Quasi disorientalizzati
is an improvisational session with
Dario Lo Cicero (bamboo flute) and Manlio Speciale (violin) recorded in
2003. It seeks places where different cultures, intervals and scales
meet in music.
The video was made 7 years later by Dario Lo
Cicero, using images of the bamboo flute actually used for the original
recording along with violin parts, books belonging to the composer Lou
Harrison, and other related objects (bamboo, instrument cases...). Lou
Harrison, seen in the video with Bill Colvig, was one of the first
Westerners who experimented with different combinations of musical
instruments and scales, often microtonal, from different parts of the
world.
Enjoying on Youtube a performance of Partant
pour la Syrie, by
Paula Bär-Giese, the flautist Dario Lo Cicero has fun trying a
"virtual duo" with a Claude Laurent crystal flute.
Such flutes
were highly appreciated at the Royal Court of Holland: the King Louis
Bonaparte had one, and presented another one to his court's flutist
Louis Drouet. Drouet himself was recently supposed to be the actual
author of the music of Partant pour la Syrie, formerly attributed to
Hortense de Beauharnais, Queen of Holland. Both this song and the flute
used here (thanks to "Signora Nina"!) were made on 1807. No variation
or embellishment by Drouet on this song seems to have survived,
meanwhile the flautist supplied his own.
It could be better, if
recorded with a good equipment. We apogize for the image quality and
sound distortion, but it was made for fun, enjoy it as is anyway...