Cometa Rossa - DEMETRIO STRATOS & AREA
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Efstratios Demetriou (Alexandria, April 22, 1945 -- New York, June 13, 1979) better known as Demetrio Stratos was a Greek lyricist, multi-instrumentalist, music researcher, and co-founder, frontman and lead singer of the Italian progressive rock, jazz fusion band Area -- International POPular Group.
Born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, of Greek parents, he studied piano and accordion at the "National Conservatoire". In 1957 he was sent to Nicosia, Cyprus, and, at the age of 17, moved to Milan, Italy, to attend the Politecnico di Milano University at the Architecture Faculty, where he formed his first musical group. In 1967, Demetrio Stratos joined the Italian beat band I Ribelli, and in 1972, founded Area.
Stratos recorded many records, and toured festivals in Italy, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Netherlands, Cuba, U.S. with Area, as well as a solo artist and in collaboration with other artists. He worked together with musicians, singers, writers, poets, directors, men of learning such as Mogol, Lucio Battisti, Gianni Sassi, Gianni Emilio Simonetti, Juan Hidalgo, Walter Marchetti, John Cage, Tran Quang Hai, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Grete Sultan, Paul Zukofsky, Nanni Balestrini, Claude Royet-Journoud, and Antonio Porta.
He studied ethnomusicology, vocal extensions, Asian music chant, compared musicology, the problem of ethnic vocality, psychoanalysis, the relationship between spoken language and the psyche, the limits of the spoken language. He was able to reach 7,000 Hz, and to perform diplophony, triplophony, and also quadrophony. Daniel Charles has described him as the person who decimated monody by the demultiplication of the acoustic spectrum. His vocal abilities were explored and documented.
Stratos died in New York City Memorial Hospital on June 13, 1979 at the age of thirty--four. His mission was to free vocal expression from the slavery of language and pretty melodies. He considered the exploration of vocal potential as a tool of psychological and political liberation. His study of the voice used as a musical instrument carried him to reach for the limits of human capabilities. The amazing research of Stratos brings many suggestions of unexplored fields of research that are still to be studied. (From Wikipedia)
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photos © piniospotamos
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