Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
“Dante’s Nightmares and Dreams is a stunning collaboration between the Wichita State Wind Ensemble and the Wichita Contemporary Dance Theatre. Featuring live music, film, and dance, Dante’s classic tale, “The Inferno,” is brought to life in a veritable feast for the senses.” –Becca Yesner, The Sunflower, April 24, 2019
Dante HH is a “psychobilly blues, hard rock” band from L.A. —Dread Central
The motto, Dosis facit venenum, implies “The dose makes the poison.”
“Along with the fascinating cover art — which finds the middle ground between the lurid, low-budget, exploitation cinema of filmmakers like Jean Rollin or Mario Bava, with the higher aspirations of gothic literature, à la Edgar Allen Poe — the literal English translation of the title suggests further hints towards the notions behind the album, with A Divina Comédia (ou Ando Meio Desligado) interpreted as The Divine Comedy (or I Walk a Bit Disconnected), with the reference to walking disconnected pointing towards 1960’s stoner culture and the various preoccupations with the living dead (once again, check out the Gustave Doré referencing cover art for more…). It sums up the spirit of the album perfectly, with continual references to Dante’s eponymous collection, religious cults, black mass, Satanism and the teachings of Aleister Crowley. It’s all a bit more tongue-in-cheek than the influences would suggest, with the band famously making loving pastiche and parody of the California rock scene, as well as including a straight-as-straight-can-get version of a doo-wop song that ties in nicely with similar tracks that Frank Zappa was creating for the first Mothers of Invention album, Freak Out! (1966), in particular the likes ‘Go Cry on Somebody Else’s Shoulder’ and ‘How Could I Be Such a Fool’?” — Robin Tripp, Review for Head Heritage, June 19, 2007
Contributed by Pearl Nelson-Greene (University of Kansas, 2020)
“Hailing from Alberta, Canada, Wertyo began as a Vaporwave artist, releasing two EPs in the genre. Together, they were streamed over 1 million times from people all over the world. Enter Tartarus, Wertyo’s first feature length album. No longer vaporwave, this concept album changes from romantic era classical to avant-garde jazz over the course of its 25 tracks. Inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, the album follows the poem through its three cantiche– Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.” —Wertyo
“With a focus squarely on the more underground elements of house, techno and electronica, Tenth Circle will be bringing previously unknown names to the attention of the dance music community in 2011 and beyond.” — cited from Tenth Circle’s Soundcloud page
Learn more about the London-based record label on their Soundcloud, Facebook, and Youtube.
“Well, we found the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po.
“After a spooky, black-and-white image of the already trippy Teletubbies went viral on Twitter on Thursday, a musician created an even creepier post-punk music video starring the characters, devoid of all color.
“The video was cut by Christopher Brown, set to the song ‘Atmosphere’ by Joy Division. We’d recommend showing it to only your worst enemies.” –Max Knoblauch, Mashable, March 27, 2015.
Check out the video below to watch Christopher G. Brown’s horrifying creation.
“Ready for some history? How about the Vocaloid clan teaching you the history? These sets of songs come from Dante Alighieri’s most famous writing, The Divine Comedy.” [. . .] –Demosthenes Alathea on VocaloiDemo, 2016
The tracklist for the album includes:
You can purchase the album on Amazon.
Contributed by Savannah Mikus (FSU 2020)
“Gates of Hell” is an album released on July 31, 2014 by Sam Coffey and the Iron Lungs. The band hails from Toronto, Canada, and are a self-described “6 piece rock n’ roll band from hell.” — cited from Bandcamp.com
The album features 10 songs:
Watch the music video for the song “Gates of Hell” below:
Learn more about Sam Coffey and the Iron Lungs on their website, and follow them on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Soundcloud.
Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps is a World Class competitive junior drum and bugle corps.
“Never has Hell been so captivating and entertaining. ‘Inferno’ took us deep into the world of Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s nine circles of Hell, the circles seen starting near the feet of the corps’ uniform, wrapping up the leg, continuing on the hat, and ending in the feather that points upward to Heaven. Images printed on the color guard’s flags were copies of original Divine Comedy illustrations by French artist Gustave Doré. It was a helluva good time for all, sinful in its rapturous delight.”
The Carolina Crown Corps made it to 2nd place in the Drum Corps International 2015 Finals.
Watch the Corps’s preview show below:
Watch a snippet of the Corps’s final show below:
“ORIGINAL SONG: ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,’ 1976 by Gordon Lightfoot, used primarily for music and meter.“A TRIP DOWN THE ACHERON RIVIERA
(to the tune of ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’)
Intro:
Accounts linger on from Old Testament on down
Of the fiery pit Jews call Gehenna.
You probably knew that our Dante passed through,
And the year Thirteen Hundred was when-a.
“Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore
Facemi la divina Podestate
Per me si va ne l’etterno dolore
Lasciat’ ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate.”
The tour started badly, we recount to you sadly,
With a big screen predicting the weather,
“At this Rehab-resort, no rainstorms to report –
And you’ll surely be roasted for ever.”
Dante:
Queste parole di colore oscuro
Vid’io scritte al sommo d’una porta.
Per ch’io: “Maestro il senso lor m’e duro.”
Elli: “Qui ogne viltà sia morta.”
The ‘agreement’ on monitor, in font and hue somber
Conflicted with my inner wish-list.
“This Hotel,” it is said, “never gives up her dead.”
Virge explained, “Here all fear is extinguished.”
[…] –Giorgio Coniglio, Silly Songs and Satire, September 3, 2015.
