Those who attended last year’s Calling All Tribes gathering at V-Gen, Paceville, will recall it was a meeting of musical minds with one thing in common – a penchant for creating new sounds and spaces by culling elements from various instruments and ethnic traditions.
Music is something I consider to be the most universal and powerful language in the cosmos
And just as that event was a celebration of left-field music that dares to venture beyond musical confines and transcend musical boundaries, the same can be said of Ethnamorte’s imminent album of the same name; a work of passion that blends sound, spirit and texture.
The London-based world music act is essentially a duo featuring Maltese multi-instrumentalist Malcolm Callus and vocalist and percussionist Guerrilla Man. The duo has, over the course of five years, evolved through its exploration of sounds and instruments, not to mention an ever-changing list of transient collaborators. The fruit of their work is reflected not only in the unique and engaging sonic imprint they have created, but also in the plaudits their music has been receiving.
Ethnamorte’s 2010 debut release Sombra de um Mundo atras de Vidro had earned the band the number two spot in Reverbnation’s world music charts. The new album, Calling All Tribes, despite being a limited-edition release, has the potential to repeat that success .
Due for release later this month the abum can be pre-ordered till November 30 directly from the band at ethnamorte.bigcartel.com.
With the closing date for pre-orders fast approaching, Malcolm Callus spoke of Ethnamorte’s latest work and the path towards the music they call “avant-world-noir”.
Judging by the music on Calling All Tribes, your philosophy of transcending musical boundaries remains intact…
We do not fancy putting ourselves in one box at any given time. Music should be fun, and without freedom there can be no fun. A musical life is a journey worth exploring, so while we predominantly have our own sound, which we like to describe as ‘avant-world-noir’, we always like to have different boxes with open lids available.
To give you an example, our song Traffic features a strong electric guitar presence inspired by a mixture of Pink Floyd, doom metal and post-rock, while the rhythms Guerilla Man plays on his huiro (Peruvian gourd) are distinctively inspired by power/ noise electronic industrial music.
Another example is the remix of one of our songs, which incidentally will be given as a bonus track to the first 50 pre-orders of Calling All Tribes, which has been given a neo-classical twist with a slight goth/rock touch.
We listen to various types of music, so when making music ourselves, I suppose we become a medium of a power bigger than ourselves – the power of music, which is something I don’t understand and don’t want to as I truly consider it to be the most universal and powerful language in the cosmos.
Your debut release made it to number two in Reverbnation’s end-of-year world music charts. Does this put any pressure on how the new album will fare?
When Sombra de um Mundo atras dos Vidro came out we were a relatively new band on the scene, so people’s curiosity might have contributed to the interest. It’s basically a case of waiting to see what happens, as the new material is different; it should bring in new listeners but could also cost us a few fans too, which is the norm with every band seeking to evolve I guess. There’s no real pressure because we write music that pleases us. It has always been that way, and the moment that changes, we lose our authenticity.
You’ve taken a different approach in marketing the new album, aiming more at the industry and offering it to the public on a limited pre-order basis…
Calling All Tribes is essentially a bridge between albums. With only two of us to cover all costs, we couldn’t release it on a commercial scale, especially because we have more than another album’s worth of material that we want to start recording next year. Basically Calling All Tribes documents how our music has evolved since we released our debut.
These days even major labels are employing a pre-order mechanism, and we felt it was the best option for us. All the information and music samples are on our website, so we hope some readers will drop by to have a listen and order the album… it’s about the same price as a beer, but stays around much longer than beer does.
In what way do you feel the new material differs from your earlier work?
With a change of vocalist between releases, current frontman Guerilla Man pens down more lyrical ideas than his predecessor, so whereas before most lyrics came from my mental concepts, nowadays they come more from his.
He has lived a colourful life and is full of experiences of all sorts, so while the lyrics present themselves behind theatrical figures, if one reads between the lines his work covers anything from children’s lullabies to scary thrillers. It’s too complicated to explain them here, but look them up on our website and enjoy the read.
I’m sure you’ve brought in new instruments and sounds you picked up on the way.
Of course… the main additions are the ney taki (Iranian cane flute), gu-zheng (Chinese table zither), glissentar (a fretless 11-string guitar that sounds like an oud), the fretless bass and female vocals. We’ve also used cello, upright bass, bansuri (Indian bamboo flute), Taiko Japanese drums, piano, wine glasses and samples off The Musical Stones of Skiddaw, which is like a xylophone but made from stones found in Cumbria that have a natural pitch. We also had some guest vocals this time.
The opening track alone features 16 languages – from a six-year-old kid singing in the Sesotho language to an old man singing in Bengali. The final touch is a choir of lovely ladies singing in several different languages, which adds something new to our sound and creates quite a balance to the CD overall.
What other plans do you have in mind?
We’re currently focusing on attracting the attention of record labels, which we didn’t do with the first album as we felt our sound was still being developed. There’s also some digital media material in the pipeline, but this will be announced later. As for touring, we’re open to performing anywhere, so if anyone is interested, e-mail manager@ethnamorte.com.
www.ethnamorte.com