The
daemon of music
possesses Berbablù
and his listeners.
This
is the image we like to have when thinking of Berbablù: a musician, as
he would have been called in town, or a player, as he would have been called
up in the Romagna mountains in 1914 - 1915. Actually the distinction between
folk music and cultured music is very subtle, difficult and controversial especially
when we refer to that period and that environment. Berbablù is at the
same time a witness and creator of a transformation in customs that was to lead
from the ballo saltato, typical of the 19th century, to the liscio which had
already conquered the masses in town through Carlo (“Zaclen”) Brighi’s
orchestra. Brighi brought the new Viennese ballroom dances, danced in couples,
to Romagna.
Berbablù is crazy, a virtuoso invited to play both in peasant and bourgeois
households. He feels comfortable playing saltarelli, galoppe and monferine,
as well as the less sophisticated dances for theatre balls. Berbablù
plays a diatonic accordion, the main folk music instrument from which the modern
accordion was to develop. It has a sharp pitch and powerful bass, an instrument
that can enliven a ball by itself or fit in well with other instruments such
as accordion, violin, clarinet, guitar and lirone (lira da gamba).
The difficult task of composing an original score that could recapture the emotions
of such a complex musical environment was given to Maestro Giampiero (Pepe)
Medri*, a musician and composer of great poetic and evocative intensity.
*
Giampiero
(Pepe) Medri
After his studies at the G.B. Martini Conservatory in Bologna (Italy),
Giampiero (Pepe) Medri got interested in folk instruments. He then studied the
accordion with Maestro Riccardo Tesi and the bandoneon with Maestro Hector Ulises
Passarella.
Since 1990 he has been teaching accordion at the School of Folk Music in
Forlimpopoli.
He is a founder member of the folk band Bevano Est that has a CD out
entitled Gradisca and he also founded the six-piece band Equipaggio
which plays original music.
Medri plays the bandoneon with several artists including singer/songwriter Vinicio
Capossela and the Tango Group conducted by Maestro Passarella, with
whom he also plays as a duo at important international venues: Ireland, France,
Austria, Spain, Switzerland, USA, Brazil, Argentina..
In 1999 Medri, as soloist, performed his own music at New York University.
He also composes music for the theatre: Teatro delle Briciole of Parma,
CTF of Cervia and Ravenna Teatro. He has taken part in major national and international
festivals. He received first prize for his soundtrack for the video Abuelo
at the film festivals of Mantova, Padova, Fusignano.
Pepe’s latest project is Pepe Medri and the Timbuctù Orchestra:
their first CD Sala d’Attesa, featuring his original compositions,
came out in 2002.
LE
MUSICHE DEL FILM
composizioni originali e arrangiamenti di Pepe Medri
Aspettandoti
(G. Medri)
Pepe Medri - organetto - bandoneón
Dimitri Sillato - violino
Notte
di S. Giovanni (G. Medri)
Pepe Medri - organetto
Saltarello
(G. Medri)
Pepe Medri – organetto
Briciole
(G. Medri)
Pepe Medri – organetto
Abuelo
(G. Medri)
Pepe Medri - bandoneón
A
Matilda (G. Medri)
Pepe Medri – organetto
Dimitri Sillato – violino
Gianluca Ravaglia - contrabbasso
Ôca
Canarena (G. Medri)
Testi di Walter Pretolani
Pepe Medri – organetto
Dante Pozzi - fischi e richiami
composizioni
originali di Pepe Medri
arrangiate con
Timbuctù Orkestra eccetto Di notte
(arr. D. Sillato)
Occhi
d’ottobre (G. Medri)
Sala d’attesa (G. Medri)
Amarone (G. Medri)
Nel mio quartiere (G. Medri)
Di notte (G. Medri)
Tarantella Briganti (G. Medri)
Pepe Medri- organetto diatonico, bandoneónTimbuctù
Orkestra
Giancarlo Bianchetti-chitarra, percussioni
Gianluca Ravaglia-contrabbasso
Dimitri Sillato-pianoforte, violino
brani
tradizionali
Galoppa
eseguito da
Pepe Medri - organetto
Roberto Bucci - violino
le
registrazioni sono avvenute al
GIL Studio di Massalombarda
ingegneri del suono e Mix:
Ciano Lucchini e Matteo De Biagi
escluso
Briociole – Galoppa – Saltarello
registrate dal vivo