Musica Siciliana online concert Sunday/oggi 3PM (Eastern)/21:00 in Italia. Zoom. Gratis. Access at event at https://experiencesicily.com/sicilian-folk-music-concert/. I’ll be playing a tamburello (tambourine/frame drum) during today’s concert-lecture of traditional Sicilian folk music. Although my drum is from Palermo, it’s not as magical as the one I’m holding in this photo from summer 2019, when our group…
Tag: folk music
Serenade in Sicily
Last night our musician friends Ettore and Alfredo invited us to witness a pre-wedding serenade they were asked to perform. 100 friends and family came to listen and surprise the bride-to-be. Not the traditional intimate moment that has existed for centuries, but still, a wonderful night to be part of! Of course, the ballad “Nicuzza”…
Sicily’s International Folk Music Festival
Now until March 10 is the annual Sagra del Mandorlo in Fiore (Almond Blossom Festival) in Agrigento. The festival is a 10-day extravaganza of events, the heart of which focus on folk music from around the world. I’ve yet to attend the festival that attracts everything from Mexican Mariachi bands to Japanese drummers. During this…
Bring Your Dancing Shoes
Being a musician myself, I am always seeking out other musicians while in Sicily, especially those versed in local folk music, like Ettore, Alfredo, and Totò, pictured here. I heard them first as part of a larger community ensemble in Porticello, my grandfather’s birthplace, in 2011. A couple of years later, I sought them out,…
Experience Sicilian Inspired Music in Connecticut
Concert! Join me (Allison Scola) and guitarist Joe Ravo on Sunday, April 8, in Farmington, Conn., when our Sicilian and Southern-Italian-inspired, American folk duo, Villa Palagonia, will perform a concert at the Sounding Board Coffeehouse. Agenda: Open Jam and Song Swap at 2PM; Concert at 3PM (2 sets with a 20-minute intermission). Where: The Lodge…
Friscalettu Duo
Agrigento’s annual Sagra del Mandorlo in Fiore going on this week attracts groups from all over the globe, who display their traditional costumes along with exhibiting their culture’s beloved traditional music through performances and processions through town. Photographed in 2016 at the Festival by my cousin Filippo Buttitta, these two young men are playing the…
Agrigento: Blooming With Music and Dance
This year’s Sagra del Mandorlo in Fiore in Agrigento is ongoing (This photo, by my cousin Filippo Buttitta, was taken at the 2016 feast.). Folk dance and music groups from all over the world gather annually to share their cultural patrimony at the UNESCO site Valley of the Temples and throughout the city. Although I’ve…
A World of Women’s Voices
This painting by Ettore De Maria Bergler, hangs in Palermo’s Palazzo dei Normanni, the house of the Sicilian Parliament. Titled, “The Ruins of the Temple of Jupiter in Syracuse,” or “I Ruderi del Tempio di Giove di Siracusa,” it was painted in 1891. Please join me in Middletown, Connecticut this Saturday, June 10 as part…
Revel in Music in Sicily this Summer
Music is everywhere in Sicily. Pictured here are Angelo Salvatore Daddelli (guitar and vocals) and Marco Macaluso (accordion) (Sorry! I don’t know the bass player’s name.) performing for the crowds in Palermo’s Piazza Verdi. You too can make music, perform, and rub elbows with musicians in Sicily–What a great way to experience a new culture…
Join Us Sunday for Some Live Music
It’s been a busy, busy week–even though I’m in New York, I’m spreading Sicily-love throughout the land. Monday, I was in Bristol, Conn., talking to students of Italian language about Sicilian food, feasts, and festivals. Tuesday night, in cooperation with my friends of You, Me & Sicily, I spoke at the Italian American Museum of…