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DEMETRIO STRATOS

Rock Progressivo Italiano • Italy


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Demetrio Stratos biography
Efstratios Dimitriou (Demetrio Stratos) - April 22, 1945 (Alexandria, Egypt) - June 13, 1979

Demetrio Stratos in 1962 moved to Italy, where he enrolled in the Architecture Faculty at the Politecnico di Milano. In 1967, he joined the "Ribelli" as keyboard player; he soon abandoned this to dedicate his activities to voice research. He started to experiment on vocal phenomena.

In 1972, he founded the group AREA, together with Giulio Capiozzo on drums: the original line-up included Victor Eduard Busnello, Giulio Capiozzo, Yan Patrick Erard Djivas, Patrizio Fariselli, Demetrio Stratos and Gianpaolo Tofam. Later, Busnello left the group and Djivas joined Premiata Forneria Marconi, and his place was taken by Ares Tavolazzi. He recorded with the group and together with Gianni Sassi, for his research work on the Cramps.Records label.

In 1973, he took part in the eight Biennale in Paris. In 1974, he toured festivals in France, Portugal, Switzerland and Cuba. In Cuba he was invited by the Ministry of Culture to meet a delegation of musicians from Mongolia and to participate in discussion on vocal methods in the Far East.

Stratos gradually became more and more deeply involved in the mysterious world of sounds, rewriting and extending ap immense work on the importance of the voice in Eastern and Middle-Eastern civilizations.

In Milan, he worked together with GianniEmilio Simonetti and Juan Hidalgo and Walter Marchetti, founders of the group Zaj, and in the context of the Fluxus experience, he became involved with John Cage's music. In 1974, he recorded Cage's "Mesostics" in a version for a solo voice and subsequently performed it at numerous festivals in front of large audiences of young peple.

In 1976, he spoke at several seminars held at the Istituto di Glottologia at the University of Padua, and in Padua, worked together with the Centro di Foniatria, on research into limits of language. Stratos underlined the link between language and the psyche and highlighted their connection with the sounds made by the vocal chords, which he considered as musical instruments.

In 1978, his international fame grew when he took part in concerts given at the Roundabout Tbeatre in New York. This was the time of "Event" with Merce Cunningham and the Dance Company performed under the artistic direction of Jasper Johns, Cage's musical contribution, with Andy Warhol's costume designs.read more

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DEMETRIO STRATOS discography


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DEMETRIO STRATOS top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.73 | 23 ratings
Metrodora
1976
2.35 | 15 ratings
Cantare La Voce
1978
2.00 | 6 ratings
Le Milleuna
1979

DEMETRIO STRATOS Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

4.46 | 4 ratings
Recitarcantando (with Lucio Fabbri)
1980
3.37 | 5 ratings
Concerto all'Elfo
1995

DEMETRIO STRATOS Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

DEMETRIO STRATOS Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

2.00 | 1 ratings
Stratosfera
2002

DEMETRIO STRATOS Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

0.00 | 0 ratings
Daddy's Dream
1972

DEMETRIO STRATOS Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Metrodora by STRATOS, DEMETRIO album cover Studio Album, 1976
3.73 | 23 ratings

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Metrodora
Demetrio Stratos Rock Progressivo Italiano

Review by siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic

4 stars Perhaps one of the single most interesting and unique personalities to come out of the entire 70s Italian progressive rock scene wasn't in fact Italian at all but was actually descended from Greek parents, born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt and then spent time in Cyprus before finally settling down in Milan, Italy at the age of 17 in the year of 1962. Born Efstratios Dimitriou but professionally known as DEMETRIO STRATOS, this uncannily talented vocalist actually wore many hats but of course is most famous for his seven year run with one of Italy's greatest progressive rock bands, Area which he co-founded and remained with until 1978 a year before his untimely passing on woefully before his time at the tender age of only 34.

Despite a truncated lifespan, STRATOS spent his short time on this planet living up to his full potential. Getting his start in the Italian beat band I Ribelli (The Rebels) in the 60s and a failed attempt at making it as a pop star, STRATOS found his calling in the avant-jazz- rock band Area where he found the perfect platform to display his unthinkable vocal range of 7000 Hz and freaky talent of performing diplophony, triplophony and even quadraphony. Despite the wild ride with Area, STRATOS collaborated with a number of artists including but not limited too John Cage, Mogol, Lucio Battisti, Andy Warhol and several other visual artists. He was also was an ardent student of ethnomusicology and various intellectual pursuits such as studying the relationship between spoken language and the psyche not to mention he played many instruments as well.

