THIS COLLABORATION IS AN ORIGINAL interpretation of the rich music tradition of Southern Italy, where through migration and trade the instruments and rhythms found in such diverse cultures as Greece, Turkey, North Africa, the Middle East, Celtic France and Spain have for many centuries blended with the passionate voices and dances of Naples, Calabria, Puglia, Sicily and Sardenia.
The Gypsies, who started their nomadic travels from India, through North Africa, and on to Southern Italy where many still live today, had a very important role in the creation of the folk music and dances.
I GIULLARI DI PIAZZA has recreated an ancient Mediterranean sound with the purpose of creating a bridge between primitive, traditional and modern music.
Combining contemporary world music and rhythms and melodies from India and South America, "EARTH, SUN AND MOON" seeks to bring people together through the universal connection of music and dance, creating a spiritual and joyous celebration.
About the story of The Voyage of the Black Madonna
by Alessandra Belloni
Virgil, a poet and a healer, is searching for the knowledge to save the world from self-destruction. He meets the Sibilla Cumana, the prophetess of the Underworld, who foresees the destruction of the Earth and the return to a new Golden Age. She tells Virgil that the only way to find the true knowledge is through purification, and to call for the Universal Mother to help him through his voyage of initiation. Virgil prays and is visited first by Isis, who reveals to him the traditions that are still alive today in the Cult of the Black Virgin. She gives him the power to magically evoke the Sun to rise, and the first Madonna is born: La Madonna del Tindari, who arrived from ancient Egypt to Sicily on a ship where she's still venerated today. In his journey of initiation, Virgil encounters Artemis of Ephesus (the magical and mysterious Goddess of the Moon), La Madonna della Libera (Madonna of Freedom) called Brunettella (the little dark one), Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and the Sea, Hecate, Triple Goddess of the Underworld, the Crossroads, and the Moon. At the end of his journey Virgil finds himself at the Feast of the Madonna di Montevergine near Naples where the townspeople celebrate by singing and dancing the TAMMORRIATA. The culmination of this Feast of the Madonna finds the townspeople purified in spirit and giving their material possessions to the Virgin which they take to the high sacred mountain. On Montevergine, Cibele (Gaia), the Great Mother Earth, tells Virgil that she originated from a black meteorite that fell from the stars, and that his voyage has ended and he has found the answer: that she is a living being and that people must return to respecting and caring for her, as ancient cultures have done for thousands of years. On the same mountain where her temple stood, the Madonna di Montevergine is alive today. Pilgrims walk for miles to see her, chanting and asking for miracles, which still happen and always will if one believes in her universal love.
About the Cult of the Black Virgin
by Alessandra Belloni
When I first started my research, around 1980, on folk music, theater and dance in Southern Italy, I participated in many religious festivals held in the environs of Naples, Calabria, Puglia, and Sicily. I discovered that the most vernacular and rich folklore is still alive in remote towns and cities such as Naples and Messina, especially around the times of the Feast of the Madonnas, which were, in most cases, black statues or paintings known as Madonna Nera or Bruna. Often, by chance, I came upon beautiful white Romantic or Baroque Churches near the sea, in the fields, near caves, or on high mountains. In those locations, I found the most amazing, mysterious Madonna Neras. I felt a very powerful energy coming from their faces and eyes -- full of tenderness, forgiveness, austerity, compassion, sorrow and universal love. When I participated in the feasts and processions, I saw thousands of people taking vows, lifting the heavy statues, running uphill, walking barefoot for hours, singing and chanting, crying, praying, and asking for miracles. And hundreds of miracles did and do happen. What I used to think of as the power of the church and of imagination, became something inexplicable, mysterious, supernatural, but still spiritual and highly religious.
