A council chamber complete with chandelier is an unlikely venue in which to experience some experimental electonica.
This is the setting for opening concert of the 4th edition of the Màntica Festival in Cesena, Italy. Over the course of nine days there is an eclectic programme of workshops, seminars, projections and concerts with no particular theme that I can detect other than to provide a showcase for artists operating well beyond the mainstream.
For the free concert by Guiseppe Lelasi, we are guided formally into the chamber. After the ad-hoc seating arrangements have been sorted out, the lights are switched off so that the only illumination is from Lelasi’s laptop and his mixing board. Visually, it was as exciting as watching a scientist doing late night research in his lab.
Although the festival programme talks of Giuseppe Lelasi’s improvisations on electric guitar, for the 40 minute performance he uses no ‘real’ instruments.
There are no words spoken before, during or after and no video. With none of the usual distractions all that remains is for the hundred or so members of the audience to establish some form of engagement with the abstract sound Lelasi creates.
For my part, these sounds conjured up mental images like burglar alarms, scavenging birds/ insects and raindrops in metallic objects. There was some drone effects and a degree of repetition but no discernable melodies or beats to tune into. At its best, this genre of music can generate a transporting or haunting other-worldly atmosphere but here it all felt too anonymous and chilly to have this effect.
