FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
Runic Principium - Mediterranean Dark Folk Codex I
Album Of The Year
Global Music Album
The sounds of norse rituals, slavic legends, ethereal forests, and gladiators' elegies, have converged in one place: Runic Principium is the first Codex of the Mediterranean Dark Folk genre. Blending elements of ancient Italian culture and music with nordic folk, this album looks at the "beginning of the runes" as a journey from the Etruscans all the way to Scandinavia. While unconfimed, one theory about the origin of the Futhark claims that the Etruscan alphabet (of Greek origin itself) is its distant relative.The spotlight of this album is the Scandinavian tagelharpa, and a plethora of vocal styles (clean and harsh), but keep an ear out for many instruments bridging this almost mythological gap too (aulos, ancient Roman horns, olive branches and uninhabited snail shells sampled from a humble garden).The lyrics are in a constructed language invented by Psamathes, and they are intentionally left very vague so they can be universal in their own way. In this case, the constructed language blends Italian dialects from the artist's roots, Rome and the South of Italy (Calabria region), as well as Scandinavian languages, Latin, and other mystical sounds. These sounds are meant to unite folk music traditions across the world through song, and leave to the listener the interpretation that flows through the emotions they feel as the music fills the air.
Written, performed, and produced as a one-woman independent release by Psamathes
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
Crèmera River
Song Of The Year
Record Of The Year
Global Music Performance
The second track from the Mediterranean Dark Folk album "Runic Principium", "Crèmera River" brings together the soundscape of fantasy videogame worlds and the vocals of Roman warriors' elegies to describe a real place. Deep in the sacred Etruscan forests to the north of Rome, the Crèmera River is a real river still flowing today, where Roman and Etruscans battled in ages past. The flowing, evolving vocals remind us that nature and humans should coexist in a peaceful duet instead of clashing against each other.
Written, performed, and produced as a one-woman independent release by Psamathes
PSAMATHES
Versatile Vocalist
Tagelharpa Player
Composer
Sound Designer
Alessandra Cognetta, also known with the artist name Psamathes, is a singer, composer, and tagelharpa player based in Rome, Italy. Her wide range (G#2-G6) and vocal versatility, combined with a unique voice colour, allow her to record in a variety of styles and genres.
Her vocals can be heard in award-winning Original Videogame Soundtracks such as Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds, Forge of the Fae, Gravastar, Bathory: Heritage of Blood, Cyberpunk JRPG "Keylocker", on Strayed Lights and The Pathless, both by Grammy-winning composer Austin Wintory. Her vocal versatility has been harnessed for Kontakt Libraries OMEN, HELLEN, and Gethen by Silence + Other Sounds.
She provides remote vocal recording services for film & TV (the Cannes-premiering series “Holy Sh*t!”, the legendary anime Cyborg 009 Nemesis), trailer music (The Odyssey, Gladiator 2, Anora, Star Wars: Acolyte), and other media, working with clients like miHoYo (Honkai: Star Rail), Chris Hurn, Alec Johnson, and Joep Sporck.
Her tagelharpa has been recorded for trailer music, animation, videogame music, and for the Kontakt Library NORDIC FOLK STRINGS by Silence + Other Sounds.
Psamathes creates vocals for solos and choirs, and writes lyrics in different languages (English, Italian, Latin, conlangs). She has over 10 years of training and experience performing with choirs, as a solo act, and with bands, and she is a light lyric soprano who trained with, among others, the late soprano Marinella Meli (who shared the stage with Maria Callas) and with a pupil of Nora Orlandi (singer and composer who worked with Ennio Morricone).
She became a finalist in the 2021 Music Cosmos Composer Competition, and a winner in the Metapop x Orchestral Tools City(sound)scapes Challenge. She has contributed to award-nominated projects, such as the art installation "Dreaming Freedom", in the running for the 2024 Hollywood Music in Media Awards.
As a disabled woman who also suffers from chronic pain, she works with passion and focus every single day to bring awareness on these themes, and on the importance of including disabled musicians more and more as professionals in the industry.
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