During his stint with Area, STRATOS found time to continue his own idiosyncratic experimentations outside of the parameters of his main gig and in 1976 released his first solo album titled METRODORA which was the name of a Byzantine female physician from the 6th century whose texts "On The Diseases And Cures Of Women" is considered to be the oldest medical texts known to have been written by a woman. The album METRODORA was performed completely a cappella with the only exception of some very faint percussive instruments (i assume). This album is a testament to his insatiable explorations into the limits of the human voice and his mission to free vocal expression from what he considered to be the slavery of language and the tyranny of classical lyrical melodies.

First it should be emphasized that METRODORA isn't really a musical album but rather a virulent display of the amazing elasticity of the human vocal chords and a testament to the possibilities that lie beyond the established orthodoxies even within the more experimental styles of music of the era that existed in progressive rock including his already adventurous band Area. For the musically adventurous and equally curious explorers of extreme vocal abilities, METRODORA is a strange avant-garde journey into STRATOS' unleashed side where he was free of any instrumental accompaniments and allowed to let his voice be the sole focus of the dramatic diverse range of experiences presented. While much of the album displays Stratos' uncanny mastery of the diplophony and triplophony skills rarely achieved by even the best of vocalists, some of the album is quite funny as he sounds like a demented freaked out monkey or even a crazed hyaena.

There are many overdubs where STRATOS layers different vocal parts however practically none of these tracks displays anything that could be deemed as traditional music but rather would most likely qualify as some sort of highly experimental chanting sessions if even that would describe it. Generally there are many vocal styles on display with established patterns of some sort that organized sound clusters into some sort of artistic display but this is hardly easy listening with bouts of guttural growling, freaky high-pitched squeals and everything in between. If one is to expect anything remotely close to the musical experiences of Area then run far away. This is just too weird for words.

This is a one-man show for the entire run but if you are at all interested in the amazing almost otherworldly sounds that STRATOS could utter from his vox box then this is a highly recommended experience. While perhaps not a hummable singalong type of album for playing everyday, this does however scratch that ultimate weirdo avant-garde itch like no other album and a true tribute to one of the absolute greatest vocalists in the entire history of music. After listening to this album it's quite apparent where other eccentric overachieving prolific vocalists like Mike Patton found inspiration. METRADORA is a smorgasbord of vocal styles that Patton has continued and made his own and all the better for it, however nobody was like DEMETRIO STRATOS and this album unlike anything else period.

 Recitarcantando (with Lucio Fabbri) by STRATOS, DEMETRIO album cover Live, 1980
4.46 | 4 ratings

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Recitarcantando (with Lucio Fabbri)
Demetrio Stratos Rock Progressivo Italiano

Review by GKR

5 stars If we were presented to Demetrio Stratos vocal tecniques in small dosages in his career with the essential and phenomenal Area - International POPular Group, in his solo career we experience all of voice-music.

"Solo career" is actually a wrong term. What Demetrio Stratos do in his three albums, "Metrodora", "Cantare la Voce" and "Le Mileuna" is actually some results of his vocal research. The actually exercise of the theory is to be found, as I already said, in Area songs.

But, this time Demetrio is not lonely on stage. We do have something different and interesting here on Recitarcantando. The presence of Lucio Fabri (having contributed largely with PFM) give the exerimentation another level of doing. In the passages were Demetrio would be just exercizing, the company of a violin shows, exemplifies, pontuctuated that hat Demetrio is doing is, after all, music, and have its correlations with a music instrument, for example. Not that we do not knewn this already, but we have never listen this kind of experiment actually follow by another musician.

