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Robert Del Naja

Robert Del Naja (/dɛl ˈnə/; born 21 January 1965), also known as 3D, is a British artist, musician, singer and songwriter. He emerged as a graffiti artist and member of the Bristol collective the Wild Bunch, and later as a founding member and sole consistent member of the band Massive Attack, with which he is still active. In 2009, he received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award[1] for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.[2]

Robert Del Naja
Del Naja in 2007
Background information
Also known as3D, Delge
Born (1965-01-21) 21 January 1965 (age 59)
OriginBristol, England
GenresTrip hop
Occupation(s)Musician, singer-songwriter, graffiti artist
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
  • keyboards
  • piano
  • synthesizers
  • sampler
Years active1984–present

Music edit

Del Naja started rapping with the Wild Bunch[3] in Bristol in the mid-1980s.[4] He is one of the founding members of Bristol trip hop collective Massive Attack, with Daddy G (Grant Marshall), Tricky (Adrian Thaws) and Andrew Vowles, as a music producer and the only vocalist to feature on all their albums and EPs.[5] The band received critical acclaim with their first album Blue Lines, released in 1991.[6]

In 1997–98, Del Naja was the band's main producer in the recording sessions that made Mezzanine, Massive Attack's most commercially successful album,[7] selling nearly 4 million copies, with Neil Davidge as a sound engineer.

In addition to his work with Massive Attack, he provided vocals to "Invasion" on Unkle's album Never, Never, Land, and "Twilight" on War Stories.[8]

Del Naja has co-written a number of film scores and tracks for films with Neil Davidge and with Euan Dickinson. "Herculaneum", the title track for Italian director Matteo Garrone's 2008 Palme d'Or winning film Gomorrah, based on the book by Roberto Saviano about organised crime in Naples, received the prize for best song at the David Di Donatello Awards.[9]

In December 2012, Del Naja released the first single of his new project called the Battle Box, which fuses music, art and discourse across one-off live events, exhibitions and exclusive vinyl releases. He counted with the collaboration of artists such as Guy Garvey, Noel Gallagher, Jupiter Bokondji and the Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band.[10]

In December 2014, Del Naja donated ten unreleased music tracks to the Game Jam site Ludum Dare, for a game event taking place in December. The songs will be used by the site developers to make soundtracks for the games. This new music material is available for free download.[11][12]

In February 2015, Del Naja and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke released the soundtrack for the documentary The UK Gold. The songs are available for free download.[13]

In 2015 he collaborated with Jean-Michel Jarre on the Electronica 1: The Time Machine album, resulting in the track "Watching You".[14]

Art work edit

Del Naja was a graffiti artist before becoming a producer and vocalist, and was featured in the 1987 book Spraycan Art by Henry Chalfant and James Prigoff and in the 1988 film Bombin', directed by Dick Fontaine,[15] alongside fellow artist and future drum and bass pioneer Goldie.

Del Naja is credited as being the first graffiti artist in Bristol.[16] He is regarded as the pioneer of the stencil graffiti movement and one of those who brought hip hop and graffiti culture from the United States to Bristol in the early 1980s.[17][18] He has previously been the subject of speculation that he is anonymous artist Banksy.[19][20]

Del Naja's work has been featured on all of Massive Attack's record sleeves.[21][22]

Since 2003, Del Naja has co-designed all of Massive Attack's lighting shows with UVA;[23] the shows have been overtly political, dealing with local and international issues.[24][25][26]

Del Naja and Massive Attack's producer Neil Davidge collaborated with United Visual Artists on the large scale installation Volume at London's V&A museum in 2006.[27] It consists of a field of 48 luminous, sound-emitting columns that respond to movement. Visitors weave a path through the sculpture, creating their own unique journey in light and music.

Del Naja took part in a group show in 2007 called Warpaint at the Lazarides Gallery in London, featuring his art from the Unkle album War Stories. He created an exhibition of flags at Massive Attack's Meltdown Festival on London's Southbank Centre in 2008.[28] The installation was called "Favoured Nations". In the exhibition, alternative flags of the British Commonwealth were recoloured in the anarchist red and black and hung from the ceiling of the Royal Festival Hall main floor.[29]

 
Robert Del Naja's art

In a 2010 interview, Del Naja said "Painting is difficult for me because I'm colour blind. Back in the day, I had to label my spray cans with what colour they were because I couldn't tell. It's like the emperor's new clothes: [people] telling me it's great, and me pretending that's what I intended."[30]

Del Naja had his largest solo art show at the Lazarides gallery in central London from 24 May to 22 June 2013. The show's content spanned a period of over twenty years and featured many of the art pieces that Del Naja created for Massive Attack. Each piece, reinterpreted especially for the exhibition, was hand-printed and finished.[31] The show featured three one-off 'digital infinity mirrors' two of which contained phrases supplied by Reprieve extracted from drone pilot dialogues. Del Naja and Grant DJ'd at the opening night on 23 May.[32]

 
Del Naja cover art 2009
 
Del Naja performing in Massive Attack V Adam Curtis 2013

A multi-medium show conceived and designed by Del Naja and filmmaker Adam Curtis – in collaboration with United Visual Artists (UVA) – premiered in Manchester in July 2013. The show featured a Curtis film, unofficially titled The Plan, which was projected onto a huge screen surrounding the audience. The lighting and LED elements that surrounded the film and players were designed by Del Naja and UVA.[33] Del Naja orchestrated the show's soundtrack, and the music later became part of the score for Curtis' BBC production entitled HyperNormalisation in 2016.[34]

In 2015, Del Naja published a book of photographs, art, and stories that spanned his entire career titled 3D and the Art of Massive Attack.[35]

During the COVID lockdown, on 19 May 2020 Del Naja launched his Fire Sale website store, selling Protection, a limited-edition print, in aid of the Bristol Food Union. The print raised more than £100,000 for the charity.[36]

In July 2020, Massive Attack released a political audiovisual EP called Eutopia: The 3x track fusion was created across five cities during the Covid-19 global lockdown period.[37] The project was co-written and produced by 3D and Mark Donne, featuring strong arguments for global system change from UN Paris Climate Agreement author Christiana Figueres, founder of the universal basic income principle professor Guy Standing and inventor of the US wealth tax policy Professor Gabriel Zucman.

