 2009-05-21
}} a study that produced two scientific publications. He also found the time to do some live performances at the "Arsenale" Theater and at the Marconi's Gallery in Milan.
Albert Hera asked Tran Quang Hai in an interview, “What do you think about Demetrio Stratos?” Tran Quang Hai answered:
CGD
CGD can mean:*Compagnia Generale del Disco, an Italian record label.*Constitutional growth delay*Chronic granulomatous disease*Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the biggest public owned Portuguese bank....
. For Ascolto, they released their sixth studio album, 1978 Gli Dei Se Ne Vanno, Gli Arrabbiati Restano!
1978 Gli Dei Se Ne Vanno, Gli Arrabbiati Restano!
1978 Gli Dei Se Ne Vanno, Gli Arrabbiati Restano! is the sixth album of the Jazz fusion band Area and was released in 1978, as the title says...
, the last one that included Demetrio Stratos. In the meantime, Stratos continued with Cramps and Gianni Sassi as a solo artist, releasing Cantare la Voce. In February, representing Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, he did a concert at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, organized by the Atelier de Création Radiophonique for the X Internationals Biennale of Young Artists, entitled "Musics at an Exhibition" created by Daniel Caux. Then, he performed live as a solo artist at the Pre-Art Gallery of Milan and went on tour in Portugal with Area. His international fame grew when, at the invitation of John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, he took part in concerts given at the Roundabout Theatre in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
on 18 and 19 of March. This was the time of "Event" a show by Merce Cunningham
Merce Cunningham
Mercier "Merce" Philip Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American avant-garde for more than 50 years. Throughout much of his life, Cunningham was considered one of the greatest creative forces in American dance...
, and the Dance Company, under the artistic direction of Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns, Jr. is an American contemporary artist who works primarily in painting and printmaking.-Life:Born in Augusta, Georgia, Jasper Johns spent his early life in Allendale, South Carolina with his paternal grandparents after his parents' marriage failed...
, with Cage's musical direction and contribution, and also featuring scenography and costume designs by Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Lancaster, and Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
. In this, Stratos produced an astonishing array of sounds and sound effects using only his voice.
On June 2, Stratos was in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
for the second International Week of the Performance. In Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, on June 15, Stratos participated in "Sounday" by John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, an uninterrupted performance of approximately ten hours, from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm, which was organized at the Centrum Bellevue by Dutch Radio KRO Radio Hilversum IV. In Amsterdam, Stratos held a seminar with a live performance at the Stedelijk Museum. On 26, 27, and 28 June, Stratos participated at the Cage's show "Il Treno di John Cage – Alla ricerca del silenzio perduto" ("John Cage's Train – In search for (or Raiders of) the lost silence")", three musical rides on a prepared train, stuffed with microphones, monitors, 210 tape records, amplifiers and random sounds, all directed by Cage himself with the assistance of Walter Marchetti and Juan Hidalgo. On July 4, he was on stage with Grete Sultan
Grete Sultan
Grete Sultan was a German-American pianist.Born in Berlin into a musical family, she studied piano from an early age with American pianist Richard Buhlig, and later with Leonid Kreutzer and Edwin Fischer...
and Paul Zukofsky
Paul Zukofsky
Paul Zukofsky is an American violinist and conductor known for his work in the field of contemporary classical music.-Career:...
for a John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
concert at the Margherita theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
.
From July 28 to August 5, Area participated at the World Festival of Youth and Students
World Festival of Youth and Students
The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event, organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth , a left-wing youth organization, jointly with the International Union of Students since 1947....