And Demetrio indeed do this, by the order of the music presented. First, we have "Flautofonie ed altro" and "Passaggi" were we have a few introduction of every move this revolutionary of a revolutionary voice could display. Nothing more logical to pass directly to "Cometa Rossa", were we can hear a minimalistic and beautiful version of this strong song. "Le sirene" is also a minimalistic (everything here will be, its just two guys on the stage, after all) tune, this time, more driven by Fabri's violin, with the company of Stratos voice aligning a great song with, with the excuse for such a obvious comment, begning, midle and end - what I want to say with this is that "Le Sirene" is a great tune that actually can be heard as a song, eveytime you want and not only when studying Stratos habilities. "Flautofonie ed altro" return to the more experimental, but this kind of hability of Stratos already set the tone for a great Area song, the "Return from Workuta" and its one of the passages his voice is more music than voice. It happens to be really enjoyable as well - personally, his singing here really touches me. Again in the nexts tracks we are deliver in Stratos experimentation followed by a great violin solo of Lucio Fabri (which remind us what a great musician he is), followed again by the more mediteranic singing of Stratos where some motives are repeated. The album closes with a great resume of the entire presentation, reminding every motive and hability Stratos developed.

I found something when I started listening Area and Demetrio Stratos... to write this last lines, their version of L'internazionale is playing. It was their capabilty of strong presence, agency in the world and never look away from problems and modern issues.

What Demetrio Stratos were doing with his experimentation was to free human being of his own body. Human expression on without limit. Aligned with their music as the lead singer of a music group, Demetrio Stratos made what no artist tried to (and 35 years or more have pass since he died): literaly change the world.

 Cantare La Voce by STRATOS, DEMETRIO album cover Studio Album, 1978
2.35 | 15 ratings

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Cantare La Voce
Demetrio Stratos Rock Progressivo Italiano

Review by Turillazzo

3 stars Demetrio Stratos's solo albums are certainly difficult to rate. Of course they're not for the common prog rocker. I should give this 5 stars because it's a masterpiece of vocal research, but since this is a prog rock website i'll give it 3 (it could also be 3,33)

What Stratos is doing here is just awesome; he deconstructs and rebuilds the human voice in a different way; he even sings triplophonies! "Le Sirene" is like a psychedelic piece made only of vocals!

Of course if you like his work in Area (expecially in Gli dei se ne Vanno...) you may like his solo career, but it's not sure. If you don't find anything interesting in it at the first listening, probably you will never find it. Good luck anyway.

 Metrodora by STRATOS, DEMETRIO album cover Studio Album, 1976
3.73 | 23 ratings

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Metrodora
Demetrio Stratos Rock Progressivo Italiano

Review by lor68
Prog Reviewer

4 stars Well what can you add, regarding of the best Italian vocalist ever, with his incredible vocal range, plus his fantastic voice intensity of 6000-7000 Hz frequency as well!! (Note: I was between a few lucky guys fond of prog and other new listeners, able to participate in his last concert in Parco Lambro- Milan, performed on 1980, as I live near Milan of course...) I know that it seems more like a vocal exercise, where He could produce in a single emission of breath two or three or even four sounds, in a double and triple "phonic" emission of main tones and more...simply incredible, but it's a music "testament", cause I don't know any vocalist like him today, able to leave an indelible mark!!

Of course it's difficult to judge so many "segments", without losing the music direction, cause it's not naturally as in his sessions with Area (these latter as you know such an organized and methodic ensemble of progressive/experimental jazz!!). Anyway the present album, often reminding me of the most experimental side of zehul music, especially in the mood, by means of the improvisational aspects composing the ensemble taken to the extreme, is well worth checking out at least...but it's clear to all of us that if you evaluate this "Metrodora" as a normal prog album, you will erase one or two stars from the final score; instead if you regard this as a theatrical effort, exploring all the possibilities of the human vocal range, this album could be also a 5 stars...make your personal choices, according to your mood!!

 Concerto all'Elfo by STRATOS, DEMETRIO album cover Live, 1995
3.37 | 5 ratings

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Concerto all'Elfo
Demetrio Stratos Rock Progressivo Italiano

Review by octopus-4
Special Collaborator RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams

4 stars This is minimal art, experimental and unlistenable. So why is it so highly rated? It's because it's a journey through the possibilities of the voice. Demetrio sings a long note and you can hear all the harmonics. I don't think any other human being has ever been able to do the same with his throat.

It's essential to understand that this is the live recording of a performance of minimal art. Each single note is an adventure. As he says in the introduction, you have to listen to the sounds produced by his throat and decompose them in two or three different parts.

