DAUGHTERS OF CYBELE

WOMEN DRUMMERS FOR WORLD PEACE

Women’s’ Ensemble

 SACRED RHYTHMS, CHANTS AND DANCES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

A unique ensemble of women honoring the healing power of the female energy in the Southern Italian Brazilian, African, Native American and Arabic tradition through voice, percussion and ritual dance.

 featuring in New York: Alessandra Belloni, vocals, tmabouines, frame drums, ritual dance, jessica valiente, flutes, vocals, percussion, Eve Sicular, drum set, dumbeck, Yasujo Kimura, congas, cajon, Olimpia Avignone, percussion, Susan Aquila : violin, Allison Scola: vocals, clarinet, dance, Francesca Silvano :DAnce.

In Italy: Kikki Delli Santi: marimba, djembe, snare drum riqq, dumbeck, shakers, Serena Davini, drumset, congas, djembe

in Los Angeles: Vida Vierra vocals, Brazilian percusssion, Mirand Rondeau frame drums , vocals, Judy piazza percussion vocals, guitar.

In Brazil: Simone Soul, pecussion drumset, Renata Amaral, bass, Daniela Morais.

THE DRUM IS FEMININE LIKE THE WOMB

AND RHYTHM OF THE EARTH

LIKE THE HEART BEAT OF THE MOTHER GIVING BIRTH

LIKE THE HEART BEAT OF THE CHILD BEING BORN

WE HONOR THE EARTH WITH THE DRUM AND WOMEN VOICES AS IT WAS DONE IN ANCIENT TIMES, WHEN PEOPLE LIVED IN HARMONY AND PEACE

GIVING THANKS TO OUR EARTH MOTHER.

 Conceived and directed by world renouned Italian percussionist Alessandra Belloni series artist and author of the first book and  dvd on Southern Italian tambourine technique published by Mel Bay, titled RHYTHM IS THE CURE.

This concert is dedicated to the healing power of the female energy in Southern Italian tradition, worshipped as the Black Madonna, and includes the songs of older peasant women, with ancient faces recalling the matriarchal society of Southern Italy, who worked closely with the earth.

It also embraces the women  traditions from Africa, Native America and Brazil sending healing energy to the planet.

 This fiery "percussive journey" through the South of Italy, Brazil , Africa, Native America and the Arabic world will explore through songs, dance and rhythm:
 magic rituals, tarantellas used as music therapy and exorcism, healing chants in honor of the Black Madonna, lullabies, love ballads, women work chants and protest song. And the authentic Pizzzica Tarantata, the healing trance dance from Puglia used as an exorcism to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula, a mental disorder that afflicted mainly women, and which goes back to the ancient Greek rites of Dyonisus. In celebration of Dyonisus, God of ecstasy and wine,

In her research, Alessandra Belloni found that the Italian frame drum, "tamburello, is an ancient musical instrument connected to rituals often associated with women dating back to the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian cultures. In Magna Graecia (now Southern Italy) and the Middle East, women used the frame drums for rituals honoring the Moon Goddess

In Rome, women priestesses played the tambourine in rituals honoring Dionysus and Cybele.   This instrument is still used today in Italy to accompany the authentic tarantella (originated as music and dance therapy) and the Tammorriata dance in honor of the Black Madonna.

 

"Using the idea of the most ancient

way of praying and healing in  Southern Italian and other native cultures

sacred chants are sung in harmony by female voices accompanied by different frame drums, tambourines and shakers, djembes, ballaphones, dumbecks, riqqs.

Mazhars and marimbas as dancers will spin and stump their feet in celebration of life and peace.