Zago

Peeling back the complex layers of Bill Whitley's ethereal ABSENT LIGHT, one is astounded to see how this music could at once be so serene, yet technically intricate.

The 20th century chamber music literature is certainly noteworthy for the originality and extravagance of certain ensembles, but perhaps none is more heretical and unconventional than Kubin (named after the famous Austrian expressionist writer and illustrator). At first glance, the combination of electric guitar and piano may seem completely unbalanced: on the one hand, we have the variety of timbrical possibilities of the electric instrument and its almost infinite ways of modifying the sound through pedals and effects, on the other there is the voice of a traditional instrument which, compared to its counterpart, paradoxically lacks a certain timbre monotony. However, the duo formed by the guitarist Francesco Zago (1972) and the pianist Elena Talarico (1993) succeeds in bringing into play such a wealth of colors to easily deny the aforementioned considerations.

"Dicono gli atlanti che la Sicilia è un'isola e sarà vero, gli atlanti sono libri d'onore. Si avrebbe però voglia di dubitarne, quando si pensa che al concetto d'isola corrisponde solitamente un grumo compatto di razza e costumi, mentre qui tutto è dispari, mischiato, cangiante, come nel più ibrido dei continenti. Vero è che le Sicilie sono tante, non finiremo mai di contarle. Vi è la Sicilia verde del carrube, quella bianca delle saline, quella gialla dello zolfo, quella bionda del miele, quella purpurea della lava…"