Which pleasure can you receive from an album like this? You have to give up to the idea of listening to music. There are only sounds. This is not an exhibition of vocal virtuosism, even if Demetrio Stratos was a virtuose. It is not music in the common meaning of it, but it's incredible how it can capture one's attention. It's a psychedelic mantra.

I was surprised myself to be able to listen to about 18 minutes (including the italian explanation of what he's about to do) without having the temptation to quit and put on some Prog-metal to compensate...

More than RPI, I suggest this album to psychedelia or zeuhl fans. It's neither psychedelia or zeuhl, but you need a particular openness of mind to start listening to it.

Progressing with the tracks, the journey becomes even more attractive. In Flautologia his voice sounds like a flute, sometimes an arab trumpet or an ocarine.

O Tzitzeras O mitzeras is a story made of 21 words (I think it's Greek), repeated very quickly. The effect is weird. It's a sort of mantra. An allucination....

"Tema Popolare" is a sort of blues made of vocalisms. Probably what most close to the concept of music that can be found here, or this may be just an impression because at this point if you are still listening to this performance, you are probably addicted to what Demetrio is doing.

"Canto dei Pastori" (of Epiro, Greece) He says that when the shepherds of Epiro (Albania) sing this kind of sounds, the sheep make a circle and sleep....I don't know if it's true, but if an enchanter can hypnotize a cobra, why not?

The last short track, "Cowboys and Indians" is just a vocal excersize invented for the theathre by a soprano.

How can this be rated? Is it a masterpiece of progressive music? It's progressive but it's not music. Is an excellent addiction to prog collections? Yes, but not for "any". Neo-prog fans would ask me the money back. Fans only? It's minimal art. You can like it or not, but it's what it is.

It's an album so different that it should have a different kind of rating: instead of stars, fishes, gasoline pumps or anything else. I give it 4 stars but with this warning. I'm giving stars because there are no fishes.

 Cantare La Voce by STRATOS, DEMETRIO album cover Studio Album, 1978
2.35 | 15 ratings

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Cantare La Voce
Demetrio Stratos Rock Progressivo Italiano

Review by memowakeman
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

2 stars Vocals, vocals, and nothing more!

It is almost mandatory for someone who consider follower of Area, to listen to what it's singer, Demetrio Stratos released as a solo artist, just because you should know what he could do with his voice. With Area he shows his high vocal range and his very unique style, but you know, he was accompanied with an incredible band and created incredible music.

So here with his album called "Cantare la Voce" released in 1978 you will have a completely different taste of Stratos vocals, here you will hear how he plays with it and create some extreme sounds, so please do not expect anything alike to Area while listening to this album and i warn you, this is not easy to listen to at all, actually you need to be on the mood because if you aren't, then you may stop it since the very first song.

Here we go then with it's 5-song album and a total time of 37 minutes which kicks off with the longest track and probably the most irritating, difficult and complex track to listen, it last almost 15 minutes and there is not a single instrument, there are only Stratos vocal chords and his creativity and imagination to create those experimental and hard to describe sounds. In this song all the time he takes a short breath and then strats with a "hmmmm" which at the same time is accompanied with some inner vocal sounds that sounds like some water drops falling somewhere, then, after the first 5 repetitive minutes he makes a stop and some seconds later he shows a different "scream" and playes with his voice making some high and low noises, as i listen, i believe he also uses his hands on his mouth to change a little bit the sound. Then again he changes the tones and starts a new noise, every scream lasts around 10 seconds and then he pauses for a couple of seconds, just in order to start over again, he makes some stange noises that even sound like an engine or something like that, pretty strange, but a clear example of what you will find in this album, so if you could not stand this track, then you better quit, by the way the name of this first song is "Investigazione (Diplofonie e Triplofonie)".

After those almost 15 long minutes, a second song begins immediately so you may think it is the same first one, it is "Passagi 1, 2" and it is about pratically the same, but this kind of noises have a darker feeling on it and the way he plays with his vocal abilities is really stunning, i honestly have tried to produce some of the sounds he makes, but it is simply impossible, the throat hurts and of course there are some tones that only people like Stratos can reach. Some of his noises put some silly faces on me, like wondering how the hell can he do that, there are some noises that even sound like animals.