(for Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship) in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. Stratos was invited by the local Ministry of Culture to meet the delegation of Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
n musicians and to participate in discussion on vocal methods in East Asian music. Upon returning from Cuba, Stratos recorded a sound poem, O Tzitziras o Mitziras, for the historical-critical anthology Futura, released by Cramps Records, in which he explored the onomatopoeic force of the song of the cicadas suggested by a Greek tongue-twister. In September, he did a live performance at the Elfo theatre in Milan, which was featured in the “Settimana John Cage” ("John Cage Week") at the Opéra Louis Jouvet in Paris. He was invited by John Cage to teach a course related to the possibilities of the human voice for the Center for Experimental Music at University of San Diego
University of San Diego
The University of San Diego is a Roman Catholic university in San Diego, California. USD offers more than sixty bachelor's, master’s, and doctoral programs...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Death and legacy 1979–present
In January 1979, Stratos recorded Le Milleuna, a one hour interpretation with lyrics written by Nanni Balestrini, with the mimic interpretation and action performed by Valeria Mallets. In February, he was in Paris to perform the Antonin ArtaudAntonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
character in a theatrical review organized by France Culture
France Culture
France Culture is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. Its programming encompasses a wide variety of features on historical, philosophical, sociopolitical, and scientific themes , as well as literary readings, radio plays, and experimental productions...
. In the same month, from the 8th to the 11th, he was at the Alberico theatre in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
for a series of recitals. Stratos planned the show "Rock' n' roll Exhibition" with Paolo Tofani and Mauro Pagani in order to bring back to the light the great musicians of the `50s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
years. A live test session with an audience at the "Porta Romana" theatre in Milan had been recorded, and it was later released on LP in the following June. Also with France Culture, in the series “Poésie Ininterrompue” ("Uninterrupted Poetry") directed by Claude Royet-Journoud
Claude Royet-Journoud
Claude Royet-Journoud is a contemporary French poet and artist living in Paris .-Overview:Royet-Journoud's publications in French include his tetralogy, published between 1972 and 1997: Le Renversement, La Notion d'Obstacle, Les Objets contiennent l'infini, and Les Natures indivisibles...
, Stratos had a long interview with Daniel Charles
Daniel Charles
Daniel Paul Charles was a French musician, musicologist and philosopher, born on November 27, 1935 in Oran and deceased on August 21, 2008 in Antibes .- Biography :...
, where he performed many vocal sequences and provided explanations. Stratos left Area in order to dedicate himself exclusively to vocal research, experimentation, and the pursuit of his solo career. At the Music Conservatory "G. Verdi" of Milan, he held a course of Semiotics
Semiotics
Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...
of Contemporary Music on the voice. The series of lessons continued until March. On Friday 30 March, Stratos held his last concert, performing solo, at the "Teatrino di Villa Reale" ("little" Theater of the Royal Villa) in Monza
Monza
Monza is a city and comune on the river Lambro, a tributary of the Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy some 15 km north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Monza and Brianza. It is best known for its Grand Prix motor racing circuit, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.On June...
.
In April, Demetrio Stratos was diagnosed with a severe case of aplastic anemia
Aplastic anemia
Aplastic anemia is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cells to replenish blood cells. The condition, per its name, involves both aplasia and anemia...
. On April 2, he was recovered at the Milan Polyclinic, but his condition deteriorated rapidly and he was transferred to New York City Memorial Hospital for treatment. Meanwhile, in Italy, his friends organized a concert to pay for his medical expenses. Many musicians accepted the invitation to perform, and the concert was planned for June 14, 1979. It was to become Demetrio Stratos’ memorial concert, where over hundred musicians played in front of an audience of 60,000 at the Arena of Milan, the first great and spontaneous reunion of youth in Italy. He died in New York City Memorial Hospital on June 13, 1979 at the age of thirty–four, while waiting for a bone marrow transplant (the official cause of death was a myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
, more commonly known as heart attack).
His death cut short a collaboration with poet Antonio Porta, another Novissimo
Neoavanguardia
The neoavanguardia was an avant-garde Italian literary movement, characterized by a strong push towards formal experimentation in language...
, on a project set to the music of Stratos' voice upsetting not only the avant-garde and experimental musicians who saw Stratos as one of their most important and representative members, but the entire show business community. The news spread in all directions, including media that was not so aware of alternative music. At the time of his death, rumors circulated that his illness was caused by his secret and dangerous vocal practices. People wanted to believe that Demetrio Stratos had died due to daring too much and wandering outside the limits of human possibilities, as if he was a modern Icarus, punished for flying too close to the Sun.
