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Archedora
Descalso (CNI / La Frontiera)

Rachele Colombo (voice, guitar, percussion and keyboards), and Corrado Corradi (bandoneon, English concertina, percussion and voice) return for their second duo recording, joined by a small ensemble of flute, reeds, bass strings and voices, a string quartet and other guests for a new exploration of the music and life of Venice and the Veneto region of Italy. This is dense, classy music, with lush arrangements (think classic Brazilian), very contemporary and yet very old sounding.

Listen:
n'anarela
rosa spania
come l'aqua co l'onda

More music by Archedora

What the artists say about this work: sounds, songs, moods from Veneto Stories, notes, reflections, crumbs of daily life that take on universal breath: sea, clouds, nights, fogs, flowers as immediate and familiar symbols of the feelings and their seasons, in a serene, delicate and reassuring light. After a maturing and fruitful experience with "Calicanto", Rachele Colombo and Corrado Corradi make their own brand-new musical proposal: sounds, songs, Venetian atmospheres (and more than that). Captivating, soft and modern melodies, to bring out the "sound" of words, of the dialect of today's Venetian poetry that becomes a vivid echo of its cultural roots, that blends into the present with taste and skill, reality and memory, cultured and popular tones, the East and the West. That's also why "Archedora" is a new and profound contribution to the panorama of Italian folk songs. CORRADO CORRADI A skilled player of "bandonina" (an instrument which is a sort of cross between a bandòneon and a concertina) as well as an arranger and composer, he started his artistic career as a singer song-writer. A growing interest in the folk culture of his region led him to take up the concertina, which he studied by himself, and in 1981 he became a permanent member of the Venetian folk music group "Calicanto". The fruitful collaboration with the group is testified by numerous recordings and a concert activity of almost twenty years' standing, during which time they took part in the main folk festivals in Europe, Canada and the United States. Corrado Corradi has been actively involved in the composition of texts and music for a few theatre companies as well as in projects of recordings for children. He has also worked as an art director and organiser of traditional music festivals in his region, besides having been a member of the editorial staff of the music magazine "Folk Bulletin" since 1988. RACHELE COLOMBO A self-taught musician, she has been playing the guitar, singing and writing her own songs ever since a little girl. In the eighties she tried her hand at different musical genres, composed music for children and for the experimental theatre. In the early nineties, fascinated by African and Middle-East culture, she took up percussion. Spurred by a growing interest in her own cultural roots, she embarked on the re-discovery of the musical and especially the vocal traditions of the Veneto region. In 1995 she joined as lead singer the group "Calicanto": the encounter marked the beginning of a new bright phase for the group, as it led to the recording of two splendid CD's: "Venexia" and "Murrine" for the record company CNI, which met with enthusiastic international reviews. After that, "Calicanto" gave numerous concerts in Italy and Europe. At the same time, Rachele Colombo took part in the musical event "Transitalia", directed by Moni Ovadia, together with the main representatives of Italian ethnic music (L. Galeazzi, R. Tesi, Tenores di Bitti, D. Sepe, A. Sparagna, E. Ledda, etc.). Still committed to the popularisation of folk songs, she holds seminars and workshops on the oral traditions of the Veneto region.

Musicians:
RACHELE COLOMBO canto, plettri, percussioni, keyboards
CORRADO CORRADI bandonina, english concertina, percussioni, canto
with
NICOLA MARSILIO clarinetti, flauti
GIULIA D'ELIA violoncello
TIZIANO NEGRELLO contrabbasso, percussioni, piatti
ALBERTO ROVERONI piatti e tom

and
QUARTETTO BARUECO
Giovanna Berti, Elena Rocchini - violini
Martina Chiarugi - viola
Marilena Cutruzzulà - violoncello

EMANUELA CANANZI - pianoforte
GIUSEPPINA CASARIN canto
SANDRA MANGINI canto, voce recitante

AMARANTEGHE - VenetoTeatroIndagine
Giovanna Boscarino, Dalies Donato, Sara Paolini - voci recitanti

The record label says:
The cooperation of musicians skilled both technically and artistically has made Descalso a collection of songs as various as the territory which inspired its creation.

Indeed, Veneto comprises all kinds of landscape: sea, mountains, countryside, hills, lakes. In the same way, Descalso offers a many-colored mosaic of places, memories, moments from this side of the world. This includes History as well as little individual stories, the images of yesterday and the life of today, the wit and irony of common people and their religious fervor mixed with superstition and taste for mystery, the centuries-long relationship of venice with its Adriatic and North European neighbors as well as with East. Above all, one feels everywhere the magic power of the water, almost a leitmotiv connecting sounds and words. The lyrics of Archedora's songs are written in a dialect that does not belong to any specific town or province, but is rather a "virtual" mixture, to which anybody can relate.

In these words and music, the Veneto land continuously disappears and reappears - in the bright, firm sound of the dancing bands, in the sophisticated handling of Mediterranean suggestions, in the overwhelming rhythms of dance, in the lyrical rarefactions, in the words, both sung and spoken. The great tradition of the Venetian Baroque is coupled with the experimental curiosity of new musical genres. Each song is surprising because of its evocative power and emotional charge, as when one stands on the shoreline, where the waves now flood our bare feet, now just meet them.

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