Rooted

The field recording from India immediately revealed itself to me as a form of male ritual music, rooted in repetition, gesture, and collective memory. From that first encounter, the piece began to take shape as an inner journey: a passage through listening, silence, and transformation.

The opening unfolds in a dreamlike, immersive space, imagined as a temple. Here, sound becomes a threshold. Together with Spanish sound artist Sara Broto, I shaped — through my flute — a dialogue around one of her poems, almost a prayer, where voice and breath trace a return to origins, to something ancient and essential. This meditative atmosphere gradually evolves into an evocative Indian mantra by Alessia Ronge, acting as a bridge between contemplation and embodiment.

The mantra is then carried forward by the fluid, almost aquatic textures of Antonio Aiello’s double bass, alongside the synthesizer work and mixing by Giuseppe Lacinskij Schillaci. Through a slow and carefully sculpted crescendo, these elements open the way to the rhythmic core of the piece: the field recording itself. At this point, the music shifts from inward reflection to outward movement, inviting the body into dance and tribal motion.

Before composing, I conducted additional research into Indian soundscapes and various forms of ritual music, allowing their structures, functions, and symbolic dimensions to inform my approach. After the encounter and fusion between the musicians and the original recording, I made a conscious decision to preserve the field recording in its integrity. Rather than transforming it, I chose to frame it — to let its pulse speak for itself.

The resulting composition is conceived as a spiritual trajectory. It begins with a poetic prayer, passes through mantra, and arrives at a communal, rhythmic space. It is a journey of release, where sound becomes a tool for reconnection and self-healing, and where listening opens the possibility of letting go.

Cristina Italiani – flute, composition
Sara Broto – poetry, voice, soundscape
Alessia Ronge – mantra, voice, harmonium
Antonio Aiello – double bass
Giuseppe Lacinskij Schillaci – synth, mix

Men singing, with percussion and violin reimagined by Cristina Italiani.

———
Part of the project A Century of Sounds, reimagining 100 sounds covering 100 years from the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. Explore the full project at citiesandmemory.com/century-sounds