Le canzoni stanno nell'aria, sono di chi le acchiappa EDUARDO DE FILIPPO
Violini di Santa VittoriaIn July 2008, I was suddenly thrown into an artistic dimension that was completely new to me, that of the “liscio†ballroom dance music… It all started when the Association “Shéhérazade†invited me to act as a judge for some music contests in the Emilia region. The aim was to bring a tradition dating to the first half of the 1900s back to life, a tradition from a time when brave “performers†(I use this term in its highest meaning) challenged each other with notes, while squares filled with people who supported one ensemble or another… and it was the loudest applause that decreed who was going to win. So I found myself living an exciting adventure, getting in touch with a universe of an extraordinary richness, full of excellent musicians. Among these, “I Violini di Santa Vittoria†were a real revelation to me: the emotional participation is irresistible, while poetry and rhythm alternate in a multi-colour timbre play. The pieces played are mainly waltzes, mazurkas e polkas, but tangos and one-steps are included in the repertoire, too. Everything seems to happen simply and naturally, but field research work has really been long and complex… an effort sustained by the willingness to give a new strength to tunes that risked to be forgotten, preserving their expressiveness and use, that is… as dance music! Oggi, “I Violini di Santa Vittoria†are the representatives of the utmost music tradition documented in the province
of Reggio Emilia. Through them, those notes that spread in the Po Valle from the late 19th century are making us dream again, with due respect to historical continuity. The ensemble kept the original combination of instruments intact, perpetuating the archetypal form of the string quintet: in fact, the group includes three violinists, one viola player and one double-bass player, as it was typical of the bands from Santa Vittoria. The five players are joined in the record (and often on stage, too) by Riccardo Tesi and Claudio Carboni: Tesi has been a true pioneer of folk music in Italy, hugely widening the vocabulary and the technique of the diatonic accordion, while Carboni, saxophonist with an impeccable phrasing, has a style and a virtuosity enabling him to easily “stray†from folk
to jazz music. Finally, that “liscio†ballroom dance music – which started developing two centuries ago in the provinces of Reggio Emilia, Parma and Mantua, in close contact with the “educated†tradition, and was under several influences – still vibrates with life and passion. For all of this, we have to thank also and above all the efforts of those who cannot but love it.
And so, TACA DANCER!!!