In June 2021, Del Naja was presented with a Royal College of Art honorary doctorate - nominated and presented by Sir Jony Ive.[38]

In March 2022, he started again selling off artwork to help victims of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, with proceeds to go to the Disasters Emergency Committee's humanitarian appeal.[39]

Technology edit

In 2016, Massive Attack released their EP Ritual Spirit as part of a procedural music app called Fantom that was co-developed by Del Naja[40] (with a new version developed in 2019).[41] The "sensory remixer" lets people create unique versions of tracks, with the app taking into account variables like movement, time of day or night, location and what a user's phone camera can see. An Apple Watch version of the app that varies the song's rhythm and harmony based on heartbeat was developed, while live social media notifications sent via a Twitter feed triggered alternative real time mix events.[42]

In April 2018, Massive Attack encoded Mezzanine into synthetic DNA to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1998 album.[43] A limited number of cans were manufactured with the DNA-encoded audio within matte black paint – each can contained approximately one million copies of the album.[44] Addressing the novel storage method, Del Naja said: "It's a creative way to store your back catalogue, although DNA-encoded spray paint is unlikely to be adopted by street artists seeking anonymity".[45]

 
Mezzanine DNA in matte black paint

In 2019, Del Naja and Adam Curtis teamed up for a second time on a live show based on the band's Mezzanine album.[46] The show challenged the idea of nostalgia and power, and featured machine learning generative adversarial networks and deep fakes from Mario Klingemann, as well as new films from Curtis that were used to tell a narrative story. They were used as visuals for cover versions of non Massive Attack songs based on samples and loops that made up the album's identity.[47]

Since the spring 2019, the band's explorations with artificial intelligence have been featured in an international art show that debuted at the Barbican Centre in London,[48] called 'AI – More Than Human'.[49]

Music for film edit

With Massive Attack

With Liam Howlett

Robert Del Naja with Neil Davidge (as 1.6)

 
UVA/Del Naja LED stage art 2015

Robert Del Naja with Euan Dickinson

  • 2008: Gomorrah (Matteo Garrone) – Herculaneum (winner of best song at the David Di Donatello)
  • 2010: Women Are Heroes (JR) – 2011 Dias De Gracia (Everardo Valerio Gout) Summertime/with Scarlett Johansson
  • 2013: The UK Gold (Mark Donne) with Thom Yorke
  • 2015: The Standing March (JR/Darren Aronofsky)
  • 2016: La Fête Est Finie, for the COP 21 (Mark Donne)
  • 2016: Hypernormalisation (Adam Curtis)

With The Insects

  1. 2009 44-Inch Chest – full score with Angelo Badalamenti

Robert Del Naja with Saul Williams

Musical scene and artistic peers edit

Del Naja's music has been associated with the Bristol sound. He said of the Bristol Scene: "We all grew up listening to punk music and funk stuff and those attitudes sort of snuck into our music. That sort of brought people from different circles together and maybe it wasn't as 'cultural melting pot' as it all sounds but because Bristol is quite a small place, it becomes a lot more focused then."[51]

Activism and politics edit

Del Naja has been critical of the government policies of the United Kingdom. He was strongly opposed to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and with fellow musician Damon Albarn personally paid for full-page adverts in the NME magazine.[52][53] On the eve of the invasion of Iraq, they tried to organise a group of prominent musicians into an anti-war campaign, only according to Del Naja to be greeted with silence bordering on hostility.[54]

Massive Attack have previously played two shows in Israel, but have declined recent offers. They have described this "not an action of aggression towards the Israeli people" but "towards the [Israeli] government and its policies", arguing that "the Palestinians [in Gaza and the West Bank] have no access to the same fundamental benefits that the Israelis do."[55]

In 2005, Del Naja organised and performed at a charity concert in Bristol for Tsunami Relief with Adrian Utley and Geoff Barrow of Portishead. The two-night event featured Massive Attack, Portishead, Robert Plant, The Coral and Damon Albarn. Del Naja and Marshall performed three shows in 2005 in support of Hoping, an organisation that helps raise money, support projects for Palestinian youth in refugee camps in the Gaza strip and the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria.

Del Naja and Thom Yorke of Radiohead threw a Christmas party at an occupied UBS bank in London in December 2011, in recognition and support for the international Occupy movement.[56]

Having previously boycotted playing at Bristol's Colston Hall due to its connection with the city's historic slave trade, in October 2012, Del Naja heavily criticised Bristol Mayor candidate George Ferguson because of his membership of a local organisation the Society of Merchant Venturers.[57] The organisation dates back to the 16th century and had many connections with the Bristol slave trade, continuing to this day as an elitist private organisation, open to very few by invitation only.[58] In November 2012, Del Naja then took a surprising stance to reverse his position and endorse Ferguson. Del Naja was cited by local media as saying that the other candidates had only party political agendas at heart and a newly elected mayor needed more imagination to help implement creative projects for Bristol.[59]

In July 2014, Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall visited the Bourj el-Barajneh refugee camp in Lebanon to meet with Palestinian volunteers at an educational centre. The band's profit from the show in Byblos was donated to the centre.[60]

