WOMAD

Eugenio Bennato and Musicanova

From Italy

Biography 2001:For nearly 30 years composer and ethnomusicologist Eugenio Bennato has been collecting and revivifying the musical culture of southern Italy, songs and dances about emigration, piracy on the Med and village life that have been handed down in the oral tradition and are collectively known as tarantella. With the group Musicanova, founded in 1976, he began to write original songs in the old style, based around the guitar, voice and tambourine. And in the Nineties – just as Ry Cooder helped to reinvigorate the careers of many old Cuban stars – Eugenio brought guitarist Andrea Sacco, who was born in 1911, to Italian audiences of all ages who fell in love with the style and the songs. With a group of teenagers from Carpino – Marco and Giuseppe de Maruo (guitar and French guitar), Roberto Menonna ("battente" guitar), Mimma Gallo (voice and castanets), Giuseppe Gallo (bass guitar) and Nicola Gentile (tambourine) – he made the influential album Taranta Power, which showed that the style was as important as flamenco or Portuguese fado. Last year Eugenio and his band toured widely across Europe, bringing this expressive, emotional sound to audiences from Warsaw to Barcelona. This year, it’s our turn…Biography by Campbell Stevenson, July 2001Short biography 2001:The mesmerising sound of Italy's age-old tarantella rhythm, featuring sinuous dance and some hypnotic vocals from a fantastic ensemble. Yet another UK debut festival performance.May 2001