Novus Ritus

Novus Ritus, a CD featuring percussion, voice, live electronics, and interactive video, has been released by Stradivarius. This project is part of MUSIC4D, an initiative of the "A. Scontrino" Conservatory of Trapani, funded by the European Union under the Next Generation EU program, with scientific coordination by Eugenio Catone. MUSIC4D is an innovative project created to explore the intersections between music and technology, redefining the boundaries of education, composition, and performance in the digital age. Conceived by Antonino Errera, Novus Ritus was brought to life through a collaboration between the "A. Scontrino" Conservatory of Trapani and Arizona State University, facilitated by Simone Mancuso and Gabriel Jose Bolanos, professors of Percussion and Composition, respectively, at the university. The tracklist unfolds through four tableaux vivants, animated by the pulse of percussion rooted in archetypal rhythms. The original music is performed by the composers themselves, with the vocal contribution of Irene Sciacca, a student at the Scontrino Conservatory and co-author, alongside Errera, of the vocal lines for the chants, which are performed in four languages: Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Sicilian. The instrumentation includes both ritual Mediterranean instrumentso typical of Morocco and Tunisia and instruments used in classical and avant-garde music, including the sixxen, microtonal instruments designed by the Greek composer Iannis Xenakis. In the album liner notes, Miriam Scotto di Santolo writes: "Filtering, reverberation, granulation, and sound spatialization 'transport' the audio from the present to the remote past, closing the magic circle like contemporary mechanai. Novus Ritus, as the Latin etymology suggests, points to the cyclical nature of an Hypostasis: Rites dedicated to the Moon, the prehistoric Great Mother who appears in the sky each month as a reflection of the Sun as a sickle announcing birth and death, wind and rain, sowing and harvest, in a mystical dance that has always inspired poets, mystics, and artists everywhere." It is an original project with broad geographical and temporal horizons, an evocative listening journey that suggests narratives, stories, and references to be identified and discovered within an intertwining web of auditory and visual impressions.