Stratos' memorial, inscribed with the beginning of the Odyssey
Odyssey
The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...
“Musa, parlami di quell’uomo di multiforme ingegno” ("Tell me, Muse, of the man of many devices"),b) Il prof. Franco Ferrero, che frequentò Stratos nel Centro di Studio per le ricerche di Fonetica del CNR dell’Università di Padova, ammette: “Stando a quanto ho riscontrato durante l’emissione, le corde vocali non vibravano. La frequenza era molto elevata (le corde vocali non riescono a superare la frequenza di 1000-1200 Hz). Nonostante ciò Demetrio otteneva non uno, ma due fischi disarmonici, uno che da 6000 Hz scendeva di frequenza, e l’altro che da 3000 Hz saliva. Non si poteva supporre, quindi, che un fischio fosse l’armonico superiore dell’altro. Constatai anche l’emissione di tre fischi simultanei”.
c, e) La strabiliante ricerca di Stratos porta molte suggestioni e piste di ricerca ancora da studiare. Vorrei limitarmi a due sottolineature particolarmente stimolanti ed innovative per il nostro tempo: la preminenza del significante rispetto al significato e il valore rituale della voce in ordine all’accesso alla scaturigine del corpo.
d, f) “La voce, sostiene Stratos, è oggi nella musica un canale di trasmissione che non trasmette più nulla” e ancora: “L’ipertrofia vocale occidentale ha reso il cantante moderno pressoché insensibile ai diversi aspetti della vocalità, isolandolo nel recinto di determinate strutture linguistiche”.
| accessdate = 2007-12-26
}} is at the Cemetery of Scipione Castello (44.833815°N 9.958291°W), a little village that is a fraction of Salsomaggiore Terme
Salsomaggiore Terme
Salsomaggiore Terme is a town and comune in northern Italy. It is located in the province of Parma, in the Emilia-Romagna region, located at the foot of the Apennines. It is a popular Spa town. The water is strongly saline....
, a town in northern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, which is located in the province of Parma
Province of Parma
The Province of Parma is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Parma.It has an area of 3,449 km², and a total population of 413,198...
, in the Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna
Emilia–Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of and about 4.4 million inhabitants....
region. Every year since 2000, Scipione Castello organizes a musical festival in memory of Demetrio Stratos.
Area
Area (band)
Area - International POPular Group, most commonly known as Area or AreA, is an Italian progressive rock, jazz fusion, electronic, experimental groupb) “It was the mid-1970s and live events roused enthusiasm as never before; they fulfilled the need to be together and the illusion of continuing as a...
, Demetrio Stratos, Patrizio Fariselli and Paolo Toffani were included in the Nurse with Wound list
Nurse with Wound list
The Nurse with Wound list is a list of 291 musicians and bands that accompanied Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella , the first album by Nurse With Wound...
, a list of musicians and bands that accompanied the first album by Nurse with Wound
Nurse with Wound
Nurse with Wound is the main recording name for British musician Steven Stapleton. Nurse with Wound was originally a band, formed in 1978 by Stapleton, John Fothergill and Heman Pathak...
, entitled Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella
Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella
Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella was the debut album by Nurse With Wound, released on their own United Dairies label in 1979. The album enjoys a reputation as one of the most singular debuts of all time...
and released in 1979. The auditorium of Radio Popolare, a Milan based radio network, was entitled to Demetrio Stratos. The Rassegna di Musica Diversa "Omaggio a Demetrio Stratos" ("Review of Different Music “Homage to Demetrio Stratos”") is a review that was born in 1996 and every year promotes many Italian emerging musical groups and ideas, especially those who are more innovative. This homage review takes place in Alberone di Cento
Cento
Cento is a city and comune in the province of Ferrara, part of the region Emilia-Romagna . In Italian "cento" means 100.-History:The name Cento is a reference to the centuriation of the Po Valley...
