L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2016 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 9 L a musica italiana is a pow- erful art that brings people together. It will never cost you a dime in overweight lug- gage fees to take home. It will transport you back to a memory, a place, or a time. No matter where Italians have emigrated, music has always invoked feel- ings: of home, of summer, of love for their country, even of love for or one another. To this day, many Italian Americans m a i n t a i n t i e s t o t h e i r r o o t s through traditional folk music that brings them back to the small towns and villages they left behind. F o r m u s i c i a n , p e r f o r m i n g artist, and teacher Alessandra Belloni, preserving the tribal and ethnic rhythms of southern Italy is a passion. Alessandra is a master of time travel. Using tra- ditional instruments like the Remo tambourine, her perfor- mances of Italian folk music transport listeners back in time to the era before Italian unifica- tion. Roberto Benigni once said, " L ' I t a l i a è l ' u n i c o l u o g o a l mondo dov'è nata prima la cul- ture e poi la nazione," which means, "Italy is the only place in the world where the cultura was born before the nation." In fact, t h e M e z z o g i o r n o , a s I t a l y ' s southern regions stretching from Rome to Sicily are affectionately called, played a significant role in inciting the first revolutionary r i o t s t h a t w o u l d e v e n t u a l l y launch the peninsula into unified statehood. O r i g i n a l l y f r o m R o m e , Alessandra first started playing the traditional Southern Italian tambourine and frame drum at age 23. After studying music and performance for several years in New York City, she t r a v e l e d t o I t a l y , w h e r e s h e joined forces with other female musicians and vocalists. The " w o m e n w o r k " c h a n t s s h e learned there, originating in Naples, Puglia, Calabria, and Sicily, inspired her to explore and study traditional Italian folk music. Her discovery was timely, as the 1970's saw a revival of inter- e s t i n " M u s i c a e T e a t r o Popolare," or Southern Italian folk art and culture. As environ- mental awareness became trendy at that time, the image of the Black Madonna gained populari- ty. She is a dark-skinned Virgin M a r y , a n i c o n t h a t b l e n d s Catholic, Roman, and Pagan beliefs. Many of the traditional tammurriata songs of Campania and Sicily honor, celebrate and give thanks to her for a good harvest and fertile farms. Since the 70's, Alessandra h a s t r a v e l e d e x t e n s i v e l y t h r o u g h o u t I t a l y ' s S o u t h e r n regions doing field research, interacting with experienced musicians, and learning lyrics and acoustic harmonies. Today, she shares her passion for this music through performing with her band, I Giullari di Piazza, a n d t e a c h i n g c l a s s e s c a l l e d "Rhythm is the Cure" at NYC's Italian American Museum in Little Italy. Her students learn to play the traditional Remo tam- bourine and learn to dance the Tammurriata, Tarantella, and Pizzica. Her next concert in New York is on December 22, a Winter Solstice-themed perfor- mance at Theatre for the New City. Alessandra believes that this music helped Southern Italian women challenge the norms of TERESA ALESSANDRO their traditionally male-dominat- ed society. She also discovered that the Italian frame drum was connected to female dance ritu- als as far back as the ancient Egyptian empire. Today there is a sense of camaraderie among the men and women who drum and keep tempo. "I realized that one of the beauties of the tammurriata, now as in ancient times, is the male a n d f e m a l e e n e r g y c o m i n g together in a primordial celebra- tion of life, fertility, love. The male and female way of playing the drum, the male and female castanets, the male and female movements of the arms, the male and female style of singing – all express the beauty of true bal- ance and harmony between the sexes." In addition, Alessandra boasts of the meditative and healing powers of playing the Remo tambourine. She faced a serious health problem in 1991, and Western medicine was unable to cure her. "I had studied the ancient female dance, Pizzica Tarantula, and its ability to heal emotional and physical ailments. I think that through dance, song, and prayer to the Black Madonna, my mind entered the hypnotic state of tarantate, or the symbolic form of cleansing demonstrated in the Tarantata dance. This was a miraculous experience, and convinced me that the tarantella, one of the most ancient forms of music and dance therapy, still holds its power today." A f t e r t a k i n g a c l a s s w i t h Alessandra, one feels that this traditional Italian folk music and dance embodies the essence of the humble beginnings, healing l o v e , a n d a n a l m o s t t r i b a l lifestyle that is at the heart of Southern Italian culture. Ancient m y t h s , d i v e r s e d i a l e c t s , a n d romantic dance rhythms teach Italian Americans to connect with their heritage at a much more visceral level than ever before. Alessandra Belloni Brings Ancient Italian Folk Music to New Audiences in New York Alessandra Belloni teaching students in NYC Students in one of Alessandra Belloni's classes NEW YORK ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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