DAWN OF A DARK AGE: an ancient chant will rise
Entering the world of DAWN OF A DARK AGE means starting a journey made of music, popular culture, tradition and avant-garde charm. Thinking of the union between Transhumance, an ancient secular practice, and the use of the clarinet in an extreme artistic performance might seem absolutely unreal, however Vittorio Sabelli has managed to create something absolutely exceptional and with him we are going to understand more of his world, the album "Transumanza" and the artistic vision behind DAWN OF A DARK AGE.
1. DAWN OF A DARK AGE are essentially your creature even if you use musicians who, in a broader perspective, seem to be much more than simple guests; without their contribution and their skill, the project would be anything but. Do you agree with me and how do they manage to enter not only the realization part but also the arrangement phase, the focal point of the essence of the project?
Yes, the musicians who collaborate in my projects are a vital hub to be able to express the colours and ideas within the DAWN OF A DARK AGE album. I choose them very carefully to get the best result and I do not think I have ever contacted a musician for a solo or an isolated fragment. When I need a colour or a particular sound, I develop it throughout the album, as it becomes an integral part of the entire composition process. While regarding the arrangements I admit to leaving very little margin, they are probably the part that distinguishes DOADA and they are all (or almost all) meticulously written.
2. DAWN OF A DARK AGE always starting from a background typically linked to extreme Metal, manage to instill in this structure very avant-garde almost Jazz scores both for the instruments used (clarinet in primis) and for the ties it has with the world from which it was born or the Folk tradition and the popular songs of your land or Molise. Is it something that arises spontaneously in your compositions or is it something you set yourself in mind from the beginning?
When I decided it was time (after more than 20 years of rehearsals and second thoughts) to combine my work (the clarinet) with the music I love (extreme metal), I looked for elements that could unite my origins and all my musical experiences with Black Metal. My approach to music was in the village band and in a folk group and not by chance, these two elements are always present, even if in different measures, in DAWN OF A DARK AGE albums. By now, they come out so naturally that I often do not realize that I am veering in that direction, and from a compositional point of view, I always welcome them with great love. I also think that every musical idea has its own potential, even the less convincing ones, which if treated and developed correctly can be an integral part of a composition. I try not to waste anything in this respect, any idea that comes with any tool can be the beginning of something that will somehow, and with its time, evolve.
3. "Transumanza" deals with an event, transhumance, which is less and less present in our culture, but which in some realities, such as those of Sannio, to which you are very attached, still persist. What you exalt is the cultural aspect of the event rather than the real one. What fascinates you about this world that is apparently so distant from today's realities?
Yes, Transumanza itself has long since gone into disuse. My grandfather used to tell me about when shepherds and herds passed near Agnone, with cows and cowbells audible for miles, a party, the village bells ringing... It's a deja-vu that has always linked me to the pastoral world, but with an ancestral strength that starts from the bottom, from the roots. So "Transumanza" is yes an imaginary journey from another era but at the same time, between Molise and Abruzzo, you can still breathe and see thanks to the dense network of sheep tracks and the flocks that still graze.
4. All the songs of "Transumanza" have a sort of primitive strength that is released both in the more extreme parts related to Metal and in the more meditative and atmospheric ones. I find it interesting that in every moment there is always the sensation of making a sort of journey both internally and in time which leads the listener to get to know you and your world better. What can you tell me about that?
"Transumanza", unlike "Le Forche Caudine", "La Tavola Osca" and most of the "Elements", is an album where the songs do not have an obsessive and repeated leitmotiv as in the previous ones, conceived more as a musical work or symphonic poem. This way of differentiating it from the other albums allows me more freedom of expression, even if in the end somehow some elements return and develop throughout the entire album. So a journey that starts from far away in the places of my childhood and my memories up to what music represents for me today.
5. Perhaps in "Transumanza" you managed more than in other occasions to best express this marriage between extreme Metal, Folk, Avantgarde and Jazz, creating an extremely homogeneous and compact work. What is the emotion you feel today having completed this work and how does this differ from what was done in the past with DAWN OF A DARK AGE?
