Rhythm is the Cure:

As a soloist:

RHYTHM IS THE CURE is a fiery "percussive journey" through the south of Italy exploring magic rituals, tarantellas used as music therapy and healing dance of purification, processional healing chants in honor of the Black Madonna, lullabies, women work chants and love laments. The repertoire is specifically arranged for frame drums, tambourines and a variety of percussion instruments. As a duo, it also features drum solos as well as drumming duets that add color to the authentic Southern Italian rhythms. Alessandra has been touring with this unique concert everywhere, and actually have performed with different percussionists, and everywhere we go we receive a great response from the audience and the press.

Usually the concert is in two acts, 45 minutes each, and it ends with the powerful healing trance dance called Pizzica Tarantata, used to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula, (actually a mental disorder that afflicted mainly women) which originated the tarantella.

RHYTHM IS THE CURE
Trio
Concert Description

The concert describes the cycles of life, women and nature through powerful rhythms and haunting melodies, using the symbolism of the Madonna/Mother Earth Goddess found in Southern Italian culture. Sensuality, eroticism, loneliness and fear of disease and death are expressed through ancient prayers, chanting and drumming, invoking the spirit world through trance and self-hypnosis.

Drumming and dance have the power in many cultures to bring people to this altered state, thus bringing healing to the mind, the soul and the body through the energy that flows during these rituals. In all cultures, especially in Brazil, Africa, and the East, the most ancient way of praying is indeed singing, drumming and dancing. Southern Italian rhythms and chants were influenced by North Africa and the Middle East and we wish to bring back the voices of our ancestors by making this musical connection with the contemporary musical elements and a variety of rhythms from around the world.

About the collaboration with Siba:

In 1998 I was invited to perform in Salvador (in Bahia) at the Festival PERCPAN with the great percussionist Nana Vasconcellos. It was my first trip to Brazil, and the most amazing experience of my life. There I met Siba, singer, composer and player of "rabeca" from the wonderful group: "MESTRE AMBROSIO". We jammed every night by he pool of the hotel, and we performed together for the finale of the Festival, thus combining our traditions from the south of Italy and the northeast of Brazil. Siba invited me to perform in a wonderful Festival of Music and Dance from Recife in Sao Paulo in the same Summer, and our collaboration was a great hit, receiving standing ovations every night.
I was so fortunate to follow him during Carnival in Olinda, Recife and the interior of the State of Pernambuco. Another amazing experience, that changed my life, and made me more curious and inspired me to continue this collaboration.

In the old times, the main instruments used in Puglia for the trance dances were the tambourine together with the "Rabeca", the ancestor and folk version of the violin, which Siba plays in the group Mestre Ambrosio. Some of the love songs, chants and dances from Puglia originated from the ancient Greek rites that women performed in Honor of the God Dionysus and were also accompanied by the rabeca, with a haunting open string sound. As we played together in Brazil again in the fall, Siba and I decided to continue this unique musical collaboration.

We are finding links between traditional Southern Italian and Northeastern Brazilian music in styles, rhythms and instrumentation. Another similarity is the sound and tuning of our chitarra battente and their viola. In our research we both found many more similarities of festivities and traditions, including the improvised singing of poetry in rhyme, of which Siba is really an expert. Our musical collaboration is focused on songs and rhythms from both traditions, and features creation of new songs, making a musical bridge between South Italy and North East Brazil (using the strong Spanish/Arabic influence on our tradition and the Portuguese/Arabic on theirs).

The collaboration with such great master percussionists Glen Velez, Ganesh from South India, Saam from Persia, makes a very powerful circle thus connecting ancient traditions of sacred drumming with haunting melodies and energetic rhythms from around the world.

RHYTHM IS THE CURE
Performed by Alessandra Belloni
(REMO Signature Series Artist) and
THOMAS ROHRER
Concert Description

"RHYTHM IS THE CURE", performed by Alessandra Belloni, voice and percussion, including Southern Italian tambourines, frame drums, ocean drum, Bodhran, shakers, harmonium, Thomas Rohrer, rabeca (Brazilian fiddle), violin, and soprano saxophone, flutes, percussion.This fiery "percussive journey" through the South of Italy 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, work chants and protest song. The performance ends with 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.


This special collaboration with Thomas Rohrer adds a contemporary musical element to the traditional repertoire due to his unique background in jazz, classical music, Brazilian traditional music combined with free improvisation. Rohrer, born in Switzerland but currently living in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is specialized in the rabeca, the ancestor and folk version of a violin, widely used in Brazil in traditional music. The rebeque (related to the rabeca) was very popular in all of Europe during the Middle ages.

