ALESSIO BALLERINI - WIWANANA

Art touches the world. People change it...

The Chemical Brothers once told us it began in Africa, and to the African plains we return; Wiwanana goes to the cradle and the mantle of it all. Never before has the message and the positive embracing of cultural difference been more in need. The planet is rainbow-coloured, and it’s all the more beautiful for diversity and co-existence.

No matter where you’re from (and it doesn’t matter at all), music is the constant. She is and has been a linking, uniting presence throughout the ages. Music slips through the veins of ancient tributaries, old lineages, and even older battles, her notes reaching all the way back to the prehistoric era, where the pounding of stones provided the first drumbeats, echoing around arenas with high canopies and swathes of jungle. Always relevant, linking people of all backgrounds to one another, music, like love, is a universal language. We all speak it. Culture clashes are brushed off because we are one. We all bleed the same colour. Friendships blossom, and Alessio Ballerini’s music is similarly kind.

Ballerini’s soundtrack to Iacopo Patierno’s ‘Wiwanana’ is imbued with an appropriate softness, sweetness, and light. Tinted by a spacious and colourful vibrancy, Ballerini’s music reflects the heart of the film (which tells the story of the project ‘Il Teatro fa bene’, by Jacopo Fo) as well as the continent it was shot in. Crisp, major arpeggios and glistening progressions flutter like butterflies, and the effortless washes of ambient soak into the warm, padded skin of a chord, filtering in like bright sunshine. The gentle electronics of ‘On The Road’ contain sweet angles, resembling the narrow, prismatic spokes of a lens flare, the music continuing to bloom and shutting out a heartless world with warm radiator-bleeds as it does so, and embracing shared experiences, companionship, and budding friendship.

The soft sounds of ‘Two Lovers’ and ‘Africa Colors’ are dazzling. Sunglasses will be needed. The golden glow of sunset and sunrise can be felt through the music, and the delay-drenched ‘Sunrise’ appears like a glowing citrus orb, its electric guitar sliding around in solo space.

Featuring mystical Japanese prints by the Japanese painter and print designer Ohara Koson (1877 – 1945), the music is a reflection on dialogue and how it is ‘the most powerful weapon in the fight for change’. Because music is a language, and dialogue is built from the alphabet, music can also be a powerful weapon for change. Ballerini’s music, as well as the film itself, is a positive step forward. Don’t stop believing.

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Made by hand,

Silk-screen / hand made printed-stitched books inspired by traditional Kimono patterns, 1 x 3" CD, 13 Ohara Koson vintage prints, beautiful Japanese poetry/journal/register inserts (circa.1930), luxury miniature button/string scented envelopes, individually hand numbered.

Made with love...

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Credits:

Music written, recorded and produced by Alessio Ballerini
Mastering by Alessio Ballerini
Film Documentary by Iacopo Patierno
Design by Daniel Crossley

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More info:
http://www.alessioballerini.com/wiwanana-originaldocumentarysoundtrack