, a city in northern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, that is located in the province of Ferrara
Province of Ferrara
The Province of Ferrara is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Ferrara.It has an area of 2,632 km², about two thirds of the area of the U.S. State of Rhode Island, and a total population of about 350,000 . There are 26 comuni in the province , see...
, in the Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna
Emilia–Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of and about 4.4 million inhabitants....
region.
In 2002, the progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, jazz rock
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
Italian band Picchio dal Pozzo discovered the tape recordings made in 1979 by the band with Stratos performing at the IPPAI Theatre (Institute for Youth's Protection and Assistance) in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, Italy. Stratos' performances were featured on Picchio dal Pozzo's 2004 album, Pic_nic @ Valdapozzo, whose songs are built around Stratos' voice. The effect is particularly striking on the song "Epitaffio", in which Stratos creates a sweet melody with his "Flautofonie" technique, while a subtle beat, harmony and night sounds are provided very gently as not to shadow the voice.
The “Demetrio Stratos” International Prize for experimental music, established in 2005 and promoted by his wife Daniela Ronconi Demetriou, Area
Area (band)
Area - International POPular Group, most commonly known as Area or AreA, is an Italian progressive rock, jazz fusion, electronic, experimental groupb) “It was the mid-1970s and live events roused enthusiasm as never before; they fulfilled the need to be together and the illusion of continuing as a...
's member Patrizio Fariselli, Claudio Chianura, Walter Prati and Gerd Rische, awards emerging musicians and new projects for music experimentation, and career achievements in experimental music. The award for the emerging artist best project has been assigned to Romina Daniele
Romina Daniele
Romina Daniele is an Italian exponent of the vocal extended technique and an avant-garde singer, a composer of electronic and experimental music, vocalist and performer associated with contemporary music, writer, photographer...
in 2005. The Career Awards have been received by Diamanda Galás
Diamanda Galás
Diamanda Galás is an American avant-garde composer, vocalist, pianist, organist, performance artist and painter.Galás has been described as "capable of the most unnerving vocal terror", with her three and a half octave vocal range. She often screams, hisses and growls...
in 2005, Meredith Monk
Meredith Monk
Meredith Jane Monk is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. Since the 1960s, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recording extensively for ECM Records.-Life and work:Meredith Monk is primarily known for her...
in 2007, Fred Frith
Fred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
in 2008, and Fátima Miranda
Fátima Miranda
Fátima Miranda is a Spanish singer and researcher born in Salamanca. She has a bachelor's degree in history of art, with a specialisation in modern art. As a singer, her compositions touch several genres like Mongol Song or Indian Dhrupad. She has investigated the human voice and created...
in 2009.
La voce Stratos ("The Voice Stratos") is a book and a documentary on the life and career of Demetrio Stratos released in 2009 and directed by Luciano D'Onofrio and Monica Affatato, and with the collaboration of Stratos' wife Daniela Ronconi Demetriou. It includes over thirty interviews with Stratos' collaborators, musicians, artists and phonetics researchers, as well as photos, videos, and previously unseen footage. The second edition of Suonare la voce: tributo a Demetrio Stratos ("Playing the Voice: Tribute to Demetrio Stratos") was held in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
in the same year. The two days of seminars and concerts culminated with a performance by Spanish artist Fátima Miranda.
