[so-nò-ro]

In his novel The Spider’s House, writer and musician Paul Bowles speaks of the sound of multiple drums as a “reminder of another world, wholly autonomous, with its own necessities and patterns”, That is precisely the impression created by [so-nò-ro], the exciting new CAM JAZZ release by veteran percussionists Michele Rabbia and Ingar Zach. So close and involved is their interplay – demonstrated in recent workshop/recitals by the two men - that the music seems to occupy a whole new plane of reality, entire of itself and utterly absorbing.  When Max Roach and Buddy Rich mounted their drum summit in 1960, and Rich vs Gene Krupa in a Jazz at the Philharmonic “Drum Battle” released the same year, the drummers had their orchestras on hand as footsoldiers. Here, though, the only other sounds one hears come from Rabbia’s and Zach’s wholly individual and highly personal use of electronics.  If there is nothing more primal in music than a drum, there is no more fundamental communication than one drum - and one drummer - to another. [so-nò-ro] is a glimpse back into the deep history of improvised music and the cultures it has sustained as well as a journey into its multiple futures.   (Brian Morton)

Recorded in Cavalicco in April 2018 at Artesuono Recording Studio  Recording engineer Stefano Amerio

Photos by Elisa Caldana