EthnaMorte (bio o morte?)

The sound of EthnaMorte is a collection of different types of music from diverse corners of this world, hence the “ethna” as a reference to the various ethnicities that helped shape different musical genres, and “morte” (Italian for “death”) to reflect the band’s gusto to promote the death of musical confines by experimenting with same genres as tools not limitations!

The concept goes further to hopefully share with any potential listeners the freedom one could obtain by travelling from uplifting to more introspective musical ambiences – celebrating a joue de vivre that stands next to moods of solitude – thus helping one look within to reflect and come out stronger from one’s daily challenges. In this regard, literature works that are an alternative to the mainstream generally end up finding their way into EthnaMorte’s works

It was late 2007 in London when guitar-crazy Malcolm El Gool met multi-instrumentalist Mick Di Lullo. Some months and 3 songs later, the duo performed live, with Di Lullo playing guitar, overtone flute, chinese bowl and zither, and El Gool tackling guitars in different tunings for each song.

Feeling the need to expand, the duo started searching for additional musicians, thereafter recruiting percussionist Guerilla Man & vocalist Vincenzo Cuorenero. The instrumental was spiced up with the lyrical, the musical with the theatrical, and an improved EthnaMorte singing in 5 different languages was born.

This line-up went on to record 3 tracks in Nov 2008 at Ealing Film Studios, London College of Music & Media/ Meanwhile the band was chosen by Juxtapose Media (www.juxtaposefilms.com – Jaypo, The Kut, The Alexandria Quarter, Navigator, etc) as Upcoming Band of the Month and a video for a 4th track was filmed live.

2009 saw Di Lullo being replaced by Udi Glaser on guitars & Nicki Heinen on flutes, a line-up that went on to record more songs at the same Ealing Film Studios, which together with the 2008 recordings ended up as EthnaMorte’s debut CD “Sombra de um Mundo atras de Vidro” (Portuguese for “shadow of a world behind glass”), a 78-minute work sung in 5 languages, also including a bonus movie clip for “A Different Shade of Beauty, the Perfect Shade of Madness” (filmed in Hamburg, Germany by the expert lens of Niko Samalekos).

Officially released in April 2010 at a gig supporting Comus frontman Roger Wootton at his only London appearance in years, this album earned EthnaMorte no. 2 in the Reverbnation end of year 2010 world music charts for London.

As of then, EthnaMorte shifted to work primarily as a duo – Guerilla Man (vocals & percussions) & El Gool (guitars, backing vocals & all other instruments). With more instruments in their arsenal yet less musicians actually performing them, new songs sounded ‘different’ to the initial EthnaMorte. So the “world music with a dark twist” tag was dropped and “death to music confines” replaced it.

Busy throughout 2011 writing and performing 9 new songs (averaging 10mins each) for a 2nd release, the band entered the studio again in Nov 2011. With recordings currently being mixed in lieu for eventual submission to record labels & subsequent public release, some of the live versions here online reflect this new direction in sound! (although nothing in comparison to the actual mixing in progress, which will include some surprises too).

If you are a record label and you like what you hear, feel free to drop us a line!

The band’s perogative being to transcend musical boundaries, they so far shared stages with a variety of bands across different musical genres – from glitchtronic to medieval folk, from blues/rock to bossa-nova, from afro-gypsy to drone/rock, from alt-metal/electronica to funk fusion, from Raggaeton to prog/doom metal, from punk to math/rock, from flamenco to IDM, across a multitude of genres, most notable of which was Roger Wootton (of the reformed Comus) at his only London appearance in 2010.

So if you are a club owner or booking agent interested in our sound, do not hesitate to contact us.

Offers are welcome as a duo or with an extended line-up (including more exotic instruments) depending on the offer and the venue size. Watch current live video clips for an idea. Same if you are a band that wants to do a gig with us.

Another band perogative is that fans in every city are presented with new music each time we visit their town. To this effect, EthnaMorte is always writing new music (3 new ones at the time of writing March 2012). So please join our mailing list on Reverbnation, Myspace or Facebook to follow our announcements about gigs, recordings, etc.

One night after a show someone told us “Thank you for giving London this new sound!” This comment means the world to us, and for this reason we now seek radio airplay, press exposure, a booking agent & a record label to aid us share our musical vision with a wider global spectrum! If you reading are interested, please get in touch!

Thank you
EthnaMorte