On 25 August 2009 in Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
, the remaining Area
Area (band)
Area - International POPular Group, most commonly known as Area or AreA, is an Italian progressive rock, jazz fusion, electronic, experimental groupb) “It was the mid-1970s and live events roused enthusiasm as never before; they fulfilled the need to be together and the illusion of continuing as a...
members, Patrizio Fariselli, Ares Tavolazzi, and Paolo Tofani together with Capiozzo's son, Christian on drums, and Mauro Pagani
Mauro Pagani
Mauro Pagani is an Italian musician and singer.Pagani was born in Chiari, Lombardy. A multi-instrumentalist, he made his debut in the music world in 1970 as violinist and founding member of the progressive rock band Premiata Forneria Marconi. In 1977 he left the band to follow a solo career, but...
on vocals and violin reunited for the first time in over a decade during the ninth edition of the festival La Città Aromatica ("The Aromaric City"), dedicated to Demetrio Stratos thirty years after his death. On 29 and 30 January 2010, there was another tribute to Stratos and another reunion of Area with UT Gandhi (Umberto Trombetta) on drums. They played at the San Lazzaro di Savena
San Lazzaro di Savena
San Lazzaro di Savena is an Italian comune of some 30,000 inhabitants in the province of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna.- Geography :...
(Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
) theatre as part of StratosFerico: Omaggio a Demetrio Stratos ("StratosPheric: Tribute to Demetrio Stratos").
Demetrio Stratos’ life perfectly incarnates the spirit of the ’70s. Recently, the Italian director Gabriele Salvatores
Gabriele Salvatores
Gabriele Salvatores , is an Italian Academy Award-winning film director and screenwriter.-Biography:Born in Naples, Salvatores debuted as a theatre director in 1972, founding in Milan the Teatro dell'Elfo, for which he directed several avant-garde pieces until 1989.In that year, he directed his...
announced his intention to produce a movie exploring music and politics in Italy during those years through the life of the charismatic singer.
Phonetics research studies
Vocal gimmicks aside, Stratos’ mission was to free vocal expression from the slavery of language and pretty melodies. From the observation of his daughter Anastassia, he concluded that humans have enormous expressive potential that is progressively reduced to just a few socially appropriate functions during verbal development, such as language and harmonic singing. He considered the exploration of vocal potential as a tool of psychological and political liberation. He, literally, wanted individuals and social groups to find their own voice.Besides the official Area discography, for which Stratos is remembered, it is important to remember his solo works, a massive set of productions full of experimentation and vocal research. His study of the voice used as a musical instrument carried him to reach for the limits of human capabilities. Stratos was able to reach 7,000 Hz
Hertz
The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
, when a tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
normally reaches 523 Hz and a woman soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
1,046 Hz (C6). He would hold notes for long periods of time, modulate them vibrato-like, and leap and dive from low to high and back again, with pinpoint accuracy. Using various overtone singing
Overtone singing
Overtone singing, also known as overtone chanting, or harmonic singing, is a type of singing in which the singer manipulates the resonances created as air travels from the lungs, past the vocal folds, and out the lips to produce a melody.The partials of a sound wave made by the human voice can be...
and other extended techniques, he was able to perform diplophony, triplophony, and also quadrophony, the ability to produce two, three, and even four sounds simultaneously (multiphonic
Multiphonic
Multiphonics is an extended technique in instrumental music in which a monophonic instrument is made to produce several notes at once....
) using only the human voice as the musical instrument. In collaboration with the CNR
CNR
-Science, technology, computing and communications:*Carrier-to-noise ratio *CNR , the quantity "Contrast to Noise Ratio" in diagnostic imaging*Cisco Network Registrar, a DHCP, DNS and TFTP server suite offered by Cisco...
of Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
, he has released many studies in ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts."Coined by the musician Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος ethnos and μουσική mousike , it is often considered the anthropology or ethnography of music...
, vocal extensions and Asian music
Asian music
Asian music encompasses numerous different musical styles originating from a large number of Asian countries.Musical traditions in Asia* Music of Central Asia** Music of Afghanistan** Music of Kazakhstan** Music of Mongolia** Music of Uzbekistan...
chant
Chant
Chant is the rhythmic speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes to highly complex musical structures Chant (from French chanter) is the rhythmic speaking or singing...
.
The amazing research of Stratos brings many suggestions of unexplored fields of research that are still to be studied such as the particularly stimulating and innovative pre-eminence of the meaning over the meant, and the ritual value of the voice. His research into the field of phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
(Articulatory phonetics
Articulatory phonetics
The field of articulatory phonetics is a subfield of phonetics. In studying articulation, phoneticians explain how humans produce speech sounds via the interaction of different physiological structures....
