PASSION
Soul Music of Southern Europe

Musicalia (from Italy)

The Bisserov Sisters (from Bulgaria)

Ana Vinagre Ensemble (from Portugal)

Friday, October 18
8:00 pm
$15

The Columbus Theatre
270 Broadway
Providence, RI

Musicians throughout the world tend to be passionate about their art. But they are wildly diverse in the ways they choose to express those passions. Some cultures are incredibly exuberant; others are magnificently austere. The arc of nationalities that extends from Portugal to Palestine along the northern shore of the Mediterranean Sea share a common idea about passion - it is at the very center of their beings. These artists take their expressive traditions seriously. And there is no way to ignore them. The intensity of performance, the distilled emotion that is squeezed into every syllable demands our attention. A perfectly realized performance in most Southern European cultures will push both artist and audience right to the breaking point. And if the singer is really good, they can keep you balanced there for an amazingly long time.

These are people who are holding their passions in check - but just barely! The idea is for them to pour their souls out in musical form, to crystallize all of the pain and sadness that life deals to us poor humans in a few short stanzas. Every word counts.

It is said that the greatest cante flamenco performers must mentally and emotionally prepare themselves for several hours prior to undergoing the ordeal of performance; after singing they have been known to collapse.

A thousand years ago, the Mediterranean basin, dominated by the rapid spread of Islam and its embrace of all North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, was a battleground for political and cultural hegemony. Even after the Moorish retreat, Islamic culture was carried to the region by the Ottoman occupation of Greece, the Balkans and Sicily. This extended series of cultural encounters created many national or regional performance styles that maintain a common aesthetic stance. Unlike the comparatively freewheeling performance practices of Sub-Saharan Africans, the Islam-inflected cultures across southern Europe developed styles which maintain their passions at a slow boil. The passion of a Bulgarian singer's pinched harmonies or a charismatic Neapolitan tarantella dancer, the wail of a fado singer or a rembetika clarinet all reflect their communities' encounter with the Islamic world and the intense performance style persisting in many Islamic cultures today.

The performers on this concert tour offer a demonstration of soul music from the Mediterranean, a sense of the passions that are expressed in the traditions of this region. They include some of the greatest masters of their respective genres; all are highly esteemed artists within their own traditions. This touring project is a unique vehicle for bringing them together for an evening that probes their shared link to an ideal of expressivity.

Musicalia

Campania, the province that surrounds the Bay of Naples in southern Italy, is home to some of the richest musical traditions on a peninsula that is extraordinarily blessed with cultural heritage. The Neapolitan traditions are broad enough to include the mandolin harmonies and wandering accordionists that define the stereotype of Italian folk music - as well as song and dance traditions that are specific to certain villages and remain jealously guarded pieces of local identity. Each village has its own style of playing the tambourine; songs that are performed ritually but once a year, and belong exclusively to that village; and dances that go with this specific music. The music and dances often serve particular ritual purposes, usually associated with the life cycles of the earth to which the people of Campania are bound. Sometimes, they serve medicinal purposes: the tarantella is reputedly a cure for spider bites. In all cases, it is expected that they will be performed with a sense of respect that endows the music with its power and maintains its community.

Formed by the brothers Amerigo and Marcello Ciervo in 1979, Musicalia is the leading voice of local tradition in contemporary Campania. Amerigo and Marcello have devoted their lives to researching and performing the local village musics of their native province. They are continually engaged in collecting material from older singers in small villages, and working this material into their acclaimed performances. Musicalia employs traditional instrumentation including a variety of drums and tambourines, flutes and mandolins, as well as guitar and bass. Like the best exemplars of traditional music throughout the world, their performances blend contemporary arrangements with a deep respect for the traditions of Campania. The result is a music that is dynamic and accessible, while remaining true to the spirit of the villages from which it came. Amerigo and Marcello are joined in Musicalia by Fabio Crisci, Gina Leo, Adriano Amore, Michele Iuliano and Elisabetta Landi. While Musicalia is widely regarded as the greatest exemplar of Campaniese traditional music and has performed extensively throughout Europe, the Passion tour is their first visit to the United States.

The Bisserov Sisters

Wedged between the Turks, Greeks, Serbs and Romanians, Bulgaria has spent many more centuries under foreign occupation than it has as an independent nationality. From the time of Alexander the Great, it has been the bridge of land connecting Europe and Asia, and hence has been marched across by invaders from both east and west. Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans, Russians have all battled over this territory; they also contributed to an amazingly deep cultural legacy that still persists in rural Bulgaria. The vocal styles of Bulgarian mountain villages routinely astonish the world. Singers employ an open-throat technique that gives them a legendary projection; songs are virtually sung at a shout that is absolutely unique. Bulgarians also favor harmonies that can sound other-worldly. Singers will track each other in parallel seconds, ending phrases with whoops and whistles that lend their music an intense urgency. Solo singing in the villages is still a strong tradition, but in recent years large ensembles of women singers have captured the attention of the entire world.

The Bisserov Sisters, from the Bulgarian mountain village of Pirin, are among the greatest living proponents of this intricate and complex tradition. Lyubimka, Neda and Mitra are the contemporary bearers of an old tradition and learned their style and repertoire from their own mothers. They are passing the tradition along, as exemplified on a recent compact disc that includes performances by three generations of Bisserovs. The sisters are all former soloists with the Philip Koutev State Ensemble, and have toured extensively throughout Europe and Asia. During the Passion tour they will be accompanied by Krastio Dimov, Bozhidar Netov, Vera Stoimenova, and Rossen Kovatchev.

Ana Vinagre's Mar e Fados

Fado is Portuguese for fate, and the music of this tradition is expressive of a culture steeped in nostalgia. Songs often depict loss and longing, and a great singer must reflect the sorrow embedded deeply in the Portuguese psyche through her vocal delivery. Dressed in black, the classic fado performer evokes an attitude of stoic defiance towards the troubles of life. Fado evolved as a particularly Portuguese art form in the clubs and cafés of Lisbon, but it is now embraced as the national music by all Portuguese. Fado singers are always accompanied by a viola or Spanish guitar and a Portuguese guittara, and often by a double bass. Fado instrumentalists frequently attain great virtuosity, comparable to Spanish flamenco players.

Ana Vinagre was born in the fishing village of Buarcos, Figueira da Foz, Portugal. She began singing fado professionally at age thirteen as a member of the folk dance group Cantarinhas de Buarcos, which toured extensively throughout Europe. In 1972, she emigrated to the United States with her husband José, who also sings fado. Ana continues to maintain her singing career both in Portugal and in the United States, where she has become one of the leading fado interpreters. Her album, Fado, is a collection of classic songs performed absolutely in the traditional style. Ana and Jose recently acted as the musical consultants for the film Passionada. During the Passion tour, Ana will be accompanied by Mar e Fados, a trio of leading musicians from Portugal including Alfredo Teixeira Paredes on Portuguese guitarra, Jose Pedro Ramalho on viola or Spanish guitar, and Fernando Nenes de Sá on bass.

A production of the Center for Cultural Exchange. Special thanks to the Providence Biltmore.