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Walter Maioli

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Walter Maioli is an Italian researcher, multi-instrumentalist and composer, born in Milan in 1950. He specialised in experimental archaeology and music, particularly that of archaic civilisations, and has spent more than thirty-five years studying the music of antiquity and prehistory. From the early 1970s he travelled around the Mediterranean and became familiar with Arabic, African, Eastern and European music. In 1972 he founded Aktuala, a pioneer of world music that focused on African and Asian folk music.

Music and breakthrough

In the 1980s his attention turned to prehistoric instruments. Albums from this period include Amazonia 6891 and Ethnoelectronics, both from 1986, on which jungle sounds, natural objects, echo and electronics come together. In 1991 he showed a collection on the origins of musical instruments at the Natural History Museum in Milan and, with Fiorella Terenzi, made sounds for the planetarium. From 1994 he coordinated the music of the Archeon archaeological theme park in Alphen aan den Rijn, which resulted in the CD Archeon 200000 Jaar Muziek.

Influence

In 1995 he founded Synaulia, a group of musicians, archaeologists and dancers who perform ancient Etruscan and Roman music and dance, including at archaeological sites in Italy. For the 1998 film A Midsummer Night's Dream he provided the reconstructed instruments. Two songs by Synaulia were used in Gladiator, and the group made music for, among others, the BBC and HBO series Rome. In this way Maioli links the world music of the 1970s with an attempt to hear how antiquity sounded.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to an extract from the album Amazonia 6891 and notice how the sounds of nature and the electronic sounds alternate. Can you hear where the sound comes from nature and where from the machine?

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists