Ribongia Opens Up His Encyclopaedia of Soundscapes

Sydney-via-Italy producer Antonio Rosselli Del Turco may explain his moniker Ribongia as an inside joke among friends at home that stuck, but it's quite the fitting description of his diverse and often unpredictable body of work thus far. While the name Ribongia (pronounced Ri-bon-jee-ah) derives from the slang term meaning "Chaos or disarray" used in Florence, Italy hundreds of years ago, it's clear that this project began as the product of a very controlled type of chaos from the mind of Del Turco. Growing up in Florence meant summer jobs, scraping around for cash and a shitload of grape–picking. The name Ribongia rubbed off from an old worker who murmured it when Antonio and his friend were bludging.

"The name just stuck seemed so fitting; it was the perfect way to take something from home with me," utilising this mischief and mayhem Antonio uses this as a bridging tool for his inspiration.

His move from Florence to Australia came in stages, with a short stint in London back in early Millennia. Cash and living were at record highs; work presented itself in the form of medical trials, where money was golden and the fear minimal. "It was more or less placebo testing and nothing morbidly Frankenstein. I went to this clinic, and they were paying me a fortune, all I had to do was lie in bed, there was a pool table, and they had free food and card games. Yes, I was a guinea pig, but at least, I got really well treated."

With his first paycheck, he bought a ticket to Sydney on the quest to study audio engineering which was a progressive upgrade from his archaic and not very effective years on the recorder back in Italy.

Entering the music industry was a logical decision, his interest in computer audio and playing live led him to the books. "I found this audio-engineering course, and I thought, what better way to put the two together?" Having also studied visual art also, Ribongia has a diverse artistic skill set that he utilizes with jungle book flair. "Basically, I'll mish-mash visual art, motion graphics and original film clip content cut to my song."

Since uploading his debut track "Antimatter" over three years ago, Ribongia has grown and flexed his intricate, technical production style on both his It Began EP and a plethora of remixes.

If you delve into the producer's back catalogue, you'll quickly discover an artist who embraces the element of surprise, wearing his left-of-field influences on his sleeve and consistently challenging himself stylistically. He leaves an element of surprise embed in his music. Feeling that "If your brain can sense where the track is headed, boredom will be around the corner."

The creative process is amorphous to Rosselli, "When I write I don't really have anything in mind. The brain is a sponge for ideas and you get all this stuff and spit it out the other end, and you don't know why or how." His love of music is apparent through his collaborative approach to the industry. Success is a group venture for Rosselli: if he's going to the top, he wants to take everyone else with him. "The philosophy behind doing remixes was that I have a strong connection with Europe: I get stuff played over there…so I thought it would be cool to showcase Australian artists via my music." It comes as no surprise that this collaborative streak is born from musical addiction.

Balancing heavy synths and 808s with a pleasant arpeggio is one thing but when it comes to middle eastern samples or the hunt for cultural sounds he delves into the archive of old African tribal documentaries, or maybe even a song contest from Turkey. "It's a bit all over, I'd say. I guess, the internet makes it amazing because you don't have to travel to those places anymore. Research can go for hours. From one thing, leads to an hour of deep search ending in the weirdest of journeys."

Ribongia deals in managed chaos. Stacking familiar elements with futuristic synth work sees his sounds stampede with relentless energy. Fast forward to 2015 where he dropped the dancefloor storming Journeys, and now in 2016 he's followed it up with "My Word" featuring Melbourne rapper Hancoq.

In Australia, it's common to see producers following a similar sound or trend, but Ribongia breaks moulds and can't be confined, standing out with weird beats that catch your attention straight away.

"Nobody in Australia is really playing with this kind of stuff. I'm just going to throw it all in there and see what happens."

As for the rest of 2016, Ribongia is touring through March then jets off for a European tour with longtime pals Hermitude, though it'll be a whirlwind—he'll be back on our shores shortly after to promote Escapisms which is due later this month. With talk of an album late this year. The future looks solid for this enigmatic producer.

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Escapisms is out March 25