In the world of theatrical archives, there are the known, the unknown, the forgotten, and the lost. Demetrio Stratos' stage compositions for Teatro dell'Elfo's groundbreaking 1979 production Satyricon - directed by future Oscar winner Gabriele Salvatores - represents one such lost artifact now wondrously returned to life. This radical sonic work, integrating extended vocal techniques, Balinese instruments, and pioneering whale song recordings, stands as the final masterpiece of Italy's most visionary vocal experimenter, lost for over four decades until Die Schachtel's extraordinary recovery.
It began as part of something known - a wild, immersive theatrical event that inaugurated Teatro dell'Elfo's historic venue in 1979 - and was almost entirely forgotten, becoming lost and then unknown. The original production marked a radical departure for the company: no longer popular street theatre, but a dark, immersive, sophisticated spectacle that transformed their space into a rough wooden arena with a sand floor. Demetrio Stratos, working with Paolo Tofani (fellow Area member), created an entire sonic universe that subverted every conventional function of stage music. Their composition wasn't just accompaniment, but autonomous sonic dramaturgy that integrated extended vocal techniques, archaic electronic elements, Nay flutes, Balinese instruments, and pioneering whale song recordings.
The result was a three-dimensional soundscape that enveloped audiences, creating an otherworldly acoustic dimension. Stratos' score even intervened in the actors' vocal delivery, with the recordings capturing both the performance and his coaching sessions with the cast. The production featured young actors destined for fame - Elio De Capitani, Ferdinando Bruni, Cristina Crippa, Corinna Agustoni, Ida Marinelli - guided by future Academy Award winner Gabriele Salvatores in this adaptation of Petronius' ancient novel. Shortly after the Satyricon performances, Stratos was hospitalized for the condition that would lead to his death at just 34 years old. This work represents his final composition - a haunting farewell from one of Italy's most innovative sound artists. Die Schachtel presents this recovered work in collaboration with Teatro dell'Elfo and the Centro di Ricerca Vocale e Sonora Malagola di Ravenna (home of the Archivio Demetrio Stratos), pulled from the original magnetic tape and carefully restored and mastered by Andrea Marutti.
Satyricon '79 is one of the great artifacts of 1970s Italian avant-garde - a wild, grinding sonic expose which sucks the ear into its depths, made in the spirit of collaboration and creative risk-taking. The edition includes critical apparatus with essays, testimonies from protagonists, and period photographic documentation, documenting an unrepeatable moment where theatre, vocal research and sonic experimentation converged. This release marks a poignant moment in experimental music history - Stratos' final work, now rescued from the archives and restored to its rightful place in the canon of Italian avant-garde masterpieces. A true wonder of towering historical importance.
As essential as it gets for any fan of experimental music, or the history of the Italian avant-garde.
Includes unlimited streaming of Satyricon '79
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.
€9EUR
Book/Magazine + Digital Album
64pp Book + Audio files, edition of 50 copies
Includes unlimited streaming of Satyricon '79
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.
ships out within 3 days
Purchasable with gift card
€15EURor more
Satyricon '79 Boxset - Deluxe Edition
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Limited Collector Edition of 200 copies. Box with vinyl LP, large poster, polylined inner sleeve, a 60-page LP-sized book in English and Italian.
In the world of theatrical archives, there are the known, the unknown, the forgotten, and the lost. Demetrio Stratos' stage compositions for Teatro dell'Elfo's groundbreaking 1979 production Satyricon - directed by future Oscar winner Gabriele Salvatores - represents one such lost artifact now wondrously returned to life. This radical sonic work, integrating extended vocal techniques, Balinese instruments, and pioneering whale song recordings, stands as the final masterpiece of Italy's most visionary vocal experimenter, lost for over four decades until Die Schachtel's extraordinary recovery.
It began as part of something known - a wild, immersive theatrical event that inaugurated Teatro dell'Elfo's historic venue in 1979 - and was almost entirely forgotten, becoming lost and then unknown. The original production marked a radical departure for the company: no longer popular street theatre, but a dark, immersive, sophisticated spectacle that transformed their space into a rough wooden arena with a sand floor. Demetrio Stratos, working with Paolo Tofani (fellow Area member), created an entire sonic universe that subverted every conventional function of stage music. Their composition wasn't just accompaniment, but autonomous sonic dramaturgy that integrated extended vocal techniques, archaic electronic elements, Nay flutes, Balinese instruments, and pioneering whale song recordings.
The result was a three-dimensional soundscape that enveloped audiences, creating an otherworldly acoustic dimension. Stratos' score even intervened in the actors' vocal delivery, with the recordings capturing both the performance and his coaching sessions with the cast. The production featured young actors destined for fame - Elio De Capitani, Ferdinando Bruni, Cristina Crippa, Corinna Agustoni, Ida Marinelli - guided by future Academy Award winner Gabriele Salvatores in this adaptation of Petronius' ancient novel. Shortly after the Satyricon performances, Stratos was hospitalized for the condition that would lead to his death at just 34 years old. This work represents his final composition - a haunting farewell from one of Italy's most innovative sound artists. Die Schachtel presents this recovered work in collaboration with Teatro dell'Elfo and the Centro di Ricerca Vocale e Sonora Malagola di Ravenna (home of the Archivio Demetrio Stratos), pulled from the original magnetic tape and carefully restored and mastered by Andrea Marutti. The accompanying 64-pages book edited by Bruno Stucchi/Dinamomilano (who also designed the edition) presents the interviews to the main protagonists of the show, original photographs and the complete script, plus documents from the Stratos'archives.
