On Sunday 29 June at 6.30 p.m., Fondazione Merz and Planeta Cultura will present Communis Tarab, a musical journey through the spaces and courtyards of Baglio Ulmo which, like a festive procession of new music and sound art, ends near the shore of Lake Arancio, close to the Saracen fortification of Mazzallakar.

Communis Tarab is linked to the diversity of landscapes, to the character and form of expressions in the Mediterranean. In a creative reworking of traditional Sicilian festivals, the concert’s trajectory traverses different forms and expressions of sound and musical arts. The journey unfolds in an open dialogue between different languages, stimulating reflection on the search for harmonies that are still possible, despite the tragedies that continue to unfold on the shores of the Mediterranean.

The concert coincides with the final of the fifth edition of the music section of the Mario Merz Prize, and for this special occasion it takes place for the first time outside the prestigious venues typically dedicated to music. The prize is increasingly taking shape as a living laboratory of research, generosity of thought, social and territorial awareness, and innovation, in the firm belief that the arts represent freedom of thought without boundaries, beyond the oppositions arising from abstract social, geographical, stylistic or aesthetic affiliations.

The hubs and stations from which the trajectories of Communis Tarab move are the new sound and musical creations of the shortlist of finalists for the award, which resonate in the festive procession led by the band: Ethnics No Borders by Luigi Morleo from Puglia, Alfaque Rojo 3 by Arturo Corrales, born in San Salvador and naturalised Swiss, and the immersive multi-channel sound piece Oozing by Colombian-Dutch composer Natalia Domínguez Rangel.

The finalists, composers Natalia Domínguez Rangel, Luigi Morleo and Arturo Corrales, were selected by a jury composed of Davide Bandieri (clarinetist, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne), Gianluca Cangemi (composer, sound artist and curator, Sicily) and Diego Chenna (chamber music teacher, Hochschule für Musik, Freiburg).

The jury that will select the winner of the fifth edition of the Mario Merz Prize, together with the public vote, is composed of Helena Winkelman (violinist and composer), Philip Samartzis (sound artist and lecturer at the University of Melbourne), Thomas Demenga (cellist and composer) and Willy Merz. The public can actively participate in the selection of the winning musician by listening to the concert recording and expressing their preference via the dedicated portal www.mariomerzprize.org. The winner can choose between the commission of a new piece of music to be performed in concert or the presentation of a sound project in a museum space.

With the new creations on the Mario Merz Prize shortlist, Communis Tarab also intertwines the imagery of ancient journeys between the Mediterranean and the lands of the Hyperboreans, evoked in the sounds of the Hymn to Apollo – recreated by Willy Merz after the ancient Greek text by Limenius – and Om Silki (Il dream of Pytheas) by Gianluca Cangemi, which recreates the wonder of the Far North as seen by the Mediterranean geographer Pytheas in the 4th century BC. The protagonists of these stasimons of Communis Tarab are the musicians of WADI, the creative musical incubator of the Merz Foundation founded in Palermo to bring together the best young Sicilian talents promoting contemporary perspectives and sound visions.

Along the way, the audience is invited to abandon passive listening and become an active part of the celebration and ritual. The soul of the celebration is the historic musical band “Gian Matteo Rinaldo”, which will lead the audience on a journey through the spaces of the Baglio.

Heading towards a final sound-based cathartis at sunset, the band will once again lead the audience to the shores of Lake Arancio, where the baton will be passed to the live electronic music of producer and multi-instrumentalist Toni Cutrone (MAI MAI MAI), former artist in residence at Palestinian Radio Alhara and champion of a sound mix that intertwines the occult imagery of southern Italian folklore with industrial drones and proto-techno drifts.