, Acoustic phonetics
Acoustic phonetics
Acoustic phonetics is a subfield of phonetics which deals with acoustic aspects of speech sounds. Acoustic phonetics investigates properties like the mean squared amplitude of a waveform, its duration, its fundamental frequency, or other properties of its frequency spectrum, and the relationship...
, and Auditory phonetics
Auditory phonetics
Auditory phonetics is a branch of phonetics concerned with the hearing of speech sounds and with speech perception.-See also:* Acoustic phonetics* Auditory illusion* Auditory processing disorder* Hearing * Motor theory of speech perception...
), and experimental poetry led to him freeing his voice of every naturalistic restraint, restoring its depth and dimension. The result of this can be heard in the two recordings of his compositions Metrodora and Cantare la Voce where what sounds like an instrument is in fact his voice.
The pre-eminence of the signifier over the signifiedThe pre-eminence of the signifier over the signified is an issue of which linguisticsLinguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context.... and pragmatics Pragmatics Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. Pragmatics encompasses speech act theory, conversational implicature, talk in interaction and other approaches to language behavior in philosophy, sociology, and linguistics. It studies how the... are fond of, and has brought to the turning point in both semantics Semantics Semantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata.... and semiotics Semiotics Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication... . The value of language Language Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication... is not to be researched in the connections among the signs Sign (semiotics) A sign is understood as a discrete unit of meaning in semiotics. It is defined as "something that stands for something, to someone in some capacity" It includes words, images, gestures, scents, tastes, textures, sounds – essentially all of the ways in which information can be... or in the relation between the signifier (signifiant) and the signified (signifié), but in the usage of the language in the context. For example, there is a metacommunicative Metacommunicative competence Metacommunicative competence is the ability to intervene within difficult conversations and to correct communication problems by utilizing the different ways of practical communication:... meaning in a change in pitch Pitch (music) Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,... , volume Volume Volume is the quantity of three-dimensional space enclosed by some closed boundary, for example, the space that a substance or shape occupies or contains.... , timbre Timbre In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the... , or tone Tone (linguistics) Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called... of the sound Sound Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of... produced by the voice Voice Voice may refer to:* Human voice* Voice control or voice activation* Writer's voice* Voice acting* Voice vote* Voice message-In film:* Voice , a 2005 South Korean film* The Voice , a 2010 Turkish horror film directed by Ümit Ünal... that can nullify the semantic value of a sentence (the words). Stratos grasped the semantic increase produced by the voice. It is not only in function of the meanings but it is its own primal mode of body expression. The voice has a communicative meaning by itself which deserves to be listened to regardless of the meanings it may convey. The signifier “voice Voice Voice may refer to:* Human voice* Voice control or voice activation* Writer's voice* Voice acting* Voice vote* Voice message-In film:* Voice , a 2005 South Korean film* The Voice , a 2010 Turkish horror film directed by Ümit Ünal... ” becomes semiogenetic, that is producer of new signification when verifying it in its bare essence, in its “phoné Phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory... ”. The “magic” sound of voice is independent from meanings, so Stratos produces sounds without codified meanings, which yet create new possible worlds. As the petrified Oread Oread In Greek mythology, an Oread or Orestiad was a type of nymph that lived in mountains, valleys, ravines. They differ from each other according to their dwelling: the Idae were from Mount Ida, Peliades from Mount Pelia, etc... Echo Echo (mythology) In Greek mythology, Ekho , "echo", itself from ἦχος , "sound") was an Oread who loved her own voice. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and visited them on Earth often. