The irrepressible desire to travel, known as “Wanderlust”, is called “Dromomania” in a clinical context. Contemporary actions and habits are often catalogued and associated with scientific syndromes or pathologies. Is dromomania a dissociative escape or a feeling necessary for the enrichment of one’s experiences?
Since the dawn of everything, perpetual nomadism cannot be compared to the concept of simple wandering but rather to the voracious attempt to increase order and individual and collective knowledge. Cemento Atlantico – the electronic project of the Italian producer and DJ Alessandro “ToffoloMuzik” Zoffoli, from Cesena – acts as a dromomaniac to give a broader meaning to the present that surrounds him. His new album Dromomania will be released on CD, vinyl and all digital platforms on 21th June, 2024 via Bronson Recordings, following the debut instant cult classic Rotte Interrotte of 2021.
Cemento Atlantico‘s logo is made up of the initials “C” and “A”. According to him: «The letter ‘A’ indicates the first Ocean I crossed, the Atlantic one, while the letter” C – represented by a crescent Moon, with no political or religious reference – symbolizes rebirth or the advent of a new life in many ancient and modern cultures».
Dromomania thinks of music as a collective ritual, with an international vision expressed in an intimate and artisanal way. All is based on the recalculation of traditions in a network of analogue and digital languages. Once again, field recordings are the starting point of each track: these are not trivial sound souvenirs but sources capable of telling a real story. Documents that try to respect other cultures, sharing an emotional value amplified and supported by concrete beats.
Heterogeneous yet compact in its approach to house, future garage, post-dubstep and world music, Dromomania is an album that is both darker and more rhythmic compared to Rotte Interrotte. Cemento Antico says: «In Dromomaniathe bass lines are overbearing. I wrote Rotte Interrotte in a particular historical period, due to the limitations of the Covid-19 pandemic. That album was my escape route, to convince myself that that absurd moment would be over, so I turned the pages of my “audio travel memories” and tried to relive them by sharing their imagery. Dromomania has brought me back on the road, finally free again, but it is also a darker work: the pandemic made me open my eyes to many aspects. In fact, I believe that the pandemic was the only crisis in history that did not give rise to a cultural revolution, but fueled ignorance and conflicts. In many situations the worst side of humanity has emerged, so I wanted to treat my productions with a less “chill” attitude. As if I had turned up the volumes on wars and arrogance. I would like the complaint to be alive, I would like to attract attention by making me feel louder».
After Garawek Khaos and El Que Puede Hablar, marking the first stops in Thailand and Mexico, the new single Danza Negra is available digitally today 7th June and transforms the “danza negra” of the indigenous people of Monimbó, in Nicaragua, into an electro-dance explosion with ethno-pop melodies. Poetry of sound, mysterious masks, tribal percussion and a marimba from the edge of the lagoon for fighting and dancing in the name of liberation. The ambient sounds and the opening words were recorded on the shores of Laguna de Apoyo. The text includes a passage by the poet Alfonso Cortés, quoted several times by the revolutionaries of the F.S.L.N..
Among the most important places from the point of view of traditions in Nicaragua are the city of Masaya and the adjacent Laguna de Apoyo: a lake situated in a volcanic crater also known as the “mouth of hell”. This lagoon was the refuge of the ancient inhabitants of the current Monimbó (the most known district of Masaya). Here originated the first offensive for the liberation of Nicaragua with the Sandinista National Liberation Front (F.S.L.N.). The indigenous people of Monimbó manufactured the first homemade bombs and fought with their faces covered by the typical “sieve masks of Monimbó”. These fierce protests also resulted in music and dance through the “danza negra”: a ritual born in the colonial times, when indigenous women despised the men of Monimbó lending themselves to the Spanish invaders during dance parties. For that, the enraged men created this unique choreography: a dance performed by groups of eight men, four dressed as women including Spanish fans, and four dressed as men with their faces painted black and covered with sieve masks to keep their identity concealed.
«I tried to tell in a few minutes the history of the popular ‘Danza Negra’, typical of the city of Masaya. Masaya gave me rare hospitality during my stay in Nicaragua – this happened a few months before the last bloody revolution against President Daniel Ortega in 2018. It was here that I learned the faith and the tenacity of the last Nicaraguan revolutionaries. I managed to record the field recordings of ‘Danza Negra’ during the San Jerónimo festival in the Monimbò neighborhood. In the videoclip three masked people, played by me, paint the ruined historical paintings of Nicaragua».
In Dromomania the point of arrival is the reconstruction and sharing of an ever wider map. The landscapes dictate the sound flows, that translate into thought. Overthrows of state power, devotional rites, rebellions, legends, abuses and questions chase each other rhythm after rhythm, citing history through the space-time coordinates of Thailand, India, Bulgaria, Mexico, Andalusia, Romagna, Colombia, Nicaragua and Panama.
