Giuliano Sorgini

The second instalment in the 45 Reloved series sees acclaimed world-electronic duo Dengue Dengue Dengue diving into the most intriguing side of Giuliano Sorgini, an undisputed heavyweight of Italian library music with cult soundtracks under his belt, such as The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue and Zoo Folle. The original ‘Oasi nella giungla’ (which translates as Oasis in the Jungle) comes from the highly sought after Africa Oscura (Dark Africa), a sublime collection of tracks originally intended for use in television, all of which were recorded by Sorgini in the mid-70s by overdubbing synths, drums (both acoustic and electronic), a wide variety of percussion instruments, and field recordings. Back in 2019 Four Flies paid tribute to Africa Oscura with two EPs of remixes by Italian producers from the cosmic/Balearic electronic scene.

Four years later, Dengue Dengue Dengue’s mind-blowing rework of ‘Oasi nella giungla’ offers a great opportunity not only to go back to the fantastic sound of that album, but to fully appreciate the tribal element in Sorgini’s music. In the hands of the Peruvian duo, the sonic geography of ‘Oasi nella giungla’ magically shifts from the depths of Africa to those of the Amazon rainforest, and the tribal percussions of the Savannah turn into an equatorial cumbia full of mystery and mystical echoes. The result is a mesmerizing fusion of tropical rhythms, dub, house and psychedelia, with an ancestral vibe that is perhaps even more pronounced than in the original track.