In 2016, Robert worked with photographer Giles Duley to show their support for refugees; Massive Attack used his photographs from different sites of the crisis for their new show.[61]

 
Robert del Naja at the COP26 Climate Change Summit in Glasgow in 2021

From 2018, 3D has been supporting the climate activists of the Extinction Rebellion group, which have conducted protests in London since October 2018. In April, he played a DJ set for the Extinction Rebellion protesters[62] in the heart of London in Marble Arch.[63] In July and October 2019, the group protested in 60 other cities worldwide and Del Naja provided a portable radio network using speakers in backpacks with receivers and transmitters for the campaigners in London.[64] Massive Attack concluded their Mezzanine XXI tour of the US in October by organising a benefit gig at Webster Hall in NYC to help pay protestors' legal fees.[65]

In November 2019, along with other public figures, Massive Attack signed a letter supporting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn describing him as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsed him in the 2019 UK general election.[66]

And on 28 November 2019, Robert Del Naja announced that Massive Attack partnered with a research centre based at the University of Manchester to explore music industry climate impact. He wrote in a column in The Guardian: "The commissioning of the renowned Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research to map the full carbon footprint of typical tour cycles, and to look specifically at the three key areas where CO2 emissions in our sector are generated".[67]

In May 2020, during the Covid-19 lockdown, 3D called for more government support to be given to those in food poverty after a print fundraising sale in his home town of Bristol raised more than £100,000 to help feed frontline workers and at-risk groups.[68]

During the spring 2020, 3D also worked on a Massive Attack political audiovisual EP called Eutopia, consisting of 3 track fusion created across 5 cities during the Covid-19 global lockdown period, with documentary filmmaker Mark Donne, AI art pioneer Mario Klingemann and vocal collaborations with Algiers, Young Fathers and poet Saul Williams.[69] The conceptual project, co-written and produced by 3D and Donne, features strong arguments for global system change from UN Paris Climate Agreement author Christiana Figueres, founder of the universal basic income principle professor Guy Standing and inventor of the US wealth tax policy Professor Gabriel Zucman.[70] Each video ends with a quote from Thomas More's Utopia.[71] He is mentioned in the credits of Adam Curtis' 2022 film Traumazone, which documents Russia between 1985 and 1999.[citation needed]

Personal life edit

Del Naja was brought up in Bristol. His father was from Naples, Italy, and as a result he is a passionate supporter of the S.S.C. Napoli football team, as well as Bristol City.[72] Del Naja was arrested and cautioned twice in Bristol during the 1980s for painting graffiti and made to do community service.[73]

Del Naja attended state school in Filton, Bristol, but did not complete his A-levels.[74]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Ivor Novello awards 2009: Elbow pick up two more awards". Telegraph.co.uk. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  2. ^ "Ivor Novello Winners Announcement 2009". Prsformusic.com. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  3. ^ Catchpole, Matt (23 March 2018). "THE WILD BUNCH – New Book Tells The Story Of Massive Attack, Trip Hop And The Influential 'Bristol Scene' – Essentially Pop". Essentiallypop.com. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  4. ^ "Bristol, England". Red-lines.co.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Blue Lines: Massive Attack's blueprint for British pop 21 years on | Music". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  6. ^ "Features – Honest Ulsterman". Humag.co. 19 February 1951. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  7. ^ "Massive Attack's Mezzanine and the death of the multicultural dream". Dazed. 16 June 2018. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  8. ^ "Music – Review of Unkle – Never, Never, Land". BBC. 22 September 2003. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  9. ^ Jennings, Sheri (8 May 2009). "Gomorrah leads winners at David Di Donatello Awards | News | Screen". Screendaily.com. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  10. ^ "Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja unveils new Battle Box project; Guy Garvey features". Factmag.com. 21 November 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  11. ^ "Del Naja donates new music material". Ludum Dare. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  12. ^ "New music from 3D of Massive Attack". massiveattack.ie. 2 December 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  13. ^ "Thom Yorke and Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja Release UK Gold Soundtrack for Free". Pitchfork. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  14. ^ Kaye, Ben (19 June 2015). "Jean-Michel Jarre releases collaborative single with Tangerine Dream, "Zero Gravity" – listen". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  15. ^ "Bombin'". IMDb.com. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  16. ^ Melissa Chemam, "Massive Attack – Out of the Comfort Zone", Tangent Books, Bristol (2019), pp. 49–51. ISBN 978-1910089729
  17. ^ Steve Wright, "Banksy's Bristol: Home Sweet Home", Tangent Books, Bath (2007), pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-1-906477-00-4
  18. ^ "From 3D to Banksy: Why Bristol's Street Art Tops European Walls". LSD Magazine. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  19. ^ Jenkins, Nash. "Is Banksy Actually Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja?". Time. from the original on 4 September 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  20. ^ Jaworski, Michael (2 September 2016). "Is Banksy actually a member of Massive Attack?". The Daily Dot. from the original on 3 September 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  21. ^ . Archived from the original on 10 February 2008. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  22. ^ "Red Lines: Bristol, England". Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  23. ^ UVA (1 June 2019). "Massive Attack – 100th Window / United Visual Artists". Uva.co.uk. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  24. ^ "Massive Attack per Stefano Cucchi &#124 Global Project". Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  25. ^ . United Visual Artists. Archived from the original on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  26. ^ "deluxxdigital.com issue 16". Issuu. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  27. ^ "'Volume', Installation by United Visual Artists and One Point Six – Victoria and Albert Museum". Vam.ac.uk. 25 January 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  28. ^ "From the street to the Southbank | Massive Attack". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  29. ^ . Archived from the original on 15 August 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  30. ^ Nosheen Iqbal (6 February 2010). "Massive Attack's art of darkness". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  31. ^ "Exhibition 3D: Fire Sale". Lazinc.com. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  32. ^ "Lazarides – Fire Sale". Lazinc.com. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  33. ^ "Massive Attack v Adam Curtis at Manchester International Festival". Weheart.co.uk. 9 July 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  34. ^ "Massive Attack and Adam Curtis open Manchester festival – BBC News". BBC News. 5 July 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  35. ^ Music, Guardian (7 August 2015). "3D and the Art of Massive Attack – in pictures". The Guardian.
  36. ^ "Massive Attack's Robert del Naja launches limited print sale for War Child's Gaza Appeal". 24 June 2021.
  37. ^ "Massive Attack Release New Audiovisual EP Eutopia: Watch". Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  38. ^ "Bristol's original graffiti artists - Reader's Digest".
  39. ^ "Massive Attack are selling off new artwork to help victims of Ukraine conflict". NME. 15 March 2022.
  40. ^ "Massive Attack preview new tracks on Fantom iPhone app". Factmag.com. 26 July 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  41. ^ "Mezzanine x Fantom". Fantom.live. 27 November 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  42. ^ "Massive Attack Fantom app is about creativity, not commerce". Musically.com. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  43. ^ Schatz, Lake (19 October 2018). "Massive Attack releasing DNA-encoded Mezzanine in spray paint can". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  44. ^ "Mezzanine DNA Matte Black spray paint by Massive Attack wins Wallpaper* Design Award". Wallpaper.com. 1 February 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  45. ^ "Massive Attack's 'Mezzanine' reissued as DNA-encoded spray paint". Crackmagazine.net. 19 October 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
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  47. ^ Darville, Jordan (25 September 2019). "A rare interview with Massive Attack's Robert Del Naja on creating the most subversive live show of 2019". The Fader. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  48. ^ "AI: More than Human | Barbican". Barbican.org.uk. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  49. ^ "Massive Attack's 3D involved in AI installation at the Barbican". Musictech.net. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  50. ^ "Scans→Hot Press Magazine Interview". MASSIVEATTACK.IE. 8 April 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
  51. ^ Dave "the Wave" Dresden, Interview with Massive Attack 18 September 2005 at the Wayback Machine, about.com. Retrieved 16 June 2009.
  52. ^ "Massive Attack: the beat goes on". The Daily Telegraph. 8 July 2010. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  53. ^ Petridis, Alexis (11 April 2003). "Massive Attack's Robert del Naja: a victim of the 'nudge-nudge culture'". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  54. ^ O'Keeffe, Alice (5 February 2007). "Two-man army". New Statesman. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  55. ^ "The silent treatment". Newstateman.com. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  56. ^ "Dazed Digital". Occupy 2012. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  57. ^ Staff (9 October 2012). . This Is Bristol. Archived from the original on 2 June 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  58. ^ Nash, Andrew, "The Society of Merchant Venturers", Bristol Slavery, Andrew Nash
  59. ^ Brown, Christopher (14 November 2012). . Bristol 24–7. Archived from the original on 22 May 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  60. ^ "Massive Attack visit Palestinian refugees in Lebanon: 'All of them have a right to a life of dignity and beauty'". The Independent. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  61. ^ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (3 November 2016). "UNHCR – Photographer Giles Duley and Massive Attack team up to stand with refugees". Unhcr.org. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  62. ^ "Massive Attack played a DJ set for the Extinction Rebellion protest in London". Mixmag.net. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  63. ^ "Massive Attack – Marble Arch – Extinction Rebellion". YouTube. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  64. ^ "Massive Attack Visited XR Sites | Extinction Rebellion". YouTube. 14 October 2019. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  65. ^ Bill Pearis (13 September 2019). "Massive Attack on tour, add NYC DJ night (watch full San Diego show video)". Brooklynvegan.com. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  66. ^ "Exclusive: New letter supporting Jeremy Corbyn signed by Roger Waters, Robert Del Naja and more". Nme.com. 16 November 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  67. ^ "We've toured the world for years. To help save the planet we'll have to change | Massive Attack | Opinion". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  68. ^ "Massive Attack's 3D raises £106,000 for Bristol food banks with art print fire sale". the Guardian. 20 May 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  69. ^ "Massive Attack's Eutopia addresses our need for a radical global change | Public Pressure". magazine.publicpressure.io. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  70. ^ "Massive Attack Release New Audiovisual EP Eutopia: Watch". Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  71. ^ "Massive Attack's Eutopia addresses our need for a radical global change | Public Pressure". magazine.publicpressure.io. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  72. ^ "Robert Del Naja, 3D from Massive Attack, on Bristol City and Napoli". The Observer. 2 December 2001. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  73. ^ "From 3D to Banksy: Why Bristol's Street Art Tops European Walls". Medium.com. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  74. ^ Melissa Chemam (March 2019). Massive Attack: Out Of The Comfort Zone. Tangent Books. p. 59. ISBN 9781910089729.

External links edit

  • Official Massive Attack website
  • BBC Collective interview

robert, naja, born, january, 1965, also, known, british, artist, musician, singer, songwriter, emerged, graffiti, artist, member, bristol, collective, wild, bunch, later, founding, member, sole, consistent, member, band, massive, attack, with, which, still, ac. Robert Del Naja d ɛ l ˈ n aɪ e born 21 January 1965 also known as 3D is a British artist musician singer and songwriter He emerged as a graffiti artist and member of the Bristol collective the Wild Bunch and later as a founding member and sole consistent member of the band Massive Attack with which he is still active In 2009 he received the British Academy s Ivor Novello Award 1 for Outstanding Contribution to British Music 2 Robert Del NajaDel Naja in 2007Background informationAlso known as3D DelgeBorn 1965 01 21 21 January 1965 age 59 OriginBristol EnglandGenresTrip hopOccupation s Musician singer songwriter graffiti artistInstrument s VocalskeyboardspianosynthesizerssamplerYears active1984 present Contents 1 Music 2 Art work 3 Technology 4 Music for film 5 Musical scene and artistic peers 6 Activism and politics 7 Personal life 8 See also 9 References 10 External linksMusic editDel Naja started rapping with the Wild Bunch 3 in Bristol in the mid 1980s 4 He is one of the founding members of Bristol trip hop collective Massive Attack with Daddy G Grant Marshall Tricky Adrian Thaws and Andrew Vowles as a music producer and the only vocalist to feature on all their albums and EPs 5 The band received critical acclaim with their first album Blue Lines released in 1991 6 In 1997 98 Del Naja was the band s main producer in the recording sessions that made Mezzanine Massive Attack s most commercially successful album 7 selling nearly 4 million copies with Neil Davidge as a sound engineer In addition to his work with Massive Attack he provided vocals to Invasion on Unkle s album Never Never Land and Twilight on War Stories 8 Del Naja has co written a number of film scores and tracks for films with Neil Davidge and with Euan Dickinson Herculaneum the title track for Italian director Matteo Garrone s 2008 Palme d Or winning film Gomorrah based on the book by Roberto Saviano about organised crime in Naples received the prize for best song at the David Di Donatello Awards 9 In December 2012 Del Naja released the first single of his new project called the Battle Box which fuses music art and discourse across one off live events exhibitions and exclusive vinyl releases He counted with the collaboration of artists such as Guy Garvey Noel Gallagher Jupiter Bokondji and the Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band 10 In December 2014 Del Naja donated ten unreleased music tracks to the Game Jam site Ludum Dare for a game event taking place in December The songs will be used by the site developers to make soundtracks for the games This new music material is available for free download 11 12 In February 2015 Del Naja and Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke released the soundtrack for the documentary The UK Gold The songs are available for free download 13 In 2015 he collaborated with Jean Michel Jarre on the Electronica 1 The Time Machine album resulting in the track Watching You 14 Art work editDel Naja was a graffiti artist before becoming a producer and vocalist and was featured in the 1987 book Spraycan Art by Henry Chalfant and James Prigoff and in the 1988 film Bombin directed by Dick Fontaine 15 alongside fellow artist and future drum and bass pioneer Goldie Del Naja is credited as being the first graffiti artist in Bristol 16 He is regarded as the pioneer of the stencil graffiti movement and one of those who brought hip hop and graffiti culture from the United States to Bristol in the early 1980s 17 18 He has previously been the subject of speculation that he is anonymous artist Banksy 19 20 Del Naja s work has been featured on all of Massive Attack s record sleeves 21 22 Since 2003 Del Naja has co designed all of Massive Attack s lighting shows with UVA 23 the shows have been overtly political dealing with local and international issues 24 25 26 Del Naja and Massive Attack s producer Neil Davidge collaborated with United Visual Artists on the large scale installation Volume at London s V amp A museum in 2006 27 It consists of a field of 48 luminous sound emitting columns that respond to movement Visitors weave a path through the sculpture creating their own unique journey in light and music Del Naja took part in a group show in 2007 called Warpaint at the Lazarides Gallery in London featuring his art from the Unkle album War Stories He created an exhibition of flags at Massive Attack s Meltdown Festival on London s Southbank Centre in 2008 28 The installation was called Favoured Nations In the exhibition alternative flags of the British Commonwealth were recoloured in the anarchist red and black and hung from the ceiling of the Royal Festival Hall main floor 29 nbsp Robert Del Naja s art In a 2010 interview Del Naja said Painting is difficult for me because I m colour blind Back in the day I had to label my spray cans with what colour they were because I couldn t tell It s like the emperor s new clothes people telling me it s great and me pretending that s what I intended 30 Del Naja had his largest solo art show at the Lazarides gallery in central London from 24 May to 22 June 2013 The show s content spanned a period of over twenty years and featured many of the art pieces that Del Naja created for Massive Attack Each piece reinterpreted especially for the exhibition was hand printed and finished 31 The show featured three one off digital infinity mirrors two of which contained phrases supplied by Reprieve extracted from drone pilot dialogues Del Naja and Grant DJ d at the opening night on 23 May 32 nbsp Del Naja cover art 2009 nbsp Del Naja performing in Massive Attack V Adam Curtis 2013 A multi medium show conceived and designed by Del Naja and filmmaker Adam Curtis in collaboration with United Visual Artists UVA premiered in Manchester in July 2013 The show featured a Curtis film unofficially titled The Plan which was projected onto a huge screen surrounding the audience The lighting and LED elements that surrounded the film and players were designed by Del Naja and UVA 33 Del Naja orchestrated the show s soundtrack and the music later became part of the score for