Maddalena Ghezzi and Ruth Goller: Dolomite
17th May 2024
Dolomite, the fifth release of Ghezzi’s series Minerals, is a collaboration with acclaimed bassist, vocalist, composer and environmentalist Ruth Goller (International Anthem). Both linked to the Dolomites mountain range, Ruth and Maddalena reckon with themes around climate change, nature and healing spaces. This is a water journey through a changing landscape.
The EP is written from the perspective of a particle or water embarking into the water cycle and each time witnessing changes in the environment it passes through. Ghezzi and Goller were inspired by the transient element within nature and its constant motion. The Dolomites were once the bottom of the ocean and now they constitute some of the highest mountains in Europe. What seems static to our human viewpoint, like a mountain range, is instead in constant change. This puts into perspective the full human experience and the balance between stability and instability.
Seiser Alm (Alpe di Siusi) is the valley where Ruth grew up and Maddalena spent her summers. The mountains, its forests and its stories have a strong influence on both artists. Maddalena spent the last 10 years doing a sort of secular pilgrimage in memory of her father whose ashes were scattered on Plattkofel (Sasso Piatto). Spending some days each year in altitude, immersed in nature, switching off her phone, walking from hut to hut has allowed Ghezzi to heal and to feel small yet part of the magnitude of nature. This has helped to deal with the concept of death and has raised questions about healing. Being in nature is beneficial to our psyche and body, being in nature alone can be inspirational and help tap into creativity but who has access to that? As women, how do we access remote places? If nature is destroyed, forests are screaming and fresh water is a scarcity, can we heal? Aren’t we just killing ourselves? How do we reckon with this?
The EP is in 4 languages. Ghezzi wrote a poem in English and Italian and Goller translated it in German and Ladino. Italian, Ladino and German are the languages spoken in South Tyrol. After WW1 South Tyrol, prior part of the Austrian Empire, was annexed to Italy and a ruthless Italianization of the area began under the Italian fascist government. In the area all these communities are intertwined not without frictions yet all engulfed in the incredible nature that surrounds them. Singing the same poem in different languages makes it resonate in more directions providing moments of reflections around similarities and differences. Ghezzi is not new to singing in various languages and experimenting with translation. She feels that the strong connection between sounds, languages and meaning has been at the basis of her development as a singer. When Ghezzi asked
Goller how she felt about singing in different languages, Goller replied: “I love to sing in different languages, however I tend to get a bit nervous about pronouncing languages that I don't speak well, as for instance the Ladino. But then I just have to accept that languages are here for communicating and very fluid in themselves. It's ok to make them a bit our own, mixing with others if it feels necessary. Singing something in Ladino for the first time was near to my heart, as it is the culture I am from.”
Throughout the EP Goller experiments both with tuning and different bass sounds. In Jole she explores an unconventional bass tuning to create melodies with harmonics on a different harmonic bed. In “I Fliag” Ruth experiments with a short delay.
In the summer of 2023, Ghezzi recorded the Mediterranean sea in Sicily for Flex and Float, a storm in Val di Dona and a disastrous hail storm in Milan for Volo.Goller and Ghezzi choose to call the tracks: Volo, I fliag and Jole. All meaning “I fly” as it felt organic to them. The track in English is called Flex and Float bringing attention to the motion and constant changeable aspect of water. Water exploitation from the tourist industry has been an issue resident to the valley experience. This has brought Goller and Ghezzi to reckon with our society's priorities and how the accumulation of wealth seems to often be the main concern instead of the balance with nature.
The single Flex and Float is accompanied by an animated collage technique video by art collective Libri Finti Clandestini and photographer and filmmaker Tanguy Bombonera who created a collage video using original photos from the Ghezzi’s family archive. People become containers of nature to symbolise our belonging to the environment.
Dolomite was home recorded
Compositions: Ruth Goller and Maddalena Ghezzi
Production: Ruth Goller and Maddalena Ghezzi
Lyrics: Maddalena Ghezzi
Translation (Italian): Maddalena Ghezzi
Translation (German and Ladino): Ruth Goller
Mix: Pietro Cavassa a.k.a. Anything Pointless
Master: Nick Powell
Released under DēngYuè Records
Video: Libri Finti Clandestini and Tanguy Bombonera
Supported by LaMunt (premium mountain clothing created by women for women) and VAIA (innovative sustainability project)
Photography, makeup and styling: Sara Polonghini