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mt... , his research for this lost voice explores the human cry Crying Crying is shedding tears as a response to an emotional state in humans. The act of crying has been defined as "a complex secretomotor phenomenon characterized by the shedding of tears from the lacrimal apparatus, without any irritation of the ocular structures"... , the breath Breathing Breathing is the process that moves air in and out of the lungs. Aerobic organisms require oxygen to release energy via respiration, in the form of the metabolism of energy-rich molecules such as glucose. Breathing is only one process that delivers oxygen to where it is needed in the body and... , the noise Noise In common use, the word noise means any unwanted sound. In both analog and digital electronics, noise is random unwanted perturbation to a wanted signal; it is called noise as a generalisation of the acoustic noise heard when listening to a weak radio transmission with significant electrical noise... . It intends to go back to the corporeal reality, to the instinctive materiality, to the animal Dionysian Dionysus Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete... base, suppressed by a codified objectiveness. The insistence on the “significant voice” takes value away from the subjective production of the signified. Stratos carries to a dissolving of “the I” by a creatively repetitive modulation Modulation In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a high-frequency periodic waveform, called the carrier signal, with a modulating signal which typically contains information to be transmitted... in advantage of an intersubjective union of the sources of life. The nomadic voice represents the liberation, it aspires to the body Body With regard to living things, a body is the physical body of an individual. "Body" often is used in connection with appearance, health issues and death... vocalization subtracted to the fixed inflections of the bel canto Bel canto Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term... . In "Mirologhi I", "Mirologhi II" and "Criptomelodie Infantili" the voice tends to be declined plurally, it whispers, it moans, it imitates, it becomes diplophonia and triplophonia. It is a polyphonic vocalism without a subject, androgynous, where both genders, masculine and feminine, coexist. Stratos sings the voice, mere appearance, pharmakon Indeterminacy (Philosophy) Indeterminacy, in philosophy, can refer both to common scientific and mathematical concepts of uncertainty and their implications and to another kind of indeterminacy deriving from the nature of definition or meaning... , poisonous, and curative, without anything else except the voice, a pure ludic act, only voice as voice itself. “By this way the subversive sovereignty of the voice as an event, pharmakon communication challenge leaves the subject in an ingenuous anthropolatry somewhere between unconditioned enjoyment and consumption.” The praise of the voice signifier supports an epistemology of the perception Perception Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs... , it states “the error of Descartes René Descartes René Descartes ; was a French philosopher and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy', and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day... ” who reduced reason Reason Reason is a term that refers to the capacity human beings have to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts, and to change or justify practices, institutions, and beliefs. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, ... to conceptual word. It's in line with the “Praktognosia” (practical knowledge) of Maurice Merleau-Ponty Maurice Merleau-Ponty Maurice Merleau-Ponty was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Karl Marx, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger in addition to being closely associated with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir... , which sets the starting pointing the sensible perceptions of our bodies. |
The ritual value of the voiceStratos refers to the aulosAulos An aulos or tibia was an ancient Greek wind instrument, depicted often in art and also attested by archaeology.An aulete was the musician who performed on an aulos... , the double-reeded flute used during the old rites in the ancient Greece Ancient Greece Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the... ; it produces two sounds and it is able to keep persons in a state of trance Trance Trance denotes a variety of processes, ecstasy, techniques, modalities and states of mind, awareness and consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.The term trance may be associated with meditation, magic, flow, and prayer... . In his "Flautofonie ed Altro", a track that it is featured on his 1978 album, Cantare la voce, there are two not harmonic voices that cause to the listener a state of trance, similar to the trance during the religious rites, and a sense of estrange. So, the Stratos' voice-music is a sort of lay rite that produces to the listeners the ability to reach their primordial origin. “The Stratos' flute-voice plays a circular theme, a modal inspiration that brings us filler to an experience of communion, ritual interaction and sacrifices. That repetition suggests something of hypnotic that should be propitious to the trance state. Stratos seems to wish a participated, spontaneous and also generous listening. Through these, always different, repetitions, he aimed to abolish, to dissolute, to dissolve the "ego", as the basic element for the sacrifice. In this dissolution of the identity we (the group of listeners) are in communion with gods (divinities), Earth and life.” — Janete El Haouli (translated from Spanish to Italian to English) In the years of the desecration and