About Me
Born in Rome, graduate in astrophysics, self-taught bassist, Graziano Lella studies sax at the SMPT (Scuola di Musica Popolare di Testaccio, Rome).
Always interested in avant-gardes in all artistic forms and expressive languages, he organizes, starting from 1992, many concerts and cultural events with the Cervello a Sonagli association.
After a first experience as bassist in a punk band, from 1997 he plays bass guitar in the art-rock group Dura Figura and takes part, as a saxophonist, in many performances which connected music and visual arts with the open collective Ask the Dust. Moreover he takes part in some workshops with important innovative musicians like Tim Hodgkinson, Ken Hyder, Amy Denio and others.
At the same time he dedicates himself to improvisation practice both with a consolidated formation, the radical improvised music Zic quartet, and with many musicians of experimental area. Fascinated by the timbre-dynamics possibilities of electric bass, with the Zic quartet he developes his own vocabulary through a prepared instrument. Subsequently he introduces in his work the use of self-made amplified objects supported by live electroacoustic treatments and pre-elaborated recorded materials.
Actually he works in a solo project called arg. With arg he carries out electroacoustic and concrete/acousmatic music compositions with a personal compositional approach which “appropriates†heterogeneous materials and put them in a dialectical relationship with the possibilities offered by new technologies. In october 2002 Sirr.ecords label (Portugal) releases his first solo cd: arg.
In 2003 he founds the electronic improvised music trio Taxonomy with Elio Martusciello e Roberto Fega. The first group's cd, A global taxonomical machine, is released by Ambiances Magnétiques (Canada) in 2005.
He is a founding member of IATO and iXem musicians' collectives.
In 2004 he begin the collaboration with the filmakers Carlo Hintermann and Luciano Barcaroli (of Citrullo Int.).
Since 2005 he collaborates with the theatre company Psicopompo Teatro.
Starting from 2006 he plays in an audiovisual collective together with Taxonomy and the videoartists Studio Brutus and Citrullo International. Their work H2O has been selectioned and presented in the following festivals: 2008: FILE (Porto Alegre/BR), ZEMOS98 (Sevilla/E), Future Film Festival (Bologna/I), Anifest Animated Film Festival (Prague/CZ), Sonoimagenes (Buenos Aires/ARG); 2007: Festival International du Film d'Animation Annecy (Annecy/F), 15th Curtas (Vila do Conde/PT), Optronica (London/UK), Netmage07 (Bologna/I), Sonar Film Festival (Firenze/I), CyBorg Film Festival (Anghiari/I), IMMArts TechArt07 (Northern Illinois University, DeKalb/USA), Fluid (Stresacinema, Isola Bella - Stresa/I), Italiani Indipendenti (Trento/I), aniMOTION European Animation Festival (Sibiu, RO), Musica Viva Festival/MusicAL (Lisbon/PT), In-Sonora III (Madrid/E), Hipersonica (Sao Paulo/BR), Shoot Off (Paris/F), Backup Festival (Weimar/D), Festa del Cinema (Roma/I), Festival Internazionale del Cortometraggio (Siena/I), Castelli Animati (Roma/I), STRP Festival (Eindhoven/NL), Avion (Bucarest/RO), Signal (Cagliari/I), Collision (London/UK), Seoul International Film Festival (Seoul/KR); 2006: Live!iXem (Roma/I), Torino Film festival (Torino/I), Roma Film festival (Roma/I).
In 2008 Creative Sources label releases the arg's second solo cd, ANIMAli, and
Ambiances Magnétiques label releases 10 taxonomical movements by Taxonomy.
Main concerts and festivals:
2008: ACMC 2008 (Sydney, AUS), FILE POA (Porto Alegre/BR), ZEMOS98 (Sevilla/E), Future Film Festival (Bologna/I), Anifest Animated Film Festival (Prague/CZ), 60x60 Project International Mix (Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Wilmington, Fresno/USA; Oxford/UK; Strasbourg/F), ITCA 2008 (Prague/CZ), Urban Jealousy-International Roaming Biennial of Tehran (Istanbul/TR), FILE (Sao Paulo/BR), Stoppengo' (Roma/I), Short Theatr3 (Roma/I), Teatro OutOff (Milano/I); 2007: Artradio-Cornerhouse (Manchester/UK), 60x60 Project Radio Extravaganza (New York/USA), 60x60 Project International Mix (Raleigh, Denton, Cambridge, Orlando, Georgetown, New York/USA; Montreal/CAN), Hipersonica (Sao Paulo, BR); 15th Curtas (Vila do Conde/PT), aniMOTION (Sibiu, RO), Musica Viva Festival/MusicAL (Lisbon/PT), Optronica (London/UK), Netmage (Bologna/I), Sonar Film Festival (Firenze/I), CyBorg Film Festival (Anghiari/I), IMMArts TechArt07 (Northern Illinois University, DeKalb/USA), Fluid (Stresacinema, Isola Bella - Stresa/I), Italiani Indipendenti (Trento/I), Festival International du Film d'Animation Annecy (Annecy/F), Short Theatre (Roma/I), Collision (London/UK), Shoot Off (Paris/F), Backup Festival (Weimar/D), Festa del Cinema (Roma/I), Festival Internazionale del Cortometraggio (Siena/I), Castelli Animati (Roma/I), STRP Festival (Eindhoven/NL), Avion (Bucarest/RO), Signal (Cagliari/I), Seoul International Film Festival (Seoul/Kr); 2006: Scatole Sonore (Roma/I), Sztuka Fabryka (Sint-Niklaas/B), Konnexions (Marseille/F), Live!iXem (Roma/I), IATO (with Tim Hodgkinson) (Roma/I), FAME festival (with Michael Thieke) (Roma/I), Torino Film festival (Torino/I), Roma Film festival (Roma/I); 2005: IATO (Roma/I), Arte In Transito-Teatromusica (Roma/I); 2004: I suoni della narrazione/Ixem incontra Roma (Roma/I), Notte Bianca/GlobalAction (Roma/I); 2003: Superfici Sonore 3 (Firenze/I), Dissonanze/dis.lab (Roma/I), IATO (Roma/I); 2001: Dalle nuove musiche al suono mondiale (Torino/I), Instants Chavires (Montreuil/F); 1999: Controindicazioni continuano (Roma/I), Sotto il sole di Roma (Roma/I); 1998: da Peter Brook al cyberspazio (Roma/I), Festa per la Cultura (Roma/I), Link (Bologna/I), MenteLocale (Palestrina/I), WebShow (Roma/I), Addio alle armi - parole e musica contro la guerra (Roma/I)
Works for theatre:
2008: La Stravaganza; 2007: Hamelin, Ipogei; 2005/2006: Artemisia; 2005: Verticale, reading Sylvia Plath, ANIMAli (a musical theatre opera, in collaboration with CRM of Rome); 2000: Il processo a Franz Kafka
Discography:
arg - ANIMAli - 2008 (Creative Sources)
Taxonomy - 10 taxonomical movements - 2008 (Ambiances Magnétiques)
VVAA - 60x60 Project 2006-2007 (International Mix) - 2008 (VoxNovus)
Taxonomy + Polvere - Scatole Sonore - 2006 (Idoscalodischi/L'antascorrevole)
Taxonomy - A global taxonomical machine - 2005 (Ambiances Magnétiques)
VVAA - I suoni della narrazione/Ixem incontra Roma - 2004 (cdr)
arg - arg - 2002 (Sirr.ecords)
VVAA - Cosmonaute - 2002 (Anorack records)
VVAA - Sotto il sole di Roma - 2000 (Sonagli) (with Zic & Dura Figura)
