Inspired by traditional Cretan folk music, recontextualised for female voices.

At the beginning of last year Optimo Music launched Weaponise Your Sound, a sub-label highlighting the work of female DJs and producers.

For its second release the label has enlisted the talents of musician and electronic artist Rena Rasouli, aka Venus Volcanism. Her debut project, Rizitiko, is inspired by traditional Cretan folk music and is an expansion of her thesis exploring the relationship between singing in dialect and the healing properties of music.

In the video for ‘The Dream’, images of flowers are juxtaposed with female bodies in a visual dialogue of feminine power. “This video is a collective effort from female spirits to create an elegy to female power”, explains Venus Volcanism, “sweet, endless, tender, naked, dangerous, cruel, creative, which can love unconditionally, kiss endlessly, devour to the core and recreate, which can plant, grow and wither…”

Rizitiko is out now, on Weaponise Your Sound.

Directed by: Katerina Markoulaki, Christiana Chiranagnostaki
Art Direction: Manto Psychoudaki, Rena Rasouli
Costumes: Rena Rasouli
Scenography: Rena Rasouli, Manto Psychoudaki
Inspired by photographer and poet Ren Hang
Music rearrangement: Venus Volcanism
Lyrics: folk/unknown
Music production: Venus Volcanism, Nikolas Gale
Released by: Weaponise Your Sound

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, artists need our support more than ever. You can support Weaponise Your Sound by buying their music from Bandcamp.

Watch next: Against The Clock – Gooooose