Antonio Mainenti: singer, musician, composer, F.O.H. man

(b. 1978, Sicily, Italy) is a singer, musician, composer and instrument builder. His first sound experiences, when he’s five years old, are made with a red and black Phonola tape recorder: he records sounds of environment, unusual bawls, rattles and improvisations. The tapes have gone lost. He’s ten years old when he starts studying guitar and music theory. During his teen years he begins his first musical experiences in rock, folk and improvised music.

At the age of 18 years old he moves to Rome, where he studies musical history, ethnomusicology, singing, composition, improvisation, harmony, guitar and musical theory in general. Additionally he participates in the first anthology of Italian popular singing curated by Silvano Spadaccino.

Following the roman period, he returns to Sicily, where he collaborates with several jazz and contemporary ensembles, continues his researches in ethnomusicology and dedicates to idiosyncratic reinterpretation of old Sicilian songs. Also he starts to be interested in the research of social and political Italian folk songs. He participates in several radical music projects along with musicians coming form the free jazz world. Since 2001 he is involved in importing and distribution of professional and popular instruments from all over the world, building a remarkable experience in non-western music and instruments. In 2006 one of his songs was included in the first anthology of Sicilian folk music.

He works in soundtracks and composition, collaborates in a video production and in 2003 starts to be involved in teaching projects, developing a personal approach to the construction of sound objects and musical instruments. He directs workshops in schools and universities, where is able to explore the areas of sound objects, body and environment sounds. Gradually he moves away from music in “strictu sensu” towards an approach of “total sound”.

For the improvement of his theoretical background, he researches Luigi Russolo’s “rumori”, John Cage’s silence, the musique concrète of Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry, Antonin Artaud’s creativity, Schoenberg’s teachings in harmony and the musical critique of Theodor Adorno.

He collaborated with: Silvano Spadaccino, Giorgio Occhipinti, Miriam Palma, Pino Guarrella, Francesco Branciamore, Maurizio Majorana, Olivia Bignardi, Matteo Gallini, Andrea Tidona, Dario De Filippo, "Valstybinis Jaunimo Teatras" di Vilnius (Lituania), Scuola Giovanile di Stato di Damasco (Siria), Guglielmo Manenti,Carlo Ferreri, Massimo Leggio, Vincenzo Cascone, Giorgio Iacono, Paolo Schembari, Theresa Wong, Filippo Portera, Emanuele Primavera, Dario Sanfilippo Tirriddiliu, Manuela Barile, Rinus Van Alebeek,Nicola Briuolo, Davide Puffo Chimenti, Selvaggia Filippini, aSpirale, Binaural, Noid, Rui Costa, Kamal Sabran, Ana Cordeiro Reis Hyaena Fierling Reich, Pako-P, Maurizio Capisani, Marco Loprieno, Gianni Mimmo, Angelo Contini, Patrizia Lugo, Luca Recchia, Andrea Bolzoni, Eleonora Ravasi, Luca Pissavini  etc.

He played in: Berlino, Damasco, Roma, Aosta, Sicilia, Firenze, Milano, Bologna, Napoli...e Pedalino, Buccheri, Bergamo, Giarratana, Ladispoli, Monterosso, Ispica, Chiaramonte, Santa Croce Camerina, Foggia, Avola, Noto, Pachino, Rosolini, Vittoria, Modica, Comiso, Acate, San Leucio, Viseu, Oporto, Braga...