In Italy, the main instruments used in Puglia for the authentic Tarantella as trance dance were the tambourine together with the rabeca, Some of the love songs, chants and dances from Puglia originated from the ancient Greek rites that women performed in Honor of the God Dionysus and were also accompanied by the rabeca, with a haunting open string sound.

Alessandra Belloni and Thomas Rohrer have played together in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Switzerland and New York The concert features duets, improvisations with a variation of instruments, as well as solos and original songs by each artist.

RHYTHM IS THE CURE describes the cycles of life, women and nature through powerful rhythms and haunting melodies, using the symbolism of the Madonna/Mother Earth Goddess found in Southern Italian culture. Sensuality, eroticism, loneliness and fear of disease and death are expressed through ancient prayers, chanting and drumming, invoking the spirit world through trance and self-hypnosis. Drumming and dance have the power in many cultures to bring people to this altered state, thus bringing healing to the mind, the soul and the body through the energy that flows during these rituals. In all cultures, especially in Brazil, Africa, and the East, the most ancient way of praying is indeed singing, drumming and dancing. Southern Italian rhythms and chants were influenced by North Africa and the Middle East and we wish to bring back the voices of our ancestors by making this musical connection with the contemporary musical elements and a variety of rhythms from around the world.

Thomas Rohrer - Thomas has collaborated with the popular Brazilian singer and composer, Zeca Baleiro since 1997, incuding tours in Europe and Brazil and appearing on three of Zeca's latest CDs. Other recent experiences include: the Montreux Jazz Festival 1999 (playing with Chico Cesar, Zeca Baleiro and Rita Ribiero), recording a CD of contemporary jazz free improvisation with Brazilian-born percussionist Fabio Freire and Celio Barros, and numerous concerts and recordings with reknowned kazakh singer Saadat Turkoz, with whom a CD is in the works for 2001. Thomas has also contributed to numerous soundtracks for film, theatre and dance.

Alessandra Belloni's NEW CONCERT!
RHYTHM IS THE CURE
presented by an ensemble of women
featuring voice, percussion and ritual dance.

This concert can be presented as a trio, featuring Alessandra Belloni, lead vocals, tambourines, frame drums, world percussion, ritual dance, singer Alexandra Montano (mezzo-soprano and one of the lead singers of the Philip Glass Ensemble), Jennifer Caputo (percussion). As a quartet, it includes dancer Sharon Li Vardo who would also use masks, representing the Sun, the Earth and the Moon. Using the idea of the most ancient way of praying and healing in Southern Italian culture, the chants are sung in harmony by two female voices accompanied by different frame drums, tambourines and shakers. This fiery "percussive journey" through the South of Italy explores magic rituals, tarantellas used as music therapy and healing trance dance to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula, women's processional chants and drumming in honor of the Black Madonna, ancient chants in honor of the Sun (Jesce Sole, Naples) and the Moon (Canto della Luna, Sicily) lullabies, women's love laments and work chants specifically arranged for voice and percussion. It will also feature original compositions by Alessandra Belloni :
Canto di Sant'irene, Canto di Yemanja e Oxun, (from the recent CD on Soundstrue TARANTATA) and La notte delle Stelle Cadenti.

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.
One of the concert's highlights is the trance rhythm and dance of purification, known as Pizzica Tarantata, which originated the tarantella.
This musical exorcism was actually the only cure for a mental disorder known as tarantismo, a form of hysteria which afflicted mainly women due to depression, frustrations, anguish caused by abuse and exploitation by the land owners, making them feel stuck in the spider web of society. This concert is dedicated to the healing power of the female energy in our Southern Italian tradition, and includes the songs of older peasant women, with ancient faces recalling the matriarchal society of Southern Italy, who worked closely with the earth.


Their drumming tradition is a direct continuation of these ancient healing rites. Alessandra Belloni has been touring all over the world with this unique repertoire, always receiving a great response from the audience and the press. She is the only woman in America (and in Italy) who uses this powerful tambourine style combined with the singing and dancing, and she is very proud to be able to bring this ancient women's tradition back to life.

All four women are living in New York with various international backgrounds. The women will be dressed in white and red, to relay the healing aspect of strong female tradition to the audience. There is a chance to present a cross cultural concert with 2 Brasilian women, singer Renata Rosa and drummer/percussionist Simone Seoul, living in Sao Paulo. This would also feature ritual chants and drumming from the North East of Brazil comibined with the Southern Italian.


For further information you can contact:
Alessandra Belloni at abelloni@aol.com
(212) 665-4516 or percussion Events, Lauren Vogel Weiss, at perc@ont.com
(817) 354-3815

For bookings email to: abelloni@aol.com