In "Transumanza" there is really a great musical kaleidoscope that involves me at 360° regarding genres and my experiences, including orchestral and jazz ones, which I have tried to think of as individual pieces and not with the 'aerial vision' typical of more hermetic and structured concepts. As already mentioned, his songs followed in a less 'schematic' way than the other two albums of the Tetralogy on the Samnites, trying to give them life in the most real way possible. "Transumanza" was the first album that I started composing 7 years ago and had a long gestation compared to my 'times' of realization, which for many may seem short but which are actually very long. It had difficult moments in making it but in the end, I found the right way to complete it, and it does not seem true that we are talking about this record, which is only a few months away from its release.
6. "Transumanza" is the third chapter of the tetralogy on the Samnites. What should we expect for the next and final chapter? And then?
As already mentioned "Transumanza" was the first album of the Trilogy on the Samnites, but from what comes what, and while I was composing "Le Forche Caudine" an idea came to me that I could not resist, which will be the final chapter of the Tetralogy. Beyond this chapter, I really have no idea what will become of DAWN OF A DARK AGE. I have other important projects that I carry on with enthusiasm and curiosity and after this saga on the Samnites, I would need a stimulus that is 'at least' on par, but which at the moment does not exist yet. We will see in the future if the right idea will come…
7. From an emotional and strictly personal point of view, I think this album has involved you quite a bit, also considering the fact that it is also closely linked to your personal story. What do you mean if I may ask?
That's right, since my mother chose the clarinet for me (instead of the trumpet, knowing neither of them in my opinion) I have always set myself a sort of 'challenge' with myself, which however did not go beyond my past and from my origins. Even if I haven't lived in Molise for years now, every time I need to oxygenate my mind or look for new ways, I take refuge at a high altitude for a few hours, or a few days, and a new world magically appears to me. A world that brings to mind stories of other times, whether they are the bloody battles with the Romans or the rituals engraved on the Osca Table. That same soil has been beaten by sheep, herds and shepherds for millennia and this creates a bond on the edge of reality that leads me to compulsively tell these facts. A kind of story in my story…
8. Having got to know you more deeply especially from a musical point of view, I see in you a sort of restlessness, a certain always searching for something new and you do it both in projects that are close to each other at least from the point of view of the musical background (DAWN OF A DARK AGE, NOTTURNO, INCANTVM, AMEN) but also in the countless collaborations that involve you in the Jazz field and not only thanks to the use of your clarinet. Is this a necessity or simply the desire to experiment?
Restlessness! It's probably the best word to describe what I love to do with music. I think the need or desire to experiment are both, and in equal percentage, decisive for 'making me appear' so prolific. I do not deny that I have two strong points that allow me to dedicate a good number of hours a day to composing and arranging my projects. One is John Zorn, who has always been a reference both for the risk taken with unconventional instruments such as wind instruments in metal and for the total openness of the compositions. The other is Stravinsky, but not a composition but a book / essay by him: Poetics of Music. A book I bought some time ago in which the great Russian genius writes in one chapter that a musician/composer is like a painter or a writer, and if he decides to choose this path as a job he cannot wait for the 'right' idea, the divine inspiration to start a piece, a book or a painting. As I said before, every idea has potential, and then it depends on how much time you want to spend on making it optimal, functional for a composition or song. This curiosity to discover new colours is undoubtedly a now unconscious need that eventually joins naturally with that of experimenting with new ways to go. Therefore, a real job that cannot be realized only sporadically but that needs constant application to make it functional and make it evolve until ideas become a finalized reality on physical support.
9. "Transumanza will be released on December 8th. Waiting for the album to be released, can you tell us something?
As anticipated I am working on the last chapter on the Samnites, it will be a very different work from "Transumanza" but which somehow unites "Le Forche Caudine", "La Tavola Osca" and "Transumanza" under the same roof. In addition to Dawn of a Dark Age, Notturno's second album will be released in the autumn and in the meantime, I'm looking for new ways to go with my instrument and my music.