Most of the churches and sanctuaries were built on ruins of temples dedicated to different Goddesses: Isis, Diana (Artemis), Fortuna, Aphrodite, Demeter, and Cibele (Gaia). The rituals performed today are the same as they were thousands of years ago, with the same symbolism: the Moon, the Bulls, the sacrifices for the fertility of the Earth. The dates have also remained the same. The first statues of Mother Earth were actually made of earth, which is dark (the darkest is the most fertile). The Black Virgin represents the dark side of the Moon, the Universe, the Cosmos, the mystery of the life-giving woman. The legends in many different parts of the world all say that a black meteorite fell from the stars and was adored as divinity. It was then brought to Rome during the wars with Annibal, and made into a statue of Cibele (Gaia), under the prophecy of the Sibyl. The Black Virgin is a Christian phenomenon as well as a preservation of the ancient goddesses who represent the healing power of nature. The endangered situation of our beautiful planet, and of mankind as well, has motivated me to create a story and a production dedicated to Mother Earth and its possible salvation. It begins in each of us, with purification and sobriety, giving up material possessions which destroy the environment and going back to fully respecting the Earth, as in ancient times, as a living being.
Music from The Voyage of the Black Madonna
by John La Barbera
The music from this folk-opera has evolved and taken on many different interpretations since I first composed the score after being commissioned by Alessandra for our 1989-90 season. My first inspirations came to me after exploring some of the ancient sacred sites in Southern Italy, especially in Sicily. While there, I was still able to feel the influences left from the ancient Mediterranean world in its earth, in its sea, in its sky and especially in its temples. I absorbed as much as I could in a way that I could almost communicate with that land and imagined being on a spiritual journey much like Virgil—the great Roman Poet—who traveled to seek true understanding. In the Opera, Virgil encounters some of the goddesses from the ancient world, who forewarn him of the destruction of Humanity, if they did not respect the Universal Mother Earth. With this sense of universality I did not want to restrict the music to only Italian roots. Since I fear that Italian music is very misunderstood and highly stereotyped, I tried to incorporate my own ideas while trying to maintain the same direction that Italian music in Southern Italy has taken over many centuries. It was a fusion of music and culture from the foreign dominations which passed through the south of Italy, including the ancient Greeks, the Turks, North Africans, Arabs, Spanish, the Normans, Celts, French, and the Gypsies which had all left their influences. In keeping with this "Universal spirit," each piece of music is part of a journey connected to the ancient past, progressing through a constant evolution, supported and influenced by the fine musicians on this recording who greatly contributed their influences from cultures outside of Italy. The music is performed on modern classical instruments, together with various traditional folk instruments, and combines rhythms from Southern Italy, Brazil and Spain, along with new rhythmic inventions created by virtuoso percussionist Glen Velez. The music includes new compositions of instrumental pieces, ritual chants, music for exorcisms and songs (called Canto) which are dedications to each of the goddesses that Virgil encounters along his journey. Some of the pieces are extensions of older melodies which greatly inspired me to write new melodies with new arrangements. For instance, the instrumental Danza dei Siculi begins with a fragment of an ancient Greek melody dating from around 150 BC, which was discovered on a tablet around 1882 near Delphi, and is believed to be a lament for Sicilus. Keeping the original melody, played on the flute, I super-imposed a cross rhythm of 3 against 2, and added a new section to that preexisting melody and then continued in a 6/8 dance rhythm. Jesce Sole, based on a ritual sun chant in the Lydian mode which was and still is the most favored in Southern Italy, begins with a traditional melody which is sung and accompanied with the Oud (Arabic lute) and East Indian Bamboo Flute. The piece then develops into a more rhythmic upbeat chant with an improvisation section. The same mix of traditional music with new material can be heard in the chant Montevergine and in the instrumental, Tammorriata.
titles/explanation
- PIZZICA TARANTATA / TARANTELLA ALLA MONTEMARANESE (traditional) – A special arrangement of two tarantellas. The first is a wild dance that originated in Puglia as a musical exorcism (a type of music-therapy) performed to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula which afflicted mainly women, called tarantate. They fell into a hypnotic state of mind, and in a trance they frantically danced for days during the Summer Solstice. This purification ritual was studied in the fifties, and only then it was discovered that the women were not actually bitten by the tarantula, and that they were mentally ill. The disease started at puberty, and it was usually a result of sexual repression. The second piece is a Carnival dance from Montemarano, which dates back to the Roman pagan celebration in honor of BACCUS, the god of wine, when everything was allowed, even orgies. Dedicated to Generoso D'Agnese and the people of Montemarano.
