This week’s title is taken from Italian ethnographer, Ernesto de Martino’s 1961 study of Tarantism: The Land of Remorse. Tarantism, a collective ritual developed in Southern Italian, in which a woman (typically) would fall into a kind of possessive trance reportedly caused by the bite of a spider, a trance that could only be exorcized by a communal musical practice of dancing to the pizzica or tarantella for hours, even days, on end. For de Martino, tarantism was not a disease, but an instrument of social reintegration for subaltern peoples, a way to access historical continuity for those moving through the compounding experiences of sexual trauma, gender trouble, and regional resource deprivation. For us, it is a way to understand and become present with the layered perceptual worlds embedded within Italian electronic music. This first part (of three) relies heavily on two archival projects: Tarantismo: Odyssey of an Italian Ritual (Flee, 2019) and Welcome To Paradise: Italian Dream House 89-93 (Safe Trip, 2017), with additional music from Donato Dozzy, Baffo Banfi, and Sylvia Kastel.

CLOACA is Vashon-based DJ / artist, Delphine Tress Morrow. She keeps the faith that music shared is a public service, a liturgy.