Salto Mortale

SALTO MORTALE: Eabuaba

Mixtape / C48 / SOLD OUT

“I first heard Francesco Cavaliere under his Salto Mortale sobriquet on a Summer night of 2011 at the O-tannenbaum club in Berlin. Although he only played about three tracks on that night totting up to around 12 minutes, these were more than enough to make it one of the most exciting sets I ever witnessed – and you can mark my words here. Salto Mortale plays arab music on tapes – un mix di cose trovate nei negozzi e kebab places libanesi, ci sono cose fine anni 60, anni 80, cose from Iraq, Lebanon, Egitto, due cose turche e un o due pezzi di Meixana (battle di stornelli dal' Azerbaijan, spesso cose che fanno per i matrimoni) – but his unique signature relies on the special setup and personal techniques he has developed in relation to the music and the medium. No tape gimmick or cassette fetishism here. Salto Mortale shapes his sound by swiftly shaking the cassette players, speeding up or slowing down the pace, casting spells, proclaiming names and telling stories in between tracks. This tape might be the most exciting Music City release to date”. (DJ Bongo Man)

As envisioned by DJ Bonzai Tarzan:

“According to a legend compiled by the famous art critic and sports journalist Torcuato Icasticco, a sacred tribe of bears lives in the foggy heights of the Apenines. They have managed to avoid close contact with civilization for centuries. People in neighbouring villages believe they are waiting for the reaapearance of their only human friend, Santo Corbiniano. His ghost is supposed to lead them to the Vatican and help them set ablaze every building, drink all the wine and free all the slave children.

When nights go purple or blue, bears come and go as they please looking for berries and fish, but when it gets dark they sit in large circles to sing a melancholic tune in a low and warbly roar. It takes a forward thinking explorer as our friend, DJ Salto Mortale to go with a tape recorder deep into their territory and stay hidden for hours in a camouflaged tent waiting for the mythical song. A couple years ago, in one of those moonless journeys, Salto Mortale could finally locate the perfect spot to record. He saw how a thick cloud of fog covered every leaf, and heard the dry branches cracking as the tribe got closer and the unisonous song grew like a landslide in slow motion. Unfortunately, he also noticed a slight disturbance, a highpitched sound, similar to the giggle of a snuffly monkey. Thinking it was a technical problem, he grabed his flashlight and examined his recording equipment. As everything seemed to work perfectly. He looked around and hopped back when the spotlight stopped at a bear cub's face, staring at him with spirally eyes and a Buda smile. Salto Mortale noticed the poor little animal drank an entire bottle of PsychedelicTrombonne milk he had in his backpack. Bold, but serene he came closer and started gently massaging the cub's head, putting into practice his vast knowledge of Shiatsu. The giggling gradually stopped and the small bear fell asleep.

That night Salto Mortale dreamed he had to land a airplane in a big storm. Just a moment before the wheels touched the ground he was waken up by a cold breeze coming from a big hole in his tent. The bear cub was gone, and in his place he found a cardboard box full of dry leaves and the cassette tapes that are the source material of Eabuaba, a mixtape Music City is very proud to present”. (DJ Bonzai Tarzan)

A limited number of copies of this tape were released by Music City on the occasion of a Salto Mortale / Bongo Man duo DJ set at Café The Student on April 19, 2013. On that night cassette covers were cut on stage and tapes were signed while tracks were being played. Two years later a few more copies of this tape are finally made available.

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