secularization of the Christianity, Stratos proposed a new lay sacredness, in the name of the ancient Greeks, a return to the true rituality. The binomial voice-music had forgotten that rituality because in today's world it is only used to propose human's thoughts, ideas, and ideologies rather than the sacred experiences of the intimate communion between humans and the nature that surrounds us. The search of the triplophonies and quadriphonies is used by Tibetan's monks and some knights of Mongolia. "It is a ritual use of the voice", wrote Stratos, and this purpose is maintained in his works. There are four ritual elements: the repetition, the escape from the ordinary, the loss of the ego, and the communitarian dimension. Perhaps, reading Gilles Deleuze Gilles Deleuze Gilles Deleuze , was a French philosopher who, from the early 1960s until his death, wrote influentially on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes of Capitalism and Schizophrenia: Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus , both co-written with Félix... , Stratos had been convinced that the repetition was not the ill-famed co-action to repeat the obsessive neurosis, but it should become a technique to escape from the ordinary, from the temporary flux, to access to another order of truth. Therefore, the trance with the abolition of the ego and the known world increased the horizon on other worlds. The result was a collective scene, an estranging and mystic performance at the same time. In Stratos' works, we can find the standard-bearer of the lay rituals in the rock Rock music Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music... mega-concerts, where the audience is not exhausted by the spectacular of the mimetic model of the super star, but in the nearly to religious fruition of the voice-music that allows to feel us in the scene the ice cold shiver chilling of our belongings to life. |
Because of his great ability, his acquired techniques and his studies with the CNR, he was able to produce results that are still unattainable by others. Daniel Charles has described him as the person who decimated monody
Monody
In poetry, the term monody has become specialized to refer to a poem in which one person laments another's death....
by the demultiplication of the acoustic
Musical acoustics
Musical acoustics or music acoustics is the branch of acoustics concerned with researching and describing the physics of music – how sounds employed as music work...
spectrum
Spectrum
A spectrum is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary infinitely within a continuum. The word saw its first scientific use within the field of optics to describe the rainbow of colors in visible light when separated using a prism; it has since been applied by...
. He achieved a diplophony which is triplophonic, even quadraphonic. His vocalization became micro orchestrations (voice instrument) without any technological amplification or manipulation. He elevated rock singing to new heights with his vocal gymnastics.
Discography
- For recordings made with Area, please, see Area Discography.
Demetrio Stratos has released several studio albums and singles as a solo artist, and is featured on several albums recorded by other artists.
See also
- AreaArea (band)Area - International POPular Group, most commonly known as Area or AreA, is an Italian progressive rock, jazz fusion, electronic, experimental groupb) “It was the mid-1970s and live events roused enthusiasm as never before; they fulfilled the need to be together and the illusion of continuing as a...
- Art rockArt rockArt rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, with influences from art, avant-garde, and classical music. The first usage of the term, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, was in 1968. Influenced by the work of The Beatles, most notably their Sgt...
- Electronic musicElectronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
- Experimental musicExperimental musicExperimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
- Extended techniques
- Italian progressive rockItalian progressive rockThe Italian progressive rock scene was born in the early 70s, mostly inspired by the progressive movement in Britain, but with certain features of its own that makes some sources mention it as a separate musical genre....
- Jazz fusionJazz fusionJazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
- List of overtone musicians
- Overtone singingOvertone singingOvertone singing, also known as overtone chanting, or harmonic singing, is a type of singing in which the singer manipulates the resonances created as air travels from the lungs, past the vocal folds, and out the lips to produce a melody.The partials of a sound wave made by the human voice can be...
- PhoneticsPhoneticsPhonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
- Progressive rockProgressive rockProgressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
- I RibelliI RibelliI Ribelli is an Italian rock group. It was formed in 1959 as Adriano Celentano's backup band and later continued performing as an independent act...
- Tuvan throat singing
- World musicWorld musicWorld music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...