MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release – April 2010
I Viaggiatori will be on tour from Canberra to Brisbane to coincide with 2010 Italian Week celebrations.
La Festa Della Repubblica is the 2 June and is celebrated all around the world. I Viaggiatori will be performing their passionate and emotive take on Italian folk music and beyond and will be bringing their new CD, Suitcase Serenata.
The tour also includes the first performances in Queensland of the amazing documentary film Dall’ Italia All’ Australia with historian Tony De Bolfo and the live music by the band. This follows performances in Sydney, Adelaide, Fremantle, Canberra and Melbourne. The complete passenger list that disembarked in Brisbane has been added to the website along with the other cities’ lists.
The CD Suitcase Serenata transports you to forgotten fishing villages, moonlit olive groves, and a hard life under a hot sun where women sang melancholy songs of lost love, displacement and revolution and fought hardship with a fierce sense of humour.
I VIAGGIATORI’s debut album Suitcase Serenata is a poignant and earthy homage to Italy and the thousands of people who have immigrated to our shores. Part travelogue, part lament, part protest you will be captivated by this intoxicating album peppered with traditional and original roots music unearthed and inspired by Italy and the Italo-Australian diaspora.
Suitcase Serenata is a window into another time and another place, with the sounds of folk, celtic, gypsy, blues and Italian world music woven expertly together by this impressive quartet.
There’s the vocals of Aria award winner Kavisha Mazzella, well known in the Melbourne world music scene for her original songs which slide smoothly from heartbreaking passion to dreamy high notes. Her rich sound is reminiscent of Portuguese Fado queen Mariza, fused with the social commentary of Luka Bloom. The clarinet - sometimes haunting, sometimes joyful - is played expertly by multi-instrumentalist Mark Holder-Keeping; whilst the tremble of the bouzouki is enough to make you melt under the expert musicianship of Irine Vela from another lauded aria-winning group -The Habibis. David De Santi, one of the most well known names on the folk scene in Australia – as accordian player, band leader, folk historian and artistic festival director – is bound to get your feet tapping to his authentic yet fresh interpretations of Italy’s world-famous tarantellas and waltzes.
Since forming in 2006 I VIAGGIATORI (The Voyagers) have always had the ability to take listeners on a vivid and sensory journey. I VIAGGIATORI was formed by Kavisha Mazzella to perform live with silent documentary film ‘Dall’ Italia All’ Australia’ for the 2006 National Folk Festival in Canberra. The film chronicles the voyage of the passenger steam-ship Regina d’Italia (Queen of Italy) at the turn of the century. Melbourne journalist and author Tony De Bolfo stumbled on Dall’ Italia All’ Australia’s existence through his research for his book entitled In Search of Kings (Harper Collins Publisher). Since that time the band has performed the music to the film at festivals and cinemas around Australia.
From the rugged coast of Napoli, to the rice fields of the Po river valley, to the misty mornings of Fremantle, there’s no need to board a plane – although you may well be inspired to - with I VIAGGIATORI’s charming debut - Suitcase Serenata.
The Festa della Repubblica is the Italian national holiday celebrated on the second day of June. It commemorates the institutional referendum of 1946 when (by universal suffrage) the Italian population was called to decide what form of government (monarchy or republic) to give to the country after the Second World War and the fall of Fascism. After 85 years of monarchy Italy became a Republic, and the monarchs of the House of Savoy were deposed and exiled. This is one of the most important Italian national holidays which, like July 14th in France (Storming of the Bastille) and July 4th in the USA (Independence Day), celebrates the birth of the nation.
Don’t miss out on seeing I VIAGGIATORI:
FRIDAY 28 MAY 8pm - Riverside Ballroom, support by Celtic Band SUNAS, 50 Oxlade Drive New Farm, Brisbane
SATURDAY 29 MAY 7.30pm - CANCELLED - Stanthorpe International Club, Queensland - DALL' ITALIA ALL' AUSTRALIA FILM and MUSIC, 1 showing only. Special guest presenter Anthony De Bolfo, researcher and discoverer of the film. Tickets $45 Call 07-4681 5813 or Click here to buy online
SUNDAY 30 MAY, 1.30pm and 3.30pm - Australian Cinémathèque, Gallery of Modern Art, DALL' ITALIA ALL' AUSTRALIA FILM and MUSIC 2 showings . PART OF 2010 BRISBANE ITALIAN WEEK Click here to buy online
MONDAY 31 MAY 7pm - Mittagong Playhouse, support by THE SONGCATCHERS corner Main Street and Bowral Road, Mittagong TICKETS at DOOR from 6.15pm
TUESDAY 1 JUNE 7pm - Fraternity Club, Fairy Meadow (Wollongong), 11 Bourke Street Fairy Meadow. TICKETS at Club and Door.
WEDNESDAY 2 JUNE 7pm - Milton Theatre, support by EcoBeaT, 69 Princes Highway, Milton NSW 2538 (Opposite Milton Courthouse) Tickets $22/$17 from Country Leather, Milton 4455 3056 and Malibu Music, Ulladulla 4455 5693
FRIDAY 4 JUNE 7.30pm - Illawarra Folk Club, support by Zumpa, corner Burelli and Church Streets, City Diggers Wollongong
SATURDAY 5 JUNE 7.30pm - Canberra, Merry Muse, support by Dante Alighieri Italian Choir, Canberra Southern Cross Club, 54 McCaughey St, TURNER
SUNDAY 6 JUNE 3pm - The Italian Forum Cultural Centre, Leichhardt, Sydney 23 Norton Street, Leichhardt, Sydney, TICKETS $25/$20/$15 1300 306 776
2010 - Port Fairy Folk Festival | Brunswick Music Festival | The National Folk Festival Canberra | 2009 - Adelaide Greek Festival | Sydney Greek Festival | Fremantle Town Hall
PLEASE CONTACT DAVID DE SANTI
Mob: 0409 57 1788/ email: desanti@bigpond.com
INTERVIEWS PLEASE CONTACT KAVISHA MAZZELLA
Mob: 0412 893 355 kavisha@kavisha.com
FOR IMAGES and MORE INFORMATION go to: www.viaggiatori.com.au
CLICK HERE FOR COMING PERFORMANCES
NEW CD - SUITCASE SERENATA
available now
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