Tag: music
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Folk It in Life
Folk festivals are a highlight of summer, and this weekend, the 20th Folklore Festival of the city of Vita offers listeners and folk artists from around the world an opportunity to unite through music and dance. Sicilian groups like the one pictured, Gruppo Folk Soluntum, host groups from Georgia, Greece, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Honduras.
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Friscalettu: Sicily’s Reed Flute
Sicilian music is punctuated with the sounds of the friscalettu or reed flute, pictured. Traditional tarantellas (folk dances) are colored with motives from this instrument, often hand carved by the player using the wood from fig or olive trees or the oleander shrub. Like the harmonica, a friscalettu (friscaletto, in Italian language versus Sicilian) player…
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La La La Le Ru
Villa Palagonia, my music duo named after the estate in Bagheria, is hitting the road this weekend. We’re performing on Sunday at the Woodstock Folk Festival in Woodstock, IL. See you in the square from 12 noon to 6 PM! We’re on at 3:30 PM. Bring your dancing shoes for some Sicilian tarantella! Please invite…
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Marranzano: Sicily’s Mouth Harp
Known as a marranzano or marranzanu in Sicily, this musical instrument is played throughout the world. It goes by other names such as jew’s harp, jaw harp, mouth harp. Marranzano is played using breath, one’s oral cavity (mouth, teeth, lips, jaw), and a finger to pluck the reed that sits within the frame. The reed,…
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Full Circle
Sieves, like the one shown, have been used for generations to aid the olive and almond harvests (just to name two examples of when it’s used) by straining dirt and other particles out from fruit that has fallen to the ground. When we see an antique sieve next to a tamburello, or Italian frame drum…
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Dancing in the Garden
Bagheria’s Villa Palagonia inspired me and my husband, guitarist Joe Ravo, to name our folk duo for it. Here we are in its garden surrounded by the estate’s fantastic statues. Join us on Sun., Sept. 13 at 8PM Eastern Daylight Time for a live internet concert from our home in New York City. Tune in…
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Summer Jazz in Sicily
This week in the piazza at the foot of Castelbuono’s medieval castle is the 18th annual Castelbuono Jazz Festival. Experience Sicily’s Evelina Buttitta attended the show on Monday night when jazz musicians under 30 years of age competed to win a trip to New York City. The festival was funded by the town of Castelbuono…
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Give Me a Beat
Musicians can connect with other musicians immediately. We don’t need words, we just need song and rhythm. Here’s a shot of me (Photo credit: Joe Ravo) in the Mercato Antico in Ortigia singing “Cu ti lu dissi” with Marco and Tito at Casa del Pesce “Tito.” What a great time! And the fish was fantastic…