Curtis BBC production entitled HyperNormalisation in 2016 34 In 2015 Del Naja published a book of photographs art and stories that spanned his entire career titled 3D and the Art of Massive Attack 35 During the COVID lockdown on 19 May 2020 Del Naja launched his Fire Sale website store selling Protection a limited edition print in aid of the Bristol Food Union The print raised more than 100 000 for the charity 36 In July 2020 Massive Attack released a political audiovisual EP called Eutopia The 3x track fusion was created across five cities during the Covid 19 global lockdown period 37 The project was co written and produced by 3D and Mark Donne featuring strong arguments for global system change from UN Paris Climate Agreement author Christiana Figueres founder of the universal basic income principle professor Guy Standing and inventor of the US wealth tax policy Professor Gabriel Zucman In June 2021 Del Naja was presented with a Royal College of Art honorary doctorate nominated and presented by Sir Jony Ive 38 In March 2022 he started again selling off artwork to help victims of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine with proceeds to go to the Disasters Emergency Committee s humanitarian appeal 39 Technology editIn 2016 Massive Attack released their EP Ritual Spirit as part of a procedural music app called Fantom that was co developed by Del Naja 40 with a new version developed in 2019 41 The sensory remixer lets people create unique versions of tracks with the app taking into account variables like movement time of day or night location and what a user s phone camera can see An Apple Watch version of the app that varies the song s rhythm and harmony based on heartbeat was developed while live social media notifications sent via a Twitter feed triggered alternative real time mix events 42 In April 2018 Massive Attack encoded Mezzanine into synthetic DNA to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1998 album 43 A limited number of cans were manufactured with the DNA encoded audio within matte black paint each can contained approximately one million copies of the album 44 Addressing the novel storage method Del Naja said It s a creative way to store your back catalogue although DNA encoded spray paint is unlikely to be adopted by street artists seeking anonymity 45 nbsp Mezzanine DNA in matte black paint In 2019 Del Naja and Adam Curtis teamed up for a second time on a live show based on the band s Mezzanine album 46 The show challenged the idea of nostalgia and power and featured machine learning generative adversarial networks and deep fakes from Mario Klingemann as well as new films from Curtis that were used to tell a narrative story They were used as visuals for cover versions of non Massive Attack songs based on samples and loops that made up the album s identity 47 Since the spring 2019 the band s explorations with artificial intelligence have been featured in an international art show that debuted at the Barbican Centre in London 48 called AI More Than Human 49 Music for film editWith Massive Attack 1995 Batman Forever The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game with Tracy Thorn With Liam Howlett 1999 The Uranus Experiment 50 Robert Del Naja with Neil Davidge as 1 6 nbsp UVA Del Naja LED stage art 2015 1997 Welcome to Sarajevo Wire End titles 1997 The Jackal Superpredators version opening titles end credits 1999 The Matrix Neo wake up 2001 Moulin Rouge Nature Boy with David Bowie end credits 2002 Blade 2 I Against I with Mos Def 2004 Bullet Boy score and end titles song 2005 Danny the Dog score 2007 Battle in Seattle score 2007 In Prison My Whole Life score and end title song Calling Mumia with Snoop Dogg 2008 Trouble the Water score Robert Del Naja with Euan Dickinson 2008 Gomorrah Matteo Garrone Herculaneum winner of best song at the David Di Donatello 2010 Women Are Heroes JR 2011 Dias De Gracia Everardo Valerio Gout Summertime with Scarlett Johansson 2013 The UK Gold Mark Donne with Thom Yorke 2015 The Standing March JR Darren Aronofsky 2016 La Fete Est Finie for the COP 21 Mark Donne 2016 Hypernormalisation Adam Curtis With The Insects 2009 44 Inch Chest full score with Angelo Badalamenti Robert Del Naja with Saul Williams 2020 Akilla s EscapeMusical scene and artistic peers editDel Naja s music has been associated with the Bristol sound He said of the Bristol Scene We all grew up listening to punk music and funk stuff and those attitudes sort of snuck into our music That sort of brought people from different circles together and maybe it wasn t as cultural melting pot as it all sounds but because Bristol is quite a small place it becomes a lot more focused then 51 Activism and politics editDel Naja has been critical of the government policies of the United Kingdom He was strongly opposed to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and with fellow musician Damon Albarn personally paid for full page adverts in the NME magazine 52 53 On the eve of the invasion of Iraq they tried to organise a group of prominent musicians into an anti war campaign only according to Del Naja to be greeted with silence bordering on hostility 54 Massive Attack have previously played two shows in Israel but have declined recent offers They have described this not an action of aggression towards the Israeli people but towards the Israeli government and its policies arguing that the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank have no access to the same fundamental benefits that the Israelis do 55 In 2005 Del Naja organised and performed at a charity concert in Bristol for Tsunami Relief with Adrian Utley and Geoff Barrow of Portishead The two night event featured Massive Attack Portishead Robert Plant The Coral and Damon Albarn Del Naja and Marshall performed three shows in 2005 in support of Hoping an organisation that helps raise money support projects for Palestinian youth in refugee camps in the Gaza strip and the West Bank Lebanon and Syria Del Naja and Thom Yorke of Radiohead threw a Christmas party at an occupied UBS bank in London in December 2011 in recognition and support for the international Occupy movement 56 Having previously boycotted playing at Bristol s Colston Hall due to its connection with the city s historic slave trade in October 2012 Del Naja heavily criticised Bristol Mayor candidate George Ferguson because of his membership of a local organisation the Society