VALERIO CAMPORINI F. - Sud e Magia

Sud e Magia started its life as the soundtrack of Sow the Wind, a movie by Danilo Caputo that was presented at the 71st Berlinale Film Festival.

The title comes from Magic: A Theory from the South or Sud e Magia in Italian, a seminal 1959 anthropological study by E. De Martino which investigated the persistence of pagan rituals in the southern regions of Italy. 

The movie is staged in one of those Italian southern regions, where everyday ‘modern’ life is interwoven with ancient beliefs in magical forces, coexisting with catholic religion and even science. The book itself was one of the references the composer and the director used as a starting point for the soundtrack.

From Valerio Camporini F.

It was a lengthy process, we explored several avenues, listened to a lot of Toru Takemitsu - mostly for the connection his music has with nature - and eventually decided for a few cardinal elements: a custom scale was created and used to build modal harmony, the music had to be played by a small ensemble (among them the relatively unknown Paetzold recorder), and rhythmically I would use euclidean rhythms as their circular qualities fitted with the cyclical phases of nature. 

The influence of ancient Greek mythology and its cultural dominance on the region was also part of the writing.