Liburia Records announces the release of Through the Clouds, A Beautiful Light, the new
album by Fabio Rambelli (u) and Dirk Wachtelaer (drums and percussion).
The album marks a further step in the collaboration between the two musicians, exploring
new and surprising sonic territories. At the heart of the project is the u, an ancient mouth
organ of Asian origin, with a luminous, overtone-rich timbre, reconstructed only a few
decades ago after more than a thousand years of abandonment. Alongside it, Dirk
Wachtelaer’s drums and percussion move fluidly between traditional techniques, extended
techniques, and aleatoric processes, giving rise to a free and deeply immersive dialogue.
Through the Clouds, A Beautiful Light is likely the first work to bring the u and drums
together in a free improvisation context, opening a listening space where sound is in
constant transformation, moving through melodic fragments, suspended resonances, and
irregular pathways. The sixteen tracks trace a journey that passes through fog, thresholds,
fractures, and sudden moments of clarity, culminating in a final light that envelops and
reassembles.
Fabio Rambelli
Fabio Rambelli is a multi-instrumentalist woodwind player who in recent years has focused
on the shō and the u, ancient mouth organs with a history of more than two thousand years,
closely connected to gagaku, the traditional ceremonial music of Japan. Alongside
traditional gagaku, Fabio performs free jazz, contemporary music, various forms of
improvisation, and deep ambient music, constantly experimenting with the creation and
dissolution of melodic fragments within a sonic continuum.
Dirk Wachtelaer
Belgian drummer and percussionist Dirk Wachtelaer continually pushes the boundaries of
his musical language by collaborating with artists from different cultures and disciplines. He
has many years of experience across a wide range of styles, from folk music to sound art
and everything in between. The result is an immersion into a surprising sonic world, shaped
through the use of conventional drumming techniques, extended techniques, and aleatoric
processes.
All tracks are composed by Fabio Rambelli and Dirk Wachtelaer.