BLACK MADONNA DRUMMING & CHANTING, DANCE RITUALS & PILGRIMAGE IN THE REGION OF CAMPANIA


Featuring Alessandra Belloni- vocals and percussion and John La Barbera- Music director, guitarist and Composer of I Giullari Di Piazza
WITH Steve Gornon Bansuri Flutes, Saxophone and Clarinet and dancers Francesca Silvano & Peter De Geronimo
SPECIAL GUEST Neapolitan singer, percussionist and teacher, Nando Citarella live on Zoom

This new concert and lecture presented by the Directors of I Giullari di Piazza will provide a full immersion into the ancient drumming traditions and devotional chants in honor of the Black Madonna from the region of Campania.

This powerful journey will introduce and transport the audience to a time and place where an unbroken and ancient tradition continues today with folk music, processions, devotional drumming, and dance. It will feature Alessandra Belloni's field research taken during her most recent pilgrimage in Campania in August, 2022, with her students. It will provide a panoramic view of the sacred sites of the Black Madonna in this region, known in the Italian folk tradition as "the Seven Sisters."

According to the local legend, there were seven Madonnas, all of them sisters. The last one was believed to be the ugliest so she ran away to a high mountain, Mount Partenio, so that the pilgrims would have to search very hard in order to find her. Having found her, they discovered that she was the most beautiful of the sisters, was Black, and they called her “Mamma Schiavona,” the nurturing, serving mother, that can now be found in Montevergine.These Madonnas are connected to the seven Goddesses that are part of the ancient worship of Mother Earth and the Moon Goddesses, and the archetype of the African Mother, especially Isis from Egypt and Cybele from Anatolia (Turkey).