Join Alessandra Belloni - renowned singer, percussionist, teacher, author for THE VOYAGE OF THE BLACK MADONNA
VIRTUAL PILGRIMAGE TO THE SACRED SITES OF THE BLACK MADONNA
IN SOUTHERN ITALY
Celebrate Italian Heritage Month in Calabria with this Virtual Pilgrimage & tarantella calabrese!
Thursday October 21 - 6:30 PM EST to 8:30 pm
EPSIODE 6 - 2 parts: Honoring The Black Madonna di Romania from Tropea & La Madonna dei Poveri (Seminara) Calabria
Following the story of Alessandra's new book, "Healing Journeys with the Black Madonna" (Inner Traditions - Bear and Co., 2019)
THE CENTER FOR THE BLACK MADONNA’S first offering:
“The Voyage of the Black Madonna Virtual Pilgrimage to the Sacred Sites of the Black Madonna in Southern Italy.”
Link will be sent after you register at:
https://thecenterfortheblackmadonna.teachable.com/.../vir...
As online course through TEACHABLE
https://thecenterfortheblackmadonna.teachable.com/
email ABelloni@aol.com
ENROLLMENT IS STILL OPEN for special & unique online course THE VOYAGE OF THE BLACK MADONNA, virtual Pilgrimage to the Black Madonna in Southern Italy - now you can travel virtually and visit HER powerful shrines, 8 EPISODES for a total of 3 HOURS narrated by me, plus songs & lectures.
Featuring footage filmed on location from 1991 to 2019, following the journey described in my book HEALING JOURNEYS WITH THE BLACK MADONNA, published by Inner Traditions - Bear & Company -
- and our Opera, premiered at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, with music by composer and guitarist John La Barbera.
We now have 70 students!
I hope you will register for the next live session on October 21
Featuring EPISODE 6 part 1 & 2
Honoring CALABRIA!
The Black Madonna of Romania from Tropea and Our Lady of the Poor from Seminara and authentic tarantella Calabrese filmed in Calabria and live! vand live music from the opera with composer and guitarist John La Barbera and Gypsy Joe on the accordion.
We will end with a Q&A!
You can keep this online series,
Click on the link below to register & for more information email ABelloni@aol.com
Cost of single session : $ 50 https://www.everbutton.com/pay/6349
THURSDAY OCTOBER 21 at 6:30pm EST
An immersive journey into the musical & healing traditions of Southern Italy & the Black Madonnas
Inspired by the Opera
THE VOYAGE OF THE BLACK MADONNA
with music by John la Barbera
Episode 6 PART 1 Madonna di Romania | Tropea (Calabria)
We arrive at the medieval town of Tropea at sunset, as the light settles into the volcano Stromboli. Stromboli is one of the seven Aeolian Islands of Sicily, also known as the Seven Sisters – just like the Black Madonnas.
Alessandra has been visiting Tropea since 1980 when she and John LaBarbera came to learn the cultura e music populare, studying, eventually, with master folk musician Vittorio de Paola.
You will see Vittorio playing the Tarantella Infuocata – the fiery tarantella—on an organetto – a button accordion. This 6/8 rhythm is part of the healing tradition of tarantellas that helps people break free from depression and sadness. You’re invited to get up, dance, and spin to this hypnotic tarantella as Alessandra plays tambourine to this traditional tarantella with her mentor.
Tropea, which translates to “trophy,” was once part of Magna Grecia, although the town itself pre-dates the Greek colony. The small cobblestone streets wind their way down to the sea, where, legend has it, the Byzantine icon of the Black Madonna di Romania was found.
La Madonna di Romania, whose icon dates to 1330, is responsible for many miracles in this small village which are celebrated with a powerful procession on her feast day on September 8th. in 1638, warning him of a major earthquake and saved Tropea as they carried her icon through the streets. During the Middle Ages she also protected the town from the plague.
As our visit draws to a close, consider getting up from your seat to dance to the fiery, haunting rhythms of the tarantella that Alessandra performs with local musicians from the group OFFICINA KALABRA and dancer Anna Maria Pugliese.
EPISODE 6 PART 2- Madonna dei Poveri | Seminara (Calabria)
We will dance our way from Tropea to Seminara to the powerful drumming ritual and procession in Honor of LA MADONNA DEI POVERI, Our Lady of the Poor celebrated on August 14th continuing a tradition very popular in the Middle Ages as exorcism against the plague. on August 14th, for the feast of the Madonna dei Poveri.
We gather in procession to the sound of snare drums led by Tonnino, the capo banda of the drummers. These drummers play complicated 6/8 tarantellas using drum sticks playing incredibly fast with a driving bass line underneath.
In the first ritual, larger than life puppets known as i Giganti reenact the ancient fertility ritual that happens when the Italian Queen Mata and the African King Grifone meet.
The puppets are dressed in regal splendor and, in a ritual tarantella dance that pre-dates the Middle Ages, they reenact a ritual courtship that results in a kiss symbolizing the unification of the African and Southern Italian cultures. We hear it in the collision of snare drums and tarantella, in the bass drum that echoes the heartbeat of the earth. Variations of this ritual can be found in Sicily, Malta, Spain, and even Brazil.
In the second ritual of devotion a man dressed in white and blue carrying a palio -- a large flag -- erotically between his legs, the pole tied to his arm so that he can perform his circular dance. As the 6/8 drum plays and the crowds cheer, he careens against and into the earth, spinning and dropping to his knees in an ancient fertility rite.
When we arrive at the church we find a large haunting statue. Carved of dark brown wood the color of the Earth itself, La Madonna dei Poveri her presence is overwhelming.
She is dressed simply in an ancient tunic, wearing beautiful silver jewelry with her son on Her lap as she sits in an ornate throne that takes a dozen men to carry on procession through the town, followed by her devotees singing eviva Maria! and the palio bearer who dances erotically around the statue of the Madonna, as if he were going to impregnate her with his flag.
Like the ritual of i gigante, this ritual ends with a kiss, completing the rite and promising the Earth will continue to nourish us if we continue to nourish her.
The Voyage of the Black Madonna promo for a documentary film by Alessandra Belloni https://youtu.be/aE0Kg6A2Yi0