Satyricon '79 is one of the great artifacts of 1970s Italian avant-garde - a wild, grinding sonic expose which sucks the ear into its depths, made in the spirit of collaboration and creative risk-taking. The edition includes critical apparatus with essays, testimonies from protagonists, and period photographic documentation, documenting an unrepeatable moment where theatre, vocal research and sonic experimentation converged. This release marks a poignant moment in experimental music history - Stratos' final work, now rescued from the archives and restored to its rightful place in the canon of Italian avant-garde masterpieces. A true wonder of towering historical importance.
As essential as it gets for any fan of experimental music, or the history of the Italian avant-garde.
Includes unlimited streaming of Satyricon '79
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
In the world of theatrical archives, there are the known, the unknown, the forgotten, and the lost. Demetrio Stratos' stage compositions for Teatro dell'Elfo's groundbreaking 1979 production Satyricon - directed by future Oscar winner Gabriele Salvatores - represents one such lost artifact now wondrously returned to life. This radical sonic work, integrating extended vocal techniques, Balinese instruments, and pioneering whale song recordings, stands as the final masterpiece of Italy's most visionary vocal experimenter, lost for over four decades until Die Schachtel's extraordinary recovery.
It began as part of something known - a wild, immersive theatrical event that inaugurated Teatro dell'Elfo's historic venue in 1979 - and was almost entirely forgotten, becoming lost and then unknown. The original production marked a radical departure for the company: no longer popular street theatre, but a dark, immersive, sophisticated spectacle that transformed their space into a rough wooden arena with a sand floor. Demetrio Stratos, working with Paolo Tofani (fellow Area member), created an entire sonic universe that subverted every conventional function of stage music. Their composition wasn't just accompaniment, but autonomous sonic dramaturgy that integrated extended vocal techniques, archaic electronic elements, Nay flutes, Balinese instruments, and pioneering whale song recordings.
The result was a three-dimensional soundscape that enveloped audiences, creating an otherworldly acoustic dimension. Stratos' score even intervened in the actors' vocal delivery, with the recordings capturing both the performance and his coaching sessions with the cast. The production featured young actors destined for fame - Elio De Capitani, Ferdinando Bruni, Cristina Crippa, Corinna Agustoni, Ida Marinelli - guided by future Academy Award winner Gabriele Salvatores in this adaptation of Petronius' ancient novel. Shortly after the Satyricon performances, Stratos was hospitalized for the condition that would lead to his death at just 34 years old. This work represents his final composition - a haunting farewell from one of Italy's most innovative sound artists. Die Schachtel presents this recovered work in collaboration with Teatro dell'Elfo and the Centro di Ricerca Vocale e Sonora Malagola di Ravenna (home of the Archivio Demetrio Stratos), pulled from the original magnetic tape and carefully restored and mastered by Andrea Marutti.
Satyricon '79 is one of the great artifacts of 1970s Italian avant-garde - a wild, grinding sonic expose which sucks the ear into its depths, made in the spirit of collaboration and creative risk-taking. The edition includes critical apparatus with essays, testimonies from protagonists, and period photographic documentation, documenting an unrepeatable moment where theatre, vocal research and sonic experimentation converged. This release marks a poignant moment in experimental music history - Stratos' final work, now rescued from the archives and restored to its rightful place in the canon of Italian avant-garde masterpieces. A true wonder of towering historical importance.
As essential as it gets for any fan of experimental music, or the history of the Italian avant-garde.
credits
released September 30, 2025
Produced by Bruno Stucchi and Fabio Carboni, Die Schachtel
In collaboration with:
Teatro dell’Elfo
Archivio Demetrio Stratos | Malagola - Centro di ricerca vocale e sonora (Ravenna)
Mastering: Andrea Marutti
Original tape digitalization: Fonoprint (Bologna)
Design and Art Direction: Bruno Stucchi, Dinamomilano
Thanks to: Daniela Ronconi Demetriou, Elena Russo Arman, Alessia Rondelli, Paolo Tofani, Thalia Istikopoulou, Corinna Agustoni, Ferdinando Bruni, Ruggero Cara, Dario Cipriani, Fiammetta Crippa, Cristina Crippa, Elio De Capitani, Orazio Donati, Johnny Gable, Ida Marinelli, Bruno Pagni, Roberto Rossello, Maurizio Schmidt, Luca Toracca, Tatiana Winteler, Ermanna Montanari, Enrico Pitozzi, Marco Sciotto, Dario Taraborrelli
This is my absolute favorite album of all time, words can not even begin to describe how much I love it. It nails the concept of dementia as an album perfectly 100/10. I don't know if I could find anything better than this. rod
The fact that Scotch Rolex and Shackleton form a brilliant duo is nothing new, but to have Omutaba on board on a label such as Nyege Nyege is just perfect. Omaan
"You may not do anything you are not told to do. You may not think or act within your own interests. You may not have dreams or ambitions. You are to fulfil your duty as ordained. You are to be loyal, and no possession you think you own will be withheld from your superiors. You are not a person, as you are an appendage for the powers of which you serve. Be grateful, at least you aren't at the other end of the rifle." bOnnIE tOcsIn / pInOcchIO gIrl
Split into two sides—one with beats, one without—the latest from wzrdryAV is a study in electronic textures & moods. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 5, 2021
Societies repeat themselves —
coiling serpents swallowing their tails.
A circle of jerks, that’s what we are.
History on autoplay.
The past with a better soundtrack
The incense route becomes a soundwave.
The desert becomes an equalizer.
Bass throbs through minarets.
Sub-frequencies slip beneath skin.
Worship disguised as rhythm.
Control disguised as music.
A long pause.
He dials down the Dub, lets MMM expand —
a cathedral of reverb, a womb of sound.
Inside it: silence,
waiting to be born again magoski
