I GIULLARI DI PIAZZA, ALESSANDRA BELLONI and JOHN LA BARBERA

Present

HONORING THE SEA GODDESS

 

featuring
ALESSANDRA BELLONI: voice, tambourines, ocean drum, ritual dance
JOHN LA BARBERA: classical guitar, chitarra battente, oud, quatro, mandolin
STEVE GORN: bansuri flute, saxophones, clarinet
JESSICA VALIENTE: vocals, congas, flute and recorders
GIUSEPPE DE FALCO: Neapolitan soloist
VINNIE SCIALLA: drumset and percussion

Special guests from Salvador da Bahia, Brazil
MAMADELE with DENDE, Director and members of the group on Vocals and Brazilian percussion

The concert is inspired by two geographically distant but thematically parallel traditions: Southern Italian and Brazilian purification rites and processions performed in the summer to honor the sea goddess and the goddess of the river. The Brazilian goddess, from the West African Yoruba culture, is called Yemanja and Oxun. In Italy she is called La Madonna del Mare, the Madonna of the Sea (cultural descendant of the Roman Venus and Greek Aphrodite) .

In this special concert we will recreate these rituals with songs, chanting and dancing, drumming and the offerings of flowers to the images of Yemanja and the Black Madonna.

The repertoire will include Neapolitan and Sicilian fishermen's songs and love ballads, sung by Neapolitan singer Giuseppe De Falco and mezzo-soprano Alessandra Belloni; traditional songs in honor of Yemanja and Oxun, from the Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Cuban tradition; and original songs written in honor of Yemanja by Alessandra Belloni and John La Barbera, inspired by their trips to Hawaii and Brazil.

This is a new concert that will also feature special arrangements by John La Barbera and Steve Gorn.

 

Special guest from Salvador da Bahia, master percussionist DENDE, will bring the magic of the afro-Brazilian tradition to the Cathedral. Inspired by the Orishas of the Water, African elemental deities, his music includes original and traditional chants and rhythms for YEMANJA.

Jessica Valiente will play songs from the Dominican Republic.

Internationally renowned singer, percussionist, dancer and REMO artist Alessandra Belloni will be playing her Yemanja ocean drum, recreating the sound of waves; tambourines from her own signature series of Southern Italian tambourines; and frame drums. She will be accompanied by women dancers dressed in white and blue to honor the sea.

 

 

Saturday, June 18, 8 pm
Chapel of St. James

Tickets: $25.00 CLICK HERE for Tickets

For more information visit alessandrabelloni.com