of Merchant Venturers 57 The organisation dates back to the 16th century and had many connections with the Bristol slave trade continuing to this day as an elitist private organisation open to very few by invitation only 58 In November 2012 Del Naja then took a surprising stance to reverse his position and endorse Ferguson Del Naja was cited by local media as saying that the other candidates had only party political agendas at heart and a newly elected mayor needed more imagination to help implement creative projects for Bristol 59 In July 2014 Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall visited the Bourj el Barajneh refugee camp in Lebanon to meet with Palestinian volunteers at an educational centre The band s profit from the show in Byblos was donated to the centre 60 In 2016 Robert worked with photographer Giles Duley to show their support for refugees Massive Attack used his photographs from different sites of the crisis for their new show 61 nbsp Robert del Naja at the COP26 Climate Change Summit in Glasgow in 2021 From 2018 3D has been supporting the climate activists of the Extinction Rebellion group which have conducted protests in London since October 2018 In April he played a DJ set for the Extinction Rebellion protesters 62 in the heart of London in Marble Arch 63 In July and October 2019 the group protested in 60 other cities worldwide and Del Naja provided a portable radio network using speakers in backpacks with receivers and transmitters for the campaigners in London 64 Massive Attack concluded their Mezzanine XXI tour of the US in October by organising a benefit gig at Webster Hall in NYC to help pay protestors legal fees 65 In November 2019 along with other public figures Massive Attack signed a letter supporting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn describing him as a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far right nationalism xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world and endorsed him in the 2019 UK general election 66 And on 28 November 2019 Robert Del Naja announced that Massive Attack partnered with a research centre based at the University of Manchester to explore music industry climate impact He wrote in a column in The Guardian The commissioning of the renowned Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research to map the full carbon footprint of typical tour cycles and to look specifically at the three key areas where CO2 emissions in our sector are generated 67 In May 2020 during the Covid 19 lockdown 3D called for more government support to be given to those in food poverty after a print fundraising sale in his home town of Bristol raised more than 100 000 to help feed frontline workers and at risk groups 68 During the spring 2020 3D also worked on a Massive Attack political audiovisual EP called Eutopia consisting of 3 track fusion created across 5 cities during the Covid 19 global lockdown period with documentary filmmaker Mark Donne AI art pioneer Mario Klingemann and vocal collaborations with Algiers Young Fathers and poet Saul Williams 69 The conceptual project co written and produced by 3D and Donne features strong arguments for global system change from UN Paris Climate Agreement author Christiana Figueres founder of the universal basic income principle professor Guy Standing and inventor of the US wealth tax policy Professor Gabriel Zucman 70 Each video ends with a quote from Thomas More s Utopia 71 He is mentioned in the credits of Adam Curtis 2022 film Traumazone which documents Russia between 1985 and 1999 citation needed Personal life editDel Naja was brought up in Bristol His father was from Naples Italy and as a result he is a passionate supporter of the S S C Napoli football team as well as Bristol City 72 Del Naja was arrested and cautioned twice in Bristol during the 1980s for painting graffiti and made to do community service 73 Del Naja attended state school in Filton Bristol but did not complete his A levels 74 See also editBristol underground sceneReferences edit Ivor Novello awards 2009 Elbow pick up two more awards Telegraph co uk 21 May 2009 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Ivor Novello Winners Announcement 2009 Prsformusic com Retrieved 26 May 2020 Catchpole Matt 23 March 2018 THE WILD BUNCH New Book Tells The Story Of Massive Attack Trip Hop And The Influential Bristol Scene Essentially Pop Essentiallypop com Retrieved 26 May 2020 Bristol England Red lines co uk Retrieved 26 May 2020 Blue Lines Massive Attack s blueprint for British pop 21 years on Music The Guardian Retrieved 26 May 2020 Features Honest Ulsterman Humag co 19 February 1951 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Massive Attack s Mezzanine and the death of the multicultural dream Dazed 16 June 2018 Retrieved 16 November 2022 Music Review of Unkle Never Never Land BBC 22 September 2003 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Jennings Sheri 8 May 2009 Gomorrah leads winners at David Di Donatello Awards News Screen Screendaily com Retrieved 26 May 2020 Massive Attack s Robert Del Naja unveils new Battle Box project Guy Garvey features Factmag com 21 November 2012 Retrieved 22 September 2014 Del Naja donates new music material Ludum Dare Retrieved 10 December 2014 New music from 3D of Massive Attack massiveattack ie 2 December 2014 Retrieved 10 December 2014 Thom Yorke and Massive Attack s Robert Del Naja Release UK Gold Soundtrack for Free Pitchfork 25 February 2015 Retrieved 25 February 2015 Kaye Ben 19 June 2015 Jean Michel Jarre releases collaborative single with Tangerine Dream Zero Gravity listen Consequence of Sound Retrieved 26 May 2020 Bombin IMDb com Retrieved 26 May 2020 Melissa Chemam Massive Attack Out of the Comfort Zone Tangent Books Bristol 2019 pp 49 51 ISBN 978 1910089729 Steve Wright Banksy s Bristol Home Sweet Home Tangent Books Bath 2007 pp 3 4 ISBN 978 1 906477 00 4 From 3D to Banksy Why Bristol s Street Art Tops European Walls LSD Magazine 21 June 2019 Retrieved 16 November 2022 Jenkins Nash Is Banksy Actually Massive Attack s Robert Del Naja Time Archived from the original on 4 September 2016 Retrieved 23 November 2023 Jaworski Michael 2 September 2016 Is Banksy actually a member of Massive Attack The Daily Dot Archived from the original on 3 September 2016 Retrieved 23 November 2023 Filthy Modern Art Street Artists Stencils Graffiti Originals and Prints Archived from the original