- CANTO DI AFRODITE (Song of Aphrodite) – "I fell from the sky in the sea, and gentle fishes and sea foam brought me on the hot shores of Crete, where loving doves and sun rays gave birth to Venus, Goddess of Beauty and Love. Love is the answer, love is life, love is the infinite Mother." Dedicated to our friend Evelynne Pouget.
- JESCE SOLE (Rising Sun Chant) – Ancient Neapolitan chant to make the Sun rise: "Come out, Sun, burning Emperor."
- NIGRA SUM SED FORMOSA (I am Black but I am Beautiful) – Lyrics from the Latin inscription found near the statues of Black Virgins: "I am Black, but beautiful," taken from the Song of Solomon from The Bible. Dedicated to the Black Madonna of Tindari (Sicily).
- VIRGIL'S PRAYER – Lyrics by Apuleio from the Golden Ass. Virgil prays: "Oh Queen of the Sky, Demeter creator, Mother of Love, I invoke your protection in a time of extreme danger!" Dedicated to the Very Rev. Dean James Parks Morton, Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
- CANTO DI ISIDE (Song of Isis) – "Daughter of the Earth and the Sky, I loved my brother Hosiris before we were born. With my magic I restored his dead body and conceived his son Horus. The Star of the Sea will always shine in my name, the father's and son's..."
- DANZA DEI SICULI (Dance of the Moon) - (traditional) – Arrangement based on an ancient Greek melody.
- CANTO DELLA MADONNA LIBERA "BRUNETTELLA" (Chant of the Black Madonna of Freedom) – "Oh Madonna Brunettella, I ask a grace of you. Please save us with your miraculous star. When I saw your beautiful dark face, I understood that you are the eternal love." Dedicated to Dario Bollini.
- LO MOCCATORA (The Handkerchief) - (traditional) – Neapolitan jealousy chant from the 13th century sung by the washer women of Vomero.
- CANTO DI HECATE (Song of Hecate) – "I am the triple Goddess of the Underworld and the Moon. I have come from the Averno with the Death Crone, in your dreams. I roam in the dark night sky, flying and bringing horrible visions of the future past and present time that I created."
- FISCHIETTANDO – Traditional Sicilian Tarantella.
- CANTO DELLA MADONNA DI MONTEVERGINE (Chant of the Black Madonna of the Sacred Mountain Montevergine) – Ancient Neapolitan religious chant sung by the pilgrims as they go up the Mountain to the Sanctuary of the Black Virgin Mamma Schiavona to ask for miracles. (Montevergine, Avellino). "The Madonna has beautiful eyes, shining like the stars. We will come back to you next year, and if we won't see you then, we shall see you in heaven, in the eternity." Dedicated to Mamma Elvira Belloni.
- TAMMORRIATA - Neapolitan Drumming Improvisation (traditional) – A very erotic dance from Naples performed for the Feasts of the Black Madonna. Special arrangement also by Glen Velez and Steve Gorn.
Featured Artists
- JOHN LA BARBERA, Music Director/Composer: classical guitar, chitarra battente, mandoloncello, mandolin, oud.
- ALESSANDRA BELLONI, Artistic Director: lead vocal, Southern Italian tambourines, castanets.
