Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino
Italy’s leading ensemble on the world music circuit, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, opens 2013 with the announcement of their North American concert return. Hailing from the Puglia region, the seven piece band and dancer are the number one exponents in a new wave of young performers re-inventing Southern Italy’s Pizzica Taranta music and dance traditions for today’s global audience. CGS introduced North American audiences to the power of Taranta for the first time in 2011. The group’s critically acclaimed debut tour led to a pair of high profile invitations for appearances at the 2012 editions of globalFEST and Womex, the international music market’s two top showcase events.
Opening in New York City, on Friday, February 1, 2013 at Pace University’s Schimmel Center for the Arts, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino will perform a set drawn from their new album “Pizzica Indiavolata” which entered the World Music Charts Europe at #2 in December 2012 and features guest appearances by Malian kora virtuoso Ballaké Sissoko and pan-European singer-songwriter Piers Faccini. CGS’ Winter tour winds through performing arts centers and clubs in 11 US and Canadian cities on the East Coast and in the Midwest, finishing on Sunday, February 17, 2013 at Navy Pier in Chicago. The group will perform in our area on Saturday, February 2, 2013 at 8:00 pm at the Artisphere Ballrooom in Arlington, VA .
Italy’s fascinating dichotomy of tradition and modernity come together in the music of Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino. With 17 albums and countless live performances throughout Europe and the Middle East, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino was originally founded in 1975 by Daniele Durante. Leadership of the ensemble was handed down to Durante’s son Mauro, an already noted percussionist and violinist, in 2007. In 2010 Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino was awarded Best Italian World Music Group at Italy’s MEI confab. Mauro Durante and CGS also serve as core members of the Notte Della Taranta orchestra. Since 1998 this annual festival has sparked a modern renaissance in the music and dance of Puglia born from the ancient and universally-known Italian legend of the Tarantella. The event has drawn the attention of noted international music figures such as Anglo-American drummer Stewart Copeland as well as musical stars of Italy’s new generation already known to American audiences including Carmen Consoli, Vinicio Capossela and Ludovico Einaudi all of whom have traveled to the Lecce province and the Grecìa Salentina to perform with CGS.