on 10 February 2008 Retrieved 29 January 2013 Red Lines Bristol England Retrieved 29 January 2013 UVA 1 June 2019 Massive Attack 100th Window United Visual Artists Uva co uk Retrieved 26 May 2020 Massive Attack per Stefano Cucchi amp 124 Global Project Retrieved 15 September 2012 Massive Attack United Visual Artists Archived from the original on 8 August 2012 Retrieved 15 September 2012 deluxxdigital com issue 16 Issuu Retrieved 15 September 2012 Volume Installation by United Visual Artists and One Point Six Victoria and Albert Museum Vam ac uk 25 January 2011 Retrieved 26 May 2020 From the street to the Southbank Massive Attack The Guardian Retrieved 26 May 2020 Meltdown FAVOURED NATIONS BY ROBERT DEL NAJA Archived from the original on 15 August 2012 Retrieved 15 September 2012 Nosheen Iqbal 6 February 2010 Massive Attack s art of darkness The Guardian Retrieved 22 September 2014 Exhibition 3D Fire Sale Lazinc com Retrieved 26 October 2013 Lazarides Fire Sale Lazinc com Retrieved 19 July 2013 Massive Attack v Adam Curtis at Manchester International Festival Weheart co uk 9 July 2013 Retrieved 29 August 2013 Massive Attack and Adam Curtis open Manchester festival BBC News BBC News 5 July 2013 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Music Guardian 7 August 2015 3D and the Art of Massive Attack in pictures The Guardian Massive Attack s Robert del Naja launches limited print sale for War Child s Gaza Appeal 24 June 2021 Massive Attack Release New Audiovisual EP Eutopia Watch Pitchfork Pitchfork Media 10 July 2020 Retrieved 10 July 2020 Bristol s original graffiti artists Reader s Digest Massive Attack are selling off new artwork to help victims of Ukraine conflict NME 15 March 2022 Massive Attack preview new tracks on Fantom iPhone app Factmag com 26 July 2016 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Mezzanine x Fantom Fantom live 27 November 2018 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Massive Attack Fantom app is about creativity not commerce Musically com 22 January 2016 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Schatz Lake 19 October 2018 Massive Attack releasing DNA encoded Mezzanine in spray paint can Consequence of Sound Retrieved 26 May 2020 Mezzanine DNA Matte Black spray paint by Massive Attack wins Wallpaper Design Award Wallpaper com 1 February 2019 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Massive Attack s Mezzanine reissued as DNA encoded spray paint Crackmagazine net 19 October 2018 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Massive Attack announce Mezzanine XX1 2019 Tour Factmag com 30 October 2018 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Darville Jordan 25 September 2019 A rare interview with Massive Attack s Robert Del Naja on creating the most subversive live show of 2019 The Fader Retrieved 26 May 2020 AI More than Human Barbican Barbican org uk 16 May 2019 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Massive Attack s 3D involved in AI installation at the Barbican Musictech net 17 May 2019 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Scans Hot Press Magazine Interview MASSIVEATTACK IE 8 April 2021 Retrieved 28 May 2022 Dave the Wave Dresden Interview with Massive Attack Archived 18 September 2005 at the Wayback Machine about com Retrieved 16 June 2009 Massive Attack the beat goes on The Daily Telegraph 8 July 2010 Retrieved 22 September 2014 Petridis Alexis 11 April 2003 Massive Attack s Robert del Naja a victim of the nudge nudge culture The Guardian Retrieved 13 May 2019 O Keeffe Alice 5 February 2007 Two man army New Statesman Retrieved 14 June 2019 The silent treatment Newstateman com Retrieved 22 September 2014 Dazed Digital Occupy 2012 8 February 2012 Retrieved 15 September 2012 Staff 9 October 2012 Massive Attack star criticises Bristol Mayor candidate George Ferguson This Is Bristol Archived from the original on 2 June 2013 Retrieved 8 May 2013 Nash Andrew The Society of Merchant Venturers Bristol Slavery Andrew Nash Brown Christopher 14 November 2012 Bristol mayor Massive Attack give vocal backing for Ferguson Bristol 24 7 Archived from the original on 22 May 2013 Retrieved 8 May 2013 Massive Attack visit Palestinian refugees in Lebanon All of them have a right to a life of dignity and beauty The Independent Retrieved 22 September 2014 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 3 November 2016 UNHCR Photographer Giles Duley and Massive Attack team up to stand with refugees Unhcr org Retrieved 26 May 2020 Massive Attack played a DJ set for the Extinction Rebellion protest in London Mixmag net Retrieved 26 May 2020 Massive Attack Marble Arch Extinction Rebellion YouTube Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Massive Attack Visited XR Sites Extinction Rebellion YouTube 14 October 2019 Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Bill Pearis 13 September 2019 Massive Attack on tour add NYC DJ night watch full San Diego show video Brooklynvegan com Retrieved 26 May 2020 Exclusive New letter supporting Jeremy Corbyn signed by Roger Waters Robert Del Naja and more Nme com 16 November 2019 Retrieved 26 May 2020 We ve toured the world for years To help save the planet we ll have to change Massive Attack Opinion The Guardian Retrieved 26 May 2020 Massive Attack s 3D raises 106 000 for Bristol food banks with art print fire sale the Guardian 20 May 2020 Retrieved 16 November 2022 Massive Attack s Eutopia addresses our need for a radical global change Public Pressure magazine publicpressure io 17 July 2020 Retrieved 16 November 2022 Massive Attack Release New Audiovisual EP Eutopia Watch Pitchfork Pitchfork Media 10 July 2020 Retrieved 10 July 2020 Massive Attack s Eutopia addresses our need for a radical global change Public Pressure magazine publicpressure io 17 July 2020 Retrieved 16 November 2022 Robert Del Naja 3D from Massive Attack on Bristol City and Napoli The Observer 2 December 2001 Retrieved 16 April 2016 From 3D to Banksy Why Bristol s Street Art Tops European Walls Medium com 21 June 2019 Retrieved 26 May 2020 Melissa Chemam March 2019 Massive Attack Out Of The Comfort Zone Tangent Books p 59 ISBN 9781910089729 External links editOfficial Massive Attack website BBC Collective interview Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Robert Del Naja amp oldid 1218932147, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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