- CHARLIE GIORDANO: Accordion
- SUSAN EBERENZ: Flute, piccolo, recorders
- CHRISTA PATTON: Oboe, harp
- ABRAHM STUART: Violin
- IVAN THOMAS: Baritone voice
- SCOTT THORNTON: Double bass
Special Guest Artists
- GLEN VELEZ: Frame drum, Egyptian Riqq, Bodhran, Kanjira, buzzing sticks, gong, bells, cymbals.
- STEVE GORN: Bansuri bamboo flute, soprano saxophone (on tracks 2, 3, 4, 7, 12, 13)
John La Barbera dedicates all of his music to his mother, Helen, and to the memory of his late father Thomas, for their encouragement and support. Alessandra Belloni dedicates the opera to her mother, Elvira, and her spiritual parents Jim and Pamela Norton.
Special Thanks to: Dario Bollini, The Very Reverend Dean James Parks Norton, Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Paul Rosenblum, Nick Fritsch and Julia Prospero for their support. In Italy: Giovannina, Battista, Vittorio de Paola.
EARTH, SUN AND MOON was recorded and mixed at Playroom Studios, NYC by Jon Price, April-June 1995. Recording produced by Nick Fritsch.
All music composed and arranged by John T. La Barbera, ASCAP, ITRI MUSIC PUBLISHING. Text and lyrics by Alessandra Belloni and Dario Bollini, ASCAP. GIULLARI PRODUCTIONS.
The original opera, 1492-1992: EARTH, SUN AND MOON, an encounter of Southern Italian and Native American ritual songs and dances was commissioned by Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival 1992.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Alessandra Belloni: Singer and Actress, was born in Rome and is committed to preserving the strong and rich traditions of her culture. She has studied acting at H.B. Studios, Mime and Commedia dell'Arte at the Richard Morse Mime Theater and with "Mimo Teatro Movimento", with Dario Fo at NYU. She has worked in theater and film both in New York (Next Stop, Greenwich Village by Paul Mazursky) and in Italy with Anna Magnani (La Lupa ), and Federico Fellini (Casanova ). She founded I GIULLARI DI PIAZZA with John La Barbera in 1980, and is the Company's director, writer and lead performer in Stabat Mater: Donna de Paradiso, The Voyage of the Black Madonna, 1492-1992: Earth, Sun and Moon, La Cantata dei Pastori, La Lupa, The Adventures of Don Giovanni & his Servant Pulcinella, and produced a special show for Epcot Center in Walt Disney World in Florida. Ms. Belloni teaches workshops on Italian Commedia dell'Arte, Southern Italian folk songs and dances, and specializes in Southern Italian tambourines and drums.
John La Barbera: Composer/Guitarist co-founded I GIULLARI with Alessandra Belloni. While living abroad in Florence, Italy during the 1970s, he began performing and collecting traditional music from Southern Italy together with the now legendary group Pupi e Fressede. Trained as a classical guitarist and composer, he has written and arranged all of the music for I GIULLARI over the last 15 years. He has been commissioned to write musical theater for the Columbia Festival for the Arts, the Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Festival, and the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. La Barbera recently scored and performed on the Academy Award-nominated film Children of Fate (winner of the Sundance Festival in '94) and has also worked on films for PBS including the film Tarantella. He currently conducts workshops for guitar and Early Music in Siena, Italy every summer.
Steve Gorn: has performed Indian Classical Music and new American Music on the bansuri bamboo flute and soprano saxophone in concerts and festivals throughout the world. A disciple of the late bansuri master, Sri Gour Goswami of Calcutta, he has been praised by critics and leading Indian musicians as one of the few westerners recognized to have captured the subtlety and beauty of Indian music. As a theater composer, he created the musical score for Jean-Claude van Itallie's adaptation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead at La Mama ETC and Moses and the Wandering Dervish, a modern Persian Ta'zeyah opera performed at Trinity College. His most recent scores are for an ABC special on the New York Jewish Museum, and the PBS series, The Quiet Revolution. Gorn has recorded on several labels including CMP and Interworld, and can be heard performing with his teacher, the late bansuri master, Gour Goswami on Lyrichord LYRCD-7387, The Indian Bamboo Flute – Two Masters in Tradition.