The next song is "Criptomellodie Infantilli" and honestly is completely annoying, but yet incredible to think how can this man do that. In this song he produce different kind of noises becuase he uses a different vocal style, with ups and downs and several vibrations, i don't know if he is actually saying something, but actually i don't care, this "song" if i can name it song, is my least favourite track of this album, though i honestly do not have a favourite one.

"Flautofonie ed Altro" on the other hand, is just incredible and not annoying at all, since the beginning his voice sounds like some horn or flute something like that reaching a very high range, another incredible thing here is how at the same time he is "singing" there is a sound like if he slaps his face and produces then some different noises, and that is not all, but then there are 3 completely different sounds at the same time, so his vocal performance is superb, showing off how can he do with his voice, so if you want to listen to one specific track, i would recommend you this.

The last track is "Le Sirene", again i dont really understand if he is actually saying something, but since the beginning we will listen to one-syllabe sounds, that continues every single second and gradually becomes more interesting, i think he used a vocal recorder and put it over the sounds, i mean there is not a moment of silence here, there are always something sounding, those one syllable noises and in the middle of those something like a child voice appears all of a sudden, this is an interesting track actually, but again quite crazy and not easy to listen.

This has been one of the most difficult albums i have ever heard, i think even now after reviewing it, i do not really understand it, and believe me i have listened to it several times, so this has also been one of the most difficult reviews i have ever written as well. This is not a progressive rock album at all, so my rating is 2 stars, because it is just for fans and collectors, i do not recommend it to the average PA member, you have to be open mind and know how to listen something completely new and different.

Enjoy it! (or not)

 Metrodora by STRATOS, DEMETRIO album cover Studio Album, 1976
3.73 | 23 ratings

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Metrodora
Demetrio Stratos Rock Progressivo Italiano

Review by paloz

5 stars This is the proof of what Stratos could do with his voice. Simply using a glass of water and a piece of paper to do some effects, he made this album which is the recording of his voice effects. It isn't important the melody, but the study that stands behind it. Stratos was the greatest vocalist that Italy has seen, and maybe the most gifted in the entire world. Listen to Metrodora, and then tell me if you consider it "human"...
 Concerto all'Elfo by STRATOS, DEMETRIO album cover Live, 1995
3.37 | 5 ratings

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Concerto all'Elfo
Demetrio Stratos Rock Progressivo Italiano

Review by micky
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars Demetrio Stratos is well known as the front man of the fiery Italian prog group Area. Outside of Area he released a series of solo albums. I picked this album up a couple of days ago on one of my search and destroy missions in Rome looking for RPI gems. I had recently really got the bug for Area and found this album and immediately scarfed it up. I was hoping to find a another incendiary mixing of jazz, rock, electronic, and mediterranean music. Whoa.. was I surprised when I put this in.

This review is a warning...yet still a recommendation.

As I found out later after an interesting first listen hahahha, and as is noted in Stratos' bio. He was student of Fluxus and John Cage. His solo albums are very avant and are explorations into the use of the human voice as an instrument. Be warned.. again... THIS IS NOT EASY LISTENING. But it a funny way.. this ties into RPI quite well. As I noted this morning in a thread, I am a non-speaker of Italian, so an overall portion of the albums is lost upon me. The literal meaning of what the group is trying to say. What that in fact has done has prepared me for an album like this. The voice in Italian prog for became not a vehicle for literal meaning but rather a instrument in itself. Full of emotion and expression like any instrument. That is exactly what Stratos was intending to explore.

To review this album track by track is sort of pointless. Before reviewing this I read some reviews of his solo album on other sites.. I was curious just how you would review something like this. Most reviews, while entertaining in their lofty language, really say little about the music. This is an album that to me is beyond a standard review, it is indeed like trying to 'review' a painting. What you get out of this will be highly personal. There are no instruments to rave over the quality.. no way to contrast the dynamics between the way the instruments play off of each other. This is just an experience between you and Stratos. If you feel like taking a walk down the Fluxus side of life. I strongly recommend you check this out. It intriqued me to check out other of his albums, which as some of you who know my musical tastes.. should probably say more about this album that any song by song analysis could.

Giving the album three stars..and down the road may adjust that to reflect what I think of his other albums. Which I will be checking out. For serious students of 'art' and avant music only.

Michael (aka micky)

Thanks to micky for the artist addition. and to Quinino for the last updates

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