Jazz trio to breath life into Italian silent film

CHRISTINE MACHADO | DECEMBER 18, 2015, 12:00 AM IST

Photo Credits: MARCELLO AND MATEO_JAZZ TRIO_SAGUN_1

Jazz trio to breath life into Italian silent film

CHRISTINE MACHADO

PANAJI

Art lovers will be treated to a once in a lifetime experience on December 18 evening, as the famed Italian jazz trio comprising Marcello Allulli on the saxaphone, Giovanni Ceccarelli on the piano and Matteo Fraboni on the drums will be performing a live jazz sound track to the noted Italian silent film 'Cenere'. The performance is part of the ongoing Sensorium 2015 which is being organised by Dattaraj and Dipti Salgaocar of Sunaparata Goa Centre of the Arts, in association with the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre, Mumbai.

The film, which came out in 1916 and will coincidentally be completing its 100th anniversary soon, occupies a prime importance in Italian film history as it is the only film documentation of legendary Italian theatre actress Eleonora Duse.

"Giovanni and myself have always been interested in movies and theatres and have collaborated on many such projects in the past. We happened to meet this lady who was involved with movies who recommended this film to us. The film is based on the Nobel prize winning novel by Grazia Deledda. So it has been written by a woman and acted by a woman. For that period, it was quite rare for women to be involved so much with the arts and this intrigued us,” says Allulli, adding that work on the soundtrack happened about six years ago. Realising that it would also be nice to have some rhythms with the tune, Fraboni came onboard later.

“This is not a new concept. In the silent Charlie Chaplin movies too, you will observe that soundtracks were added as well,” continues Allulli, who has been a part of many national and international ensembles like MAT-Marcello Allulli Trio, Kamal Musallam quartet, RAJ Trio and was voted best Italian saxaphonist by the Jazzit Awards for the last five years.

“It is no difficult task at all because even though there is no sound to the film, I can imagine the music underneath it,” he added.

Interestingly, all the three noted musicians happened to meet while studying Indian music a few years ago.

“We were learning Indian music under a German teacher called Aki Montoya. While I was learning the tabla, which I think is one of the most sophisticated percussion instruments, Giovanni too was learning the tabla,” reveals Fraboni, who now plays the drums in a unique tabla style.

“Later, we happened to meet up at a jazz festival in my hometown in Senigallia, Italy and then teamed up.”

The trio then played at several internationally-renowned festivals and concerts, and in December 2014, performed Cenere at the European Film Festival for the Italian Cultural Institute in Beirut. Fraboni, besides winning national music concerts, has collaborated with many international musicians like Aruan Ortiz, Fabio Zeppetella and Dario Deidda, and recently recorded his first CD Matteo Fraboni Quintet 'This is my music' with George Garzone. Ceccarelli, on the other hand, who is based in Paris, was nominated for the 2014 Latin Grammy Awards.

The trio have now come together since last year for an Italy and India project, where they have been collaborating with famed Indian artists like Vasundhara Devi, and hope to cut an album soon.

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