Ivan Thomas: began his operatic career singing Crown in Porgy and Bess at the Lake George Festival opposite William Warfield's Porgy. That role and that opera have played an important part in his operatic career. He has sung Jake, Porgy and Crown at the Baltimore Opera , toured to Theater des Westens, , Berlin, Toledo Opera, Valencia, Spain, Japan Tour. This season Mr. Thomas appears as "Henry Davis" in Weill's Street Scene in a co-production at the Theater im Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen and at the Theater des Westens, Berlin. He also sings in concert performances of Porgy and Bess at the Theater im Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen and he returns to the Klagenfurt (Austria) Opera for a series of concerts entitled Musical-Express. In Europe he has performed in the world premiere production of Philipp Glass' ... The Civil War with the Rome Opera; a work he has also performed with the Netherlands Opera. Mr. Thomas has been involved with I GIULLARI DI PIAZZA since 1987.
Glen Velez: is internationally recognized as a master drummer, composer, scholar and teacher who has merged his background in Western percussion with the study of frame drum performance styles from around the world including Brazil, Egypt, South India and Central Asia. Performing on a beautiful array of instruments such as the Egyptian Riqq (a small intricately inlaid tambourine) or the bodhran (a large single headed Irish drum) he has created his own unique style of music which is refreshingly accessible, yet deeply moving. A member of the Paul Winter Consort since 1983 and Steve Reich & Musicians for 15 years, Velez's own music has recently been featured on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, John Schaefer's New Sounds and feature articles in the New York Times, Village Voice, Christian Science Monitor and Downbeat Magazine.
About the Company
I GIULLARI DI PIAZZA is the only performing troupe in America devoted to the creation of new musical and theatrical operas reviving the old traditions of Italian music, theater and dance, and combining it with folk legends, myths, rituals and Commedia dell'Arte. I GIULLARI uses authentic costumes and instruments such as the chitarra battente (Renaissance guitar), classical guitar, oud, mandolin, mandoloncello, violin, violoncello, flute, piccolo, recorders, oboe, ciaramella, Italian bagpipes, accordion, tambourines and castanets. Founded in 1980 by Artistic Director/mezzo-soprano Alessandra Belloni with Composer/classical guitarist John La Barbera, I GIULLARI is currently Artists in Residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Together, the directors have produced a wide repertoire based on extensive library and field research into Southern Italian folk music and ritual theater. I GIULLARI's folk operas include: Stabat Mater: Donna de Paradiso, The Voyage of the Black Madonna, 1492-1992: Earth, Sun and Moon, La Cantata dei Pastori. I GIULLARI also conducts workshops in Commedia dell'Arte, and Southern Italian Folk music and dance at world famous Caramoor Museum, Center for Music and Art, in Katonah, New York. I GIULLARI has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Caramoor Museum, Felt Forum, Metropolitan Museum, Giant Stadium (for WORLD CUP USA 1994) and toured to Chicago, Canada, Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh, Smithsonian Institute, Universal Studios in Hollywood, Walt Disney
For further information contact Audrey Ross, Public Relations, (212) 586-3500, 250 West 57 Street #2504, New York, NY
"The Liturgical folk music of IL Viaggio Della Madonna Nera is smashing and sung splendidly by Alessandra Belloni. Belloni's operatic love child is overall an evocative woozy trip."
—Pamela Renner The Village Voice
"Music, dance, masks and puppets. Together they blend fears and ecstasies of the Christian experience with the comic gestures of Commedia dell'Arte."
—Bernard Holland The New York Times
"The momentum builds to a pitch thanks to the haunting and feverish score of John La Barbera. Those rhythms touch something deeper than the legend itself."
—Robert Massa The Village Voice
© 1995 Lyrichord Discs Inc., NYC
I Giuillari Di Piazza
