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BIOGRAPHY

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GIUSEPPE GRIFEO - Biography 

Giusepe Grifeo, pianist, composer. He started studying music at the Palermo Conservatory with Gaetano Cellizza and continued later on his own inspired by pianists like Abdullah Ibrahim, Sun Ra, Keith Tippett e Terry Riley. In 1984 he took a first degree in Philosophy at Palermo University with a final project entitled "Aesthetic scenarios and practical possibilities of Creative Music" under the supervision of Paolo Emlio Carapezza. He then took the higher diploma in piano jazz and improvisation at CPM ( Milan ) with Franco D'Andrea. His career starts in the '70s with the Samsara Silly Orchestra, composed of 8 to 10 musicians, based upon the pop-progressive of the Canterbury School . In the '80s he approaches creative jazz and starts to collaborate with the saxophonist Gianni Gebbia. At the same time he works with groups close to ambient music (Kale Akte ed Hagakure). With the Quartetto Mediterraneo (Tony Rusconi drums, Emilio Galante flutes and Mariano Nocito double bass) he tours Germany between 1991 and 1993. He played with Hagakure quartet with Alberto Mandarini, trumpet, Massimo Pintori drums and Mariano Nocito double bass. As piano solo he is working on three projects: A quiet place in the universe, rearrangements of some Sun Ra compositions; Altri destini, book about Creative Music, and "Ishk Bashad" on arab music. His way of playing the piano is characterised by a Mediterranean and Arabic colour. He is amongst the few who study the use of the piano in classical and traditional Arabic music (for his research he visited Iraq , Egypt , Tunisia , Marocco). Lately he has been working with Guido Mazzon and Tony Rusconi. His last production "Ishk Bashad" for piano solo performance about arabic music is now a quartet with Amari Mouna (oud and voice), Enzo Rao (violin), Peppe Consolmagno (voice and percussion) and Beppe Grifeo (piano and voice). It is a realistic fusion among classical arabic music, mediterranean music and jazz. He has taken part in events such as: Palermo Jazz Festival 1981, Sicilia Jazz 1982, Performance with Living Theatre a Palermo 1983, Festa dell'Unità Palermo 1985, Pavia Rock 1989, Jazz emergente Forlì1990, Jazz Festival Halle, Weimar, Jena, Erfurt, Dresda 1991,'92,'93, Jazz e dintorni Trapani 1994, I suoni del '900 Teatro Massimo Palermo 1994,'95, Palermo di scena 1995, '96, '97, '98, Festival di Babilonia Iraq 1995, Radio Popolare Milano 1998, Ricordi Mediastore Milano 1997, '98, Clusone Jazz 1998, Magdeburgo Jazz 1998, Manerbio Jazz 1999. Wyso Radio Programm, Dayton USA, 1999 (special music by Sun Ra & Beppe Grifeo), special on Beppe Grifeo music, 2000, with Ishk Bashad: Pavia, november 2000 - Ancona, april 2001 - Fano, june 2001 - Womad, Palermo august 2001; Suoni da altri mo(n)di: duet with Peppe Consolmagno: Pisa, Firenze february 2003; Concerto per pianoforte arabo e piccolo ensemble: Conservatorio di Musica "V.Bellini", Palermo may 2003.,with  Ishk Bashad: International Festival de Sousse in Tunisia august 2004.

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MOUNA AMARI - Biography

Mouna Amari, She is a musician, singer and composer who graduated from the Conservatory of Tunisia in 1989.  She then specialised in bow instruments at the Scuola Civica of stringed instruments in Milan.  She is in charge of the lutist’s workshop and restoration of the Centre des Musiques Arabes et Mediterranéenne, Palais Ennejma Ezzahra, Sidi Bou Said, of Tunisia.  She has participated in training periods of stringed instruments with Pietro Cavallazzi in Milan and Bruno Dreux in Orléans.  With Ridha Chmak she studied the Turkish oud in more detail at the Conservatory of Tunisia. She followed training courses on the use of the voice, respiration and “Alexander” techniques at Rudlingen in Switzerland.  She has been collaborating as soloist for more than ten years with different orchestras and participating in musical projects in Tunisia and abroad, playing the oud and interpreting both classics of Arabic music and self composed pieces.  She has written several sound tracks for Tunisian playwrights.  In 1993 she made her first album getting inspiration from a great oriental literary work “A thousand and one nights”, with which she went on tour in Tunisia, France and Italy.  Since 1986 she has held a post in the Musical Institute of Mahdia in Tunisia where she has directed the youth choir and where she has been teaching musical education. She was a soloist of oud in the Chamber Orchestra of Tunisia, in the Orchestra of the federation of Young Musicians of Tunisia, in the Orchestra of the Town Youths of Monastir and in the Orchestra of Patrimonie de la ville de Sfax.  She has participated in the tour of Tunisia with the show “Zakhàrif ‘Arabiyya” directed by Mohamed El Garfi whose guest of honour was Marcel Khalifé.  She founded the Stringed Instruments Orchestra of the town of Mahdia in Tunisia.  She wrote the music for three theatrical plays of the Sindbad company.  She has been on tour with the Tunisian jazz artist Fawzi Chekili.  She has taken part in the Italian tour of the show “Donna Africa” and “Donna Africa II”, with Florida Uwera from Ruwanda, Houria Aichi from Algeria, Sarah Carrere from Senegal and other  African female musicians, moreover making the CD “Donna Africa”. She has taken part in radio programmes with Radio Tunisienne, France inter, Les Radios Suisse, Radio Lord (Germany), Radio Rai 3 and Radio Popolare of Milan.  She has appeared in television on Canal + Horizon, art and la Television Tunisienne.  She has collaborated with the Italian musicians Federico Sanesi, Mauro Pagani, Pino Daniele and recently with Peppe Consolmagno and Giuseppe Grifeo.

