Artefilosofia (May 2022)
O som elétrico de Fausto Romitelli
Abstract
Like other composers of his generation, Fausto Romitelli was interested in the discussions between “modernist” and “post-modernist” musical poetics. He felt solidarity with the former, and openly refused to adhere to the strategies of the latter. Unsurprisingly, this opposition was reflected in a hierarchy of values in his discourse: to him, classifying a musical work as “post-modern” meant singling it out as disengaged and superficial. However, Romitelli’s work manifests some aspects which could be considered to be in line with post-modernist perspectives: think of his tendency to integrate musical quotations; of his explicit import of the electric sound of rock (as well as of its instrumental gestures); of his use of samples taken from electronic music; of his taste for trash. I intend to reflect on these aspects in order to grasp their function and thus better understand how Romitelli’s music brings together present and past in an original technological dystopia
