Post by JohanneSoulless on Dec 11, 2022 15:59:51 GMT
Ataraxia is an Italian dark wave/neofolk band founded in late 1985. At first there were quite a few changes in the line-up and music style. Once it was all settled though, little has changed over the years. The drummer Riccardo Spaggiari left the band last autumn after playing with them for almost 2 decades. Ataraxia is now a trio of Francesca Nicoli (vocals), Vittorio Vandelli (guitar) and Giovanni Pagliari (keyboards).
(Giovanni Pagliari is on the right here.)
The bulk of their numerous releases has recently been added with their 21th full-length studio CD Pomegranate. Besides uplifting ethereal atmosphere and neoclassical renditions of traditional songs, one can also discover a lot of melancholic, mysterious, ritualistic tunes in Ataraxia’s music. Their full sound and great melodies are pretty much self-sufficient, but they become phenomenal when coupled with the female vocals that switch from an awesome contralto to a soaring soprano to gentle whispering. The words to the songs can be taken from or rather inspired with world folklore and literature, poetry and philosophy, and just anything. The lyrics are meaningful, but the band considers them “a more rational level of music” that listeners can move to if they like.
Ataraxia releases and rereleases one album after another, sells limited luxury editions of the CDs, and tour the world just like any band out there, but the commercial side doesn’t seem to ruin the musicians' attitude to creating music as pure spiritual experience (rather than just self-expression). Some passages about that from the official website: “We feel like channels able to pick up and turn into music the spiritual energies surrounding us or coming from above, or just like resonating and vibrating tuning forks that code into a musical language what we subtly perceive. .... Music engages all our feelings and will. Music is the miracle of coming into being and letting go. We just need to cultivate our own availability to the GRACE OF THE EVENT. ... Making music is a sacred act. It enables a mutual exchange, especially on stage. Music is able to open the gates of far-off dimensions, it inspires us and our listeners to travel in places belonging to multi-layered planes.”
Contrary to what might seem, they don’t have their head in the spiritual clouds. I remember a short questionnaire in an old music magazine that listed a question like, “What’s the most awful thing that happened recently?”, to which the vocalist replied that it was the re-election of George W. Bush (she often use “We” instead of “I”, they’re probably on the same wavelength in the band); while answering to the question about something they would like to last forever, she noted that everything would eventually come to dust.
(I personally like those answers )
(“In articulo mortis” means “at the moment of death”.)
How I've become a fan. Oh, I remember well that I decided to check them out when I read that Anna-Varney Cantodea of Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows had mentioned them as one of those few bands which “can be respected for the music they try to create” (one should know that AVC seldom says things like that). It was about 2006-2007. I was lucky enough to not come across one of the other bands with the same name (they’re much less known though). I think the vocals struck me pretty hard - I wasn’t very familiar with that sort of music at the time and I was used to light sweet female voices. Francesca does the latter too, but her typical singing is somewhat different . She even impressed my friend who listened to her sounding from small TV speakers over the phone (I played CDs on a DVD player). Another friend of mine said she sings like an old gypsy woman. I don’t know, never heard them . Well, as I said I wasn’t really into dark wave then, but Ataraxia probably became another step into the realm of non-metal music (when I got into rock and metal, I tended to shun less "loud" music for some time). The genre could be only an obstacle in the case of another band, but Ataraxia has had something too magnetic in it for me to hesitate in getting used to the style (well I did have some experience, but I hated most of everything labeled with “folk” or “neofolk”; and I’ve liked almost all of Ataraxia’s traditional songs).
The thing their music reminds me most of all is nature, although I’m not sure about the reason (they do use nature sounds occasionally, but it’s not that). But I’m sure no other band reminds me of nature as strongly. And I really love nature. The outcome was predictable enough - Ataraxia has become one of my favorite bands very quickly. And my growing listening experience hasn’t been able to change that yet. (Actually I think it only makes me more picky .)
(Giovanni Pagliari is on the right here.)
The bulk of their numerous releases has recently been added with their 21th full-length studio CD Pomegranate. Besides uplifting ethereal atmosphere and neoclassical renditions of traditional songs, one can also discover a lot of melancholic, mysterious, ritualistic tunes in Ataraxia’s music. Their full sound and great melodies are pretty much self-sufficient, but they become phenomenal when coupled with the female vocals that switch from an awesome contralto to a soaring soprano to gentle whispering. The words to the songs can be taken from or rather inspired with world folklore and literature, poetry and philosophy, and just anything. The lyrics are meaningful, but the band considers them “a more rational level of music” that listeners can move to if they like.
Ataraxia releases and rereleases one album after another, sells limited luxury editions of the CDs, and tour the world just like any band out there, but the commercial side doesn’t seem to ruin the musicians' attitude to creating music as pure spiritual experience (rather than just self-expression). Some passages about that from the official website: “We feel like channels able to pick up and turn into music the spiritual energies surrounding us or coming from above, or just like resonating and vibrating tuning forks that code into a musical language what we subtly perceive. .... Music engages all our feelings and will. Music is the miracle of coming into being and letting go. We just need to cultivate our own availability to the GRACE OF THE EVENT. ... Making music is a sacred act. It enables a mutual exchange, especially on stage. Music is able to open the gates of far-off dimensions, it inspires us and our listeners to travel in places belonging to multi-layered planes.”
Contrary to what might seem, they don’t have their head in the spiritual clouds. I remember a short questionnaire in an old music magazine that listed a question like, “What’s the most awful thing that happened recently?”, to which the vocalist replied that it was the re-election of George W. Bush (she often use “We” instead of “I”, they’re probably on the same wavelength in the band); while answering to the question about something they would like to last forever, she noted that everything would eventually come to dust.
(I personally like those answers )
(“In articulo mortis” means “at the moment of death”.)
How I've become a fan. Oh, I remember well that I decided to check them out when I read that Anna-Varney Cantodea of Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows had mentioned them as one of those few bands which “can be respected for the music they try to create” (one should know that AVC seldom says things like that). It was about 2006-2007. I was lucky enough to not come across one of the other bands with the same name (they’re much less known though). I think the vocals struck me pretty hard - I wasn’t very familiar with that sort of music at the time and I was used to light sweet female voices. Francesca does the latter too, but her typical singing is somewhat different . She even impressed my friend who listened to her sounding from small TV speakers over the phone (I played CDs on a DVD player). Another friend of mine said she sings like an old gypsy woman. I don’t know, never heard them . Well, as I said I wasn’t really into dark wave then, but Ataraxia probably became another step into the realm of non-metal music (when I got into rock and metal, I tended to shun less "loud" music for some time). The genre could be only an obstacle in the case of another band, but Ataraxia has had something too magnetic in it for me to hesitate in getting used to the style (well I did have some experience, but I hated most of everything labeled with “folk” or “neofolk”; and I’ve liked almost all of Ataraxia’s traditional songs).
The thing their music reminds me most of all is nature, although I’m not sure about the reason (they do use nature sounds occasionally, but it’s not that). But I’m sure no other band reminds me of nature as strongly. And I really love nature. The outcome was predictable enough - Ataraxia has become one of my favorite bands very quickly. And my growing listening experience hasn’t been able to change that yet. (Actually I think it only makes me more picky .)