Worldbeat Sounds by Rome's Immigrants

Saturday, January 22 2005 @ 08:06 AM EST

L’Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio

L’Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio (APV 001, 2004)

Western Europe is becoming a land of immigrants. Italy is no exception. The outstanding L’Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio plays an explosive mix of South Asian worldbeat, Andean melodies, North African rhythms, and jazz influences.

Piazza Vittorio is a square in central Rome where Italians are a minority. An Italian musician had the idea of forming an orchestra with all immigrants and put up a 16 piece orchestra with musicians from Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Cuba, Ecuador, Argentina, India, Romania, Hungary, and the USA. After nearly two years the Orchestra did over 100 concerts. In only four months it sold 10.000 records in Italy.

The Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio includes 15 musicians from 11 countries, spanning 3 continents, and speaking 8 languages. Its director is Mario Tronco (Avion Travel) who, in collaboration with Apollo 11, put it all together realizing a dream of sounds and integration founded in a neighborhood of immigrants.

The Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio is:

Mario Tronco (Italy) - artistic director
Houcine Ataa (Tunisia) - vocals
Amrit Hussain (India) - tabla
Mohamed Bilal (India) - harmonium, castanets, vocals
Peppe D'Argenzio (Italy) - sax
Abdel Majid Karam (Morocco) - guimbri, Andalusian violin
Omar Lopez Valle (Cuba) - trumpet
John Maida (United States) - violin
Eszter Nagypal (Hungary) - cello
Gaia Orsoni (Italy) - viola
Carlos Paz (Ecuador) - Andean flute, guitar, vocals
Giuseppe Pecorelli (Italy) - double bass
Paul Scebba (Argentina) - percussions
Marian Serban (Romania) - cymbalon
El Hadji Yeri Samb (Senegal) - percussions
Ziad Trabeisi (Tunisia) - ud, vocals

World Music Central
http://worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/20050121180615115