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Enzo Rao, was born in Palermo on January 13 1957. He works as a composer, and plays Violin, Oud, sadz, Jewish Harp, bass and other instruments. His heterogeneous musical background, allows him to play Rock, Jazz, Blues and a variety of Ethnic music styles. His true passion is Sicilian and Mediterranean ethnical music; it inspired him, between 1977 and 1984, during which time his personal research and creative activity was orientated towards the popular music of the region. His focus was on the musical instruments, compositional styles and techniques of sound production. During those years he performed with Rakali ( an Internationally popular group ) and Claudio Lo Cascio a Folk-Jazz quintet in Italy and Europe . In 1988 he founded the musical project SHAMAL, creating a form of music which blends languages that belong to the traditions of Sicily, North Africa, the Balcans, Middle East as well as using other contemporary languages. In 1990 the Rome based label "Il Pontesonoro" released Shamal first CD, on which the sax player Gianni Gebbia collaborated. Enzo Rao took out first prize in Radio RAI's National Composer Contest "Nuove musiche per O.R.I.O.N.E." with his song "In viaggio!".  In the same year he started a collaboration with the American percussionist Glen Velez, performing in several nation wide concerts. The second CD, "Acqua di Mare " was released in 1992 also by the "Il Pontesonoro" label. Enzo Rao has taken part in many international festivals, musical concerts, has played in both Clubs and Outdoor settings, with Shamal and in other collaborations. He has been an invited guest in numerous musical projects. Since 1984 he has composed music for Theatre, Multimedia performances, Radio and Television broadcasts. In 1993 the German label CMP Records released the Glen Velez CD "Pan Eros" in Europe and the U.S.A., it was reviewed in the magazine "Jazz & Tzaz" in Greece and received the acclamation of "CD of the year 1993". Enzo Rao is featured as the composer of four tracks and as the Violin player. In 1993 the American label,"Music of the World" (Nomad) rereleased "Acqua di Mare" in the U.S.A. renaming it "Ettna!". Rao, collaborated with the New York band "Giullari di Piazza", the band was led by the percussionist Alessandra Belloni, who was also the vocalist and ritual dancer. The band included Glen Velez, Steve Gorn and John La Barbera . In 1997 Enzo Rao took part in the "Jerusalem Festival" with Shamal in the cities of Jerusalem and Ramallah. In the same year he performed, as the Sicilian representative, on "Officina Mediterraneo" (hypertextual show), along side Steve Lacy, and some of the most important musicians from the Mediterranean .  In 1998 the label "Il Pontesonoro" released the live CD "A banna ca sona". He's member of Ishk Bashad project with Beppe Grifeo, Peppe Consolmagno e Mouna Amari. In 2002 he composed the original sondtrack of "Il Buma", a Giovanni Massa movie.  

Peppe Consolmagno, born in Rimini in 1958, brought up in Italy , mainly plays instruments built on his own with materials which he collects during his trips, such as gourds, bamboo, wood and metal. His music is played using instruments belonging to extra-european cultures, for example Brazil (his mainly inspiration), Africa and Asia which, nevertheless, share in common. The Burman gong, the Shell, the Meditation cups, the African pots, the Pygmies' one-note flutes, the Water gourds, the Berimbau together with his voice and a strong intimist relationship with them, create a unique dimension where natural sound, silence, timbre and rhythm predominate.

Consolmagno has played at international festivals such as: "Umbria Jazz" in Perugia, "Festival International de Jazz" in Montreal-Canada, "Jazz o Brazil" in Paris, "Kunstamt Steglitz" in Berlin, "Drum 2000" percussion festival in Bologna, "Festival di Musica da Camera" in Tolentino, "Centro Studi Brasiliani C.E.B." in Rome, "World Music Festival" in Lanciano, "Percussion World and Sound PWS7" in Asti, RAI "Radiotre Suite", "Jaco Pastorius Music Festival" in Coriano, "5th World Music Festival" in Rome, "Musica dei Popoli" in Florence, as well as at the festival "Sete Sóis, Sete Luas" in Portugal,” Percussionistica World Rhythm Festival" in Umbertide, Istituto Musicale P.Mascagni in Livorno, Liceo Musicale in Catania," Festival Womad" in Palermo, "Fandango Jazz Festival "- La Palma in  Rome, I Suoni delle Dolomiti Festival in Trentino, Festival International de Sousse in Tunisia, Festival Banlieues Bleues Festival in Paris.
His activity in ethno-musicological research has taken him to teach at seminars and workshops focusing on extra-european music and  the building of percussion instruments. Peppe Consolmagno builds sounding objects for himself and for Nana Vasconcelos, one of his many appreciators.As well as form many other great known worldwide musicians.

Consolmagno also writes for the  Italian specialized magazines such as "World Music", "Percussioni", "Strumenti Musicali", "Jazz", "DrumClub", "Il Manifesto", "Jazzitalia", "CiaoJazz", "CupaCupa", "Musicando", and others. He was invited to Salvador-Bahia ( Brazil ) at "III and IV PercPan" (world percussion festival). Through his work as a journalist and his interviews of famous musicians, he intends to give a voice to the style and way of thinking which unites him to them. He collaborates with other art forms such as theatre, painting, sculpture, poetry, dance. Gives seminars and lectures at universities and schools, and also takes part  on radio and television music programs.

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