|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chat Room Archives: April 30, 2000
This chat took place on Sunday, April 30, 2000, the week after Easter.
This chat included special guest Davide Calvo, of the Armos Project, a restoration of traditional Sicilian Folk Music.Webmaster: Hello All! Welcome to the SicilianCulture.com chat room. Today we welcome Mr. Davide Calvo, who I might add is up very late tonight to chat with us -- its after 1am in Sicily! Thank you for joining us Davide, how many espressos did you have??
Davide Calvo: Ciao! happy to be here (virtually) I drank Lavazza... two... Am I late?
Webmaster: not at all, you are right on time!
Richard: davide, I just found out about you today. My understanding is that you have a musical background
Webmaster: Davide, Richard is a music teacher here in NY
Davide Calvo: No, I am a self taught musician, but I studied a lot...
Webmaster: interesting... let me ask you Davide... did you say you actually had to recreate these instruments for the Armos project?
Richard: I have been a music educator for the past 32 years, with five years of college in music
Webmaster: actually, Davide, give us a brief description of the CD.
JGeoff: Davide, I assume this is you on this page? www.armos.it/english/musician.html ;-)
Davide Calvo: Yes, I had to rebuild several instruments... the instruments are mostly stringed...
Webmaster: and, how did you go about rebuilding them? books? encyclopedias?
Davide Calvo: Iconographical sources, old instruments not working ect.
Webmaster: i see, mostly wood? strings? how many are there used on the CD?
Davide Calvo: Chitarrino, bifera, spanish harp, lute, friscalettu ( this one is still in use of course) and others... you will find the list on our website, with a short description..
JGeoff: it's a very nice site, by the way
Davide Calvo: Thank you Geoff...
Webmaster: the site is geoff, its attractive and put together well, molto bene a il webmaster!
Davide Calvo: The webmaster it is me...
Webmaster: great job davide!
JGeoff: eccellente!
Richard: davide, is your cd available in the US
Davide Calvo: Our CD is not available at the moment, but it will be possible to buy it by credit card on our website in four week time
Richard: thanks, I am anxious to hear
Webmaster: is #5 track on your CD a tarantella? it has a pleasantly familiar sound to it! You know, if i can have your permission, i have a real audio server, I would like to put a clip of one of your songs online for people to listen to.
Davide Calvo: Sure you can Justin, thank you for your help.
Webmaster: great, i will put #5 on sometime this week for those to listen too... it will be in the LIBRARY section of this website
Davide Calvo: Yes it is a Tarantella, Padre Atanasius Kirchen was a resercher that made a study on the "tarantolati", four centuries ago...
Webmaster: so you mean to tell me this song i hear is from music 400 years old??
Davide Calvo: Yes, at least 350 years...
Webmaster: wow... that is amazing, to listen to music just as it was played nearly 4 centuries ago!
Webmaster: so you say ARMOS is a greek word? are there just greek influences or arabic influences too in this music
Davide Calvo: Arms is an old greek word, it also means junction, point of connection.
Richard: just went to your site, are the reeds used, double reeds? They look similar to oboes
Webmaster: I hear oboes take 8 years to learn how to play Richard?
Richard: I start my student at age 9
Richard: Davide, the reeds look similar to oboe reeds
Davide Calvo: They are "bifere", that ones has got a very long story...
Webmaster: So, which track on the CD would you say is the OLDEST? The newest? Or are they all about 350 years old?
Davide Calvo: The oldest is probably "La Capona", because Giacomo Mayerbeer wrote in 1806, "very old, surely older that a century..."
Webmaster: I see, so not all the tracks have singers on them... what is La Copona about?
Richard: davide, do you do a lot of public performing?
Davide Calvo: I do not know what is the newest one, it is very difficult to date the traditional songs and dances...
Siculahotrod: are the songs in traditional dialect?
Davide Calvo: All the songs are in Sicilian. But Sicilian is more a language than a dialect...
Davide Calvo: La Capona is a dance, probably with spanish origin
Webmaster: intersting... Spanish tarentella? (i am joking)
Davide Calvo: No, unfortunately I do not play a lot. Traditional music is not fashionable in Sicily...
Richard: tha's unfortunate, such is also the case here as well
Webmaster: don't you perform at cultural events and/or festivals or weddings?
Siculahotrod: what other pieces did you perform for the album
Davide Calvo: There are six songs and six instrumentals...
Webmaster: I am sure there would be interest in your CD here in the states
Davide Calvo: I started to play traditional music when I was 13
Webmaster: for everyone here, there is a detailed description of this CD in www.SicilianCulture.com/library
Webmaster: how long did it take you to make the CD davide? I imagine it took much longer to create the instruments?
Davide Calvo: It took five years, two and a half for rebuilding instruments and one year for collecting music...
Webmaster: so did you do this full time, or was it a full time hobby davide?
Davide Calvo: I changed several jobs in the last five years, the last ones were "creative" in a adv agency and , most recently, project manager for an internet provider... music is not a great business here... I live in Catania, the internet provider in which I worked until last friday is "Telvia"...
Webmaster: You have a lot of things going! you must not have much free time.
Davide Calvo: I have no free time at all. Now I am preparing our moving to London.
Webmaster: what will you do in london davide?
Webmaster: by the way, the packaging on this CD is wonderful, its all put together very well!
Davide Calvo: I will promote the CD, as well as working. Here is not very easy to be well payed for the job you do.
Webmaster: yes, i understand unemployment in sicily is 20%? (!)
Davide Calvo: Thank you, Justin, I did the graphic project of the CD.
Webmaster: wow, you have MANY talents to have created the instruments, played the music, designed the website and the CD package!
Webmaster: a rennaisance man like michaelangelo! the sicilian da vinci!
Davide Calvo: Unenployment is probably more than 20%, overall among the young people...
Davide Calvo: Because the unenployed are mostly young people...
Webmaster: this is unfortunate... that is VERY high ... why do you think this is?
Davide Calvo: I have not made the instruments with my hands, I just supervisioned the work of five different instrument makers, thank you anyway for your compliments!
Webmaster: they are really not compliments, being a musician and designer - myself, i am sincerely impressed!
Webmaster: Well, our hour is up here, and I know its late for you Davide, thank you so much for staying up untill 2am to chat with us here in the US will you join us again to chat?
Davide Calvo: I would love to, thank you for having me. I will let you know when I get to London.
Webmaster: Buona Fortuna Davide & Good night all, thank you for joining us, Saluti a Tutti e Buona Sera & Buona Notte!The Armos Project Website is at www.armos.it and the CD retails for $15 US Dollars plus shipping
© Copyright 1999-2002
(MCMXCIX) Cristaldi Communications
Web Design, Hosting & Promotion -
- February 19,
2002