Messages & Portraits by Musci/Venosta

In the late 80s these globetrotting Milanese composers joined forces to produce two acclaimed & prescient records made in equal parts from their own performances and ethnic field recordings, a little in the manner of Eno/Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts-but rather more evolved. Messages & Portraits combines the vinyl albums on one CD.

GIOVANNI VENOSTA Born Udine, Italy, 1961. Apart from his work with Roberto Music, he has mainly worked as a film composer: 16 feature films, various shorts, documentaries, videos, & music for dance and theatre - awarded the Golden Ciak in 2000, 3 nominations for best soundtrack at Donatello's David in 2002, '04, '08, and a nomination for the Cinema Brazil Grand Prize in '09. Since 2002 he has composed the signature tunes for the Locarno Film Festival. He is also a member of the trio diSturb und Drang, Emilio Galante's ensemble Sonata Islands, and several projects dedicated to the music of Magma, After Dinner and Wha Ha Ha. He also plays electric piano with the afro-beat group Mamud Band and teaches a 3-year degree course of Music for Images at the Civic School in Milan. He has made numerous solo recordings, film soundtrack & band recordings on a variety of labels.

ROBERTO MUSCI Born Milan, Italy, 1956. He studied alto sax and guitar and then between 1974 and 1985 travelled around the planet studying African, Indian, Near and Far Eastern music, making field recordings, studying and collecting ethnic musical instruments from around the world. In the '80s and '90s he made ethnic and electronic/experimental programs for Italian national radio and the independent 'Radio Popolare'. He also composed and played music for dance, videos, commercials, poetry, theatre and performed live soundtracks for silent movies. He has released many LPs on numerous European labels.