vtos
 |
 |
 |
Amore è Forza
The Veru Teatru di l’Ora Scura (or vtos) is a current initiated by Bosco Munimenti on November 21st, 2012.
The manifestation occurred simultaneously on two islands : Kallístê & Bioko. During his first interview (the Broken Dialogues (2018)), Bosco said that he had been working on the current on Bioko (The Jungle in the Sea) during the day and in a conscious dreaming state, at night, on Kallístê (The Mountain in the Sea). He later claimed the opposite and eventually explained that both statements are and have always been true and not mutually exclusive.
The current is foremost artistic, and as such has been labelled Corso-Afro-Surrealism, but has also regularly been claimed to pertain to certain occult and magical traditions due to Bosco stating that vtos manifests, consecrates and celebrates Lochi di Forza (Places of Power) : country houses, old appartements, suburban streets, half forgotten cities, gardens, clearings, caves, public or private places scattered around the world. Some secret, visited by initiates only, others hidden in plain sight. Lochi present specific properties, intimately linked to the intent and manifestations of vtos.
On the Broken Dialogues, Bosco precisely identified some of the Lochi : Calle Semu (Malabo, Equatorial Guinea), the chapel A Madonna di Pancheraccia (Costa Serena, Corsica), São Pedro de Alcantara (Baixa, Lisboa) or a house in a slum in Bonamoussadi (Douala, Cameroon). Hundreds, thousands of them exist - he said - and one could visit them and never see their Forza.
At special times, during the Mumenti di Forza (Moments of Power), Lochi take on another appearance for who knows how to See. Reality dissolves, otherworldly silhouettes manifest, a mythological presence pervades, the World moves in mysterious ways. The voices of the Goddesses and Gods (Dee è Dii) who inhabit them can be heard. They are the rhythms of their steps, their heartbeats, the doors they open and the doors they shut. They are the echoes of their conversations, the electric flux of their thoughts, the precise shades of their feelings.
After years of experimenting with traditional instruments and languages to tell these stories, Bosco found the Strumenti di Forza (Instruments of Power) and Parolle di Forza (Words of Power) which only can reveal these bizarre, passionate, bewitching tales.
These Instruments and these Words are the essence of the Veru Teatru di l’Ora Scura.
In a telling moment of the Broken Dialogues though, at the very end when the interviewers put the camera and microphones down but kept recording, Bosco stays seated for a short while and continues: but there are so many ways you can look at it. Almost everyday now, I seem to find a new one. What I just described is but one disguise amongst the many disguises on the Great Visage.
— What else could it be then ?
— It is not one thing in particular, I don’t think. “Bosco” means Forest: you’re never just one tree when your name means Forest, you see. Orso and Romance, who are most intimately linked with vtos, they feel It’s about Gates, that vtos is a gigantic yet concealed Door. Orso collects photographs of Doors, he has thousands ot them (laughs). We’re all a bit obsessed with Doors, no doubt. They say they had to close so many Doors in their lives, make so many conscious, active, brutal choices of turning their backs to so-called reality. Romance said that vtos is simply about opening Gates, and as many as have been shut, in people’s hearts and in their bodies, in their very flesh. vtos are sonic rituals to achieve this, he says.
— I think he’s right. I felt it.
— I think so too. But the minute you think you have grasped it, it vanishes before your eyes. If it didn’t, then it couldn’t possibly be vtos. It has to leave you somewhat despaired and confused and then it will take on a new shape, a new meaning. This is not a vehicle for my expression or Orso’s, or A.H.R’s or Emilie’s or the others’ expression. On so many levels, we are the vehicles for Its expression. It has an existence of its own. It is very real. If they did not understand this, they wouldn’t be part of vtos.
— A lot of it is about Love, isn’t it ?
— This is about two things only, and a lot of it is about Love, yes. The other is Fear. Love of Fear… Fear of Love… these are tragic colours. It’s an alphabet to compose endless words. When we approach a new manifestation, something needs to occur internally (or externally - although it doesn’t exactly make any difference within vtos). That new idea, whatever that is, must become an obsession and the grandest of things are manifested when one obsesses oneself with Love, or Fear. There were moments when I thought I had finally caught it, you know, Its meaning. It felt immensely clear to me, at last, that behind the kaleidoscopic feelings, there was a drama at play : the love story between the Mediterranean Sea & the Atlantic Ocean. The Maquis and the Equatorial Jungle. Irreconcilable phenomena, yet passionately in love. Within the context of vtos, these finer details, these definitions, they matter more than our own lives. But otherwise, you’re right: we just tell love stories. We’re helpless romantics.
In Quí
Bosco’s recording and mixing studios are located in a northern-corsican village in the mountains. The Perles Iturmenti Studios are split between two places.
The Cocina, is a small two room house on the edge of the village. One room, facing East, has been furnished with eight beds surrounding a massive chestnut wood table. The other, facing South, is the main recording and mixing booth.
When leaving the village, a path leads to a maquis.
On that path, with night creatures and stars as your companions particularly, everything has a new meaning. Many of vtos’ expressions have been manifested while walking on that path.
It takes about twenty minutes to go from the Cocina to the Cattedrale, an old cave hidden deep into the maquis.
The Cattedrale is vtos’ Ventre, its womb. The cave’s main room is filled with Strumenti di Forza, odd items, string and mallet instruments, rocks, buckets and wood sticks. Some of them will stay in the Ventre for years before they are consecrated and sanctified for vtos. Drummers and percusionnists who record at Perles Iturmenti must decide if an instrument is ready. Singers, actors, writers walk along the walls, embracing the spiritual and acoustic properties of the Cattedrale, repeating their scenes, listening to the echoes of their words or any response the Cattedrale may offer too.
It’s a feeling, a commitment to a feeling.
 |
 |
 |
Caratteru
vtos is a collective whose core members are:
|
Asphodèles 17 ( drummer & percussionist, Kizomba dancer ( played in Bells of Esoname (Blackened Death Metal) ( |
|
Émilie Nero-Bannie ( keyboardist, clarinetist, cellist, wind composer, programmer, Santería (Regla de Ifá) adept ( played in Enter M.Y. (Symphonic Black Metal) ( |
|
N8R ( kora player, pianist, drum programmer ( latin teacher ( botanist ( landscape photographer ( |
|
A.H. Romance ( poet ( sound engineer ( played in Dolorosa (Symphonic Black Metal - salutes Siletia, Aze, Anemiath) & Bells of Esoname (Blackened Death Metal) ( |
|
Gabriella (Nouçe) / multi-instrumentalist ( Japanese Noh theater performer ( DJ ( |
|
Nicolas Los Reyes ( guitarist, bassist, percussionist ( hypnotist ( Opera dei Pupi performer, Santería (Regla de Ifá) adept ( played in Bells of Esoname (Blackened Death Metal) ( |
|
Orso / multi-instrumentalist, mask collector, sacred geometer |